MagicBands are coming to Disneyland. As part of its introduction of the next generation of the wearable-tech wristbands at the Walt Disney World Resort, Disney announced that it would be bringing the new MagicBand+ devices to the Disneyland Resort later this year.

Though Disneyland is my home park, I visit the Walt Disney World Resort frequently and have had plenty of opportunities to use the original MagicBands. I am not a fan.

Disney developed MagicBands to function as a convenient, wearable theme park ticket, Fastpass return pass, Photopass ID token, hotel room key and resort charge card. Just tap your MagicBand — which is linked to your Disney account — and you can enter the park or a queue, pay for a meal or access your hotel room.

That’s great, but for most visitors, a MagicBand never really eliminated the need for you to carry a wallet or mobile phone with you into the parks. You still needed a government ID to buy alcohol, for example, or a mobile phone with the Walt Disney World app to manage your ride and restaurant reservation times while in the parks. Since you’re carrying cards and a phone with you anyway, does anyone other than a child really need a MagicBand?

Disney is hoping to provide some compelling reasons to buy one with its next-generation MagicBand+. The new MagicBands support gesture recognition and offer lighting and haptic effects. At Walt Disney World, MagicBand+ can trigger interactive effects in the parks, respond to nighttime spectaculars and be used to play a new game in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.

Disney’s decision to bring MagicBand+ to Disneyland comes just months before rival Universal Studios Hollywood introduces its own interactive wristband. The Power-Up Band will trigger interactive elements and track visitors’ score in Universal’s new Super Nintendo World land when it opens in early 2023. Universal popularized device-based interactive play in theme parks when it introduced interactive magic wands in Orlando’s The Wizarding World of Harry Potter lands in 2014.

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Fans can debate which is a better approach — Universal selling tailored devices for each themed land or Disney selling one wristband that works everywhere in its parks. But I think it’s worth recognizing that a theme park does not have to sell wearable tech to its guests for them to engage in interactive play. No one is wearing special wristbands to participate in Ghost Town Alive at Knott’s Berry Farm, after all.

Granted, Knott’s production flows more from the world of improv theater than video gaming, which clearly inspires much of what Disney and Universal are doing with interactivity in their theme parks. But even in that world, ultimately, it’s the games that draw fans more than the tools used to play them.

If Disneyland can offer fun, engaging interactions for MagicBand+ users, it should expect to sell plenty of the new wristbands. If it doesn’t, then MagicBand+ may end up like Glow with the Show and Pal Mickey as another missed opportunity in theme park interactive merchandise.