WDW GPS POI's

[Duane]

Title translation: "Walt Disney World Global Positioning System Points of Interest"

For those of you that either have a GPS or got one for Christmas, I thought I would share something that I found the other day that may be helpful for some, and just plain cool for others. I found on the Mousesavers website a section that provides POI's for WDW.

They have POI's for the TomTom and the Garmin units.

I just finished loading them on my Garmin Nuvi, and its pretty cool. There are POI's for restaurants, shopping, hotels, airport stuff, etc.

Now I'm sure that most of us on here can navigate the streets of WDW better than we can our own home towns, but I thought this was pretty cool.

You can get the info here (http://www.mousesavers.com/gps.html)

Let me know how it turns out....

[mamaloya]

Wow Duane, thanks. I got a TomTom for Christmas. Mine already has FW in it. I will have to check it out. I will have ds16 put them in for me.

[clkelley]

I have found that GPSs work a little weird at Disney. For example on my Magellan, the preprogrammed address for Ft. Wilderness must be at Pioneer Hall, cause it said I still had a mile to go once I arrived at the check-in booth.

Also, when going to points off property, it wants to take me down Cast Member only roads. So I just basically ignore it on property and follow the purple signs, and it readjusts until we are in agreement on where to go.

Mine is over a year old, so of course it has no idea about the Western Beltway and Western Way yet, so it really gets confused there.

I keep checking for updates, but nada.

[Duane]

From what I understand, this guy came up with these on his own. For instance, say you want to go to Citrico's, but didn't know which resort it was in... there is a POI for that.
Basically he set up the POI's for things that "Disney People" like us would use. He had the POI's broke down in categories like, shopping, drug stores, etc. Like for shopping, he has all of the Disney outlet stores listed. For groceries, he has all of the stores listed that are closest to Disney.

I guess what I'm saying, the POI's are specifically useful for things that most folks ask directions for while at Disney. They are not like the "canned" POI's that come with the units.

[TheGreatGonzo]

I have found that GPSs work a little weird at Disney. For example on my Magellan, the preprogrammed address for Ft. Wilderness must be at Pioneer Hall, cause it said I still had a mile to go once I arrived at the check-in booth.

Also, when going to points off property, it wants to take me down Cast Member only roads. So I just basically ignore it on property and follow the purple signs, and it readjusts until we are in agreement on where to go.

Mine is over a year old, so of course it has no idea about the Western Beltway and Western Way yet, so it really gets confused there.

I keep checking for updates, but nada.
I found the same thing with my Navigon.
It placed the FW address at the "T" intersection up by the Outpost cart path. Every time I reached that intersection it would say "You have reached your destination", at least my destination was deep within FW.
Also every time I left FW it kept wanting me to turn down the cast member road on the left just before the check in station bus stop.

[Minnie's Mate]

I bought my wife a new Expedition in March and it has a navigation system built in. Since her Expedition is gold and has a female voice, I named it "Goldie". In December, I bought a new F-250 with a navigation system built in. It has the same female voice, but my truck is black and really big so I name it Ursula after the sea witch in "The Little Mermaid". Sometimes I get into an argument with Goldie and sometimes with Ursula about which way to go when I know part or all of the way! :rotfl:

The first time we used my wife's navigation system, it was set to avoid freeways and Goldie kept telling me to make a legal u-turn until I got to the interstate headed to WDW. After I got to the interstate, she told me to get off the interstate every time I approached an exit. This continued from Atlanta to Valdosta. When we stopped in Valdosta for gas, we checked the settings and discovered the problem. What originally was estimated to take 15.5 hours to drive from Atlanta to WDW now took 3 hours 15 minutes from Valdosta to Saratoga Springs. Roughly the half way point from our home in Atlanta to WDW.

When I got my new truck, I made sure Ursula wasn't "afraid" to go on the interstate!!:rotfl2:

[dmunsil]

I have found that GPSs work a little weird at Disney. For example on my Magellan, the preprogrammed address for Ft. Wilderness must be at Pioneer Hall, cause it said I still had a mile to go once I arrived at the check-in booth.

Also, when going to points off property, it wants to take me down Cast Member only roads. So I just basically ignore it on property and follow the purple signs, and it readjusts until we are in agreement on where to go.

Hi, I'm the guy who created these. I'm Don Munsil; Mary Waring (the creator of MouseSavers) is my sister. It's exactly the issues you mention that made me want to create these POIs. The points for Disney World that come with GPS units are way off from where you'd want to go, in many cases. They're not perfect anywhere else either, but the ones in Disney World are really bad. I think it's because a lot of the places in Disney World either have no address or a kind of fanciful address that isn't necessarily clearly marked.

The POIs in the file I made are set on the entrance driveway to the attraction, hotel, strip mall, etc., because generally beyond that you'll need to find parking and so forth. In the case of Fort Wilderness, the main point is right on the road leading to checkin, just off Vista Rd. But there are also points for Hoop-De-Doo and Mickey's Backyard BBQ, which lead to the parking lot just down the road. These points are for someone staying at a different hotel who is just driving to Fort Wilderness for the show.

I hope folks will get some value out of them; they're completely free. I just did them because I'm a Disney fan (and GPS nerd). Or is it GPS fan and Disney nerd? :) I did use them in WDW when I was there last month, and I can attest that they work, at least with my Garmin Nuvi 360 and TomTom Go 510.

I don't have Magellan files ready to post yet, but I do have a beta-testable Magellan file you can email me to get. The email address is at the bottom of the MouseSavers GPS page (it's a bitmap to avoid spambots).

Best,
Don

[Duane]

Thanks for the effort Don. I have the POI's loaded on my Nuvi 260, and the installation was seamless. I'm looking forward to trying them out in a couple of weeks when we fly down and stay in our DVC resort.

We usually camp, and my truck has the built in Ford navigation system from the factory. I got the Nuvi to use in rental cars when I travel for business, but was excited to find these while surfing the other night. We wiil be flying in and renting a car. I will let you know how things work out....

Thanks again.

Duane

[DznyRulz]

Woo Hoo, post #100!!! :banana: :wish100 (change "pounds" to "posts")

Don,
Have you thought of posting your POI file at poi-factory.com (http://www.poi-factory.com/)? Your custom file would make a great addition. I made two Disney POI icons that are posted there.

[F4disneyfan]

Wow I didn't realize so many people use nav systems in their cars we like the good old paoer navigation system called a map LOL. We even turned the NAV system off in our rental car last Dec.

[incoo50]

Really appreciated the effort,installed them on my Garmin 660 and it works really well,having gps experience now for 7 years I can appreciate some problems but usually I found it gets you to eyeball closeness and from there its close enough.Looking at the POI provide they are very accurate on my mapping system,so again THANK YOU for the info and the trouble of making the list.:thumbsup2

[dmunsil]

Have you thought of posting your POI file at poi-factory.com? Your custom file would make a great addition.

I like POI-Factory.com a lot - it's clearly the best POI site out there. But I think we want to keep this file MouseSavers exclusive. It's pretty MouseSavers-centric. I put in all the on-property stuff you might want to drive to, but the only off-property locations are the ones that Mary recommends or mentions on the MouseSavers site. (Which is a fairly large number, as it turns out, between the grocery stores, drugstores, some restaurants, non-Disney entertainment, etc. - I didn't know what I was getting into when I started this!)

There is actually a WDW file on POI-Factory which is pretty darn good. I looked at it before I started mine, to see if there was any need to make a new one. I think mine is a teensy bit more complete for the on-property, and has more off-property and Universal locations, but really that one on POI-Factory is good as well.

There are some other POI files out there for WDW, but most are either only useful for walking, because they put the POI location on the building and not on the driveway, or completely inaccurate, or incomplete.

If anyone using the file has suggestions, comments, or questions, I'm always happy to get feedback. I especially want to know if you feel like there's a point that could be in a better place. About 95% of them were checked in person by me, driving around Orlando with two GPS units suction-cupped to the windshield and another GPS on the passenger seat. But a few I couldn't get to before I had to leave, or added after my last trip, so they're positioned using Google Earth, Google Maps, and Windows Live Search (yes, all of them - I'm a little crazy). :)

Don

[LONE-STAR]

I like POI-Factory.com a lot - it's clearly the best POI site out there. But I think we want to keep this file MouseSavers exclusive. It's pretty MouseSavers-centric. I put in all the on-property stuff you might want to drive to, but the only off-property locations are the ones that Mary recommends or mentions on the MouseSavers site. (Which is a fairly large number, as it turns out, between the grocery stores, drugstores, some restaurants, non-Disney entertainment, etc. - I didn't know what I was getting into when I started this!)

There is actually a WDW file on POI-Factory which is pretty darn good. I looked at it before I started mine, to see if there was any need to make a new one. I think mine is a teensy bit more complete for the on-property, and has more off-property and Universal locations, but really that one on POI-Factory is good as well.

There are some other POI files out there for WDW, but most are either only useful for walking, because they put the POI location on the building and not on the driveway, or completely inaccurate, or incomplete.

If anyone using the file has suggestions, comments, or questions, I'm always happy to get feedback. I especially want to know if you feel like there's a point that could be in a better place. About 95% of them were checked in person by me, driving around Orlando with two GPS units suction-cupped to the windshield and another GPS on the passenger seat. But a few I couldn't get to before I had to leave, or added after my last trip, so they're positioned using Google Earth, Google Maps, and Windows Live Search (yes, all of them - I'm a little crazy). :)

Don

You dont live near disney

[dmunsil]

Thanks for the effort Don. I have the POI's loaded on my Nuvi 260, and the installation was seamless. I'm looking forward to trying them out in a couple of weeks when we fly down and stay in our DVC resort.

Really appreciated the effort,installed them on my Garmin 660 and it works really well

That's great to hear! Thanks for the kind words.

You dont live near disney

Nope, I live in Kirkland, Washington (near Seattle). I went down to WDW in early December with Mary on a part-vacation/part-business trip. She needed to do some hotel inspections and stuff and I did my GPS checks.

I kinda wish I lived near WDW. The distance is definitely a hardship. But I think I'm more suited to the Pacific Northwest. It adds contrast when I go down to Orlando in the middle of winter and it's 70 degrees outside. :)

Don

[DznyRulz]

Don,

I downloaded the zip file. You've put together an excellent package. It took me a little time to find it. I'd ask your sister to give you more prominent placement so it would be easier to find. The page you've put together should have its own link under More Information.

[JPG]

Great work, Don! I was thrilled to find them on the Mousesaver's website. I loaded them onto my Garmin StreetPilot c330 without a problem. They seem to be working fine. I look forward to using them on our upcoming trip to WDW this summer. Again, great work, and thanks alot!

[dmunsil]

You're welcome, and thanks for the compliments.

If you're going this summer, you might want to check the GPS page before you leave and re-download the files. I plan to incorporate feedback from users into the files as needed. I have a few tiny tweaks already, just minor name and address issues, that I'll be merging in sometime this week. And I'm going to try to keep up with Mary, so when she recommends a new place I can get it into the GPS file right away.

Have a great trip!

Don

[MrJimmyDale]

Heading to MouseSavers now........

[JCJRSmith]

Thank you Don. The files incorporated nicely into my TomTom One XL.

[Duane]

We tried out Don's POI file when we went back in February, and they worked like a champ. We pretty much know our way around WDW, but it was fun to see how the GPS routed us.

[bora63]

Hi all, I'm not sure if anyone can help with this. I borrowed a Garmin nuvi 600/650 from my friend to take with me on my first trip to WDW. I keep trying to setup POP as one of my favorites, but the address and hotel just won't show up!!! I tried under lodging, i tried spelling the name, different cities, disney, pop -- all won't work. Can anybody think of a reason why? I would really appreciate any feedback.

[Diamond Girl]

Hi, I'm the guy who created these. I'm Don Munsil; Mary Waring (the creator of MouseSavers) is my sister. It's exactly the issues you mention that made me want to create these POIs. The points for Disney World that come with GPS units are way off from where you'd want to go, in many cases. They're not perfect anywhere else either, but the ones in Disney World are really bad. I think it's because a lot of the places in Disney World either have no address or a kind of fanciful address that isn't necessarily clearly marked.

I hope folks will get some value out of them; they're completely free. I just did them because I'm a Disney fan (and GPS nerd). Or is it GPS fan and Disney nerd? :) I did use them in WDW when I was there last month, and I can attest that they work, at least with my Garmin Nuvi 360 and TomTom Go 510.


Best,
Don

Thanks a lot, Don. We have a trip planned for this coming August and we will definitely install the POIs on our Tom Tom One Third Edition.

[Us3]

I love my Tom Tom...and thanks Don for the WDW POI file! :thumbsup2

[clkelley]

Hi all, I'm not sure if anyone can help with this. I borrowed a Garmin nuvi 600/650 from my friend to take with me on my first trip to WDW. I keep trying to setup POP as one of my favorites, but the address and hotel just won't show up!!! I tried under lodging, i tried spelling the name, different cities, disney, pop -- all won't work. Can anybody think of a reason why? I would really appreciate any feedback.

The unit only has stuff that was programmed into it when it was created. You would have to download updated maps to get the latest information.

OR

If the unit has some type of software or way to plug in actual longitude and latitude coordinates, then it could find the place. My Magellan 760 has a Custom POI software manager. If it doesn't have a place or address in it's database, I go to Google Earth and find the place and get the exact coordinates.

I then input that into the software, attach my unit to a USB cable from my computer, and instantly, my unit then knows how to get to those coordinates.

GPS units get their signal from an active satelite that tells it where the unit is at the point, but the maps are loaded into the unit like software, and only change when new information is added.

For example, my last trip, the highway I was on had some new construction and was widened and rerouted some. For awhile there even though I knew I was on this highway, my unit thought I was in the middle of nowhere.

[DznyRulz]

Hi all, I'm not sure if anyone can help with this. I borrowed a Garmin nuvi 600/650 from my friend to take with me on my first trip to WDW. I keep trying to setup POP as one of my favorites, but the address and hotel just won't show up!!! I tried under lodging, i tried spelling the name, different cities, disney, pop -- all won't work. Can anybody think of a reason why? I would really appreciate any feedback.

I just looked this up on a co-workers 600 (I have the 350). It looks to me like the Pop is not in the POI list. Even the All-Star Movies is not listed but the other two All-Star resorts are listed. One thing to keep in mind, it can take a couple of years for some POIs to show up or be removed. Why these places are there or not there is anybody's guess.

Here is a way you can locate it:

1. Select "Where to?"
2. Press the down arrow
3. Select "Coordinates"
4. Select the "Format" option
5. Select the third option - h ddd.ddddd
6. Select "OK"
7. In the "N" field, select to change
8. Delete what is there
9. Enter 28.35044, select OK
10. In the "W" field, select to change
11. Delete what is there
12. Enter 81.5451, select OK
13. Select "Next"
14. On the Coordinates screen you can select "Show Map" to see the location, select "Save" to save the location with a name you supply or select "Go!" to get a route calculated.

Mention to your friend that they should download the GPS file from MouseSavers (http://www.mousesavers.com/gps.html) (referenced above) and/or POI Factory to get all the Disney resorts and restaurants.

Interestingly enough I just tried to find the Pop on another co-workers Magellan Maestro and it was there. Like I said, go figure. :confused3

[Minnie's Mate]

I'm going to show my technology disability here, but as I mentioned in an earlier post, I have two Fords with factory navigation systems. Can these POI's be down loaded or entered someway into these systems? I haven't taken the time to read the manual and become familiar with the units...my bad, but I will look it up if there is. I just have been really busy in my "spare" time.

[Duane]

Minnie, I too have the Ford nav system. There is no way to add a POI file to the unit.

[clkelley]

Minnie, I too have the Ford nav system. There is no way to add a POI file to the unit.

Got a question though, once you get somewhere does it have a "locate" button (or something similar), when you can then save the location for future reference?? (My next truck will be the V8 Sport Trac with the built-in Nav)

[Minnie's Mate]

Got a question though, once you get somewhere does it have a "locate" button (or something similar), when you can then save the location for future reference?? (My next truck will be the V8 Sport Trac with the built-in Nav)

Yes, there are a couple of ways to do that. One is to add current location to address book and another is to add the current location as a POI or as a destination (I don't understand that one, once you're there, why do you need to know how to get there! :lmao: ). But, you can add it as a POI, but you are there when you do. I wasn't sure about the memory features and if you could add a file some way or not. You can also add bread crumbs. I totally don't understand that one and I did look that up on the internet.

While the Ford unit doesn't have all the options that the mobile units have, it is a good unit IMHO. One feature that was important to me is that I park in downtown Atlanta and my previous truck (also an F-250) had been broken into several times so I wanted a built in unit so I wouldn't have to worry about it being stolen or having to "hide" it every time I parked. BTW, I did have an after market security system installed in both the previous truck and my current truck.

[clkelley]

Yes, there are a couple of ways to do that. One is to add current location to address book and another is to add the current location as a POI or as a destination (I don't understand that one, once you're there, why do you need to know how to get there! :lmao: ).

I find that feature helpful, because street addresses are sometimes "off" a bit and things like National Parks, State Parks, and other places usually give you the address of the main entrance and I'm really heading to a campground well inside the area. Once I'm there the first time I can hit "locate" and program it in, and then the unit takes me directly there on future trips. Also, for example, my Magellan was taking me to what it thought was the closest Wal-Mart in Orlando and I passed another one on the way there, so I pulled in and hit "locate" and now I know how to get to the closest Wal-Mart. Also, If I'm driving down the road and see a sign for someplace I want to visit in the future, I can take a short detour, find the exact location, and program it in for future reference.

Anyway, thanks for the info!!!

[Minnie's Mate]

I did try to add the current location as a destination once and it gave me an error message.

There is a good selection of POI's in the system. We find restaurants and grocery stores on trips with ours. You can also add POI's which is good, but you have to be at the POI to enter it...at least that is the only way I have found unless maybe you have the address and just add it to the address book. I added the check-in at FW as a current address into the address book because the location in the system was for the parking lot.

We plan to move in a few months so I felt it was a good idea to have Navigation systems in both vehicles so we could start learning our way once we relocate. Even though I have lived in Atlanta for 23 years, the city has grown so much that there are parts of town that I'm not overly familiar with and I am currently consulting with the City of Atlanta and have to go to those areas with some of my projects and the GPS has proven invaluable. I can't imagine moving to a new city and not having one.

[bora63]

I just looked this up on a co-workers 600 (I have the 350). It looks to me like the Pop is not in the POI list. Even the All-Star Movies is not listed but the other two All-Star resorts are listed. One thing to keep in mind, it can take a couple of years for some POIs to show up or be removed. Why these places are there or not there is anybody's guess.

Here is a way you can locate it:

1. Select "Where to?"
2. Press the down arrow
3. Select "Coordinates"
4. Select the "Format" option
5. Select the third option - h ddd.ddddd
6. Select "OK"
7. In the "N" field, select to change
8. Delete what is there
9. Enter 28.35044, select OK
10. In the "W" field, select to change
11. Delete what is there
12. Enter 81.5451, select OK
13. Select "Next"
14. On the Coordinates screen you can select "Show Map" to see the location, select "Save" to save the location with a name you supply or select "Go!" to get a route calculated.

Mention to your friend that they should download the GPS file from MouseSavers (http://www.mousesavers.com/gps.html) (referenced above) and/or POI Factory to get all the Disney resorts and restaurants.

Interestingly enough I just tried to find the Pop on another co-workers Magellan Maestro and it was there. Like I said, go figure. :confused3

Thank you so so very much Chris! I followed your directions and added it to my favorites so crossing my fingers now and hoping for the best!

[2goofycampers]

here is the new updated down load from mousesavers poi some have been waiting for. http://www.mousesavers.com/gps.html

[Us3]

Very cool, thanks for posting. I can't tell you how well the POI's worked for us! I don't like to drive much while at WDW, but for the few times that we did drive (and for the one time that we left Disney property)...it was awesome! Even if I did know how to get there, I still set the route just to see if it took us in the same direction we normally drive! :thumbsup2

[BigDaddyRog]

bumping this because I found using these GPS directions got us around in a slighly different way than following Disney signs, and actually saved us a considerable amount of time. Disney sends you the way they want you to go...for sightseeing purposes....these directions get you there quickly and legally.

[incoo]

I used your excellent work on my Nuvi 680 and the routing and poi"s were a tremendous help and was seamless in installation.Thank you:thumbsup2 :worship:

[Shan-man]

I just wanted to interject a word of caution: some GPS systems do not have very detailed information on WDW roads. This file is just the destinations and it is up to the GPS system to determine the route. When using my Mom's system in her late-model Buick, it wanted to route us down some bus- and cast-only roads, and even the wrong way on a one way. Just use with caution.

[2goofycampers]

A good read on GPS at WDW

http://www.mousesavers.com/gps.html

[clkelley]

I just wanted to interject a word of caution: some GPS systems do not have very detailed information on WDW roads. This file is just the destinations and it is up to the GPS system to determine the route. When using my Mom's system in her late-model Buick, it wanted to route us down some bus- and cast-only roads, and even the wrong way on a one way. Just use with caution.

My Magellan 760 does the same thing inside Disney.

[armadafrfs]

I am going to try to load these for my TomTom now. I was surprised that it was not in the POI load to begin with since other campgrounds in the area are loaded. For those of you with TomToms that did see Ft. Wilderness already in the system, how did you find it?

[2goofycampers]

updated POI


http://www.mousesavers.com/gps.html#mousesaverspoi

[2goofycampers]

updated 12/18/2010


http://www.mousesavers.com/gps.html#mousesaverspoi