Honey! We are leaving them at home!

[minnie mum]

We will have our phones with us, since we drive down. But they are only for emergencies. On all of our past trips they have stayed in the room safe. Now that there is WiFi in the parks we MIGHT bring one with us only to check the lines app, but that will be it. No emails, facebook, twitter or game playing. We've each got a camera and a watch (I know!- I feel like a fossil sometimes). If we want to keep in touch with family, we can get online when we get back to the resort at night. No wonder the battery on our phone lasts so long!

 

[UConnFan]

We're turning ours to airplane mode. I want to use our iPhones for recording video and I think it's important to have them for emergencies, but I do want to disconnect this trip.

 

[disneydad78]

We're turning ours to airplane mode. I want to use our iPhones for recording video and I think it's important to have them for emergencies, but I do want to disconnect this trip.

I agree. We drive a rental car, and I always plan for emergencies. We take them, and we nolonger own watches because our cell phones have a clock on them. Wife and I never have understood why people put every sec of there day on facebook.

 

[KristiKat]

I'm going to say you are very brave, I could never do it. I'm not one of those people you see on the phone texting, talking and facebooking all the time but I need it for things like taking quick pictures or video. Using the Lines app as some have stated already. I also keep copies of reservations and stuff on my phone so I don't have to carry around papers for proof if needed. I'm also one of those parents that takes a pic of the kids in case something happens and I panic and can't remember what they are wearing.

 

[dizzneebabe]

The new My Disney Experience App is awesome and now that it's available, I can't imagine not using it! We just got back yesterday and I used it constantly to update our party on lines in and around the other parks (when contemplating hopping). With nexgen (not sure if that is the exact name) on the horizon, the smart phones are going to become invaluable in making the most of your time.

I also used it to clock our mileage via Nike app. It was fun knowing we logged 7-8 miles+ each day!

My DH kept tabs on work email...yes it's vacation, but he felt much better keeping on top of things.

Also,being able to send pics to friends/family at home via messaging or FB is great for us. Not to mention, our DSs were at home still in school and holding down the fort. They are 18 and almost 20. We could never be out of contact.

To each his own, I guess! Enjoy your time "off!"

 

[Jennasis]

The phone comes with at all times. DH does not have a phone. Just me. Well he HAS one, but it stays in his car 24/7. We own a business and must be available for emergencies 24/7 even when on vacation. LUCKILY, on our trip 3 weeks ago there was nary a peep from the phone as it sat snuggled in my pocket. I was happy to use it only for GPS purposes on the drive down to and around Orlando, and for the Disney app to check on wait times and FP returns.

 

[jenrose66]

So after much pondering and planning and wondering... my wife and I have decided that our smartphones are not coming on the trip with us.

The more I thought about it the more it became apparent to me that the phones would only pose as a distraction between us and the time being spent with our boys. Why are we going to Disney World in the first place I asked myself? We are going to Disney World to escape from the reality of our everyday life. Do we really need access to the "outside" world while we are on vacation? We don't have jobs, blogs, or any last minute deals that require us to have our phones with us at all times. Why would we even consider bringing the phones with us? Especially considering the ridiculous trouble it becomes when crossing the border into the US.

Everywhere I go I see parents with their kids and the parent is "zoned" out on their phones practically ignoring the child. I myself have been guilty of this. So has my wife. Another scenario I see is both parents on their phones, little Sally is texting and little Johnny is on the DS and they are all the same table having a meal at McDonald's.

We are taking our kids to the Happiest Place On Earth and if you think I'm going to risk a single moment of their... actually OUR experiences together as a family because I need to check peoples tweets or Facebook status then you would be mistaken.

The phones they are staying at home. On this trip I'm packing my undivided attention because that is what my boys deserve.

Have any of you ever considered leaving your smartphones at home? Or do you believe you can't live without them? I'm not saying its going to be easy. I'm already panicking that I won't have the Lines App with me. But then again people back in the day didn't either.

Good for you! DH and I don't even have smart phones...I can't bring myself to pay the outrageous prices for data

We were just having the same conversation the other night. We were out on a rare date, at a concert, and everyone there was busy recording on their phones or playing with something...and it's like, whatever happened to being present in the moment?

 

[Alice1386]

1) I wish more people felt like you.
2) You are on vacation and very few people need phones in the parks.
3) BRAVO.

Couldn't agree more with this

On our last trip I really noticed how many people seem to be absolutely attached to their phones. We had our phones on silent and refused to bring them out unless one of us got separated. We spent more time talking and enjoying every moment... Even the boring waiting in line ones and even made some new friends in line!

 

[luvmy2babies]

Have fun with that. I'm not going anywhere without my cell phone.

I do store information in it (ADR confirmation numbers, etc.) and I like to keep in touch with people at home. I also have it as a back up camera and it came in handy on our last trip when I forgot to recharge my digital camera overnight and the battery died in the middle of our day at DHS.

It's also my point of contact on the off chance I am separated from either of my children. My daughter has my cell phone number inside a bracelet she wears when we go there and she has instructions to have a CM call me if we are seprated. We got separated on our last trip and when I found her she was handing a CM her bracelet. My son is younger so he wears one that says "If I'm lost, look under my bracelet." My number is underneath.

Since you are traveling with children I would suggest you consider how someone would contact you if you got separated. Maybe grab a prepaid disposable you can use.

I've also invited my parents on our next trip and we won't stick together the entire time so we'll need to keep in touch.

 

[wahoostampingirl]

Our trip in Nov. will be the first time I'll have an iPhone and I'm very excited about it. We're the family that you see at a restaurant where everyone has a device in their hand. I probably text my dh more than I talk to him!

In all seriousness, I can understand the desire to disconnect while on vacation. I don't check my e-mail while on vacation, but I will be using the Lines App and taking pictures with my phone. My dh checks in with a work a few times while we are away. I guess the phones aren't necessary, but they sure are nice to have.

 

[LisaCat]

While I would love to leave the phone at home, I am going solo, so I need it to keep in touch with the spouse.

 

[QueenElinor]

Traveling internationally with a smartphone can be a financial disaster since roaming fees can run into the thousands of dollars, so I would definitely agree with leaving them home in your situation. I don't know exactly how it is from north of the border but I've read about Americans getting hundreds of dollars in fees just from going to Niagra Falls, and having their phones locking onto cell towers in Canada!

I have an unlocked "dumb" phone I got from National Geographic for foreign travel, but my friend deliberately disables her iphone so it's basically an itouch when she goes to Europe, and she buys a regular phone over there to text & call with.

Regarding the time & attention issue, in the past we've made the kids leave their game boys and computers. I was going to give them their smartphones before we left for Disney, but this thread has made me rethink that. They'll get them for Christmas- when we get back!

I do want them to have their old phones to text & call with since they are old enough to explore Disney on their own, and won't be with us all the time. My daughter and husband are photo buffs and have Canon digital cameras, so we don't need phones for that, either.

 

[ogreenlee]

My iPhone has been a godsend. I have a terrible memory. I set reminders for everything, and my phone constantly dings at the right time. I travel internationally a lot and I just turn off roaming and phone services. It's a handy device. I hate talking on the phone, so turning off that feature doesn't bother me.

 

[bumbershoot]

Although I *have* a smartphone, it's mainly just a phone that looks the way that makes my eyes happy (and feels good in the hand). The old dumb phones don't meet those specifications for me. My upgrade time has just showed up, and I'm getting an iphone4 because it meets those for the most part. DH just upgraded to an HTC from a Blackberry, and so while my data will go up by $10, his will go down by $10, and it'll be the same. (and he HAS TO have his for work, so they pay his plan, woo!)

Anyway, all that was saying that I don't really USE the phone while in the parks. But it's hard to imagine not having it. I've had an almost dead battery while going solo and I didn't like the feeling.

I enjoyed being able to take pictures and communicate with family and friends via facebook, instagram, etc who weren't on the trip with us. It was a good way to preserve memories and keep in touch.

So no, I will not leave my phone at home next time I go.

DH did that once or twice during our recent Anaheim trip, and it made his/our friends on his FB happy!

I don't even know what people are doing with those "smart" phones besides alienating themselves from the real world & other humans beings.

I imagine they aren't watching other families and deciding that they are alienating themselves. Since they are likely texting to other humans that they love, or posting pictures of their loved ones so their friends and families can see, etc etc.

Just because they don't want to stare back at the ones without the phones who are watching others doesn't mean they are alienating themselves from other humans.

That's great if you think it will provide a more relaxing vacation, but I can tell you that I would never leave my phone at home, especially after what happened on our last WDW trip. We had a family emergency back home and without my phone, I would not have been able to keep in touch, but also not upset the kids by having to leave. After that trip, I learned to never judge because you just never know.....

Yep yep. In September my MIL had 3 series of ministrokes. Her life, and ours, have changed forever. I'm the one mainly in charge of her care, as I'm "at home" (ha!) and have some medical knowledge. My current phone has a really weak calendar application, and I'm hoping the iphone will be able to help me organize myself a bit more. Right now I have a calendar in my purse, info in my phone, and a big wall calendar that I try to update, but nothing yells at me to say "look at me and be remembered!". I almost missed her neurologist appt yesterday because of the chaos. So I hope I can use the smartER phone to help me.

And our phones were on and nearly duct taped to our ears during our recent Anaheim trip, in case she had an emergency, or if her Home Health nurse needed to call (MIL doesn't like speaking English on the phone with strangers), or the anti-coagulation clinic needed to let me know of changes in her warfarin, I absolutely positively had to get that call.

How will you know what the temperature is going to be in four hours?

And very relevant during our recent Anaheim trip. 102 wasn't fair *in October*! But at least we knew about it ahead of time.

I'm also one of those parents that takes a pic of the kids in case something happens and I panic and can't remember what they are wearing.

Again referencing our very recent disneyland trip, DS decided to go against the rules (and he is now facing the consequences since we're home...we don't really punish AT Disney, but he gets a nice long consequence once home) and disappeared on Tom Sawyer Island on purpose. Once we finally decided he had been gone too long and sent one parent off to look, I know that my mind was racing, trying to remember what on earth he was wearing. KNowing he had blue shorts on wasn't a great help. Knowing he was wearing his grey Kali River Rapids shirt, however, was, because how many other kids *in Anaheim* are wearing those, right? I finally realized I had a pic on my camera, but had to scroll back to see it. if I'd taken a picture on my phone that morning it would have been *right there*. Silly me.

 

[bumbershoot]

Something I noticed was how LOUD the lines are, and how I could barely hear my beloved family when we were waiting in lines! I wished my battery were better and DS had a phone, so I could have texted them while in line, since I couldn't hear them very well!

 

[parkhopping]

I always have my iPhone with me at Disney for the following reasons:

1) I'm local-ish and am only ever gone for the day. I need to be able to tell my roommate about what time I'll be getting back, and if I'm driving, it's a necessity in case the car breaks down. Plus it's my music for the drive
2) It's my camera
3) It has my parks app for wait times, fireworks schedules, etc.
4) It's nice to pass the time waiting in line or for fireworks by checking Twitter or playing a short game
5) It helps me communicate with others in my party if we split up

That said, I don't think I use my phone any more or less at Disney than I do anywhere else. I am not glued to it, but it is handy. Kudos to you for wanting to focus on spending quality time with your family and doing whatever you deem necessary to achieve this! I think it's great that you're determined not to become more attached to electronics than to your kids

 

[elleherself]

We were just having the same conversation the other night. We were out on a rare date, at a concert, and everyone there was busy recording on their phones or playing with something...and it's like, whatever happened to being present in the moment?

I agree with this. At 27, I really feel like my generation is losing a lot of the experience when these kind of things happen. And they invariably do. Like your grainy, terrible-sounding cell phone video is something anyone is ever going to care about. Meanwhile you were so busy watching through your screen.

I am one of the ones who does feel something is lost when you are constantly looking at a screen. Checking the time, checking the weather, checking the lines, checking in on facebook... it's tedious. Believe me I love my laptop, but I know when a computer belongs at home. By nature a smartphone is taking your attention away from the here and now and into the over there and later. I've traveled with a smartphone addict a number of times and never once did they realize how much their smartphone use was affecting the experiences of the people with them.

It's a whole new technological world, but I believe people need to think critically about whether these things are helping or hindering our memories. Good for you for thinking about how you are affecting (and setting examples for) your children.

 

[Mickeyrella]

We always always always take our smartphones with us, we are not that obsessed that we have to leave them home to not use them (Not saying that this is your case OP! but we do have friends that are that crazy lol). We think we need phones if an emergency happens (God forbids). We are a big group and sometimes we like doing different things, so we need phones to communicate. However, we never zone out, we only use our phones when we need to use them.

 

[PixiDust04]

I can admit I am sort of addicted to my iPhone. But it's like some of the previous posters have mentioned: I know when to put it away and just enjoy myself, but I feel better having it on me in case I truly need it. And when we get stuck in a line or are just riding the bus back to the resort, I see nothing wrong with playing a little game or checking my FB page. Those are not moments I really need to focus on, so I don't see anything wrong with it. I also love my wait times app.

My mom and I actually had a lot of fun the last two trips as we raced each other to see who could "check in" at each ride the fastest using the Foursquare app! I know it sounds so stupid to a lot of people, but we really enjoyed it! So technology and smart phones don't always distance people from one another.

I do remember what it was like at WDW when I was younger though, and people didn't really have phones or anything. It's true we lived without them but times change and technology is becoming a bigger part of our lives whether we choose to accept it or not. I will say, however, that it does bother me when kids have their DS/3DS or other portable consoles with them in the parks. It's DISNEY WORLD for heaven's sake -- why would you go there and miss out on all of the wonderful magic because you can't stop gaming? That I will never understand. Play the DS in the hotel room, or better yet, enjoy a night at DisneyQuest!

 

[Planogirl]

DS and I both brought our phones but mine rarely left the hotel room and DS only took his in case we needed to look something up. He was having way too much fun to spend his time online.