2-Way Radios at Disney???

[1000th happy haunt]

My husband and I frequently travel to Disney (both coasts) with friends. To keep in touch we tend to use our cell phones, which really eats up my anytime minutes during the trips.

I'm thinking about buying walkie-talkies for both families. Are the wavelengths really crowded at the parks? Any suggestions for a good brand and model? I've noticed that some models have privacy codes. Does this cut down on excess chatter?

 

[Robo]

My husband and I frequently travel to Disney (both coasts) with friends. To keep in touch we tend to use our cell phones, which really eats up my anytime minutes during the trips.

I'm thinking about buying walkie-talkies for both families. Are the wavelengths really crowded at the parks? Any suggestions for a good brand and model? I've noticed that some models have privacy codes. Does this cut down on excess chatter?

This is a very frequently asked question here.

When the parks are busy, the radio frequencies are very full.
Although some here have found that the FRS 2-ways work fine for them, others complain that the thick chatter is hard to overcome.

In general, if you need to RELY on the communication, use cel phones.
If it is just a convenience and not critical, you can try FRS 2-ways.
Motorola is popular.

Do a SEARCH here and find more.

 

[snugglepeas]

if your going to use walkie talkies, dont get the one's that just have 14 channels get the one's that have 14 channels and 38 sub channels the sub channel help, it alot easier to find a clear channel, more choices.

 

[bscs]

The 1st time we went we tried using 2 way radios. ($100Motorola kind) It was more fustrating than anything. My dh and I ended up fighting after we met back up about "you weren't doing it right no you weren't" now I realize it's just way too much interference in the Parks. Now we stick together it's a family vacation anyway.

 

[slp87]

We've used ours on trip to both WDW & DL with our most recent use at a very busy DL over Thanksgiving and we've never had problems. We use Motorola Talkabouts with subchannels that we bought 6 years ago. When we're paging the other person, we always push the call button first and wait for the response. There have been only 3 or 4 times that we've had someone on our channel and we just tell each other to go to the backup, which is DDs birthday. We don't split up a lot, so they're perfect for our needs. We don't have big enough cell phone plans and would spend an arm & leg using them. I would definitely play around with them before you take off. We use them on all our trips now.

 

[GoofyDad869]

We found walkie-talkies to be more trouble than they were worth in-park. We usually go in mid-busy times (late May-early June & mid Oct.) and we were always having to switch channels around because of other conversations breaking in. They work very, very well if you're caravanning with multiple cars on the way there and back (So-and-so's eyeballs are floating - get off NOW!!!, that sort of thing).

 

[Meagansmom]

We have always used our Motorola Talkabout FR60's numerous times. They work great! We wouldn't go without them. The past three times we used them were in June. No problems here!

 

[wright1baby]

We usually use the walkie-talkies (Motorola) at local amusment parks, but opted not to at WDW because of the reasons stated above. We used our cell phones instead-we have a really good cell plan, family to family free! What we didn't realize was if we were BOTH out of our home calling area there would be a charge. What a surprise we had when we got that cell bill!! $250! (normally $70) Be sure to check with your plan!!

 

[Robo]

As you can see from the posts, what I said first is correct...
Some folks say the FRS radios work WELL at WDW, some say they DON'T.

Its about a 50-50 split.

The FRS radios these days are getting VERY inexpensive as most people are getting/using cel phones (much more RANGE, much more reliable).

If you can find a low enough price (on units with the 30+ "channels") you can try your own experiment.

 

[Steamboat Bill]

I have tried the radios, but they are not too reliable. Just use a cell phone with a service like cingular that lets you call family free.