Apple airport express

[BeagleMom]

I would like to use my IPAD in my DVC room. Has anyone ever used the airport express for wireless Internet?

 

[JRDisneyFan]

We used our IPAD on our stay at BLT in June. It worked great. Just configure the Airport Express at home. When you get to the room, just plug it in. After the IPAD recognizes it, just follow the onscreen instructions to connect to Disney's internet.

 

[jstarcze]

I use my Airport express at disney all the time. Just do as JRDisneyFan suggests and configure the router at home and confirm it's working and you should be fine.

 

[erionm]

I also take an AirPort Express with us. I purchased mine as a 'refurbished' unit from the on-line Apple store and saved $30 off the price of a new one.

 

[dizzneebabe]

I also take an AirPort Express with us. I purchased mine as a 'refurbished' unit from the on-line Apple store and saved $30 off the price of a new one.

DITTO!

 

[JWG]

I also take an AirPort Express with us. I purchased mine as a 'refurbished' unit from the on-line Apple store and saved $30 off the price of a new one.

Us, too. Haven't taken it to Disney yet, but have it configured. Set it up at home (as recommended) so all of our "gizmos" will work with it. Looking forward to bringing it along on our next trip.

You can't beat the size for travel. It's a little pricey (we also purchased refurbished from Apple to save $30), but is a wireless - N router. We're a 2 laptop (one being work), 2 iPad (one being work), 2 smartphone family so having wireless will be a huge benefit. Especially since, with the exception of OKW, they put the hookup in the BR of the 1BR/2BR. We like to use our internet in the common space.

I downloaded an App to my andorid phone "Wireless Analyzer" (I'm sure there's one for iPhone as well) that will also help you setup your router to the best channel for improved speed. It finds all the wireless networks in range and tells you their channel and helps you determine the best channel to set your device to. I've run it at home, but with so few wireless networks in range it hasn't been that helpful. I'm sure at the resort with the number of people now bringing their own wireless routers, it may work well.

Last visit, we ended up using my phone as a wireless hotspot via "tether" instead of the high speed internet. We didn't like being corded to the far corner not able to sit on the couch or bed of our studio and unable to see the TV.

 

[BeagleMom]

Thanks for the helpful info. I have one more silly question. After I configure the express at home on my Mac, do I just plug it into an outlet and have access on my IPAD?

 

[erionm]

Thanks for the helpful info. I have one more silly question. After I configure the express at home on my Mac, do I just plug it into an outlet and have access on my IPAD?

Pretty much. Just make sure your iPad can connect while your are still at home just in case you need to tweek the setup. Once connected in the villa, you will need to accept Disney's terms before it will allow you to use the internet. There will be mention of the per 24 hour fee which is waived for members using their membership to stay at a DVC resort.

 

[jekjones1558]

Thanks for the helpful info. I have one more silly question. After I configure the express at home on my Mac, do I just plug it into an outlet and have access on my IPAD?

You will plug the AE into an outlet and use the ethernet cable provided in your villa to go from the high speed internet outlet in the villa wall to the AE. Then you should be ready to go. Just open a webpage on a browser on your laptop, smartphone, or other device and you will get a screen from Disney to accept their internet terms. The screen will say that internet is $9.95/24 hours but the fee is waived for DVC members. Accept the terms and you are good to go. You will have to login again every time you start a new session--kind of a pain.
One more hint: if you are typing a long e-mail, forum post or whatever, it is good to periodically copy it to your clipboard because the internet connections at WDW have been known to suddenly be interrupted. That way you will not lose everything you have typed.

 

[BeagleMom]

Thanks again for all of the help. I think it sounds simple.

 

[DonnaL]

We have both Airport Extreme and Airport Express set up in our home....Airport Extreme for our wireless and Airport Express as printer and music server. We don't want to disconnect either of those to take with us for travel with our iPad but will probably pick up a refurbed Express, so, in order for us to set up the travel Airport Express while still at home.....will we need to disconnect the Airport Extreme and Airport Express we use at home when setting up the travel one? Sorry....but, I'm not technology savvy at all and my DH seems to think it would be just best to wait until we're at our destination to set it up even though I've told him what everyone has been saying here on the Disboards about setting it up while still at home.

 

[mjstaceyuofm]

Donna - I think the best thing to do would be to disconnect (AND UNPLUG) the other ones before you set up the travel Airport Express. We have a Time Capsule (combination back-up hard drive and Airport Extreme) along with 2 Airport Expresses at our house. One of the AE's connects to our stereo to stream iTunes and the other is just plugged in upstairs and acts as an extender. Any time you just plug in a new device, if you have a network set up already it wants to use that device as a peripheral device (like an extender or a printer hub, etc.). You'll want to disconnect all the other devices and then plug in your travel AE to your internet connection and then set it up accordingly from your computer - name the network and device, give it a password, etc. and then have whatever devices (ie iPads, iPhones, laptops, Nintendo Wii's, etc.) you plan on using connect to it. Unplug it and take it with you and it should be ready to go in your room. Just plug it in and access the internet. You should get the Disney internet screen which gives all the disclaimers, etc... to pop up. Just accept and move forward.

Your husband is somewhat right - if your bringing a laptop, you could easily perform this set-up in a few minutes right inside the room. You'll need the airport utility program though to do this. You can't really do the set-up from an iPad or iPhone. So for those of you who are just bringing those, I believe you'll most definitely want to set up the Airport Express ahead of time.

I hope this helps.

 

[mjstaceyuofm]

Here's some more technical discussions on how to set up an Airport Express for travel:

Discussion #1

and apparently you can use set up 5 separate profiles for an airport express. So, one for travel, one for use as a print server/music router, one as a range extender, etc. That discussion is here.

 

[nerb]

I used my airport express during our recent stay at BWV. Worked great. Our room didn't have an ethernet cable, but luckily we brought our own...
Have fun!

 

[jekjones1558]

I used my airport express during our recent stay at BWV. Worked great. Our room didn't have an ethernet cable, but luckily we brought our own...
Have fun!

Glad your AE worked well. All DVC units are supposed to have an ethernet cable hanging in a closet in a bag. If it is missing just call mousekeeping and one will be brought to your villa.

 

[DonnaL]

Thank you mjstaceyuofm........for the detailed explanation how to set up our travel Airport Express....as I stated I am "not" very techno savvy at all and DH thinks he is (!)......so I'm quite sure your explanation will help us tremendously!!!! We used to be OK before our oldest son (who IS techno savvy) got married and moved away.....since he could do what we couldn't manage. I printed out your explanation and I'm quite sure we will need to make use of it.......

 

[mjstaceyuofm]

Glad I could help.

 

[Brandis]

I also used to bring an Airport Express, it worked in most hotels outside WDW but not at WDW.

I then bought a cheap Netlink WiFi Router and with that one I never had a problem. Added bonus of the Netlink is that you can access the setup menu over the air, which currently is not possible yet with the Airport Express.

 

[ddhoeg]

We used our airport express with multiple iPads in July at BCV/AKV/SSR and had absolutely no problems. Love, love, love the airport express!!