Calling to and from WDW resorts?

[maggieb9975]

I have a Bell calling card and wondering how to use it at Disney Resorts? or what is best way to call home ?

Thanks!

 

[disneyfreak89]

According to Allears (http://allears.net/acc/phoninfo.htm), ALL calls incur at least 75 cents when calling out from your resort room phone. I've used a calling card in the past, and have gone to the lobby and used a pay phone so I wouldn't be charged anything from my room.

You could use your cell phone but depending on what your plan allows, it might be cheaper just to use the calling card......OR if its family you need to talk to, you could always TEXT them to call YOU at your room.....most plans offer unlimited long distance or 10 cents a minute.....so it would be cheaper in the long run.....

 

[Mickey&JoshNut]

When we are at WDW (or travelling anywhere else) I use my Bell Calling Card. I call the 1-800-555-1111 number, which is free from your WDW resort room phone and then enter my Bell calling card number and then the phone number I am calling and the charges appear on my home Bell bill. You are charged the same as if you had made the long distance call from your home, you even can get the time of day discounts.

 

[Mickey&JoshNut]

For some reason I cannot edit my post above.

I wanted to clarify that calls to a toll free number (1-800 or 1-888 numbers) is free from your resort room phone. I think you dial 8 first - the instructions are on the phone. We were never charged anything and I made about 10 calls when we were there at the beginning of September.

 

[maggieb9975]

Thanks everyone!

 

[disneyfreak89]

I wanted to clarify that calls to a toll free number (1-800 or 1-888 numbers) is free from your resort room phone.

According to Allears:

Your hotel phone works this way:

Every call will cost you at least 75¢
Calling local, dial a 9 first

Calling long distance, dial an 8 first (and yes, Kissimmee is long distance, sorry, we didn't draw the line)

Calling an 800 number, dial 8 first, then the 1-800 and the rest from there (and yes, this costs 75¢, too)

I remember wanting to make a call from my room with my calling card, and it said right on the phone that I would be charged 75 cents regardless of how I made that call so I opted to go to the lobby. Just a heads up.

 

[Mickey&JoshNut]

According to Allears:

Your hotel phone works this way:

Every call will cost you at least 75¢
Calling local, dial a 9 first

Calling long distance, dial an 8 first (and yes, Kissimmee is long distance, sorry, we didn't draw the line)

Calling an 800 number, dial 8 first, then the 1-800 and the rest from there (and yes, this costs 75¢, too)

I remember wanting to make a call from my room with my calling card, and it said right on the phone that I would be charged 75 cents regardless of how I made that call so I opted to go to the lobby. Just a heads up.

I do not want to get into an argument about this but unfortunately AllEars in incorrect on this as we are just back from WDW and I can attest to the fact that we received no charges for telephone use on our room statement for either local calls or calling the 1-800-555-1111 number in order to use my Bell calling Card.

I have used my Bell calling card during each visit to WDW in 2007 & 2008 and have not incurred a charge on our room for using the phone as long as I followed the instructions for calling the toll free numbers. All local calls are free from your resort phone - it tells you this right on your phone and trust me I called many friends to arrange dinners, meeting up etc and there were no phone charges on our room statement. Just so you know, there are calls that do incur charges but not local calls or toll free calls, just follow the instructions either on your resort phone or on the printed instructions by your resort room phone.

I know in the past Disney used to charge for phone calls but I know we did not incur any charges for either local calls or toll free calls during our stays in January 2007, May 2007, October 2007, December 2007, August 2008 or September 2008.

(edited to add: I just checked and the AllEars information quoted above by disneyfreak89 is from December 2003 - my information is from earlier this month)

 

[mollyseven]

We stayed at CBR in January this year and at POR for March Break this year and both times I used a phone card I purchased at Loblaws/Independant/No frills (can't remember which one) anyhow....I bought a 10$ card and long distance was like 4cents a minute. It was perfect. I used it from our room for both visits and never had to pay anything for telephone use. I just dialed the 1800 # and followed the steps on the back of the card....Neither of these resorts charge for this phone usage.
Plus this was wayyyy cheaper than using my bell calling card....I did that our first trip and would never pay those costs again.
Have fun and check out the calling cards at your local grocery store....or walmart has them too.

 

[digskat]

Are you driving?
Does your vechicle have Onstar capabilites? Apparently you can call onstar and just have the phone option put on the vechicle for your trip. Roaming fees are free. This is how I plan to call home. Take care Kathy

 

[disneyfreak89]

I do not want to get into an argument about this but unfortunately AllEars in incorrect on this as we are just back from WDW and I can attest to the fact that we received no charges for telephone use on our room statement for either local calls or calling the 1-800-555-1111 number in order to use my Bell calling Card.

I have used my Bell calling card during each visit to WDW in 2007 & 2008 and have not incurred a charge on our room for using the phone as long as I followed the instructions for calling the toll free numbers. All local calls are free from your resort phone - it tells you this right on your phone and trust me I called many friends to arrange dinners, meeting up etc and there were no phone charges on our room statement. Just so you know, there are calls that do incur charges but not local calls or toll free calls, just follow the instructions either on your resort phone or on the printed instructions by your resort room phone.

I know in the past Disney used to charge for phone calls but I know we did not incur any charges for either local calls or toll free calls during our stays in January 2007, May 2007, October 2007, December 2007, August 2008 or September 2008.

(edited to add: I just checked and the AllEars information quoted above by disneyfreak89 is from December 2003 - my information is from earlier this month)

Thanks for the updated info. I've trusted Allears for years to have updated info, but they've dropped the ball on this one.

 

[MaryannF]

Last year my husband told me to use the room phone to call home using our Bell calling card. I was worried about room charges, he didn't feel like walking down to the lobby to use the pay phone. It was late and I wanted to check in at home as my dd had a late night class at UofT and was going home alone by subway. I followed the instructions in the room and dialed the 1-800 number connecting me with the Bell Canada network. We did not have any phone charges added to our resort bill. The long distance charges showed up on our home phone bill and did not seem unreasonable. After years of walking down to the lobby to use the pay phone because I too thought that I would be charged for using the phone in the room.
On a different note... I have always left our itinerary with the kids so they know where and how to reach us. Last year the phone rang in the room and I immediately thought that something was wrong at home. It was my son phoning to ask if there was any thyme in the house as he was making supper and was trying out a new recipe that required thyme! My husband says that next year we won't be leaving an itinerary.

 

[maggieb9975]

We stayed at CBR in January this year and at POR for March Break this year and both times I used a phone card I purchased at Loblaws/Independant/No frills (can't remember which one) anyhow....I bought a 10$ card and long distance was like 4cents a minute. It was perfect. I used it from our room for both visits and never had to pay anything for telephone use. I just dialed the 1800 # and followed the steps on the back of the card....Neither of these resorts charge for this phone usage.
Plus this was wayyyy cheaper than using my bell calling card....I did that our first trip and would never pay those costs again.
Have fun and check out the calling cards at your local grocery store....or walmart has them too.

Great Idea! I like it a lot...thanks