communicating in parks

[buzz for boys]

hi,
when we went to wdw five years ago we were advised to use walkie talkies to communicte with each other which was fine when the other person finally realised they had lost you!!
Im sure there has to be a better tip now we both have mobile phones but i believe our uk mobiles will cost a fortune to use
Any ideas anyone??

 

[paulh]

shouting loud works for dw when i carn`t find her
We usaly have a pre aranged meating point,or go to the last place you saw them
Paulh

 

[buzz for boys]

OK a meeting point will work granted but with 4 kids and different age ranges and interests there are going to be times when we split into 2 groups to avoid the time just hanging round attractions waiting for the others. I thought if we could call each other when we finished the ride and then meet up we have a fighting chance of keeping every one happy !! hope it makes more sense now x x

 

[nobodies36]

We went to Virgin in DTD and bought pay as you go mobiles (there were ones at about $10, but I got an internet enabled one) and took a $20 card and activated them online at DQ. They were great for this purpose and calling home. 3 weeks and we never used up all the credit. This year we will take the phones with us, buy more credit and re-activate them at DQ.

 

[Graeme]

We bought two of these from Walmart. 300 minutes was more than enough for a fortnight. (actually the phones were different but the price and network was the same. Really easy to activate from a hotel phone)

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10714716

 

[Beep]

We bought two of these from Walmart. 300 minutes was more than enough for a fortnight. (actually the phones were different but the price and network was the same. Really easy to activate from a hotel phone)

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10714716

We bought similar ones from Walmart too. We were going to buy the Trak phones but they told us there had been problems with international access so recommended some others. The only problem we found was that it charged us if someone texted us, and I had a strange call from someone in the USA asking if I still liked ice and wanted to buy some...

 

[wicket2005]

We use 2 tracfones and they have proved really handy, especially in places like Malls where we all don't want to be in the same type of shop. You can keep them active on the internet and buy minutes, though to have the minutes added to your phone you have to be in the US. You cannot use them over here.

We couldn't use them to ring home but we could text home okay. We were not bothered with international calls as I have Skype on my computer which is extremely cheap to use (though internet access in our hotel isn't), I use this to ring my parents up and can talk for ages at a minimal cost.

 

[Graeme]

The only problem we found was that it charged us if someone texted us

I think the net10 ones did something like that

You can keep them active on the internet and buy minutes

Never thought of that, I'll have to see if I can do it with ours.

 

[Graeme]

Never thought of that, I'll have to see if I can do it with ours.

I can I think. Haven't gone through the process but it certainly looks like it.

 

[Pegasus928]

We have always used the 2 way radios in the past - though on this occassion we may just take our mobiles with us to the parks or malls for emergencies and pay the cost when we get home (what price piece of mind).

As far as calling home is concerned we always chose a villa that has free international phone calls and free internet access (for skype etc), so we never have a problem in that regard.

 

[Claire L]

We always use our phones from home and text each other, with our contracts it doesn't cost any extra.

Claire

 

[disneyger]

DH bought 2 Net10 mobiles with 300 airtime minutes from Bestbuys
for the holiday we have just returned from quite good cover, and we can keep till next hols, also good when you have older children. Our girls were able to go on some big rides and we took our son on smaller rides they were able to keep in touch at no cost to us

 

[wicket2005]

Graeme, we originally bought the phones back in July, the service was due to run out in December. I registered them on the net, then in December bought another 3 months. Online it showed the new service date but also had an update button to click for each phone. You can only update the phones when you are actually in Florida. I did this (had a bonus trip in December) and it involved entering about 3 sets of numbers and then the extra service time was added on. The extra service time cost about 14 pounds but also included minutes and texts which I thought was okay for 3 months usage. If you keep the service up you don't lose any of the minutes. I used my little laptop to do this, though you can I believe buy extra time via the phone itself if you set up an account online.

 

[buzz for boys]

thanks everyone so can we buy tracphones if we dont have internet ?? dont tink we will take laptop
sorry if im being a bit dense x

 

[wicket2005]

When you buy the phones you have to register them, my eldest son did that by using our laptop but I think you could use another phone to ring them. There may be more info on the website or someone here may be able to help. When I get a minute I will dig the info we got with the phones to see if you need internet access.

With tracfones you buy a card with them for a set number of minutes and service time. It is the service time you have to watch as if it expires you lose the minutes and the sim card, then you would need to reactivate it when you go back across though a lot of people have just ended up buying new phones instead. When we bought them the phones were 10 dollars each plus we bought a card of minutes and 3 month service for $20 each.

I am just going to keep mine activate via the website and put the minutes on once I am back in Florida. Texts home were very cheap and I think the cost for texting our phone was 35p when my eldest used his phone to text us (so that would have bounced home, then bounced back to America).

They are certainly handy to have, and do allow us to split up if the need arises. They were also handy this year as we had to phone Virgin about a flight delay and it was convenient just to be able to phone them when we wanted.