Communication in the Park

[stars75238]

OK, I am wanting to keep in touch with the other family members in the park, but frankly am not sure what is the best way to do this.

I have some two-way radios that are supposed to be good up to 17 miles, that is great if I was in the middle of a desert with nothing around, but really what works in the park, would these work? Last time we used our cell phones, while we could call, the calls were horrible at best, and more often they would drop the call, thank you t-mobile, they are not bad though.

So does anyone have a brand or name of radios that will work in the park, I tried these around the neighborhood, but they could not communicate through 30 houses, thats alot of stuff to go through, more open at Disney.

Any help would be appreciated.

Michael

 

[AMaloy314]

I don't have any experience with two way radios, but I have read that the problem is not distance they have cover. The problem is actually having so many people using two way radios, that you get all kinds of people on the same frequency. It makes is very difficult to communicate over other coversations. I hope that helps.

 

[drivencrazy]

Good question... I was just planning on bringing our 2 way's to use, our phones don't work so well here at home, so no telling if they will work at all In DW!!! I didn't even think that everyone else would have the same idea... but do need someway in keeping in touch if we split up...hummmm

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

We have Verizon...phones worked fine in the parks. That's how we communicated if need be.

 

[AIW]

we're going to use text messaging on our cell phones. Much cheaper and we only pay 0.40 per message. Only the sender pays for it. We live in Canada, so this is by far our least expensive option. Thought about the radios, but at $100 we figured even with paying LD and roaming we couldn't rack up $100 worth!! WE would only text message if one of us is late to meet up.

 

[NMMickeymom]

We have used our motorolla walkies before and gave up on them. Despite having some nicer models with good range (and what we thought was a lower used frequency) we were hearing the conversations of every single person in the park who happened to be separated from their party at any given moment. We opted to use our cell phones. We did use only phones of those in our party who were in the same plan (verizon) thus keeping the calls free. We did have a few dead spots but one can easily find a signal by walking around a corner. We found them priceless for being able to split up.

 

[NewEnglandDisney]

The radios are just sketchy - there are just too many people trying to use them and they aren't reliable for park use.

Cell phone reception is excellent in the parks now, they have added many hidden cell towers in the last few years (look for especially thin, tall trees, LOL). We've had excellent luck just using those, with text messages being especially good (as you don't have to dial a number to get them, like voice mail, and you can check and receive silently while in an attraction).

Good luck!

NED

 

[fan_of_small_world]

DH and I used our cells, and with Verizon had no problems with dropped calls. We called or text messaged, depending on the circumstances. Worked great!

 

[daisyduck123]

I don't know what kind of phones we have, but the 2- way radio on them works fine in the parks.

 

[all4fun]

In the past we have used 2-way Radio's - both the Cobra brand and Motorola. We actually have the 5-mile range Moto's but they are just collecting dust because we always use our cell phones now. We have a national plan and T-mobile service works just fine there.

If you're using radio's, one way to help cut out the noise of other conversations is to get the ones that have sub channels. But even w/those you're still going to hear other conversations.

I don't know if I should admit this, but several years ago (when we were young and mischevious), we were at Six Flags in CA and we were responding to people we didn't know, telling them we were at such and such a place, we'd meet them at the elephant ear stand...just making stuff up. Sometimes people would respond huh? Jimmy, is that you? LOL we were SO bad! So I guess the moral of the story is 1) don't do this! and 2) maybe come up with some kind of code phrase or word so you know you're not being tricked by someone. And if anyone reading this was at Six Flags and had this happen to them, I appologize!

 

[missymagic]

Our family has Nextel (operated by sprint) and we use the 2-way calling feature and do not have any problems. Except remembering to keep it on vibrate as to not disturb people in shows or on rides. Nothing more rude than a phone goiing off.