Do we need a meetup spot of its hard to text?

[ExcitedMama]

There have been posts about service issues, should I be worried being able to text? We will have days in the park where DH will meet us in the evening so we need to be in touch to find each other. Or if we split up on any rides my youngest cannot ride. I'm wondering if we need to have a spot to meet up if calling or texting is is iffy?

 

[Elima2015]

I have Verizon and never had a signal problem in the park (except inside rides - like once we boarded Pirates, signal went away pretty quickly). I actually turned my WiFi signal off as I didn't want to kill the battery searching for a signal and I was able to use cell data whenever I wanted. My battery also lasted all day even with managing MaxPass, checking wait times, looking at dining menus. That said, I'm an over-planner, so I would pick a place to meet as a back-up in case you can't get ahold of one other for whatever reason.

 

[SMD]

I wouldn't rely just on texting to meet up. People don't hear or see alerts, phone batteries die, texts get delayed or service is lost while on rides.

 

[figment_jii]

I've had pretty good luck with AT&T with regards to texting in the parks, but as SMD pointed out, there can be non-service related issues. My family usually plans to text each other when we're ready to meet, but we do have a fall back plan. It's usually something like "I'll text you when I get off the ride, but just in case, if you don't hear from me, let's plan to meet in one hour in front of Dumbo". That way, there is a fall back plan if something does happen to the phone(s).

 

[smartlabelprint]

Never had a problem with att.

 

[Rabb it]

Att and Verizon are solid in the park, Sprint is the big offender. But even before I switched to Verizon from Sprint I could text just fine, Instagram/Snapchat and other social media would not work though when I had Sprint.

 

[ktlm]

We always have a meet up spot just in case. We've never had a texting or calling issue in the parks (and DH has been known to leave DD and I at DL to run over to the Karl Strauss beer truck at the CA wharf), but it is always good to have a just in case time and place in case you don't hear from each other by then. Also we have never had a system issue, but we have had user issues where people did not hear the text ding or phone ringing- it isn't exactly quiet in the parks!

 

[Minnie Loves Mickey]

I was separated from my family when the park was extremely crowded, maybe even hit capacity and texts would not go through at all! It took me hours to find them. I even asked other guests if they were having problems with reception and everyone I asked said yes.

 

[SteveMP]

I haven't had any service problems the last few years on Verizon. Maybe 10 years ago it was pretty bad.

But now here is a trick. Say you are going underground or somewhere where you lose signal, for example Soarin'. Sometimes your phone may get whacky signal afterwards. If it says 1x or 3g etc, then try turning it to airplane mode, leave it for a few seconds, then turn airplane mode off until you see LTE. Repeat if necessary. Or to save battery, just put on airplane mode before going on rides, but remember to turn it off afterwards so you don't miss a message.

 

[Geemo]

How is T-Mobile in the parks?

 

[theluckyrabbit]

We have a designated meeting spot in each land, as well as in each park. We remind the kids when we enter each park and make them repeat it back to us. By this time, they've had enough practice, so they have the spots memorized, e.g. on the bench in front of First Aid in DL, in front of the petrified tree in Frontierland, etc. This was before they had cell phones, so reception wasn't an issue. Now, we text, but they still know the meeting spots are the same no matter what.

 

[cruisehopeful]

How is T-Mobile in the parks?

It's been great, other than a couple areas where nobody seems to have a good connection. Inside the ride queues may not work and there's an area next to Cocina Cucamonga that seems to be a black hole. I'm sure there are other black holes, but I haven't run into them yet.