How good is the wifi?

[2girlsmomma]

Wondering how the wifi is in the parks because DH and I don't have smartphones. But I've seen so many people talking about needing to use their phones for FP+. We both have IPods, but I'm wondering if we'll need to come out of the dark ages for the trip.

 

[OKW Lover]

The wifi in the parks is ok. Not great, but ok.

 

[Tink575]

Wondering how the wifi is in the parks because DH and I don't have smartphones. But I've seen so many people talking about needing to use their phones for FP+. We both have IPods, but I'm wondering if we'll need to come out of the dark ages for the trip.

In December I used Disney wifi on my iPod touch (version 4). I had a 4G LTE phone, Verizon, but the connection was way too slow on 4G or wifi. Stay in the dark ages I didn't have FP+ but I used MDX to check all the wait times.

This time around I have an iPhone 5s, T-Mobile, but I'll still be bringing that iPod with me to the parks. It will also save the battery on my phone.

 

[rpk1951]

good enough to check email on my phone, but I would not want to download a movie.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

It's slow and frustrating because it seems to drop a lot, so it causes quick battery drain.

 

[Patabel]

My DH would attest that it is simply PAINFUL!!!!

 

[Tink575]

FWIW I found the wifi to be better in MK in Dec than it was in Sep and Oct.

 

[DVCFan1994]

I think it may be improving, or we just had better luck this time. Last April we found it awful. We left LTE on and turned wifi off it was so bad. But in February we were basically fine on wifi. We went mid presidents week through PHM weekend, so decent crowds. We'll be there soon for the same week in April as last year so I'm interested to see if it was a fluke in February or not. I have always said Disneys tech stinks across the board, but this was one area I saw improvement last month. Our group of 9 also didn't have a single magic band issue for our 6 days, and that was shocking to me based on reports I'd read. I hoping we have the same luck the week following Easter.

 

[momandseandodisney]

how is it in the rooms? Hoping to use it a few times in POP

 

[heyitsmejosh]

i have found that its very good at pulling up 404 Not Found pages so thats something

 

[Itinkso]

how is it in the rooms? Hoping to use it a few times in POP

Stayed at Pop over a year ago and AoA recently. Horrible when it's a high volume time: before guests leave for the day and when they return. I couldn't even use my AT&T phone from either resort.

 

[momandseandodisney]

Stayed at Pop over a year ago and AoA recently. Horrible when it's a high volume time: before guests leave for the day and when they return. I couldn't even use my AT&T phone from either resort.

i need to use it only 2 or 3 times on vacation to check in at work.
I cant use it on my cell as it will be crazy roaming costs since it is a canadian phone

 

[Itinkso]

i need to use it only 2 or 3 times on vacation to check in at work. I cant use it on my cell as it will be crazy roaming costs since it is a canadian phone

Try really early in the morning. I used it at 6:00 a.m. Because DD wanted to "Fastpass" for a runDisney shoe shopping experience at the expo.

I found wifi at Epcot and DHS much better throughout the day as compared to the resorts. Our AoA room faced the Main Lobby and parking lot and no signal much of the time.

 

[jdonat]

We found it OK in the rooms (DVC resorts) and slow in the park. I have a Verizon LTE portable hotspot that I carry with me when we're trying to do something in the parks or on Disney Transport. I got so fed up with the limitations of DMX on my iPhone 5c that I just bought a used iPad mini to go into the parks with us. I know, I know, I'm a nerd. But, DMX on an iPad works pretty well -changes from portrait to landscape, and if ya gotta, well, the web page works fine in Chrome on the iPad. Im going to see how the ATT wi-fi works in the parks before I break out the Verizon hotspot.

 

[MouseyMin]

I found the wifi in Studios, EPCOT, and Animal Kingdom to be pretty good. I was actually amazed sometimes at where I found signals. Magic Kingdom was marginal, but mostly worked. I actually ran Speedtest a few times to check it out and the speeds weren't bad - but, then again, I wasn't there over a holiday week when the crowds were very high.

I actually thought the worst wifi was at the hotels (I stayed in Port Orleans). Even at off hours, it was very slow.

I turned the wifi off when I was not actively using it. That enabled the battery to last a lot longer.

 

[jvattes]

i have found that its very good at pulling up 404 Not Found pages so thats something

 

[kiford]

We found it to be quite good in our resort (BC) in December. Used it quite a bit on our iPads to read and respond to e-mails and surf. Much better in the parks than the previous December when I kept losing connections. I think I only lost the connection twice in 7 days in Dec 2013 while in the parks. Never used my cell service to check my schedule, MDE, or surf.