I just bought an iphone!!!!What are some great apps?

[lanand3]

I have seen people recommend apps for dvc points planning,organizing adr's,park hours,etc etc...but I never payed attn
I tried searching through different apps on the phone and there r soo many! What do the experts here use and love?

 

[Tinks "SS"]

Well, i don't have an iphone but did just get an ipod touch and love it. i got the e-ticket that is on top of the board right now. Love it! Can get to the disboards very easy with it well worth the 5.99 for it. I also downloaded disney.com and radio disney for it and some movies to keep me occupied for our trip to the world in feb. Hopefully others will chime in also for us both.

 

[DiznyDi]

I'd like to know, too. I've been online nearly all day updating my iPhone to the latest version and reading up on everything it can do. I know I will never use it to it's full potential. But, what fun I'll have trying!

 

[yitbos96bb]

Well, i don't have an iphone but did just get an ipod touch and love it. i got the e-ticket that is on top of the board right now. Love it! Can get to the disboards very easy with it well worth the 5.99 for it. I also downloaded disney.com and radio disney for it and some movies to keep me occupied for our trip to the world in feb. Hopefully others will chime in also for us both.

That E-Ticket App? By those guys that do the Dis Podcast? You don't want THAT ONE... You'd be MUCH better off paying more money buying up separate apps to use instead.

Actually, Its a really nice app, I'm looking forward to trying it out on site in a few weeks.

iFarkle is great, CNN, The Weather Channel, Quick Office, App Sniper, REdLaser, Ebay, Card Star, Urban spoon, Open table, Yelp, Tip star, Now Playing, 10 pin shuffle, Skee-Ball, Arcade Hoops, Disney Fireworks, DVC Planner, Mouse Memo, TS Mania, The U Pinpoint Maps are good, but I have to compare them in use to E-Ticket, The WDW Notecasts, WDW Wait TImes is not bad, Transportation Wizard is ok, iWrecked, Sim City, Myst, USA TOday, Instapaper, Kindle App, Google Earth, Civilization Revolutions, Secret of Monkey Island, Oregon Trail, Game of Life, Catan, Pass THe pIgs, Cribbage, and Uno.

These are some of my favs... Of course these are the LEGIT ones... Now if we go into Jailbreak APPS... well there is a whole better world out there. Categories and Winterboard are the two best apps ever written and neither is allowed in the App Store.

 

[lanand3]

What are jailbreak apps?And is there a seperate app for managing dvc or does the eticket one do that also?

 

[wildernessDad]

Get DVC Planner app for the iPhone and iPod Touch. That's DVC Planner.

 

[yitbos96bb]

Get DVC Planner app for the iPhone and iPod Touch. That's DVC Planner.

That's on my list... its a great app.

 

[yitbos96bb]

What are jailbreak apps?And is there a seperate app for managing dvc or does the eticket one do that also?

E-ticket has a DVC Calculator. I like DVC Planner better personally as I think its easier to read, but I owned that before E-ticket too, so it might make more sense for you to just buy E-ticket and not spend extra on the same functionality.

Note on E-Ticket though - I have about 25 different disney apps. While I like E-Ticket it is far from perfect. Individually, I think there are much better programs for certain aspects E-Ticket. E ticket is a jack of all trades program, good on a lot of things, but not the tops in most of them.

For example, I like the U Pin Point Map pack better than E-Ticket... I think they are easier to use and read... although they only cover the parks and DTD and the Water Parks, with each having a dedicated map. The E-ticket map is a big Meta map of the entire property... almost like a google earth view. Its cool for certain things especially resorts, but I find it way to cluttered for practical park use, although to be fair, I haven't used it yet in the parks so I will let you know once I try it. These are just my impressions. I hope that there is an option to jump to a dedicated map future releases (as opposed to jumping to another part of the Meta Map). This is of course a personal preference, as others might like it this way.

Park hours are handled decently, but aren't organized as well as they could be and doesn't have show times or Fantasmic dates on them. I prefer the program Park Hours, which is much better organized and has show times and fantasmic times, etc. Fantastic App.

The itinerary function has a lot of cool features not found on other apps. It allows you to type custom itinerary items. However, I would like to see more features of the app Mouse Memo in there, especially the ability to cycle through choices and not just type it in, although the typing it in is useful for off property hotels that aren't in Mouse Memo... Mouse Memo is like a digital storage book for Ressies, entertainment, etc, not just flight and hotel like on E-ticket. I am planning on using the two together quite a lot on my upcoming trip and see values in both.

Menus are on E-Ticket, but you have to dig through 6 screens to reach them from the mail screen and they aren't easy to find. Was actually a bit disappointed here and hope they fix this in the future. Instead I prefer WDWDine which uses the AllEars menu set and only takes 3 screens to see a menu.

Now E-Ticket has two very strong features I can't get with other programs. One, is the Disboards... posting through there is SO MUCH BETTER than on the mobile Safari browser. The other is the Browse tab, which allows you to look up descriptions and reviews of all the attractions, restaurant and shows... even though I hate that the only location of the menus is here, for getting information its TOP NOTCH.

My initial impressions, I give it a B. However, I do think it will become an A+ over time as feedback comes. Right now it feels more like a computer experience with a lot more clicks and typing, than a phone experience. But I do think it is an essential buy... its just not too the point of being the only app you'll need.

Now For Disney for a new iphone user, I'd buy these apps

E-ticket - As I said, its worth it alone for the Disboards access and the Browse feature and I think the Itinerary planner is useful as is the Metamap.

U-Pin-Point Park Maps Set - But the big set all together and you can switch between those and the Meta Map on E-ticket.

Mouse Memo - All your reservation numbers, etc at your fingertips.


Park Hours - Gives you all of the days shows, parades, etc.

WDW Dining - Links to All Ears Menus, easy to use.

WDW Wait Times - This is free... Its the most accurate of the ones I have tried but it is based on human feedback. Gives you a ball park though. And its free.


Optional -

Transportation Wizard - This gives you transportation option. Not a necessity, but can be nice for alternative transportation methods.

WDW Pal - All the discounts available. Not a great app, but that info has saved me some cash and time.

Walt Disney World Weather - Custom Weather for Disney World. TWC does the same thing but this is hard coded for Orlando.

Notecasts are just facts and tips. They are a good read.

So those are my recommendation for Disney Park Apps.


Jailbreaking your phone is hacking your phone. You can then run programs on the phone that Apple won't let you... such as Google Voice app. Some well known Jailbreak apps that apple should emulate are Categories, which lets you make folders to organize your apps in... I have 150 apps on three pages, Winterboard which lets you choose themes, Five Dock, which lets you add a fifth icon to the doc and five rows which gives you 20 icons per screen instead of 16. If you tire of it or it doesn't work, you can easily fix it with a restore. Its easy to do, a simple google search will tell you.

 

[lanand3]

WOW!!! Thank you sooo much yitbos96bb!!!!HUGE help!!

 

[rkwier]

LOVE my iPhone!!! Seriously do not know how I lived without it.

Here are the Disney related apps that I have downloaded - largely based on recommendations on this board. This is an awesome source of information!

DVC Planner - Easy to use, lets you select resort, villa type, view, etc. and create a vacation. It will calculate the number of points required. It will also list 11m/7m booking dates for the stay, as well as 180d/90d dates for dining ressies. This app is pretty basic, but I think that it is a helpful tool and use it when planning my stays. I would recommend it.

DVC iPlanner - This is actually my newest download. It has point charts for all resorts available through DVC. It has a Member Tools section where you can input your member number, use year, etc. It also has the DVC contact info and booking & banking charts. This app is most useful for chart comparison, but I prefer the DVC Planner to plan/save my stays.

wdWeather - I really like this app for a quick glance at weather in the World. However, you can get pretty much the same information if you select Orlando as one of the cities in the weather app that comes on your phone. DH just goes to TWC.

WDW Dining - I actually really like this app. It lists the parks and all resorts. You can then look at all of the dining options available for those locations. The app will note if the dining plan is accepted and rate it as far as being expensive or not. Many locations also have menus listed, which is really helpful if you are meal planning for picky eaters. You can track your dining ressies, including reservation number. It also lists the WDW-DINE number and you can connect directly through the app. I would highly recommend this app.

WDW Wait Times - I have only used this at the parks once, but we liked it. Accuracy can be hit or miss (it was dead on while we were there) since it depends on the input of park attendees. We thought it was helpful in deciding what we wanted to do next.

Park Hours - Lists all park hours. It lists the hours on the current date or you can input a specific date to view the hours for that day, which can be handy when you are in the planning process. I used it the other day when I was scheduling an ADR at Boma and I wanted to see for sure what time AK closed that day.

TWiz - Travel wizard for getting around in the world. You select your starting and ending points. Then the wizard offers several suggested routes and the estimated travel times for each of them. Haven't used it in the World yet.

WDW Maps - Pretty much what it says, maps of the parks and MCO. They look pretty much like the paper maps they give you, but it is nice to not have to fold out a paper. You can size it to zoom in if you want to. You can also specify which items are highlighted on the map - attractions, dining, restrooms, etc. I really like this app.

If I had my wish for apps regarding DVC planning, I would combine the features of the DVC planner, DVC iPlanner, WDW Dining and Park Hours. (It looks like e-ticket attempted to do this???) Then I would like to see a way to track point usage incorporated. It would be nice to know how many points I have available to use, how many points are required, and what my balance would be after the stay. It would be great to have that information at my fingertips.

Hope this helps a little. Keep checking for new apps. When I first got my phone in August, there were no DVC specific apps whatsoever. Now there are several to choose from.

 

[yitbos96bb]

WOW!!! Thank you sooo much yitbos96bb!!!!HUGE help!!

No Prob. Also notice that Rkwier's picks contain a lot of my Disney apps picks as well... The best programs do seem to rise to the top, I found mine through trial and error and have a ton I never use because of that. I'm sure others have the same story... I like supporting good apps and make sure they succeed.

 

[Twingle]

Thanks for all the info! Off to buy some new apps

 

[DiznyDi]

Thanks for all the info! Off to buy some new apps

Me Too!

Many thanks for the detailed responses of posters. This is great!

 

[yitbos96bb]

Thanks for all the info! Off to buy some new apps

Be careful... App buying can be a nasty little addiction that adds up VERY FAST... My first month with a phone I think I spent $200 on the app store.

 

[Twingle]

Be careful... App buying can be a nasty little addiction that adds up VERY FAST... My first month with a phone I think I spent $200 on the app store.

I made a deal with my DH when we bought my iPhone that I would never pay for apps - only get the paid ones when I had gift cards or credits.

Guess what I asked for for Christmas?

Now I have $45 in iTunes gift cards to spend!

 

[yitbos96bb]

I made a deal with my DH when we bought my iPhone that I would never pay for apps - only get the paid ones when I had gift cards or credits.

Guess what I asked for for Christmas?

Now I have $45 in iTunes gift cards to spend!

Probably a good thing. My biggest problem is buying them one at a time and then that adding up.

I do love the DIsney Fireworks one... its a rhythm game like Guitar Hero, Tap Tap Revenge where you explode Disney Fireworks. Its fun. Bayou Beats is exactly like Tap Tap Revenge and is a free promotional tool for Princess and the Frog. Everyone loves TSM.

 

[Doug7856]

My favorite is "Tripit". You can put all of your travel arrangements with confirmation information into the app including flight, car, resort, dining, any appointments, etc. For many reservations, you can forward the email confirmation and all of the pertinent information is listed in the app. It syncs with the online version making editing and changes very easy. Best of all, it's free! It also will sync with many calendar programs including yahoo and google.

 

[snowbunny]

My favorite is "Tripit". You can put all of your travel arrangements with confirmation information into the app including flight, car, resort, dining, any appointments, etc. For many reservations, you can forward the email confirmation and all of the pertinent information is listed in the app. It syncs with the online version making editing and changes very easy. Best of all, it's free! It also will sync with many calendar programs including yahoo and google.

I just installed this after reading this and forwarded it three emails regarding an upcoming trip. It worked perfectly. Insane!

 

[jimmytammy]

All this info is great! We just bought an I Touch last night and cant wait to try some of these. It was cool seeing the wait times last night, yet we are at home. Hey we can dream cant we?

 

[TammyNC]

Thanks for all the great information, can't wait to start getting some of these loaded. Thanks also for the addiction warning, I can feel it already. We may have to keep a list and only spend xx.xx a week until we get all the ones we want.

Also like the idea of asking for ITune gift cards now...the kids have been getting those as gifts so why can't the adults??