Is It Ok to Bring A Laptop Computer to A Park??

[letthewookiewin]

It pains me to read about 90% of these responses. The OP only asked if there was a security risk to bringing his laptop...that's it. This thread has turned into a holier than thou with everyone wondering about the practice of tweeting and benefits thereof.

What if the OP has a sick relative at home? What if the OP doesn't? It's their prerogative to do what they want to do on their vacation. It is their vacation, not any of yours.

And I absolutely love how some posters mentioned their age; as if the ability or need to use a computer is somehow age related.

Give me a break.

No the age of a person has nothing to do with their ability or need to use a computer. However I can still see that it's relevant to twitting in the parks. I'm 33 years old and growing up if you went on a vacation, you just told people about when you got back and showed them pics then. There was no way to give minute by minute live updates. It'a a lot easier for myself or someone older then myself to be able to go a week without using something like twitter on vacation because we didn't grow up with technology like that. Does it mean that we can't or don't use it? No When compared to someone that grew up with PSP's and cell phone that allow you to surf the web and send minute by minute updates, it's easier for someone who didn't grow up with that to do without it.

Personally, I don't twitter nor would I twitter front the parks. I may give a FB update once or twice a day but that's about it. I don't see anything wrong with someone who wants to spend time doing that as long as it's not in a dark ride we are both on.

 

[mb168]

How the heck are they going to know where I live based off my twitter account?

You can't just at first glance depending on how they set up and what they do. But most people that use twitter put their real name on the account and many put their town, state. So a quick search on 411.com may tell you exactly where they live. Many people also put a link to their personal website. If it is a real website with a domain they registered, a quick lookup on whois.com will tell me your exact address and phone number unless they paid extra for that to be secure. Even if the person doesn't list their town they will usually write about it somewhere so a little digging through their history may produce something as well

So then you tweet Cant wait to leave this weekend to go to Disney for a week" then later "yay, we are headed to Florida" or "just got to Disney, great week planned, they know your home is likely empty and have a week to hit it so could maybe even come back for multiple hauls.

 

[ShannonMB]

It pains me to read about 90% of these responses. The OP only asked if there was a security risk to bringing his laptop...that's it. This thread has turned into a holier than thou with everyone wondering about the practice of tweeting and benefits thereof.

What if the OP has a sick relative at home? What if the OP doesn't? It's their prerogative to do what they want to do on their vacation. It is their vacation, not any of yours.

And I absolutely love how some posters mentioned their age; as if the ability or need to use a computer is somehow age related.

Give me a break.

Give ME a break. I doubt the OPs motivation for bringing a laptop to the parks is a sick relative -- I think there are more easy and realistic ways of keeping in touch with family than checking FB. Silly. Just silly.

I personally think more than half this thread is dedicated to people giving advice to the OP on easier ways to tweet his way through the parks than bringing a laptop. Which is probably of interest to the OP.

A few of us HAVE chimed in that just BEING in the parks with those you are with has its benefits as well. And as far as the "mentioning their age" part, it has a LOT to do with it IMO. As a PP said, those of us older than 30 didn't literally grow up with the concept of staying connected at all times, and therefore may think it's a little weird that someone has the need to tell the world "Just heading toward Main Street".

If you are older than 35, then good for you for keeping up with the "plugged in" mentality of younger generation. I personally use the computer A LOT, for paying bills, charting at work, email, DISing, FB. Not the same as feeling naked without it and making sure everyone I know knows what I'm doing at any given second.

This is NOT a slam at you folks who tweet your way through the parks, at all. Simply another perspective, which the poster I quoted does not seem to think is valid. It IS.

 

[ogreenlee]

We just returned from vacation and I used twitter/facebook to keep my husband's family updated on what we were doing. His dad is too sick to travel and I hated they couldn't be with us.

It was funny when I returned home how many people sent me nice messages on facebook saying they enjoyed my tweets with pics and that they felt like they, too, had been on a Disney vacation.

I tried to only tweet when I was waiting on a ride to start, etc. I never did it when we were at dinner or walking around the parks (we had 11 family members with us and I didn't want to be rude)

I will say that now I am home, I'm really glad I did it because I am getting ready to scrapbook our trip and the twitters help me put together our day to day activities for the scrapbook. Sadly, I would have already forgotten the order in which we did some of the stuff!

I can get behind that! I'm glad to see that there is a personal benefit to it.

 

[ogreenlee]

Seriously?

Most of the country is away from home from 9-5 every day. I don't think a thief would have a problem picking a target. They don't need facebook or twitter to tell them people are away from home, and besides that, how on earth do they know where I live?

You live in Newton, MA. I'm in your house right now twitting and tweeting. mwahahahahahaha

 

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

I sent 4 or 5 tweets from Disney from my cell phone with our Verizon text/pic messaging package. Twitter and Twitpic were set up for this. I think I actually just sent pictures with a word or 2. No time to waste on words when pics are better! I got a couple responses from friends and relatives who wished they were there.

My cell phone and my camera are the only 2 items I take in, and both fit in the same bag. DH, DS and DD just take their cell phones in a pocket. I have to go through security, they don't.

 

[Planogirl]

I'm older but I only said that I'd hate carting around a laptop but then I don't like to carry anything and I mean anything. If I could figure out how to show up without passes, I'd even leave them behind!

To each their own....

 

[tony67]

It is not an issue you can bring in the laptop as others have said.

Not sure why people question it though.
There are lots of reason to bring it with you.
They are not always that expensive anymore, I'm more worried about getting my Blackberry or digital camera wet or damaged than a laptop.
Maybe you are checking in or out on the day and do not have a choice but to bring it with you. I was concerned this would be an issue on my recent trip.
I've had to do goto meetings with clients while in the parks.
Much better than going back to the room.
I've had to release website updates for clients while in the parks.
Much better than sitting in the hotel room waiting for a developer in India to finish and test the code and pass it off to me.
I'm getting paid to walk around Epcot on vacation. Sounds good to me.
Maybe your addicted to twitter and want to twitter every meal you eat in Disney. Who am I to judge?

I prefer the Blackberry, but there are some things you need the laptop for. If it means I can spend more times enjoying the parks then I will bring it with me and keep it in a locker.

 

[mb168]

I will say that now I am home, I'm really glad I did it because I am getting ready to scrapbook our trip and the twitters help me put together our day to day activities for the scrapbook. Sadly, I would have already forgotten the order in which we did some of the stuff!

I totally forgot about this. When we got home I was a able to reconstruct our days by reading my tweets, almost like reading my own diary. Made blogging easier for the trip report, which is UP BTW!

 

[klmall]

Funny, I was reading through this entire thread thinking I could replace "tweeting" for me with calling on my cell phone for our trip back in 2005.

DH and I hadn't been to WDW in 4 years and it was our first child-free trip with lots of ride-firsts like Expedition Everest too. I remember literally calling our son who was 19 after every ride and at each meal! I guess it was cell phone tweeting! And I was 56.

But I don't tweet and I rarely call when at WDW anymore except to meet up with someone. I do use technology extensively including Facebook and so on.

Just like cell phones, tweeting and technology is obviously a touchy subject.

 

[ukcatfan]

How the heck are they going to know where I live based off my twitter account?

Seriously?

Most of the country is away from home from 9-5 every day. I don't think a thief would have a problem picking a target. They don't need facebook or twitter to tell them people are away from home, and besides that, how on earth do they know where I live?

You can't just at first glance depending on how they set up and what they do. But most people that use twitter put their real name on the account and many put their town, state. So a quick search on 411.com may tell you exactly where they live. Many people also put a link to their personal website. If it is a real website with a domain they registered, a quick lookup on whois.com will tell me your exact address and phone number unless they paid extra for that to be secure. Even if the person doesn't list their town they will usually write about it somewhere so a little digging through their history may produce something as well

So then you tweet Cant wait to leave this weekend to go to Disney for a week" then later "yay, we are headed to Florida" or "just got to Disney, great week planned, they know your home is likely empty and have a week to hit it so could maybe even come back for multiple hauls.

There you go. And that is just coming from a fellow DISer. I really doubt mb168 is a professional criminal. The real professionals are going to know even more than that and be more persistent. And linzbear, why would they take a chance on hitting up a house where the owner could show up at any time when they have knowledge of homes that are going to be empty for a week or more? It is a sad thing, but crime is up and the tools the criminals use are more creative than ever. Sometimes you have to think like a criminal in order to not be a victim.

As for Tweeting, like I said before there is no reason that you cannot do it if it is done safely. Set up a new private account and try to make it as anonymous as possible. For example, do not use an e-mail that is firstname.lastname@yahoo.com. Then only share it to people you know and trust. While still not foolproof, it is better than using your normal account. Besides, criminals are opportunistic and will not spend much time trying to figure out your details if you put safeguards in place. They have no need when there are so many people out there not being safe at all.

 

[yankeeGLEEgirl]

i dont even bring a camera anymore. no cell phone either.
i lug me around all day.

 

[luvthemouse71]

I have been tweeting from the parks for a year now, 4 trips so far with another coming. I don't miss anything, we have been going 5-7 times/ year since 02. I get replies from both friends and people I don't know asking questions or giving me recommendations such as this last trip for Food and Wine. It takes what 20-30 seconds to text something, what am I missing other than standing in line? It's just like a camera now, and sometimes I only carry it and leave the camera in the room, it has a camera on it, not a very good one like most camera phones, but for it's intended purpose it works great.

BTW, I use a Blackberry and will occasionally text a tweet but I use Ubertwitter most of the time so I can do searches if needed and find information as needed.

I took some real nice pictures and video on my cell phone...I was able to upload the pics to my FB page while on the monorail and received many compliments on them.

 

[MoonFaerie]

There you go. And that is just coming from a fellow DISer. I really doubt mb168 is a professional criminal. The real professionals are going to know even more than that and be more persistent. And linzbear, why would they take a chance on hitting up a house where the owner could show up at any time when they have knowledge of homes that are going to be empty for a week or more? It is a sad thing, but crime is up and the tools the criminals use are more creative than ever. Sometimes you have to think like a criminal in order to not be a victim.

As for Tweeting, like I said before there is no reason that you cannot do it if it is done safely. Set up a new private account and try to make it as anonymous as possible. For example, do not use an e-mail that is firstname.lastname@yahoo.com. Then only share it to people you know and trust. While still not foolproof, it is better than using your normal account. Besides, criminals are opportunistic and will not spend much time trying to figure out your details if you put safeguards in place. They have no need when there are so many people out there not being safe at all.

Actually, I keep all that junk private. Not that I have a unique name. A facebook search gave back over 1300 results. A thief would have to be pretty dang determined to find me, and he/she would be sadly disappointed. Plus our house won't be empty while we're gone. My mom lives with us, and she's not going to WDW with us.

 

[luvthemouse71]

twit: Just got in Disney
Twit: Amazed at the long lines
Twit: ooo parade!!!
Twit: saw goofy!! my fav!
Twit: BTM is whack!!
Twit: Toilet break
Twit: 60 minutes to see Ariel?? ***?
Twit: Can this place be any hotter?
Twit: Got wet @ splash moun.......

Ha..sounds like my tweets. No, I'm not a celebrity but there were several people following them..

I think things like Twitter and FB are like email and the internet when they first came out. You had people complaining that email was evil, whatever happened to good old fashioned letters and cards etc.

You even see this now with people and ebook readers like the Kindle-people crying that DTB(dead tree books) are the only way to read.

There will always be those who embrace new things and those that are afraid of or despise anything new. Just the way of the world. How much you want to bet that when the telephone was invented, there were people who saw it as the doom of civilized society?

 

[mb168]

I took some real nice pictures and video on my cell phone...I was able to upload the pics to my FB page while on the monorail and received many compliments on them.

Exactly. I don't tweet WHILE I'm riding Rockin Rollercoaster, but afterward while I'm waiting on a kid to go to the bathroom, or while sitting at a table eating.

The difference in FB and Twitter though is with FB you are telling only friends about whats going on, they have to know you already. On twitter it's more like posting on the forum here, the whole world has access to what you tweet without even needing to follow you or get your permission. I have family and friends on twitter that write back but a lot of the time I interact with people I have never met or heard of before, like last week when I'm standing in EPCOT at France and someone replies to a tweet telling me to try something from Morocco at the Food and Wine Fest. How many of your FB friends (generic, not specifically luvthemouse71) even know what the heck Food and Wine Fest is, much less what dishes are on the menu this year at the Morocco pavilion that you should try and could reply to you when you are one country away? One service isn't better than the other, the two are just different and I use them differently.

I tend to tweet all day from the parks, maybe occasionally update FB, usually by using Selective Twitter Status which means only a tweet that I want goes to FB and I am updating both at once, maybe even upload a pic to FB, and then I'll post better pics and story info on FB back at the room that evening or the next morning while I'm waiting for everyone to get ready (thanks to DVC now giving us free internet access in the rooms now) This is especially true on weekdays when fewer friends aren't online on FB because they are working but can get a tweet acknowledgment from me when I tweet.

 

[BroganMc]

I tend to tweet all day from the parks, maybe occasionally update FB, usually by using Selective Twitter Status which means only a tweet that I want goes to FB and I am updating both at once, maybe even upload a pic to FB, and then I'll post better pics and story info on FB back at the room that evening or the next morning while I'm waiting for everyone to get ready (thanks to DVC now giving us free internet access in the rooms now) This is especially true on weekdays when fewer friends aren't online on FB because they are working but can get a tweet acknowledgment from me when I tweet.

You can do all this from a smartphone or even a semi-smartphone. Check out Twittermail and Twitpic.

While blogging last month, I switched to Twittering by cell during the day at parks. I received some updates from followers as well and exchanged tweets. All my tweets also ended up on my blogging website using an applet.

The hardest part is taking the time during the day to blog. It can pull you out of the moment if you're not careful.

 

[mb168]

You can do all this from a smartphone or even a semi-smartphone. Check out Twittermail and Twitpic.

While blogging last month, I switched to Twittering by cell during the day at parks. I received some updates from followers as well and exchanged tweets. All my tweets also ended up on my blogging website using an applet.

The hardest part is taking the time during the day to blog. It can pull you out of the moment if you're not careful.

I use a Blackberry with Ubertwitter, great app that'll run multiple twitter accounts with easy switching between the two, allow pic and video uploads, notification of @replies and DMs, thumbnail pic viewing of other's pics, and more. Wordpress also has several plugins to post your tweets on your Wordpress site/blog, tons of many benefits from that too.

 

[btcrane]

I brought my smartphone on my trip. It has 3g and wi-fi so I was able to Twitter from the parks, update my Facebook, send emails etc. Used it mainly while waiting in lines(usually for TSM).

Exactly. My iPhone comes in handy when waiting in line. I updated my Facebook with pics of my family from my iPhone and added captions throughout my last trip. For us, it is a great way to capture the memories. Family members and friends loved the updates. It in no way detracted from my experience, I still "saw everything" (how does tweeting or Facebook keep you from that? ). Being able to share our happiness with those who were happy for us and to have the pictures on Facebook when I returned added to the experience.

OP, I would DEFINITELY invest in a smartphone rather than drag a laptop around.

 

[tony67]

There you go. And that is just coming from a fellow DISer. I really doubt mb168 is a professional criminal. The real professionals are going to know even more than that and be more persistent. And linzbear, why would they take a chance on hitting up a house where the owner could show up at any time when they have knowledge of homes that are going to be empty for a week or more? It is a sad thing, but crime is up and the tools the criminals use are more creative than ever. Sometimes you have to think like a criminal in order to not be a victim.

Personally I do not think this is as much of an issue as we are thinking it is.
I'm more paranoid than most.
Having friends that have spent 20+ years inside, they say always be paranoid.
(Just for the record these are people that did not consider themselves criminals, but political prinsoners in a war that most consider over. They are kept with the worst of the worst though.)

Criminals are out to get you and look for targets of oppurtunity.
So it is good advice not too post that you are away on twitter, but I think it is not as big a deal as we are thinking.

When I am on vacation I more concerned telling fellow employees I'll be away.
You may trust your fellow employees, but you have no idea who they are dating or who their brothers are.

I'm more concerned about my son telling kids in his class he is going away.
You have no idea who's dad has a history of B&Es

I'm more concerned about leaving my registration in the car at the parking lot at the airport. If you see a family get out of a car you can assume the house is empty. The home address is on the registration. If they have gps you could take the car and it will direct you to their home and you can use thier car to carry the stuff away.

I am more concerned about neighbors down the street seeing me load my car with luggage before I head out on my trip. My wife thought I was nuts backing my car into the driveway and loading the car at 2AM until one of these teens broke into a neighbor’s house on Xmas eve and emptied it while they slept. Over 4K worth of gifts gone when they got up.

I would also be more concerned about posting on this site when my family will be going away like so many seem to. You could be giving a criminal a 30 day notice of when you will be away with your whole family.