No DVDS players at DVC anymore?

[KAT4DISNEY]

As far as an alarm clock goes, I much prefer using my cell phone....much nicer & gentler wake up tones.

I used the clock as a clock, not an alarm. And I quite miss it.

 

[ScubaCat]

Thinking about these stick options rather than a DVD player. Any advise which stick is best? Do you have to pay a subscription after purchase?

You can sign up for the free month of netflix if you don't have it and then just cancel it. It's only $9.99/month and you can activate it it before (or during) a trip and deactivate it afterward. My guess is you'll like it enough to keep it, though Netflix is getting a ton of Disney movies now with the new deal.

My preference is Roku because it has the most content channels AND it's not tied to any one brand more heavily. For instance, Amazon Fire presents Amazon Video more prominently. Roku is mostly neutral in that regard. The new Roku stick that just came out is quite fast and doesn't suffer from the lag that the previous ones did. (Which kind of makes the little set-top boxes obsolete IMHO.)

Correct, in-room wifi does not seem to be robust enough to support such usage.

In addition there may be some rooms that lack enough signal strength to wifi stream on a sunny day.

I've stayed in about 40+ hotels over the past couple of years and haven't had this problem except MAYBE one or two times and even then I could stream SD. You only need 2-3Mbps for HD streaming, and even a weak signal will handle that. They rarely "don't have enough bandwidth"; usually they rate-limit each connection to prevent one person from using the whole pipe. Even the cheapest business plans start at 50Mbps these days, which is enough for 20-25 people to stream HD on simultaneously.

It takes years for a current technology to filter into the automotive industry.
New "Kid friendly" Minivans and SUV's still mostly have DVD players instead of BluRay

BluRay is too sensitive to handle road vibrations very well. Plus, those will become less and less prevalent anyway. It's hard to sell a video entertainment system option when you can buy a couple of IPads or Android/Fire Tablets for the same price.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

You can sign up for the free month of netflix if you don't have it and then just cancel it. It's only $9.99/month and you can activate it it before (or during) a trip and deactivate it afterward. My guess is you'll like it enough to keep it, though Netflix is getting a ton of Disney movies now with the new deal.

My preference is Roku because it has the most content channels AND it's not tied to any one brand more heavily. For instance, Amazon Fire presents Amazon Video more prominently. Roku is mostly neutral in that regard. The new Roku stick that just came out is quite fast and doesn't suffer from the lag that the previous ones did. (Which kind of makes the little set-top boxes obsolete IMHO.)




I've stayed in about 40+ hotels over the past couple of years and haven't had this problem except MAYBE one or two times and even then I could stream SD. You only need 2-3Mbps for HD streaming, and even a weak signal will handle that. They rarely "don't have enough bandwidth"; usually they rate-limit each connection to prevent one person from using the whole pipe. Even the cheapest business plans start at 50Mbps these days, which is enough for 20-25 people to stream HD on simultaneously.




BluRay is too sensitive to handle road vibrations very well. Plus, those will become less and less prevalent anyway. It's hard to sell a video entertainment system option when you can buy a couple of IPads or Android/Fire Tablets for the same price.

Thank you. Sadly Netflix allocate content by region on where you live, the UK package is nowhere near as good as the US one. We don't have the content of movies or shows you enjoy. We have some but not all. Even in the US they know we reside in the UK!

 

[ScubaCat]

Thank you. Sadly Netflix allocate content by region on where you live, the UK package is nowhere near as good as the US one. We don't have the content of movies or shows you enjoy. We have some but not all. Even in the US they know we reside in the UK!

It's where you log in from (known as your "geolocation"), not where you live. When you log in from the US, you'll get US content.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

It's where you log in from (known as your "geolocation"), not where you live. When you log in from the US, you'll get US content.

It's where you log in from (known as your "geolocation"), not where you live. When you log in from the US, you'll get US content.

It's where you log in from (known as your "geolocation"), not where you live. When you log in from the US, you'll get US content.

I thought so too! But I did not. Still UK limitations. This was at SSR.

 

[ScubaCat]

I thought so too! But I did not. Still UK limitations. This was at SSR.

I'd send netflix an email from your account and see if they can fix that for you. Unless you get some sort of discounted rate, you should receive the appropriate content for the region you're connected from.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

I'd send netflix an email from your account and see if they can fix that for you. Unless you get some sort of discounted rate, you should receive the appropriate content for the region you're connected from.

Thank you good idea.

 

[sgtdisney]

We really missed the clock when we were in a Studio at the Polynesian last week. Just seemed weird not to have one. We have our phones, but just like to have a clock in the bedroom.

Also, DVDs weren't even around when OKW originally opened. I think they had VHS players then, if I remember correctly.

 

[kreckl]

We, too, enjoy a movie night in our room. We have Apple tv and Prime, but space in my suitcase is limited. Plus, many of the Prime movies are not free. We will miss this ( if its true.) We don't travel enough to have an owner's locker, but do look forward to our Disney traditions. I totally understand many people not needing them but it would be great if they are available by request.
And I find it totally ironic that after scheduling resorts, meals, and fast passes- we won't have a clock to help keep us on our tight schedules!

 

[aan1701]

I joined in 2008 and have never once used the DVD player. Mainly becuse in 2008 I had a portable player that I would use for the plane ride from Los Angeles and had cables to connect it to the TV. Now I have my iPad and I just wish they would put in wifi ready TV's, with wifi strong enough so we could stream right from the cloud to the TV. Still I can just watch on my iPad from the cloud I have noticed in my room if I let the movie load in for about 10 min it streams with no problem.

 

[Disn3yVision]

Do the televisions have hdmi inputs for a roku or Apple TV? Or do the just have usb slots for like a fire stick? I'd like to know for the Poly specifically if anybody has an answer for me.

 

[ScubaCat]

HDMI is pretty ubiquitous. It would be shocking if it didn't have a couple of HDMI ports.

 

[TravelGrl]

For what it's worth, I just sent an email to DVC asking them to reconsider and return the DVD players to the rooms. We always bring a few Netflix DVDs with us on our trips and now that we have a young daughter, we will be spending more time in the room than before. And no, I really wouldn't want to take our Roku player with us if we didn't have to. Another thing to bring and to worry about damaging or losing. Plus, it's a pain to hook it up. We had to move our whole Entertainment Center to plug it into the TV port at home.


Maybe if enough of us write about it, they will change their minds.

 

[lawgator]

I used the clock as a clock, not an alarm. And I quite miss it.

We stayed at OKW last Thursday night in a studio (near HH) to be near Typhoon Lagoon for the after hours DVC member party. We still had the alarm clock in our studio as well as a dvd player. I also brought my Roku streaming stick (newest version) and it worked fine for us to stream the internet. I hope they just leave the clock, but we'll see. Now, if housekeeping had only remembered to leave us some dish washing soap in our room.....

 

[lawgator]

Do the televisions have hdmi inputs for a roku or Apple TV? Or do the just have usb slots for like a fire stick? I'd like to know for the Poly specifically if anybody has an answer for me.

The tv at our OKW studio last week had hdmi input and internet worked well.

 

[disneymommy13]

We just stayed the first week of June in a lake front studio at the polynesian. We own dvc at the poly. We noticed that there was a larger tv, but no DVD player. My husband called the front desk and asked about it. They brought up a brand new DVD blue ray in a box and even offered to install it. My husband said he would plug it in. It was great! We watched several DVDs at night on it. My advice is to call and ask about the DVD players, I think they have them, you just have to ask.

 

[Disn3yVision]

We just stayed the first week of June in a lake front studio at the polynesian. We own dvc at the poly. We noticed that there was a larger tv, but no DVD player. My husband called the front desk and asked about it. They brought up a brand new DVD blue ray in a box and even offered to install it. My husband said he would plug it in. It was great! We watched several DVDs at night on it. My advice is to call and ask about the DVD players, I think they have them, you just have to ask.

Just to clarify, it was a blu ray player as well? Or just a standard dvd player?

 

[ScubaCat]

And no, I really wouldn't want to take our Roku player with us if we didn't have to. Another thing to bring and to worry about damaging or losing. Plus, it's a pain to hook it up. We had to move our whole Entertainment Center to plug it into the TV port at home.

I'd spring for a Roku STICK for travel purposes. They go on sale for $39 all the time. If you already have a Roku, you'd literally just log into your account from the stick and it'll set up all the apps for you. It takes 15 seconds to plug it in at a hotel. You can also make use the stick at home on another TV when not traveling. If you have the regular Netflix HD plan, you're entitled to 2 simultaneous streams.

 

[ScubaCat]

Just to clarify, it was a blu ray player as well? Or just a standard dvd player?

Standard DVD. They've never supplied or lent Blu Ray discs. Blu Ray is tricker because, due to the significantly higher capacity on the same physical size object, they're much more susceptible to playback problems due to dirt or scratches. DVDs are a lot more tolerant and will survive many more rental cycles.

 

[disneymommy13]

Just to clarify, it was a blu ray player as well? Or just a standard dvd player?

Yes, a new Sony blue ray DVD player, it played regular DVDs as well.