Roku in the room?

[roselark]

Has anyone successfully used their Roku at a Disney resort? All the info I am finding was from a couple of years ago and the WiFi has greatly improved since then.

My mom is joining me on my upcoming WDW Marathon weekend trip and she hasn't seen a bunch of the recent Disney movies. I have most of them on my Amazon account and would much prefer to stream using the Roku Stick rather than transport all the blu-rays and a player with me.

 

[jesse8931]

Has anyone successfully used their Roku at a Disney resort? All the info I am finding was from a couple of years ago and the WiFi has greatly improved since then.

My mom is joining me on my upcoming WDW Marathon weekend trip and she hasn't seen a bunch of the recent Disney movies. I have most of them on my Amazon account and would much prefer to stream using the Roku Stick rather than transport all the blu-rays and a player with me.

I'm not sure if the tv's there have a usb port but you can use a usb phone charger to power it and plug the stream into the tv and that should work just fine.

 

[roselark]

I'm not sure if the tv's there have a usb port but you can use a usb phone charger to power it and plug the stream into the tv and that should work just fine.

Roku uses an HDMI port.

 

[jesse8931]

Roku uses an HDMI port.

Correct my roku streaming stick requires power to work. You can plug it into the wall or a usb port on the tv.

 

[xlxo]

Things to check and test for....

• are streaming sites blocked so Roku won't work?
• how fast is the Mbps download speed... especially in the evening when countless hotel room devices are connected to video sites.

 

[Polydweller]

Things to check and test for....

• are streaming sites blocked so Roku won't work?
• how fast is the Mbps download speed... especially in the evening when countless hotel room devices are connected to video sites.

In October I didn't come across any blocked sites. There were two years ago but those same sites were open this past October.

I didn't check the download speed because I didn't have to. Didn't have a speed issue with any site regardless of time of day at the resort.

 

[roselark]

I streamed several videos on my phone during my last trip and had no issues. I think the speed will be fine. I am concerned about permissions. The issue that most people were having a couple of years ago was that the resort WiFi required a log in screen, but I don't remember it doing that on my last trip.

Well, I will take both my Roku and the blu-ray player so that I have both. I will report on whether the Roku works or not.

 

[rethciR]

As a frequent traveler, please don't bring your Roku and stream video through the resort wifi. Generally, hotel and resort wifi is not of the same caliber as your home connection. There are dozens of people trying to use it all at once and even one or two people streaming via Netflix et al, can bring the whole connection to a crawl. Uploading some pictures, checking email, and general surfing/changing FastPass info is ok... That's what the wifi is meant for. You're in Disney World... Get out of the room.

 

[Disneyhenry]

my sis took hers last December and had no problem we did research and never saw anything that stated what functions the internet was limited too. We enjoy relaxing a bit while on vacation, we enjoy our room too, we don't like to be out of the room and on the run. I guess we just feel we are paying for the room, the internet, the pools, the park passes might as well enjoy all of it right??

 

[Dug720]

my sis took hers last December and had no problem we did research and never saw anything that stated what functions the internet was limited too. We enjoy relaxing a bit while on vacation, we enjoy our room too, we don't like to be out of the room and on the run. I guess we just feel we are paying for the room, the internet, the pools, the park passes might as well enjoy all of it right??

And other people have the same rights, but using things that stream video use up a lot of the available bandwidth and make it difficult for others to enjoy the same internet they are paying for as well.

 

[FelisLachesis]

And other people have the same rights, but using things that stream video use up a lot of the available bandwidth and make it difficult for others to enjoy the same internet they are paying for as well.

I'm not sure if this was a problem when the Internet was wired. Then again, I don't know how good that was.

I see 4 quick solutions to this:

1) Leave it as is

2) Disney curtails the use of items like Roku, Chromecast, Amazon Fire Sticks, and Apple TVs

3) Disney expands bandwidth

4) Disney charges for in-room Internet, again

Number 3 may be the happiest solution, but also the most expensive. I'm not sure if we ever want to see number 4 again.

 

[roselark]

You're in Disney World... Get out of the room.

That's a bit rude. Yes I will be in Disney World, but I will have necessary downtime the day before the Half Marathon. Touring the parks is a stupid waste of energy and will kill my performance at the race (I know from experience).

Also, I guarantee that there are tons of people streaming on their phones, iPads laptops, etc at every moment during the day. I have seen countless people streaming videos on their phones and tablets for their kids in lines. I took 4 trips this year to the parks and only had an issue a couple of times when I could not get a signal. When my cellular signal was good, the performance was just fine.

I have been in the telecommunications industry for 15 years and am very familiar with commercial internet offerings. It takes a LOT of traffic to use up the amount of bandwidth that Disney has. They have invested a lot of $ over the last several years in order to accommodate the way people are using their devices now, which includes streaming. I would not be surprised if they had set up their own backbone (just kidding...sorta). At the very least they have several GIG-E connections to their backbone provider.

 

[rethciR]

That's a bit rude....I have been in the telecommunications industry for 15 years and am very familiar with commercial internet offerings. It takes a LOT of traffic to use up the amount of bandwidth that Disney has. They have invested a lot of $ over the last several years in order to accommodate the way people are using their devices now, which includes streaming. I would not be surprised if they had set up their own backbone (just kidding...sorta). At the very least they have several GIG-E connections to their backbone provider.

Personally, I find using the majority of bandwidth and forcing others internet to a crawl much ruder...

I'm not ignorant on this topic. I administer server and network communications for a living and watch graphs every day that show how much bandwidth streaming media takes up. Streaming music and video doesn't care how much bandwidth is available... It will take as much as it needs. Even if Disney had bonded T3 lines at each resort, it wouldn't take much for a handful of people at say, Port Orleans Riverside, to adversely the overall speed of the connections.

Disney could implement MAC address limiting on each access point, but that would be a nightmare to admin across the entire "World".

I appreciate the fact that you're running the marathon and need some rest to prepare. All I'm saying is don't hijack the bandwidth. Streaming on a phone or tablet is different than through a dedicated Roku or AppleTV. Mobile devices stream at a lower bit rate. That equals less data. A Roku will attempt to stream in HD.

 

[Disneyhenry]

That's a bit rude. Yes I will be in Disney World, but I will have necessary downtime the day before the Half Marathon. Touring the parks is a stupid waste of energy and will kill my performance at the race (I know from experience).

Also, I guarantee that there are tons of people streaming on their phones, iPads laptops, etc at every moment during the day. I have seen countless people streaming videos on their phones and tablets for their kids in lines. I took 4 trips this year to the parks and only had an issue a couple of times when I could not get a signal. When my cellular signal was good, the performance was just fine.

I have been in the telecommunications industry for 15 years and am very familiar with commercial internet offerings. It takes a LOT of traffic to use up the amount of bandwidth that Disney has. They have invested a lot of $ over the last several years in order to accommodate the way people are using their devices now, which includes streaming. I would not be surprised if they had set up their own backbone (just kidding...sorta). At the very least they have several GIG-E connections to their backbone provider.

I agree, it was just a rude thing to say. If Disney don't have any rules against streaming, then your not breaking any rules. Relax, enjoy the resort and your room, why not watch a movie before your big day - Good luck and congrats BTW on your marathon.
Lots of people take advantage of the internet while at WDW, so I am sure it is not a big deal that you want to too

 

[IceSkatingPrincess]

Her resort, her room, her trip.

OP, I've watched movies on my ipad and watched a lot of youtube with no issues. I have also streamed live lectures for school from my room. No problems downloading apps, with skype, or with Pandora either. Hope that helps.

 

[xlxo]

For myself...

• I check the Mbps with http://www.speedtest.net/. If it's slower than 2 Mbps... I reach for my smartphone and run the internet/wifi off that.
• If the wifi is slow in the evenings, check the speed after midnight, morning and mid-day. Internet usage is highest after dinner and quickly speeds up at other times of the day.
• You might find the wifi runs much faster in the lobby compared to the room.
• Most hotel routers/repeaters are located in the hallway and have problems reaching the desk/window of the room. Try running the laptop/tablet/phone over the toilet, I often find significant performance improvements as the wifi signal is much stronger closer to the room entrance.

 

[jesse8931]

I pay good money to stay at Disney and if I wanna watch Netflix that's my choice not another guests.

If Disney wanted to stop me from watching Netflix Hulu or any other video site they could very easily.

 

[rethciR]

I pay good money to stay at Disney and if I wanna watch Netflix that's my choice not another guests.

If Disney wanted to stop me from watching Netflix Hulu or any other video site they could very easily.

Agreed. We all pay good money to stay onsite. Part of that good money comes with the expectation of reliable internet. All I'm saying is that streaming video through a dedicated device such as an AppleTV or Roku has real impact on the connection as a whole.

I will be taking in and enjoying the rest of the "World" while you guys are enjoying something you can do any time at home. Even if I was resting for a race, it wouldn't be in my hotel room watching Netflix...

Just my $.02.

 

[nkereina]

Agreed. We all pay good money to stay onsite. Part of that good money comes with the expectation of reliable internet. All I'm saying is that streaming video through a dedicated device such as an AppleTV or Roku has real impact on the connection as a whole.

I will be taking in and enjoying the rest of the "World" while you guys are enjoying something you can do any time at home. Even if I was resting for a race, it wouldn't be in my hotel room watching Netflix...

Just my $.02.

Unfortunately your 2 cents are irrelevant to the topic at hand. The internet is already slow without the use of streaming devices, and besides, everyone vacations differently. I'm sure you wouldn't let people tell you what to do or what not to do on vacation.

But back on topic, OP, I was there in November and did need to accept the terms on a login page to access wifi but there was no login or password to my knowledge. I actually had to do it several times from my iPad because it kept disconnecting me. We found the internet to be poor at CSR, not sure how well it would work with a Roku. Do you have an iPad or tablet instead maybe?