Walkie Talkie vs Mobile Phone - HELP!

[dossie]

Hi Guys - ok....my latest predicament...

Having two children, one of whom is not over 40" and therefore not eligible for many of the rides, we figure we would need to separate occasionally to keep both children happy and occupied and us sane!

We have read in various guides about walkie talkies and also about using mobiles to communicate so that we can meet up again without wasting too much time in the parks - sounds a fabby idea.

However, most of the guides and comments on here say to go to local US stores or WALMART to pick up cheap local fones etc.

We are staying on site at Disney without a car and therefore don't feel able to get to these places easily.

Does anyone have a solution - can we order US fones online? which is best - fones or walkie talkies (I understand lots of people have them and the airwaves can be busy, with peole picking up each others' signals etc..)

Please can someone advise or share stories etc to help me decide what to do???????????????????????????????

 

[Davscotcar]

I had suggested to dw that we got walkie talkies but as my parents are going the week after us coming home she suggested we get the phones and take them home and get them to buy them off us. We've realised that there is a walmart 10 mins away from Sanford so will pop in on our way down the road. But it may be worth trying to get to walmart by taxi from DTD and getting some or ensuring you have enough credit in a triband phone from the UK and using the text messaging service. My dw went to New York in September for 5 days and used £50 worth of credit in her phone to get in touch with her cousin and me.

 

[Claire L]

Text messages we ideal for us to keep in contact with friends over New Year. On some contracts you don't even pay for the texts as it comes out of your normal allowances

Claire

 

[paulh]

we are looking into this as well.We are going to buy 3 usa ciligular sims from ebay works out £17 each.Get $10 of credit.You can buy without credit for £12.reason were going for ciligular is if you use it one day cost is $1 then all cals to a mobile that day is free,there is anouther tariff.Unless you topp up after first ativation runs out after 30 days.We will activate just before we go online.Make sure your phone is unlocked(if its a contract phone it should be unlocked)try anouther network sim in it from a friend to see if there sim works in yours,if it dose its unlocked.And check that phone works in the usa (triband and check out model online)
Paulh

 

[Groovee]

We have 2 children, one of whom will not be tall enough. I suggested to dh last week that we bought the trac phones from walmart. His parents are going for a fortnight and they could use them after us and we could use them when we go to NY after my expense last year on texts etc. If I didn't have a car I would definitely get a taxi to take me down from DTD as it's not that expensive and for $40 we'll have 2 phones that will work as well but for me they must text as sometimes that easiest for me lol.

 

[lexie32]

we just got back, we bought 2 motorla tracfones from Target at $14 each and 2 $10 top up cards and that was perfect for us, we mainly texted each other and the reassurance of having them was worth their weight in gold!

 

[RobinHood's merrymen]

We had the same dilemma when we last went to WDW. I did a little digging around for info and decided to go with advice to buy a basic set of walkie talkies. We got a set of 'Oregon' from Argos for about £35. They have got 300 channels (do not go for 8 channel sets). When we arrived at WDW we set them to a random channel and off we went. We never heard anyone on our channel, not once! It was great. They became invaluable for our trip and we will be taking them again next year. Just one example of how we used them to our advantage; I took our DD to Playhouse Disney at MGM whilst my DW looked for a good place to watch the parade. When we came out my DW could direct us straight to her for a fantastic viewing area with hardly any wait for our 3 yr old. It was great also in fast food restaurants too. The DW would look for a table with our DD whilst I queued for the food, then again she could direct me straight to her. It saved loads of time.

Hope this helps, good luck with your choice.
Remember "the planning is all part of the fun!" We're planning our Nov 2008 trip already!

 

[Davscotcar]

We had the same dilemma when we last went to WDW. I did a little digging around for info and decided to go with advice to buy a basic set of walkie talkies. We got a set of 'Oregon' from Argos for about £35. They have got 300 channels (do not go for 8 channel sets). When we arrived at WDW we set them to a random channel and off we went. We never heard anyone on our channel, not once! It was great. They became invaluable for our trip and we will be taking them again next year. Just one example of how we used them to our advantage; I took our DD to Playhouse Disney at MGM whilst my DW looked for a good place to watch the parade. When we came out my DW could direct us straight to her for a fantastic viewing area with hardly any wait for our 3 yr old. It was great also in fast food restaurants too. The DW would look for a table with our DD whilst I queued for the food, then again she could direct me straight to her. It saved loads of time.

Hope this helps, good luck with your choice.
Remember "the planning is all part of the fun!" We're planning our Nov 2008 trip already!

Do you have a link to them?

 

[RobinHood's merrymen]

Gosh, now you're asking!!! I'll try! http://http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Browse/catalogId/10651/identifier/8561505.htm
Don't laugh at me if it doesn't work!

 

[RobinHood's merrymen]

How's this one!

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Browse/catalogId/10651/identifier/8561505.htm

 

[Claire L]

I have a feeling UK walkie talkies are banned in the US due to the frequencies they use.

Claire

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

the advantage of Tracfones or similar that as normal mobiles they can be used outside the range of walkie talkies, they have a better sound reproduction and can be used for making local calls to take-outs, hotels, booking other things and checking in at the airport etc..

 

[Goofyish]

I have a feeling UK walkie talkies are banned in the US due to the frequencies they use.

Claire

That is correct - and the other way round.

The frequencies that UK walkie-talkies use are allocated to other uses in the US. These could well be emergency frequencies etc.

 

[crabbie1]

That is correct - and the other way round.

The frequencies that UK walkie-talkies use are allocated to other uses in the US. These could well be emergency frequencies etc.

We bought some off e-bay which we took last time from an american guy and they worked fine in the parks.I will have to find out the name.Obviosly have no use for them over here but wasn't told we can't use them here.Now I know they are illegal will keep them snuggly tucked away for our usa vaccations