Wifi in the Park?

[Mom2six]

I read there was free wifi in the parks. Is this still true? How good is the wifi signal? Is it good enough to stream a show from netflix? My son sometimes has trouble at restaurants and is prone to meltdowns there (he has autism). As a back-up I was thinking of letting him watch a show on my phone to distract him if he gets too nervous.

 

[Pixiedust34]

Free wifi is available at the resorts, but not the parks.

 

[ariel3]

Is it currently available at all Disney resorts? We're staying at Port Orleans, Riverside.

 

[Pixiedust34]

Is it currently available at all Disney resorts? We're staying at Port Orleans, Riverside.

It's at all resorts, though I'm not sure about Fort Wilderness. You'll have the free wifi at Riverside.

 

[Robo]

I read there was free wifi in the parks. Is this still true? How good is the wifi signal? Is it good enough to stream a show from netflix? My son sometimes has trouble at restaurants and is prone to meltdowns there (he has autism). As a back-up I was thinking of letting him watch a show on my phone to distract him if he gets too nervous.

Can you PRE-LOAD some movies into your phone before the trip?

 

[mesaboy2]

Is it currently available at all Disney resorts? We're staying at Port Orleans, Riverside.

POR had it when I was there in early June. The service was free, but terrible.

 

[PaulaSB12]

According to allears free wifi in the parks is on the way, maid kingdom first.

 

[mesaboy2]

According to allears free wifi in the parks is on the way, maid kingdom first.

Magic Kingdom got WiFi last week, the others don't have it yet.

 

[chloe4ever]

How about buying a cheap portable DVD player and let him watch his favorite movies that way. Much more reliable than WI-FI.

 

[Mom2six]

It's great news that Magic Kingdom is getting free wifi! Yeah. I don't really want to lug around a DVD player, but that is a good idea if nothing else works well. I am going to put a few movies on my phone, but lately he's been really into a few shows he watches on netflix. I've also found a couple of games that he likes (a Handy Manny matching game, and a TSM game - so those are nicely themed for our visit) Thanks everyone for the replies.

 

[PaulaSB12]

Magic Kingdom got WiFi last week, the others don't have it yet.

That is what allears said but free wifi will be coming in the next few months

 

[mesaboy2]

That is what allears said but free wifi will be coming in the next few months

It's free now.

 

[Oomiak]

It's great news that Magic Kingdom is getting free wifi! Yeah. I don't really want to lug around a DVD player, but that is a good idea if nothing else works well. I am going to put a few movies on my phone, but lately he's been really into a few shows he watches on netflix. I've also found a couple of games that he likes (a Handy Manny matching game, and a TSM game - so those are nicely themed for our visit) Thanks everyone for the replies.

If he'd rather watch certain shows and you are concerned about the quality of the WiFi, you should consider buying a few episodes from iTunes. Provided of course they have the shows he likes. You could buy several episodes and keep them on the phone and view them without any WiFi.

 

[raven69david]

If this is true, this would be AWESOME! My signal in the parks is awful and takes too long to load my Mobile Magic app on my Sprint iPhone and Android phone.

 

[dzorn]

Given that the free WiFi was so bad at AKL on our last trip I could not even download my e-mail without it timing out I would not count on netflix to work at all. Download some favorites from Itunes and store on the phone. You may also want to consider a back up battery.

Denise in MI

 

[chartle]

Given that the free WiFi was so bad at AKL on our last trip I could not even download my e-mail without it timing out I would not count on netflix to work at all. Download some favorites from Itunes and store on the phone. You may also want to consider a back up battery.

Denise in MI

I could see it being I little bit better in a park since its more open but thousands (10's of thousands ) of people are going to strain the bandwidth.

It appears that this service is being installed to help support Next Gen FP or whatever you call it, not give people free access to everything on the net.

If I was Disney I would actually block access to any video streaming services.
I saw some survey that said 20% of Comcast's bandwidth was just for Netflix. In fact I would limit it to just Disney services.

 

[bwang123]

I could see it being I little bit better in a park since its more open but thousands (10's of thousands ) of people are going to strain the bandwidth.

It appears that this service is being installed to help support Next Gen FP or whatever you call it, not give people free access to everything on the net.

If I was Disney I would actually block access to any video streaming services.
I saw some survey that said 20% of Comcast's bandwidth was just for Netflix. In fact I would limit it to just Disney services.

i agree that they should limited it to disney apps, website and maybe social media where they have a presence. But, on one site, they did some testing and it appeared that most sites were available for access. They did try Victorias Secret and it was blocked. They need to set the guidelines/restrictions from the start because people will feel things are being taken from them. I can only imagine the complaints on here if in a few months Disney trys to speed up their free in park wireless and as part of that they block Hulu and Netflix.

 

[chartle]

1. i agree that they should limited it to disney apps, website and maybe social media where they have a presence. But, on one site, they did some testing and it appeared that most sites were available for access. They did try Victorias Secret and it was blocked.

2. They need to set the guidelines/restrictions from the start because people will feel things are being taken from them. I can only imagine the complaints on here if in a few months Disney trys to speed up their free in park wireless and as part of that they block Hulu and Netflix.

1. I'm not a social media kind of guy but aren't there features in Facebook that require higher band width?

2. I'm assuming they have some sort of terms of use screen that should cover everything. But yes I can see issues with "free" internet from some people who think that free open wi-fi is written into the constitution and they have every right to do what ever they want*.

Imagine all the Skype and Ustream live feeds. Disney should restrict usage now and if bandwidth is there, open it up more.

*OP I'm not really including you in this group, but as posted above, I wouldn't expect speeds that would allow you to stream video. With the amount of people connecting at one time, I would expect dial up speeds.

 

[PrincessBelle39]

There is definitely free wifi in the Magic Kingdom. We used it 2 days ago and it was great. Tried yesterday at Hollywood Studios and still nothing.

 

[Tara]

1. I'm not a social media kind of guy but aren't there features in Facebook that require higher band width?

2. I'm assuming they have some sort of terms of use screen that should cover everything. But yes I can see issues with "free" internet from some people who think that free open wi-fi is written into the constitution and they have every right to do what ever they want*.

Imagine all the Skype and Ustream live feeds. Disney should restrict usage now and if bandwidth is there, open it up more.

*OP I'm not really including you in this group, but as posted above, I wouldn't expect speeds that would allow you to stream video. With the amount of people connecting at one time, I would expect dial up speeds.

I can only imagine that if they're offering free wifi, they're doing some throttling of streaming media sites.