Wifi in the parks?

[LaurenT]

So, I finally bit the bullet and upgraded to the I6. It's great, BUT, I no longer get unlimited data and the 4G LTE seems to be eating through data much faster than my old 3G phone.
In the past I've used my cell service in the park, but I think that will kill my usage now.
So, how is the Wifi in the park? Do you locals find a difference between crowded days and light days (ok ... I guess most locals wouldn't bother going on a crowded day - maybe cast members?)

 

[Robo]

So, I finally bit the bullet and upgraded to the I6. It's great, BUT, I no longer get unlimited data and the 4G LTE seems to be eating through data much faster than my old 3G phone.
In the past I've used my cell service in the park, but I think that will kill my usage now.
So,

1. how is the Wifi in the park?

2. Do you locals find a difference between crowded days and light days

1. Signal is pretty strong. BUT, data transfer is often very, very SLOW.
2. I didn't. MDE access and the ability to make changes usually ran "iffy," to slow, to moderate response speed... at random times.
This was all within the last 2 weeks.

 

[aimathy]

We just got back and the wifi was sloooooooow. It was one of my biggest disappointments this trip, because everything they want you to do now regarding reservations and fast passes are app/internet based and it took forget to pull slip their app every.single.time you needed it. So not only did I switch over to my phones internet, but I had to charge my phone while I was there every single day. (I would often day wifi a few times a day hoping to catch it on a "faster " moment , but the spinning and spinning and waiting, ate up my battery. It was a true pain to find an outlet and sit there and wait for my phone to charge, just to function throughout the day. if they're going to make everything phone based, their wifi should be flawless!!

 

[Robo]

spinning and waiting, ate up my battery. It was a true pain to find an outlet and sit there and wait for my phone to charge

You need to buy a small pocket phone charger.
They output USB power that can recharge your phone anytime (even when the phone is in use,)
I got one at Walmart for $12.
(They are available just about everywhere including Amazon and eBay.)

It worked just great at keeping my phone active throughout a 14-hour day at the parks.

 

[LaurenT]

Ugh. This is what I was afraid of.
ATT is going to start offering rollover data, but only carrying over one month. So I guess for my long trip in August I'll try to limit usage to wifi in July as much as possible.
A tip about the battery ... I had a mophie on my old phone, it's a backup battery that also serves as a case. When my battery runs low I just switch the button and the mophie recharges the phone. It's not cheap though.
There is no mophie available for the 6 yet, so I opted for Ifrogz golite 2.0. It's a little larger than a lipstick. You charge it up at home and then you can recharge your phone twice with it while you're on the go! I think I even like it better than the mophie and it's cheaper!

 

[Schmeck]

We just got back and the wifi was sloooooooow. It was one of my biggest disappointments this trip, because everything they want you to do now regarding reservations and fast passes are app/internet based and it took forget to pull slip their app every.single.time you needed it. So not only did I switch over to my phones internet, but I had to charge my phone while I was there every single day. (I would often day wifi a few times a day hoping to catch it on a "faster " moment , but the spinning and spinning and waiting, ate up my battery. It was a true pain to find an outlet and sit there and wait for my phone to charge, just to function throughout the day. if they're going to make everything phone based, their wifi should be flawless!!

pull slip? Or is that auto correct for pull up?

When we were there last August wifi worked fine for my iPhone 5s. No huge lag, and I only had to charge my phone at night. Of course, I'm not constantly on my phone all day, so besides a few texts when we split up and a few photos each day, the phone was only used for MDE.

 

[Tomh]

I found the wifi to be midland to awful. I often needed to use my phone's data plan (I am still unlimited, so no big deal there). My Galaxy Note 3 needed FREQUENT recharging. I brought along a big back up battery which was able to charge my phone about 2 times. That helped tremendously. I also found that I often had to force the app to stop, then restart it in order for it to be of any use to me. All in all, the system has a long way to go unfortunately.

 

[Robo]

1. I often had to force the app to stop, then restart it in order for it to be of any use to me.

2. All in all, the system has a long way to go unfortunately.

1. Ditto.

2. For sure!

 

[Volkswagenphreak]

I thought the wifi worked pretty good. It didn't work inside any attractions though... But for being as massive as disney is they do a great job with the wifi

 

[JanaDee]

We found the wifi to be useless.

 

[KenDoll]

I found that the wifi on my iphone5s which I think is only 3G was awesome when I was on my phone playing games or on safari for non related disney things and worked well, however when I was using MDE or on the disney website it was slower than slow, my family found it irritating to try and use the app while in the parks and at our resort.

 

[Laketravis]

Last month our experience was the same as a lot of others.

It seems in the early morning hours the wifi worked pretty good, perhaps because it wasn't loaded down as much. But as the day wore on and more people filled the parks, the wifi definitely bogs down. I noticed that the coverage itself was much better than it used to be, but it just doesn't seem to have the capacity to serve the park population.

The MDE app itself, on the other hand, was a frustrating experience regardless of how strong or fast the park wifi signal was. I would often switch over to 4G LTE just to see if it would help but it didn't. Constant "Network Errors" and having to reset the app because it would just hang was most annoying.

 

[Robo]

LThe MDE app itself... was a frustrating experience regardless of how strong or fast the park wifi signal was. I would often switch over to 4G LTE just to see if it would help but it didn't. Constant "Network Errors" and having to reset the app because it would just hang was most annoying.

Absolutely.

I could easily lose 20 minutes trying "adjust" a single FP+.
I learned to attempt changes only while waiting in line or waiting for a show to start.
Even tried while aboard transportation (phone data, of course, no wifi on most transportation routes.)

The app would very often simply freeze progress on the spinning wheel of death, and I'd eventually have to start over.

There were many times that it WOULD eventually get to the last page of choices,
and just before I could click which option I wanted, the screen would jump to a
CALENDAR PAGE with the date I wanted to make the changes underlined…
but NO WAY TO ACT on that calendar from that page.
Just a flat DEAD END (after waiting 5-10-15 minutes of slow progress just to get that far.)
Then, I'd have to start over.

"Magical" it was not.

 

[CAS239]

The Wi-Fi normally works just fine with everything except the MDE app. For whatever reason when your inside the park on Disney WiFi, the app either won't refresh or won't load most of the time. Everything else, Facebook, instagram, games, etc loads just fine

 

[JadeDarkstar]

is the mde app the only thing you really needed the internet for? Can ppl get by with out useing there phone so much?

 

[Robo]

1. is the mde app the only thing you really needed the internet for?

2. Can ppl get by with out useing there phone so much?

1. It depends on who the "you" is.
If "you" only want to use the MDE app, then that's all there "needs" to be.

2. Sure, if they don't want to use it.
If they DO want to use it, the MDE app can be very problematic and time-wasting.

 

[FeralCatRogue]

the wifi was quite good on my last trip, I had to attend a 2 hour online streaming conference while in Epcot and had no issues at all with it.

 

[Islamom]

Two years ago I had no trouble with MDE when I wanted to change FP+ in the parks. This year (1st week of January). I was never able to get wifi in the MK for MDE and finally just stood in line at the FP kiosks to get new FP and adjust old ones. My husband was able to access MDE with wifi in AK.

 

[bethjones]

Has anyone tried to access the MDE website instead of the app in the parks? It seems like that could be a backup system in case the app isn't working.

 

[MickeyMinnie1971]

Has anyone tried to access the MDE website instead of the app in the parks? It seems like that could be a backup system in case the app isn't working.

I use the website when the app isn't working well. It's usually much faster.