Worth bringing my laptop for a 3 night/4 Day Trip at AKL?

[amycishere]

I am a huge animal lover and I have a feeling that I'll be doing alot of animal watching during our downtime at the hotel. On my birthday until about 4 PM I have the whole day scheduled just to chill at the resort. Should I just save my 10 bucks a day and not worry about bringing it? I do love my computer though but maybe Disney is so great I'll just keep everyone up to date when I get back.

 

[I'mNoPrince]

You know we don't take ours and we are always on the computer . I just feel I can live without it for a week or even more so on a short trip. We are on the go from opening to close and even when we take a break it's not really a break maybe just a rest at the pool.

Save your $10 and worry of your computer coming up missing.

 

[tnkr mom]

There is sooooo much to do at AKL I dont think you'll miss the laptop! I loved even listening to the stories int he lobby for the kids during the day!~
Have fun and Happy Birthday - just relax!!!!!!

 

[Allensfan]

We lugged our laptop, and all its gear, from NC to Disney for our stay at AKL last Sept. Once we got to the room we had to get a cord to use the internet and figure out a way to stay close to the connection. I would never again take it. We never used it and it was a bit of a pain...surprised they did not have wireless...anyway, so much fun stuff to do that you won't miss it.

Promise

 

[helenabear]

We don't always take a laptop with us as well. Particularly on my shorter trips, we just leave it at home. It's much cheaper for me to just buy more memory for my camera (#1 reason why I bring it) and use my cell phone if I really want to go online.

For a four day trip, I definitely would leave it at home.

 

[DisneyNotes]

I always take my laptop on trips, but I do limit my time to a few minutes in the morning and evening to check email and weather. If you can limit yourself, then take it. If it would keep you in your room, then don't. You don't have to pay for all 4 days of internet. Maybe get online every couple of days.

 

[yngsj]

We take ours but it's usually because of having a bill or bills to pay that we couldn't pay before we left home. We also fly SW and like to check in for our flight on it. It's also nice to watch a movie or two on since we have a long flight from Seattle. With all that said, if we didn't have a bill to pay and didn't have a long flight I would not hassel with bringing it.

 

[DisneyNotes]

That's true. We do use our computers for in-flight entertainment. The kids play games on theirs and I can make lists and organize calendars, etc. We take a couple of DVDs, too.

 

[TripTime]

We take ours but it's usually because of having a bill or bills to pay that we couldn't pay before we left home. We also fly SW and like to check in for our flight on it. It's also nice to watch a movie or two on since we have a long flight from Seattle. With all that said, if we didn't have a bill to pay and didn't have a long flight I would not hassel with bringing it.

We just got a laptop and also thought about taking it to check-in for return flight.Don't you have to print confirmation? How do you do this?

 

[gr8tdame]

We just got a laptop and also thought about taking it to check-in for return flight.Don't you have to print confirmation? How do you do this?

[/COLOR]

I am also wondering about this. We are flying SW and would also like to check in 24 hrs before our return flight to get an "A" boarding pass.

 

[Mom2Evie]

I am a huge animal lover and I have a feeling that I'll be doing alot of animal watching during our downtime at the hotel. On my birthday until about 4 PM I have the whole day scheduled just to chill at the resort. Should I just save my 10 bucks a day and not worry about bringing it? I do love my computer though but maybe Disney is so great I'll just keep everyone up to date when I get back.

I thought the internet only costs $10 per day at the value resorts. I had no idea you had to pay for it everywhere. I brought my laptop with me back in April. I had no choice, I needed to log in for a bit each night ot get a bit of work done. For me, it was worth the $50 total I was charged. Since I was already going to pay the money, we used the laptop for things other than work. Some were Disney related, some were personal. If I didn't have things that I really needed to accomplish during my vacation, then I wouldn't bring it with me.
You might decide to bring it along and then only log on if you relaly need to do so. Since you're charged for 24 hour period, if you logged on late morning, you could make the most of that $10 and use the internet that night and the next morning before time expired.

 

[raven69david]

The only reason we take ours is to use the DVD to entertain our DD during the flight. I check my email and do a little surfing at night and check bank account and stocks during the morning. Otherwise, we don't really use it.

We recently bought a portable DVD player and we'll be using that on our next trip so we won't have to carry the laptop and possibly get it damaged by overzealous TSA agents.

Since my phone can be used as a modem, i connect through my Sprint phone for free so i don't have to worry about the added cost. It also has internet so i can do all of my online banking on my phone which further eliminates the need for the lappy.

 

[I'mNoPrince]

We just got a laptop and also thought about taking it to check-in for return flight.Don't you have to print confirmation? How do you do this?

[/COLOR]

I am also wondering about this. We are flying SW and would also like to check in 24 hrs before our return flight to get an "A" boarding pass.

We fly SW all the time. You have a few options.

1) bring your Laptop and check-in at the 24hr mark. Reprint your boarding pass at MCO. (downside you have to be at your laptop at the 24hr mark)

2) Have the Resort or even the Park (if not busyat GuestRelations) check you in and print your passes .(downside none really just have to remember to have your confirm number with you).

3)Check in with a Web enabled CellPhone and then reprint at MCO.(this is what we have been doing for sometime as you can do it anywhere as long as you have a signal.) My last 3 off the top of my head are BTMRR,front of the Monorail heading from Epcot to the TTC,and Fantasmic.

4) have someone at Home check you in and then reprint at MCO.(downside you have to trust tem to do it.)

Now once you check-in thats the important thing it doesn't matter when or where you do the printing as long as the check-in is done.

 

[amycishere]

Thank you everyone! I won't be bringing it.

 

[klmall]

Another reason to bring a laptop is to download and store your digital camera photos if you need to do so. You can avoid this by bringing extra memory cards or downloading to a cd at the parks etc. but you risk losing your originals if you overwrite the card. Check the DIS Photography Board for messages about other photo storage options.

 

[Luvchefmic]

I spent 21 nights at POP last Oct, have laptop will travel basically for bill paying and keeping in touch with military family BUT free local calls, I just plugged the phone line into the laptop (I think the POP facts page has local numbers I need to check it myself for this upcoming trip) and did not go for that internet cable thingy they charge you $10 a day for.


As far as the boarding pass I went to luggage area for DME and they printed it out for me no problem

Have a great time, Ruthie

 

[grimley1968]

I did bring my laptop last time we went to Disneyland in Anaheim. I didn't bother getting on the internet. I didn't want to be bothered with that, as I'm on it all day at work, and a lot at home as well.

But the laptop was quite handy for typing in my daily observations and events for what eventually became a pretty good trip report. I could have written it out longhand, but I much prefer to just type stuff into Notepad and then copy it later to some kind of word processing app. to neaten it up.

When I was done with the laptop each night, I tucked it away inside our suitcase. Those safes aren't big enough to hold a laptop, but I also didn't remember to buy a cable lock for it. But at least I didn't just leave it sitting out waiting to be stolen.

 

[DisneyNotes]

That's a good suggestion to tuck it into the suitcase for security reasons. Don't know why I've never done that, but I will this trip.

 

[grimley1968]

That's a good suggestion to tuck it into the suitcase for security reasons. Don't know why I've never done that, but I will this trip.

Thank you, but a cable lock, if you have the time go out and get one, would be a better solution. I only did the suitcase thing because I forgot to go out and get a lock. Any Office Depot, Staples, etc. should have them.

 

[DisneyNotes]

Are those the locks that plug into the computer and wrap around the leg of the desk?