Wifi in the parks. For it or against it?

Should Disneyland have free wifi

  • Yes!

    Votes: 55 94.8%

  • No!

    Votes: 3 5.2%
  • Total voters
    58
Kramerica

Kramerica

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Simple question. Do you believe in resort wide wifi for guests to take advantage of, or do you feel that there's already too many people walking around with their eyes glued to their devices and it should be kept out? Is it a necessary commodity of the time, or do you think there's just some places that it's not appropriate? I wanna hear the case made for both opinions!

I'm for it. It's nice to be able to watch videos, look things up, etc, while waiting in line. But I try and be responsible and enjoy the magic while actually walking around the park.
 
Stevek

Stevek

Well-Known Member
I'm not one for watching videos or really looking things up while I'm in the park. There is so much to see and do at the park, I can't figure out why people need to be staring at their phones so much. I won't argue whether it's appropriate...it's not like it's during a wedding or funeral. We live in a society fueled by constant stimulation, partly due to the popularity of smartphones and rise of social media. It's just a part of life that seems to take over people no matter where they go (I have 2 teenage daughters, I see it everyday). That being said, I don't see any reason for Disney to build a wifi system just to enable people to have better access to the outside world.

BUT...I do think wifi will likely come to the resort once mobile FP booking becomes a thing.
 
Phroobar

Phroobar

Well-Known Member
Free wifi makes it easy for criminals to hack into email and grab passwords since no one is using a VPN and/or a firewall to connect. You wouldn't even know someone hacked into your phone as you stand in line at Space Mountain. Not a good idea to use without a personal firewall hotspot.
 
flynnibus

flynnibus

Premium Member
phruby said:
Free wifi makes it easy for criminals to hack into email and grab passwords since no one is using a VPN and/or a firewall to connect. You wouldn't even know someone hacked into your phone as you stand in line at Space Mountain. Not a good idea to use without a personal firewall hotspot.
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Except for that pesky TLS channel that app or website you are using....
 
PiratesMansion

PiratesMansion

Well-Known Member
For it. It can be nice to use when you're in line, since most DL's queues aren't particularly themed or interesting.

Free wifi is spreading to parks all over the country. They've waited too long, IMO, to bring it to DL. Right now a lot of larger parks have jumped on the Free Wifi bandwagon, like Busch Gardens in VA and all Cedar Fair parks, and there are a number of small parks like Lake Winnie in Georgia and Knoebels in PA that have free wifi too. So its all the more strange to me that Disneyland has waited this long to add Wifi.
 
Dead2009

Dead2009

Horror Movie Guru
I'm for it, it can get pretty boring if the line is at a standstill so you need something to occupy your time while you're waiting.
 
dweezil78

dweezil78

Well-Known Member
I'm totally fine without having wifi if they can get more cell bandwidth out there. Strong signal, but so many people using the same cell towers at the same time that it's virtually impossible to do anything on my phone and it drains the battery from constantly trying to connect!
 
Phroobar

Phroobar

Well-Known Member
dweezil78 said:
I'm totally fine without having wifi if they can get more cell bandwidth out there. Strong signal, but so many people using the same cell towers at the same time that it's virtually impossible to do anything on my phone and it drains the battery from constantly trying to connect!
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Too much Pokemon Go in the park.
 
D

Deleted member 107043

dweezil78 said:
Ha, maybe... though this problem has plagued the parks long long before Pokemon Go was ever a thing!
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Is it still a thing?

I'm all for it. Disney Parks has a ton of priorities, so they can probably be forgiven for being slow to embrace interactive mobile tech at the parks, but they must figure out ways to use digital tech to engage guests on their phones. If I can summon a car in 2 minutes on a mobile app then I should be able to order a pizza at Redd Rocket's, book a Fastpass, upgrade a ticket, or play an in-park augmented reality game just as easily.
 
Earl Sweatpants

Earl Sweatpants

Well-Known Member
Do most of the people who claim boredom in lines go by themselves? I mean, old fashioned conversation with people around you never hurt.

I can only see needing wifi if there was some sort of interactive park-related app that guests could download and use...but most people are going to use it for stuff that takes them "out" of the parks and why would management want to foster that?

EDIT: actually, now that I think about it, management probably doesn't give two rips about what their guests do while IN the parks...so long as they fork over the cash. They're already offering cellphone chargers for a fee, so why not! hop on the gravy train!
 
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Phroobar

Phroobar

Well-Known Member
Earl Sweatpants said:
Do most of the people who claim boredom in lines go by themselves? I mean, old fashioned conversation with people around you never hurt.

I can only see needing wifi if there was some sort of interactive park-related app that guests could download and use...but most people are going to use it for stuff that takes them "out" of the parks and why would management want to foster that?

EDIT: actually, now that I think about it, management probably doesn't give two rips about what their guests do while IN the parks...so long as they fork over the cash. They're already offering cellphone chargers for a fee, so why not! hop on the gravy train!
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It seems like most people are just staring at their phones anyway in line. You really don't see many people talking to each other unless they are playing that stupid word game on their phone with everyone. At Space Mountain, kids seem to play a game of tag on the Captain EO roof while their parents ignore them on their phones. Every time a cast member walks by the break up the game, the kids look dumbfounded and the parents look up to wonder why their kid is being yelled at by a cast member.

There is no reason to give free wifi. However there is a reason to make people pay for it and see lots of Disney related popups.
 
D

Deleted member 107043

phruby said:
People will pay to make their transactions easier.
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I dunno, but to me Wi-Fi is something that people in the 21st Century shouldn't expect to pay for. Most airports, some hotel chains, and even entire cities are offering Wi-Fi for free. Charging Disneyland guests for online access to engage in unique onsite resort activations that drive engagement and monetary transactions might be a more risky thing for Disney to do than providing a free open gateway to exclusive content.

phruby said:
See MaxPass.
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Yeah, and the initial response went over like a sinking ship.
 
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Earl Sweatpants

Earl Sweatpants

Well-Known Member
Dr. Hans Reinhardt said:
I dunno, but to me Wi-Fi is something that people in the 21st Century shouldn't expect to pay for. Most airports, some hotel chains, and even entire cities are offering Wi-Fi for free. Charging Disneyland guests for for online access to engage in unique onsite resort activations that drive engagement and monetary transactions might be a more risky thing for Disney to do than providing a free open gateway to exclusive content.



Yeah, and the initial response went over like a sinking ship.
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Airports don't charge, but usage is usually limited to a few hours, which works since that's how long you're hopefully gonna be there. Contrast that with a 10-11 hour day, and I could see them wanting to charge. They could just factor it into ticket prices though so you're not hit with it directly.
 
D

Deleted member 107043

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