Nope it is planned to be complimentary going forward. Other areas and resorts coming online soon.
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Free 'in-room' wireless internet starting at most Walt Disney World Resorts today
- Thread starter wdwmagic
- Start date
Nope it is planned to be complimentary going forward. Other areas and resorts coming online soon.
A property-wide stress test would be very forward-thinking. Disney has been doing random wi-fi tests in lobbies and common areas for months and I don't see any blowback from that.
Still, appearances thus far suggest we will eventually see some level of free wifi at all resorts.
It was announced on the official Disney Vacation Club Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/DisneyVacationClub
DVC members have had free Internet for several years but this statement goes further to claim it's now complimentary at all DVC and Deluxe resorts.
Brian Noble
Well-Known Member
Or that the IT shop is behind. Again.
As I said, for now, my money is on "some level of access will be free for a good while." But, I would not be shocked either way.
Complimentary Wi-Fi Tested
Walt Disney World Resort has announced that it will be making complimentary wireless internet (Wi-Fi) service available in the rooms at a number of its hotels as of October 14. The hotels are: Animal Kingdom Lodge; Beach Club; BoardWalk; Contemporary; Coronado Springs; Grand Floridian Resort and Spa; Old Key West; Polynesian; Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa; Wilderness Lodge; and the Yacht Club. To connect to the network using a wireless-enabled device (e.g. laptop, cell phone, etc.), you'll notice a network option labeled "Guest - Access (unsecured)". When you click on that option, you will be taken to a screen that prompts you to accept the terms and conditions. After accepting the terms and conditions, you'll have complimentary Wi-Fi access. Note that for cell phone users, cellular carriers AT and T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile and MetroPCS are covered for Wi-Fi access. Complimentary in-room wired internet will also be available at these resorts until Octobert 24. If the testing for complimentary Wi-Fi is successful, the free availability will continue in the future. This will not affect the status of Disney Vacation Club members, who currently receive complimentary Wi-Fi.In-Room | WiFi Access
In-Room High Speed Internet Access (HSIA)
Availability: All Disney resorts have in-room High-Speed Internet Access. WDW Swan and Dolphin also have high-speed internet access in their rooms.
Fee:
-- COMPLIMENTARY for guests staying in Suite accommodations at Walt Disney World resort hotels.
-- $9.95 for a contiguous 24-hour period at other Walt Disney World resort accommodations
as reported on all ears site
Walt Disney World Resort has announced that it will be making complimentary wireless internet (Wi-Fi) service available in the rooms at a number of its hotels as of October 14. The hotels are: Animal Kingdom Lodge; Beach Club; BoardWalk; Contemporary; Coronado Springs; Grand Floridian Resort and Spa; Old Key West; Polynesian; Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa; Wilderness Lodge; and the Yacht Club. To connect to the network using a wireless-enabled device (e.g. laptop, cell phone, etc.), you'll notice a network option labeled "Guest - Access (unsecured)". When you click on that option, you will be taken to a screen that prompts you to accept the terms and conditions. After accepting the terms and conditions, you'll have complimentary Wi-Fi access. Note that for cell phone users, cellular carriers AT and T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile and MetroPCS are covered for Wi-Fi access. Complimentary in-room wired internet will also be available at these resorts until Octobert 24. If the testing for complimentary Wi-Fi is successful, the free availability will continue in the future. This will not affect the status of Disney Vacation Club members, who currently receive complimentary Wi-Fi.In-Room | WiFi Access
In-Room High Speed Internet Access (HSIA)
Availability: All Disney resorts have in-room High-Speed Internet Access. WDW Swan and Dolphin also have high-speed internet access in their rooms.
Fee:
-- COMPLIMENTARY for guests staying in Suite accommodations at Walt Disney World resort hotels.
-- $9.95 for a contiguous 24-hour period at other Walt Disney World resort accommodations
as reported on all ears site
Sumshine 904
Member
That's great news! For years I've been unable to plug my own laptop into the wires they provide at the resorts because I guess it's just not compatible with the newer computers (no notifications or anything pop up on my screen when I plug it in, I've tried different angles and many ways to make it work and even called about it with no luck). It's nice to know that I won't have to keep borrowing my sister's clunky old mess for much longer!
I wouldn't expect that; between the cell phones and the fact Guest Services is available at those locations, wifi isn't a priority.....
Would be nice, but when the overwhelming majority of the people in the parks don't need it, I don't see Disney footing the bill for those that do.
Yes but I understand disney in it's new tec package being able to make ride times over computer some people might want this acess while in the parks also free texting via iphone and use all the apps from maps to ride times would be free with wi fi acess and would not increse our bills
Polydweller
Well-Known Member
Although I'd like that too, with current technology I don't know how they'd do it. I was the manager of a wifi installation in a multi building hospital campus about the size of MK which was speced to allow users to stay connected while traveling between buildings. It was very difficult with only 800 potential users. Wifi isn't like cellular. Access points can only handle a max of about 50 concurrent users before slowing severely. At Disney with 25,000 or so potential users and easily well beyond 50 at any given location I can't see it working.
Then if you make hotspots in restaurants you only encourage people to stay at their tables longer. There is already a problem of table availability and I can't see them wanting to make that worse.
So I don't expect it any time soon. However, if they figure out how to do it, there are a lot of folks like me who will be very grateful to learn the solution.
Just a quick report on some disappointing speed tests from the free wifi at Coronado. We stayed to Coronado over the weekend and speedtest.net numbers never peaked over 1.1 mbps. I was hoping that this was just the result of a peak load over the weekend but I have a friend still at Coronado and is getting similar to lower numbers if the test will run at all.
PhilharMagician
Well-Known Member
Wow, that stinks since I got really high numbers out of Kidani back in October. I would think that CSR being a conferance center that the speed would be much faster. Very disappointing!
Sitting here using my WIFI in Kidani. I did a speed test and had 25.5 MB/S down and 2.6 MB/S up. I would say that would be plenty.
I am hoping that is just a case of more people being logged on at CSR due to conventions and Disney will address the issue by increasing bandwidth. 1 mbps speeds are borderline useless for anything outside of basic email.
Polydweller
Well-Known Member
Which is why I don't believe it and think that the person ran into the one oddity I found at the Poly. Not sure how to explain it, but if I didn't login in on the browser first I would get all of the login screens show up but I was somehow not fully logged in. Everything ran very slowly. Didn't happen every time but very frequently. However, if I used the browser first, every time things were perfect and ran very fast.
But honestly, can you really even Disney is going to install equipment that slow. Nope, just start up weirdness and they did fix some while I was there.
NMBC1993
Well-Known Member
I also wanted to post an update on the wi-fi at SSR. I was there last friday and couldn't get a signal. I tried the lobby, the food court, the lounges, and couldn't find anything. I finally found one for half a second by the pool before I lost it. Does anyone know where you have to go to get a signal?
This was not an an error on my part. I ran speedtest from 2 different computers on IE8, IE9 and on Chrome. I also ran it from the Android App and inside of Chrome's browser on and Atrix and 2 HTC Inspires. I ran the test on three servers 3 times each and never peaked above 1.1 mbps.