Mickey and Pals Are on the Line
By SARAH MILSTEIN
December 5, 2002
(New York Times) -- Those updated walkie-talkies known as family radios have long been promoted as the perfect thing for parents and children to use to keep in contact when roaming a place like Walt Disney World. So perhaps it isn't surprising that Motorola, a leading manufacturer of the battery-powered devices, has teamed with Disney to create a line of radios with cases, screen animations and call tones that are all Disney-themed.
There are three models: Classic, Princess and Adventure. The Classic model, with a red and yellow case, can be set to announce a transmission in the voice of Mickey or Minnie Mouse, Goofy or Donald or Daisy Duck. The pink and lavender Princess model features Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Belle and Ariel. The Adventure model, green and white, has the Pixar characters Buzz Lightyear, Aliens, Mike, Stitch and Morph.
Settings can be changed (and, parents will be glad to know, the character voices can be turned off) using buttons shaped liked Mickey's head.
The radios, which take four AAA batteries and have a range of up to two miles, are available at several large retail chains and from www.motorola.com/shop, where they sell for $55 a pair. Like all family radios, they use any of 14 two-way radio channels freely available for recreational use. Each channel also has 38 subchannels so that family members can find one to talk on in relative privacy - a very useful feature at a crowded place like Disney World.
By SARAH MILSTEIN
December 5, 2002
(New York Times) -- Those updated walkie-talkies known as family radios have long been promoted as the perfect thing for parents and children to use to keep in contact when roaming a place like Walt Disney World. So perhaps it isn't surprising that Motorola, a leading manufacturer of the battery-powered devices, has teamed with Disney to create a line of radios with cases, screen animations and call tones that are all Disney-themed.
There are three models: Classic, Princess and Adventure. The Classic model, with a red and yellow case, can be set to announce a transmission in the voice of Mickey or Minnie Mouse, Goofy or Donald or Daisy Duck. The pink and lavender Princess model features Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Belle and Ariel. The Adventure model, green and white, has the Pixar characters Buzz Lightyear, Aliens, Mike, Stitch and Morph.
Settings can be changed (and, parents will be glad to know, the character voices can be turned off) using buttons shaped liked Mickey's head.
The radios, which take four AAA batteries and have a range of up to two miles, are available at several large retail chains and from www.motorola.com/shop, where they sell for $55 a pair. Like all family radios, they use any of 14 two-way radio channels freely available for recreational use. Each channel also has 38 subchannels so that family members can find one to talk on in relative privacy - a very useful feature at a crowded place like Disney World.
