Just got back from Disneyland (for the 1st time) and it was amazing...except for......

dkrauss

Goofy Fan from Jersey
Joined
Nov 9, 2013
Just returned from our first Disneyland trip. What a wonderful time my wife and I had. With all that...…...the only issue we had during the trip was Internet connections in the parks and at the hotels. Constantly had to re-access the network.....the only time the access was passable was between 3 and 5 in the morning...……..I never did adjust to west coast time :)

Is there a plan to do anything about it?

Doug :goofy:
 
Just returned from our first Disneyland trip. What a wonderful time my wife and I had. With all that...…...the only issue we had during the trip was Internet connections in the parks and at the hotels. Constantly had to re-access the network.....the only time the access was passable was between 3 and 5 in the morning...……..I never did adjust to west coast time :)

Is there a plan to do anything about it?

Doug :goofy:
I have no idea what the park situation is for wi-fi, I use my ATT 5G internet and have zero issues in the parks even inside the ride buildings. I use Best Western’s wi fi for Hulu on my iPad and have had zero issues.
 
The question is why in this day and age, with DLR trying to guide everyone to the app and DisneyPlay and MaxPass, do they not invest in real WiFi that works in the parks and resorts for all guests? This is especially rough on international folks who have to pay for international data when they travel.
 


Cause 4G and 5G are a lot more reliable than anything WiFi can attempt to do for such large spaces.
I am not a technology person, but it is not possible to have WiFi reliably in the parks? Is it not possible at all, or is DLR just not willing to invest the money to make it available to guests? I guess in my tech basic brain, it just seems like if they have the bandwidth, and they have hot spots all around the parks, it could happen? Maybe not, but it seems like it should be possible.
 
I am not a technology person, but it is not possible to have WiFi reliably in the parks?...
It is possible, and when Disney tried it during the app testing period, it didn't take long at all for everyone outside the berm to figure out that "Disney's giving us free wifi!" So, apparently, everyone in Anaheim and all their relatives were hitching a ride on Disney's free wifi to upload all their videos to their YouTube channels and to stream all their movies and to do who knows what else online, all on Disney's tab. The testing phase was not successful from TDA's point of view, so the "solution" was to settle on wifi that was just barely strong enough to work in the parks (if you are near one of the hot spots), but not strong enough to travel over the berm. There probably are better solutions out there, but apparently they cost much more money than TDA is willing to spend right now. Many of us just use our own data plans, and that's just fine with Disney.
 
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It is possible, and when Disney tried it during the app testing period, it didn't take long at all for everyone outside the berm to figure out that "Disney's giving us free wifi!" So, apparently, everyone in Anaheim and all their relatives were hitching a ride on Disney's free wifi to upload all their videos to their YouTube channels and to stream all their movies and to do who knows what else online, all on Disney's tab. The testing phase was not successful from TDA's point of view, so the "solution" was to settle on wifi that was just barely strong enough to work in the parks (if you are near one of the hot spots), but not strong enough to travel over the berm. There probably are better solutions out there, but apparently they cost much more money than TDA is willing to spend right now. Many of us just use our own data plans, and that's just fine with Disney.

Could they do a password and change it daily? You get the password when you scan into the parks? I have no idea. We just use data!
 
It is possible, and when Disney tried it during the app testing period, it didn't take long at all for everyone outside the berm to figure out that "Disney's giving us free wifi!" So, apparently, everyone in Anaheim and all their relatives were hitching a ride on Disney's free wifi to upload all their videos to their YouTube channels and to stream all their movies and to do who knows what else online, all on Disney's tab. The testing phase was not successful from TDA's point of view, so the "solution" was to settle on wifi that was just barely strong enough to work in the parks (if you are near one of the hot spots), but not strong enough to travel over the berm. There probably are better solutions out there, but apparently they cost much more money than TDA is willing to spend right now. Many of us just use our own data plans, and that's just fine with Disney.
The problem is that even if you get 4 bars of strength with their wifi it still doesn't not work well. It appears that they not only want us to pay more to get in, pay for maxpass, but also to pay for upgraded data plans from our own cell phone services. Soon they will require 5g and cause 4g to not work. Yet another reason they are pricing people out, and I have not bought a new AP.
 
Soon they will require 5g and cause 4g to not work. Yet another reason they are pricing people out, and I have not bought a new AP.

There is no reason to believe this will happen. 4G LTE speeds are more than enough to handle the amounts of data that is used and needed by the app.
 
Attendance down 3%, but overall revenue up; so those coming in are sure still loving it and happy to give $$$ to Uncle Mickey. When ROTR opens, will be interested to see how attendance does in Spring and into summer. There were times park were plenty full. I do love the low season in Feb and hope it still does 'ghost town' in Feb/March.

A simple cell repeater would be nice to have in Soarin'. That's probably the only real place cellular doesn't have good reception for us -- Tmobile folk.
 
Could they do a password and change it daily? You get the password when you scan into the parks? I have no idea. We just use data!
They have a way to know I am in the park (or not) because I can't book a FP if I have not entered the park. Can they not use that information to limit WiFi use to those scanned into the park that day? Again, I am not an IT person, but it just seems ridiculous that they can't/won't figure this out.
 
FWIW, I don't rely on Wi-Fi throughout the park. I know several of the locations where the signal is strong (outside Pizza Planet, sitting on the porch outside the Frontierland stores just opposite the shooting gallery, benches that ring the hub). When I sit down for lunch, tea or simply for a break, that's where I'll go, since I know I can use the Wi-Fi with few if any issues. Now: I don't stream audio or video, but when I need to access this site, for example, or something else, those locations work perfectly for me. Yes, DL's Wi-Fi could be improved. But once you learn to work within its limitations, it's quite workable.
 
They have a way to know I am in the park (or not) because I can't book a FP if I have not entered the park. Can they not use that information to limit WiFi use to those scanned into the park that day? Again, I am not an IT person, but it just seems ridiculous that they can't/won't figure this out.

They could absolutely do this if the problem was outside the park moochers.
 
They have a way to know I am in the park (or not) because I can't book a FP if I have not entered the park. Can they not use that information to limit WiFi use to those scanned into the park that day? Again, I am not an IT person, but it just seems ridiculous that they can't/won't figure this out.
They can limit your ability to book a FP until you have entered one of the parks, but for whatever reason, they can't limit your ability to keep booking FPs after you have exited, gone to the airport, and flown home. We've had DISers try this, so we know that it works -- and keeps working, as long as your MP for that day is still valid, until park closing. So theoretically, as things stand now, could this allow someone to enter one of the parks, activate free wifi, exit the parks and let all their friends far and wide use the free wifi password until park closing that day?
 
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Not sure I believe the free-loader outside the park theory. It wouldn’t be hard to limit the signal to being useable inside the park.
But it would cost money that they don't have to pay right now when so many of us are willingly paying our own money to use our own data. As long as they keep their wifi so frustratingly slow, there doesn't seem to be any shortage of guests willing to pay for their own data. Disney certainly doesn't seem to mind.
 
The question is why in this day and age, with DLR trying to guide everyone to the app and DisneyPlay and MaxPass, do they not invest in real WiFi that works in the parks and resorts for all guests? This is especially rough on international folks who have to pay for international data when they travel.

Because guests use the free wifi for more than running DisneyPlay and the Disneyland app for MaxPass. Data bandwidth is a finite resource. Their system is meant to run the Disney app, which uses small amounts of data. It does not have cell tower strength to handle the bandwidth capacity which occurs when you have thousands of park guests using this free amenity to stream videos, web surf, and download hi-res images of their family to social media.

Why should DLR invest in a wireless system strong enough to bandwidth a large town when much of the utilized bandwidth goes to applications not related to their app? And on the flip side, most guests have a cell plan that can handle the data needs to run the Disneyland app.
 
But it would cost money that they don't have to pay right now when so many of us are willingly paying our own money to use our own data. As long as they keep their wifi so frustratingly slow, there doesn't seem to be any shortage of guests willing to pay for their own data. Disney certainly doesn't seem to mind.

Right, that’s my point. It is a lack of wanting to invest in the infrastructure, not concerns about local freeloading.
 

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