Free WiFi Internet Now Available at Disney World Resorts
News
WDWMagic.com is reporting that, starting today, free in-room wireless internet access will be available for the following resorts:
Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge
Disney’s Beach Club Resort
Disney’s BoardWalk Resort
Disney’s Contemporary Resort
Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort
Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
Disney’s Old Key West Resort
Disney’s Polynesian Resort
Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa
Disney’s Wilderness Lodge Resort
Disney’s Yacht Club Resort
Reaction
I’m going to go against the current here and give this one a thumbs down. Not because I feel I use the internet on my phone too much already on vacation and this will only further enable the behavior, but because Guests are going to pay for this one way or another. Either by virtue of an increase in room rates, or because Disney used a portion of the resort budget it could have used for other purposes for wireless internet infrastructure. As has been said on this website before, there’s no such thing as a free lunch, and Disney certainly doesn’t make moves that affect the bottom-line out of sheer benevolence. Make no mistake, Guests are paying for this, whether it be through a coming (or past) room-rate increase, or by foregoing some other upgrade at the resorts.
I know a lot of people will disagree, wondering, “how does he not want FREE internet! It’s internet, and it’s FREE!” They might say that free wireless internet is standard in nice hotels nowadays (it’s not), but I feel those wanting or needing internet should pay for it, rather than the cost being spread among everyone. If you’re a business owner who “needs” internet, it’s worth it for you to pay $9.95 per night. If you’re not a business owner who doesn’t have internet on your phone and think you “need” internet, you should pay to use it. Free internet encourages wasting time online by those who don’t need it (like me), and Disney should want that time being spent by Guests in Disney parks, where they’re more likely to be spending money.
The only way I see this as a plus is if it has been demonstrated to Disney that it is losing business at its resorts because it’s not offering free internet, and the gain in Guest satisfaction and business will more than offset the lost revenue and infrastructure, operating, and maintenance costs of offering “free” internet.
Considering my last vacation with Disney, I had a choice of choseing wired Internet for 24 hours for $10 OR choosing dial up Internet that is free for 10 hours. I choose dial up and it was slow as hell. Well, at least I got the job done. Free Wifi is a thumbs up for me.
I think you need to realize is that offering WiFi service is pretty much a fixed cost. The hotel has to invest in the infrastructure to set it up. Running it cost very little compared to the setup cost. So any rate an hotel charge is very artificial and has little to do with the cost you using the service, which is close to zero (in terms of incremental cost). For such a service it makes much more sense to include it in the rate, just like water and electricity. It is an infrastructure cost.
http://www.directorise.com/listing/314050-The-Added-benefits-of-Employing-a-Daily-life-Coach.html
This has its ups and downs. I just returned from a week at Saratoga Springs. And while there were times when Internet Access speed was ok, there were other times that it was rediculously slow bordering on unusable. And this was even to access Disney websites like Photopass. This may have to do with going during one of the busiest times of the year (July 4th week) and/or the proliferation of wireless devices like the iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Nook, Kindle, etc. I would see people on iPads sitting in a lounge chair at the pool. I really doubt most of them are playing Angry Birds offline. So beyond the fact that guests are probably paying for it one way or another, keep in mind that depending on when you go, this will not be the blazing fast Internet access you are used to at home. (I’m actually surprised that Disney is not using Quality of Service to prioritize traffic to its own websites. I really did have trouble in my room viewing pictures on the Photopass site.)
This is good. Disney has a reputation to repair, they used to be a magical place but recently, it has been the place of penny pinching, bottom line only accountants. This article says wifi isn’t the norm, but I totally disagree, Laquinta, holiday inn, even some motel 6’s have wifi so it was absurd for disney to not offer free wifi. You can eden go to mcdonalds and get free wifi for the love of god.
For me this is great….there is no way I would “waste” precious disney park time roaming the internet, BUT as a young female solo traveller, I like to keep in contact with home every day (i’m from the UK) it will be much easier and cheaper for me to send a quick email home each day to let my family know i’m ok than to phone.
For me this is good news for the fact that wireless Internet is now available, as opposed to the fact that it is free – I do agree that we’ll pay for it one way or other. But as an International visitor, we are cut off altogether without WiFi as data roaming in the States is crippingly expensive on a phone and phone calls home are expensive. Having access to the internet is more than just being able to access twitter etc. It means I can use Skype to phone home affordably (still cheaper even if I had to pay for Internet access). Without having to use up baggage allowance to lug a laptop or wireless router half way across the world with me. Last trip we spent far to much time hanging out in the Contemporary lobby and Innoventions where there was WiFi for the sole reason of needing to phone home without spending a fortune on phone calls. Free or not, it was time Disney caught up with the rest of the world and offered a service that is the norm in many places now.
As a DVC member, Internet service (wired) Is included at no extra charge when staying at a DVC resort. Out last trip, we brought our own wireless router so that we could use our iPads. Great for after hours web browsing and absolutely wonderful when both my husband and I needed to check our work emails from corporate laptops. With Disney moving towards more “immersive” experiences, look to see more Internet options available.
In the parks they now have ” guest wireless” for those who are guests of the Disney corporation. (while poorly implemented for Food and Wine, this speaks of things to come). Looking forward to more broadly offered wifi in the parks in the next year or so.
If only the Disney IT department would move away from Flash on their “Memories” site, we could enjoy the experiences now on our iPhones and on those iTouches!
There is a business model here … Free advertising!
I completely agree! At first I thought – yay, free Internet!! Then I caught myself and realized I was not a fan of this idea. I actually dislike it the most because of the fact that now, I will need to be more connected to the real world while on vacation. I like the break from emails, news, etc that I get at Disney and don’t want to waste time responding to people and checking things online while there. I also agree that we are definitely paying for this in one way or another. I too would rather they charge for it – the people who need it could pay the small fee and everyone wins.
This news definitely changes my packing list…. My father likes to have access to the internet (he runs a small business), so he pays for a Verizon access device and always brings a laptop. The Verizon device doesn’t work on my Mac, so I always mooch off of him (I like to do my trip reports while I’m traveling). I was just planning on bringing my smart phone for email/lines (and Kindle for reading material) and using his computer for picture back-up + trip reports, but now that I can get on the internet in my hotel room, I might consider bringing my iPad (I have found that you can’t beat the iPad for displaying pictures quickly and beautifully) + wireless keyboard and/or laptop. And I was hoping to cut down on devices….
I agree 100%. I have internet at home and at work. I don’t need internet on vacation beyond what I can get on my phone (Lines!). I spend plenty of time surfing the internet at work, I mean home, so the last thing I want to do is surf the internet on my laptop at Disney. But I guess coming from a person who shows up at rope drop and doesn’t leave until Kiss Goodnight, this philosophy doesn’t really apply to everyone. But, like you said Tom, if a person really needs it, they should pay for it (or have an air card). Why charge me for something I’m not going to use? Maybe this is how people who don’t use DME feel?
Oh my god. You all need to get over it. You control your life. If you don’t want to use it don’t. Simple fact, yes you will pay for it even if you don’t use it. That’s a fact about life. I have no kids and yet 80% of my taxes pay for school.