Upgraded Wi-Fi service rolled out across all four parks this week

Mar 27, 2015 in "Internet Access"

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Posted: Friday March 27, 2015 9:50am EDT by WDWMAGIC Staff

Disney has just rolled out an upgrade to the Wi-Fi infrastructure across all four Walt Disney World theme parks.

The update aims to increase performance and network stability for the ever-increasing number of guests trying to use the service. Part of the upgrade has been made possible by removing support for old devices that were connecting on the 802.11b band. This means that owners of some early Wi-Fi phones and iPods will no longer be able to access the Disney Wi-Fi service in the parks.

Due to the importance of accessing My Disney Experience, access to the Internet in the theme park has become a critical part of a day in the parks. AT&T has also been working at improving cell based data services as an alternative to Disney's Wi-Fi service.

We'll be testing the new Wi-FI service over the next couple of weeks, so lookout for an update. If you've experienced the new service over the past few days, let us know on the forum if you found the service to be improved.

Discuss on the Forums

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jrlang1Mar 30, 2015

It is also free advertising for Disney. The best advertising is people posting happy pictures and videos to their social networks. Many companies would kill for that type of continuous feed

BoltMar 29, 2015

People act like electronic devices are evil in the park. Anything becomes terrible with overuse, but I love posting pictures from my trips in real time for my family, checking other plans on my trip and keeping tabs on personal things. Like I said, anything in excess is bad but I think there is a lot of nice benefits of being able to stay connected.

matt9112Mar 29, 2015

this is great stuff kudos to WDW.

MissMMar 29, 2015

Very few. In Epcot for example, I believe there are only 2. And no one "needs" personal electronics, true. But with FP+ set up the way it is, it's significantly easier to do it via the app yourself rather than track down a kiosk and wait in a line.

unkadugMar 29, 2015

I'm not trying to argue this point, but don't hey have kiosks for that too? I remember the days when there was no personal electronics needed while visiting WDW.

MissMMar 29, 2015

It is if you're trying to check/update your FP+ bookings. (Which can be argued ADD stress to a park experience depending on your opinion of booking attractions days/weeks in advance and then trying to make those plans work when you're actually there.)

unkadugMar 29, 2015

Why is WiFi even necessary at a theme park designed to take you away from the stress and strains of everyday life?

MissMMar 29, 2015

I didn't use the wifi a lot last night but I did have some really annoying dropoffs in my connection at MK when I did. It kept dropping me off wifi, then telling me wifi was available, then dropping it for "low connectivity." It was kinda annoying the few times I did try to use it. I've used wifi before without so much on-again/off-again so I'm not sure if it's Spring Break heavy usage or what. I've got a Galaxy S4 and it was kinda all over the place for me yesterday. *shrugs* (I have unlimited data so I normally don't care if I'm on wifi or cell but I do have it saved as an autoconnect since wifi has previously always worked better inside show buildings for me vs cell signal.)

Sage of TimeMar 29, 2015

You mean my iPhone 6 will finally start connecting?! AMAZING.

roj2323Mar 29, 2015

As taken from the center of the Nemo theater just now: Pretty decent for a free service

unkadugMar 29, 2015

So what was your other account?

ford91exploderMar 29, 2015

Actually faster speeds increase capacity, because devices can release the channel faster, WiFi only allows a single station to transmit at any time.

englanddgMar 28, 2015

Actually, by removing the existing wired options (even for a charge) from their rooms, they sortof are... Especially for people who still need internet access on their trips (I do, for professional reasons, not to update my facebook)... That said, while the Wifi was terrible on my 2011 and 2012 trips, in 2013, it wasn't bad at all. Not amazing, certainly not as good as the Disneyland Hotel (which had wireless AND wired options), but it worked well in the room, and most of the time around the parks, and did what I needed.

LeRaposaMar 28, 2015

So people complain when Disney doesn't fix things but when they do, they still complain? Why do people always have to complain? There's nothing wrong with Disney improving the Wi-Fi. They're not forcing people to use it....