Two way radios in WDW??

[TY31088]

We have planned a trip for early April. DW wants to explore all of Epcot with DS, we may end up splitting up at times. I'm wondering how well the two radios work at Disney.

Will they make contact from opposite ends of most WDW parks?
Park to park comminication possible?
We are staying at the Swan, any chance of talking to DW while she is at Epcot or MGM?
Will there be alot of other people using the same channel?

I think I would rathrer buy then rent, can good ones be found at Wal-Mart or Radio Shack?
Are the rental ones alot better then the ones I would buy?

Thanks for the help.

Ty

 

[disneefamily]

Disnee Dad Says...............................IF you buy them buy good ones and pay a little extra. We got some cheaper ones that say they are good up to two miles, thought that was great. They are only good for 3/4 of a mile out in the open. Probably even worse with massive buildings in the way.

 

[TreeOfLife]

I recommend that you also buy them with sub channels and rechargeable batteries.

Anyone can (and does) get in your channel with those 14 channel radios. And it is so much more convenient to come back to the room and pop them in a recharger rather than go around changing batteries - practically daily! They don't last long.

What I think I'll do, however, is buy a prepaid cell phone. The expense is about the same for the quality of radios we are talking about but the battery lasts far longer and there aren't problems with others getting in your channel.

But I had to suck Sprint for a full year before I could switch back to Verizon. There are many problems with Sprint not working inside buildings, even in the woods, you move an inch and lose contact move another and you are connected.. It was crazy. So I may get a Verizon-serviced, prepaid cell phone

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) We were able to talk from MK to EPCOT without problems.
2) We bought the Cobra PR-1100 walkie-talkies.
3) They were about $45 ea ($109/pair minus $20 package rebate)
4) Staples.com has the radios and printable rebate form.
5) 22channels with 38 subchannels each (836 channels total)
6) The units were 2-watts max, NOT the usual 1 watt.
7) This allowed extra distance of up to 5-miles.

NOTE: Many walkie-talkies have main channels, plus subchannels. The main channels are high and low watt. Most are 1-watt for high and 1/2-watt for low based upon frequency.

NOTE: Other PR-1100 walkie-talkie functions
. . . NOAA weather alerts
. . . compass
. . . hands-free VOX talking
. . . phone "ring" tones
. . . paging
. . . vibrating alert for quiet mode

 

[dvc guy]

Just back from 5 days at WDW....DW and I have Verizon Americas Choice Plan and we had all kinds of dead spots around the parks.
They were almost useless in the buildings, next trip I am taking the 2 way radio.

 

[phanomouse]

Ok... my experience with cell phones in WDW has led me to only trust AT&T national... never had any problems!

Now about 2-way radios... your not going to find a cheap 2-way that will pick up a signal if one is in AK and the other is in MK atleast not a good signal. I have many diff 2-ways (I love to mountaineer) so let me give you a few suggestions of which ones have worked well for me overall. First let me say DON'T BUY CHEAP, they work when they want and like mentioned earlier with the amount of buildings and other obsticles you wont get great performance...

1) Motorola talkabout T5820... pretty good range, plenty of channels both GMRS/FRS, 5 mile range, found them to be pretty clear. I believe around $99.00 for a pair

2) Motorola talkabout T7200... a bit on the big side, full of fancy options, but completely clear, I relied on these when I was in Nepal and they worked better then motorola said they would... I was picking up signals at 10 miles.... these retail at $130 a piece but worth it!

3) I just want to throw this one in because it is my new favorite... the Garmin Rhino 120. So this is a 2-way/GPS which is not needed for WDW but can be a lot of fun. I use this for backpacking but I took it to WDW and it worked better as a 2 way then any other I have used... I talked to my brother who was at Stormalong bay while I was just barely getting off the freeway from the airport to go to WDW... these most likely aren't what you'll even look at but you should they retail at $250 a piece, they work great and what was really fun was getting home and finding out that my nieces had left them on while we were in the parks and now we had a record of where we walk and when for our whole trip... I LOVE GPS!!!

ok anyways... study up on these... don't just buy b/c you found some for a good price... if there cheap they will work cheap. Good Luck!!!

Justin

PS. I forgot to add... if you decide to go with a lower model you should be fine getting them at Radio shack or Wal-mart... but if you want to purchase one of these that I have mentioned or any other with a better frequency I would buy from an outdoors retailer... REI, Galyans, Cabella's, etc.

 

[Micca]

We bought some Motorola Talkabouts at the end of 2000. We thought they worked well with the farthest distance probably from WL to MK. We were happy, dunno how much we paid.

 

[TY31088]

Thanks for the help everyone.

I am considering the Cobra PR1100. First ones I've seen that are 2 watts. Staples still has them 110-20(rebate)-15(e mail coupon)=$75 for 2 radios.

I looked at a Motorola Talkabout at RadioShack tonight, it was a 1 watt, on sale for $60 each.

From what I've heard, 1 watt and above requires an FCC license and one license will cover the family????

Someone mentioned rechargeable batteries, I use the NiMH rechargeables in my digital camera and in DS GameBoy. I love em!

 

[TY31088]

Thanks for the help everyone.

I am considering the Cobra PR1100. First ones I've seen that are 2 watts. Staples still has them 110-20(rebate)-15(e mail coupon)=$75 for 2 radios.

I looked at a Motorola Talkabout at RadioShack tonight, it was a 1 watt, on sale for $60 each.

From what I've heard, 1 watt and above requires an FCC license and one license will cover the family????

Someone mentioned rechargeable batteries, I use the NiMH rechargeables in my digital camera and in DS GameBoy. I love em!

 

[tink2dw]

We had used Cobra cheapies,no sub channels,HUGE mistake,at WDW. We hated all the interferance.

This trip to DL I had read here that many were very happy with the 2-ways that were a Disney design. I fould them on sale at Best Buy for $39. they have 14 channel,34 sub channels. So,we decided to buy them.

We were so,so delighted with their power,and the privacy,and the character voices actual make it easier to know when you can respond with out stepping on someone elses call. We only had 2 times when we had mild interferance,we changed codes and were fine. We used them at Disneyland and Universal.

They took 4 alkaline aaa batteries, we left them on during park time,and never had to change batteries in 11 days!

The only design flaw is that the wrist band attachs to the bottom,letting them hang upside down,Which makes for an akward way to hold them. But that was very minor. We carried them in the cell phone pockets on our packs most of the time anyway.