On Thursday, February 22nd, AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile users across the United States awoke to no cell service or mobile data connection.
Per NBC, 71,000 mobile users reported having no cell service by 8AM EST. The carriers report that the cause of the mass outage is unknown, and stated, “We are working urgently to restore service to them. We encourage the use of Wi-Fi calling until service is restored.” With the service outages, many travelers are facing difficulty as they navigate getting from Point A to Point B with no cell service. Yes, this includes folks arriving to Disney World.
UPDATE: Most outages have been resolved by the afternoon of February 22nd.
On Thursday morning, we noticed that Lyft prices had skyrocketed following the outage. While trips from the Orlando International Airport (MCO) to Disney World are usually around $35, they had risen to over $100.
Oh, and here’s a look at the drivers’ view of prices around Disney World.
The mere act of ordering a Lyft or Uber was made difficult by these outages. If you’re currently at Disney World and need to utilize rideshare to get to MCO, we recommend that you stay in the hotel lobby to order it. That’s where you’ll have the best luck with your wifi!
Now, how will this affect your Disney day if you aren’t trying to get back to the airport? If you plan to use the My Disney Experience app, book Lightning Lanes and Genie+, or utilize Mobile Order, we’d recommend using the park and bus wifi although we know it’s a bit slow. It’ll likely be slower than usual today considering that a lot of folks will have no other option. Just be prepared!
We’ll continue to keep you updated with more Disney news, so make sure to follow along so that you never miss a thing.
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The outage was only AT&T. All other carriers worked fine all day. Any calls to AT&T lines were blocked due to AT&T being down nationwide for about 12 hours.