Dad Street

On Monday we’re taking the kids to Disneyland. My parents are visiting from the east coast and Jake’s 2nd birthday is on Tuesday. We figured this would be a fitting time to visit the “happiest place on earth”.

It hasn’t been terribly long since we were at Disneyland but with all these freeways in SoCal I tend to get mixed up on where I’m going. Plus, my parents will be following in a car behind us so I really need to make sure I’m not making endless u-turns and making fast lane changes cause I’m lost!

Besides actually getting to Disneyland I’m going to need to figure out how to get around once I’m there. Now, I realize there are many iPhone apps for the Disney parks. I know because I have a few which are great. However, I’m curious how the TeleNav app does with walking directions.

Most people think of a Navigation app as something you use when you’re in a car. What’s so awesome about TeleNav is it will actually work when you’re on foot too! I haven’t been able to test out this feature too much but I figured there can’t be a more fun place than Mickey’s playground.

So, I’m going to do a follow up post and let you know the answers to the following questions:

1. Did my parents compliment me on how precise my directions to Disneyland were?

2. What types of places can I find in the Disneyland Park with TeleNav?

3. Will TeleNav successfully navigate me within the Park?

Now let me add that I may be placing unrealistic expectations on the app to actually guide me around a private park like this. There’s only one way to find out though. So stay tuned to an upcoming post, later this week, where I’m going to see if Mickey can give the TeleNav a big thumbs up!

Wait, Mickey doesn’t have thumbs…What do mice have? Ummm…

Disclosure: I am a member of the TeleNav Navigator in Chief dad panel and was provided compensation to participate. While I have received compensation to participate in the program as with anything that I review the opinions are 100% mine.

As many of you know by now I’ve been working with TeleNav as one of their Navigator in Chiefs. I genuinely use the app a lot and enthusiastically share it with anyone around me. There are so many great features that’s it’s hard to pinpoint just a few.

It’s rare that I’m not talking about O or Jake in a post and so I thought they could help me with this one as well. Let’s face it- us dads have some issues when it comes to driving. So today I’m going to list out the Top 10 Reasons Dads should Use TeleNav in the eyes of O and Jake. Even though they are 2 and 3 years old, respectively, they totally made this list up and shared every detail of it with me.

So without further ado here goes nothing…Well something…Well actually 10 somethings…

10. TeleNav will talk to you while driving so you don’t have to make stupid jokes just to keep from being bored.
9. You can actually search for ice cream and it will tell you exactly how to get there. We like ice cream.
8. The app will tell you when there’s a red camera light so Mom doesn’t have to get a picture of you in the mail doing 90mph in a 65mph.
7. TeleNav will tell you the cheapest gas around, per octane, so that extra money you save can go directly to what we were talking about in #9.
6. We love cartoons so when you’re tired of looking at the cool Satellite view in the app you can switch to the animated one.
5. Voice activation is an awesome feature so you’re not compelled to type and drive. We’ll thank you when we don’t get in an accident.
4. Live traffic is a cool feature we love so we don’t have to hear you complaining that there shouldn’t be traffic.
3. When Mom asks you to go to the store you can make pretend you’re all grown up and making choices by deciding which “route preference” to take.
2. When we’re on long road trips and have to stop for a potty break you have no more excuses about not knowing where a bathroom is just so you don’t have to stop.

and finally…

1. With the “Shake to go” feature if we’re ever lost we just have to throw ice down your pants and watch you jump. In just a few shakes TeleNav will have us on our way home.

If you want to find out more be sure to visit TeleNav!

Honestly, I’ve never been the most adventurous person when it comes to checking out new places. More so, checking out new places in strange towns. I work some 80 miles from home so while I’m far away from home on a regular basis I pretty much just go to work and then come home. If I’m not bringing lunch to work there’s a handful of regular lunch places I visit. It’s nice because I know exactly where the restaurant is, I know the food, and it’s just easy in the middle of the work day.

Some days I just get an itch to try something new. I know there’s got to be so many good places to eat around me that I just don’t know about. I’ve been using my AT&T Navigator app on my iPhone whenever I’m out driving. When you’re in the car you really don’t want to be fiddling around with an app to try and find what you’re looking for. Especially when you have limited time, like a lunch break, you just want to go. Well the other day I got a craving for some Mexican food. I’m sitting in the parking lot thinking of how many Mexican restaurants I knew around my work.

I knew of one.

So I tapped the microphone icon on the app and spoke into my phone, “Mexican Restaurant”. Up came a list of all the Mexican food restaurants around me. What was cool about the list was that there were stars indicating ratings given by past customers. Before I knew it I was off and on my way to a completely new place. What was even more cool was that I didn’t need to know how to get there. The app gave me turn by turn voice-activated directions.

Growing up on the east coast the kind of Mexican food I ate wasn’t…well let’s just say it was probably more Tex-Mex than actually authentic Mexican food. Ever since moving to California I’ve had the fortunate experience of tasting the real deal. I’m still drawn to the food I ate growing up like Chimichangas. I had to see how this new place stood up to the test. I did wind up having their homemade chips and salsa which was awesome as well. All in all it was an awesome experience visiting a completely new place. It was great knowing that I would have no problem getting there and that there were others who already rated the place.

It’s true that I could have done all this using multiple apps on my phone like Yelp for reviews and then back to AT&T Navigator for the directions. Having it all on one app and using the voice activation feature just made it so much easier for me. It’s like I have my own little personal driving assistant with me wherever I go.

There are so many features to this app that I love. When I’m able to take something simple like an app and use it to help me explore, find new things, and still feel confident about my travel it’s an awesome thing. I happen to like things that just work. For me, something as simple as finding my next new favorite restaurant isn’t so simple but using the AT&T Navigator app is.

TeleNav Mickey Mouse Project

Top 10 Reasons To Get TeleNav

My Personal Driving Assistant