Disney Netpal – Is It A Quality Disney Product?
For many generations of parents and their children, Disney was and is an integral part of life. We grew up on Disney cartoons, played with the assorted Disney games, and went to Disney World at least once in our childhood. Well, in the computerized age, it is but logical that Disney has a contribution to our children’s first foray into computers and it is called the Disney Netpal.
In the tradition of Disney, your child can choose between two skins – Princess Pink for the girls and Magic Blue for the boys, complete with the Mickey Mouse icon. Then again, in a world where gender equality is actively encouraged, your child may want to choose his/her own colors, never mind the stereotypes. Anyways, both are stylish in a kid-friendly way, which means that your child will have no problem toting it to school.
But beyond the skin of the Netpal, parents will definitely appreciate the 40 built-in parental controls. You will then be able to white list certain websites and e-mail addresses from the Netpal, which will take your mind off the worry in your child being exposed to undesirable information. (Yes, Netpal is Wi-Fi compatible out of the box) We may have tech-savvy kids who think they know it all but, as parents, we have the responsibility to screen the information that comes their way.
But since your kid will be the one using the Disney Netpal, you will be happy to know that kids love the games, activities and options of the notebook. Your kid can play around with the Disney-themed browser, e-mail and websites. But of course, you are not restricted to the Disney websites – that would totally bore the user after a few days – since it can be connected to the online world albeit with the appropriate parental controls.
Every day, your child can even change the desktop. We all know how these changes can reflect the personality, preferences and moods of your child with selections as diverse as the Disney classic characters, fairies and princesses to the Toy Story, Cars and Hannah Montana. For kids, it’s like a magic desktop!
But even without an Internet connection, your kid will love the fun features that come with the Disney Netpal. We are talking about the 15 widgets including a digital memo pad (because kids have play dates to remember, too), calculators (for the stubborn math assignments) and even a stopwatch (for timing mommy’s reaction to the mess made in the kitchen).
Since kids already have their own favorite music and photos, Netpal also offers features to this effect. The Disney Pix allows for photo management while Radio Disney offers real-time streaming of music with the option of requesting for songs. Add in the many games like the driving game, memory game and number games and your kid has the best material gift ever in his/her 5-year old life. Your love is the best gift, naturally.
The only drawback to the Disney Netpal especially for the parents is the price tag at $350 in most sites, which is exclusive of the shipping and handling fee. You may be having second thoughts considering that many full-featured notebooks sell for the same amount. Then again, if Disney is an important part of a happy childhood, you have made a good decision.