Amazing Security Experience at Disney
 

I took my family to Wilderness Lodge at Disney World this past week and one night we were waiting out in the lobby for seats at dinner.

We were sitting on this big comfy couch and there was a European woman on a couch across from us, starting to nod off.

All of a sudden, a security guard appears and he walks up to her, pulls out a ticket book and starts to write. She starts to perk up and panic a little. The guard takes his ticket and hands it too her and she starts to laugh.

I don't know what the ticket said, but I have to hand it to Disney. We all need a good laugh about security now and then. This woman, no doubt, had to go through an airport to get there, and suffer the indignities of the TSA and immigration, and here was Disney, creatively dismantling that tension with humor.. telling her she's in a different place now, where she'll be treated politely.

Thumbs up for the mouse. ^

Is it prohibitted to nod off in Disney?

Only if it's a Heroin nod:D

Not Allowed at WDW
 

A guest at the Most Exciting Place on Earth was bored enough to fall asleep?

Some Imagineer's going to get fired for sure over this one.:D

How is giving someone a ticket, "dismantling that tension"? Sure, she may have had a laugh in the end -- but first she was scared that she had done something wrong.

It might not have been a ticket. In "The Year of a Million Dreams -- anything can happen" at Disney, employees are empowered to give certain things to guests to make them feel special. Perhaps he gave her a coupon for a free cup of coffee, or some other freebie that made her laugh.

So if I complain about back pains, would they give me a bigger bed? :D

Actually, I could see that happening, just giving her a coupon for coffee. Makes her afterwords feel that they really care about the individual

OTOH WDW does have a reputation for having fairly draconian security... For example, they now take and store a fingerprint scan of everyone who enters the park. And before that there was other stuff.

Only, it's not your thumbprint. It's your index and middle finger. I don't know how relevant that is when most people only have their thumbprints on file (e.g., with the DMV)... or if you're ever charged with a crime, then I guess you have all your prints on file.

The machine is not reading your prints, it's reading something more akin to the structure of your fingers (or so I have heard). ;)

The ticket thing is actually something Disney security guards have been doing for some time. I have been given a "ticket" for "having too much fun" while having a good belly laugh with family while sitting on a bench in one of the parks.

The woman probably got some similar kind of "ticket"--it looks like a ticket, but it's actually a small joke of some kind to make you smile. :)

Disney is not taking your fingerprints when you enter the park -- instead, they are taking biometric information (like the measurements of your fingers) to help prevent people from sharing/selling Park Hoppers. I definitely felt being scanned put a damper on my Magical Experience this last May when I was there and wasn't thrilled with them taking the information anyway, but I guess its at least a bit reassuring that they are taking measurements instead of fingerprints.

A little know fact is that you can refuse to have your finerprints scanned at Disney and still be admitted to the Parks!

As of this past September, the Mouse now fully scans your fingerprint.

See Link: http://www.local6.com/news/9774630/detail.html

Screw that
 

Again, what if you tell them to go to hell? Will they still take your
money and allow you to enter the most fascist, er, I mean the "happiest
place on Earth?"

You can refuse the fingerprint scan and show an ID instead. The purpose of the ID check (or fingerprint check) is revenue protection. They don't want people reselling leftover days on multi-day tickets. Once you see how they price multi-day tickets and realize the marginal price of an additional day is practically nothing, it makes sense.

If I'm ever dragged to one of their parks again you can bet I'll refuse to be scanned.

Do they make a copy of your ID or write down any information that's
on it? Inquiring minds want to know.....

No- it just has to match the signature on the back of the ticket.

The fingerprint isn't for security purposes... it's for loss management. Disney doesn't want people sharing tickets.

If it was the government doing this, I'd say no. But Disney is a private company, and they do business as they see fit. I've been a fan, a shareholder, and a former employee of their company far too long to let this bother me. From what I've been told, they do purge their database every 30 days, and I don't doubt this after having my fingerprint rejected when I didn't go to WDW for 2 months

An interesting term. Newspeak for applying DRM to meatspace.
Libraries are stealing when they loan you books. You're stealing when you let a friend borrow one of your movies. Thank god these practices predate Brother Disney and ilk.

This particular type of "loss" was causing real problems for guests and for the company over and above the money lost, because many, many people were being scammed buying worthless tickets on eBay and at local FBN ticket booths. The tickets had no days left, but had been sold as partially-used. Patrons were showing up at the gates and having fits about having spent $300 on a worthless ticket. It was a PR nightmare, and was making a LOT of work for the Florida authorities, because it is illegal under FL law to resell theme park tickets. Disney is a private business; they are within their rights to ask for ID in order to enter the park. If you don't wish to provide ID or a bioscan to get in, they will refund the unused value of the ticket -- though naturally you have to show a receipt in order to get the refund.

As to the "citation", I'm pretty sure I know what it was. Security is allowed to give out special tickets as a way to amuse guests; they cite you for "Having a Disney Day." There are spots on the ticket for marking items like "Having more fun than the law allows", "Taking a picture with your lens cap on", or "Being Grumpy, Sleepy, Sneezy, Bashful, etc.", "Making a U-turn with a stroller" and so on. Most people who get them are pleased once they realize that it is only a joke; they don't give out a lot of them and it is kind of a cool souvenir.

Can you still buy a one day, one park ticket with cash, and not show ID/fingerprint?

On the other topic, I know someone who (20 years ago) was busted for smoking pot on "It's a Small World". She described the experience as "being arrested by Ranger Rick".

I believe you can... however the value of the ticket goes up the more days/options you add to it.

eg, on an adult ticket, the price difference from a 3 day to a 10 day ticket is only $24. The only large jumps in price are from a 1 day to a 2 day and 3 day. Afterwards the jump in price is only a few dollars per day.

Here's more information: http://www.mkt3000.com/files/magicyourway_0806.gif



Disney security (except for their elite unit which genuinely creeps me out) is a joke. I have barely any more respect for them than the TSA... at least these guys can control a crowd without making up laws on the spot. However, they have about as much Law Enforcement Authority as a TSO. My few friends that work for Reedy Creek have a nickname for WDW Security... the Blue Canaries.

"Disney security (except for their elite unit which genuinely creeps me out)"


OK, you've got me curious....why does Disney's "elite unit" creep you out?

I've never trusted a private company that has private security officers carrying 9mm revolvers and tasers, with no accountability (sounds like the TSA if they had guns!). Thankfully Disney only gives them to their elite unit, and not all of their blue canaries.

A 9mm revolver would be a rare and unusual choice of armament.

Moon clips are a hassle to load, and only six shots are available.

Mi culpa... this is one of the few times where my spanish shows its superiority to my english. I'm accustomed to calling all pistols revolvers since that's how I call them in Spanish. The WDW Elite Guard I saw had 2 extra clips... it was a 9mm handgun, like the ones that you see the OC Deputies at WDW using.

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The folks in LV take your picture. They don't take your fingerprints.

Most people don't have any prints on file at all. How many DMV agencies out there collect thumb print information?

Yeah, but I'll never forget the security at Tokyo Disneyland...to open up my bag, and they just looked in. I had my sweatshirt on top, covering everything. I could have had an arsenal underneath, but the person didn't ask me to move it, or wand me, or anything. Just waved me through. Granted, Japan is a safe country, but after that pathetic display of security I actually felt a bit less secure in the park.

In college some friends and I ended up at Pleasure Island one time. One of my friends went to get a drink at the bar. He was 21 and wearing an apporpriate wristband. The Mickey Mouse Police came over and demanded to see his ID. He showed them his real OH driver's license. They insisted it was fake and demanded a second form of ID. He showed them his private college ID, which also had his birthdate. They still didn't believe him. He asked why in the world anyone would bother with two forms of fake ID. The response? "We don't pretend to understand the minds of criminals."

Luckily he was able to talk some sense into them, and they didn't haul him off to the Happiest Prison on Earth[tm]. Meanwhile, while these crack detectives (er, Cast Members[tm]?) were trying to figure out why an evil Ohio kid was carrying two fakes, I watched a couple other 21yos in our group buy multiple drinks and proceed to pour them into the "soda" cups of their 19yo friends. :rolleyes:

Hawaii's does.

California's does. http://www.lbl.gov/LBL-Work/HR/irss/dmv.html

A quick search shows there are other states out there as well.

The blue canaries... err.. WDW security are idiots. When I was 22, I entered PI at the Adventurers Club using my spanish passport and they tried denying me based on my birthplace of Boston, my non-Spanish sounding surname (I have a Catalan surname), and the fact that I speak perfect English... I pulled out my California license and made them run it. Once it passed, I demanded on getting a manager and I believe 2 cast members lost their jobs over it.

I'm a freakin regular at PI when I'm in MCO. I know their rules better than they do... don't mess with me.

At least one state that I know of requires applicants to the bar to submit fingerprints before being licensed to practice law.

Less safe than outside the park?

I had to laugh about the bag "searches" too -- Metropolitan Government Office Towers in Shinjuku: they just look into one compartment of your bag. It's just theatre... and unnecessary on top.


HTB.

Not only that, anyone who's ever worked for the Federal Government does, like yours truly. That's a lot of people.

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I blame Kip Hawley.

And if there are real hurricanes this coming year, that's his fault too.