Fingerprinting at Disney and Sea World

sleepytexan

Disney and Sea World have begun telling season pass-holders that the park "needs" an electronic scan of their thumbprints.

If a pass holder refuses at Sea World, they can still use their pass with photo ID. I'm not sure what Disney does upon refusal.

What do you think of this?

MellowGa

the've been doing it for years

sleepytexan

not here in SoCal. It's new. (I've held season passes for years). Also, I used to have a WDW season pass when I lived in FL and they didn't do it then.

Anyway, what do you think of it?

TonyM1984

Not so bad! Now go to sleep sleepy Texan!

MellowGa

I've been to WDW 3 times in the last 10 years, the've done it everytime, they use your Index finger.

I've never had an issue with it, I was figer printed in NJ when I began Coaching young children, that is standard practice in NJ and I wish it was done everywhere that a fingerprint and background check was done, kids safety is a priority.

The only reason Disney does it is when you buy a pass for 5 days, it tracks usage and onece your card expires it is discarded.

atxdee

I was wondering why they did that?!

subcult

No problem with having my finger prints taken not cool having my kids finger printed assuming they even finger print them.

sleepytexan

Hmm, they have never done it to me as a season pass holder until this year.

Anyway, I see the point in fingerprinting for jobs entailing access to children or elderly, but is that their motivation? Are they protecting children from season pass holders? Why don't they fingerprint everyone?

Obviously they are fingerprinting to make sure that people don't share their passes, but it seems invasive to me. It's really not hard to show your driver's license.

Laddiegirl

My dad & stepmom just got back from taking my younger brother to Universal Studios in Los Angeles, CA on 2 day passes and they did it there as well. They do it so that one person doesn't buy the passes (seasonal or just several days) and then hand them off/sell them to someone else.

He didn't have a problem with it and I wouldn't either if it were me.

sleepytexan

from an article discussing that the theme parks reason that finger scanning is a technology upgrade:

Privacy advocates disagree. They contend that Disney has not fully disclosed the purpose of its new system. There are no signs posted at the entrances detailing what information is being collected and how it is being used. Attendants at the entrances will explain the system, if asked.

``The lack of transparency has always been a problem," said Lillie Coney, associate director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. She said Disney's use of the technology ``fails a proportionality test" by requiring too much personal information for access to roller coasters.

``What they're doing is taking a technology that was used to control access to high-level security venues and they're applying it to controlling access to a theme park," Coney said.

George Crossley, president of central Florida's American Civil Liberties Union, said, ``It's impossible for them to convince me that all they are getting is the fact that that person is the ticket-holder."

MellowGa

they don't do children under a certain age, my younger ones don't have to do it, just 12 and older I believe.

Also for those who stay in the resorts like myself, our Key card is also our creditcard and Park pass, so my Name is not on it and no indication of who I am, except the finger print system.

I find it very convienent, that all I need is my card for my hotel room and everything is on it, saves me the trouble of carrying my wallet around.

Ready2Rock206

I'm trying to imagine what devious evil things Mickey would be doing with my fingerprints. Since I can't think of any and I've been fingerprinted by them several times now I'm okay with it. The flip side is them raising the prices sky high because of all the scammers who buy one pass and share it among multiple people - so yes, fingerprint me instead.

MellowGa

how would you feel if they were tracking known sex offenders that enter the park? I would surely be ok if they were using that to track those perv's.

sleepytexan

how would you feel if they were tracking known sex offenders that enter the park? I would surely be ok if they were using that to track those perv's.

ya, that would be good, but that's not what they're doing if they're only tracking pass holders.

MellowGa

well you never know, any idea what google does with yoru searches on the internet? Did you ever happen to notice the banners on this site relate to recent serches or key words you have used on here? I just saw a Disney wrld add on here, that is not random, google has a feature that targets key phrases and words and loads up ad's in the allocated banners.

look at the side, I bet you see one for Disney world or land.

cobracars

If they were taking all 10 fingerprints I would consider it an intrusion, but just one thumbprint or one fingerprint doesn't bother me. Not much different than a photo ID considering all the advances in facial recognition software.

kimpossible471

They scan fingerprint for everyone including short term passes so you can't share tickets.

dad106

When I went to Disney a few years ago, I'm pretty sure I got fingerprinted to make sure that it was me and only me using my ticket.

I also get fingerprinted at my gym before I can use a personal training session... not like they are using it for anything besides identification.

Don't see what the big deal is personally... it's just an identification purpose and not like they are scanning fingerprints so that you can be arrested or w/e.

Edited to add: It's also a lot faster to scan a finger, then have people in line digging around for id's.

rml_16

Disney and Sea World have begun telling season pass-holders that the park "needs" an electronic scan of their thumbprints.

If a pass holder refuses at Sea World, they can still use their pass with photo ID. I'm not sure what Disney does upon refusal.

What do you think of this?

They do it with everyone, not just season pass holders. It's to prevent anyone else from using your card and saves time over everyone having to whip out photo ID.

It annoys me, but I don't have to go there, either.