Originally Posted By AutoPost This topic is for Discussion of <a href="http://www.LaughingPlace.com/Latest-ID-81379.asp" target="_blank"><b>Latest: Disneyland Begins Photographing Multi-Day Ticket Holders</b></a> <p>The Los Angeles Times reports Disneyland has started taking pictures of multi-day tickets holders right at the turnstyles in an effort to stop the reselling of partially used tickets by ticket brokers - a practice that is legal but against Disneyland's policy.</p>
Originally Posted By ksargen Wow. They were having a hard enough time when we were there in December getting the tickets to have the correct names on them. When I pointed out to a CM that Disney has made a bit of a hash of things by making the "adult" ticket age 10 and up, he agreed with me that it wasn't fun to deal with (the ticket had my name on it, since I bought it and another ticket via credit card online). Most people under the age of 18 are not going to have picture ID, and honestly, I don't want to take her passport to DL! Also, if they're going to start being this particular, and putting names and faces to the multi day tickets, couldn't they upgrade their ticket processing to start with? I'd be happy to provide that info for my family's tickets if Disney would let me! *LOL*
Originally Posted By disneylandfan8 Why can't they just have the person sign it like we used to have to do years ago? If the signature matches, they're good to go!
Originally Posted By fkurucz Or how about they just chill and not freak out over a small percentage of people who will cheat. It's not like they're getting in for free. This makes Disney look like a bunch of money grubbers, which they are.
Originally Posted By berol People who go around the rules don't deserve charity merely because Disney can afford it. I'd rather have photos, a glance and you're done. Signatures would slow lines to a crawl.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>Also, if they're going to start being this particular, and putting names and faces to the multi day tickets, couldn't they upgrade their ticket processing to start with? I'd be happy to provide that info for my family's tickets if Disney would let me!<< This is exactly where NextGen comes in. At some point in the not-too-distant future, your park ticket, official photo, PhotoPass pictures, and a whole slew of other things will all be tied into one neat little package. With all of the things they're adding on both coasts to get ready for it, it's becoming such a headache that I'm almost looking forward to having it, just so all of the stupid systems (that didn't even exist 2-3 years ago) work together!
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>People who go around the rules don't deserve charity merely because Disney can afford it.<< Except that it becomes an inconvenience for me. But who cares, I haven't been back for years, and every time I read something about how they're go to pack the parks even more and make it less convenient for me, it just helps drive me away even more.
Originally Posted By ksargen "This is exactly where NextGen comes in. At some point in the not-too-distant future, your park ticket, official photo, PhotoPass pictures, and a whole slew of other things will all be tied into one neat little package. With all of the things they're adding on both coasts to get ready for it, it's becoming such a headache that I'm almost looking forward to having it, just so all of the stupid systems (that didn't even exist 2-3 years ago) work together!" Well, and this is my line of thinking - if they're going to change tech on one end, why not the other? How hard is it (not very, sez the former sysadmin / programer) to add a name box and age box to the current ticket programs? Just have one more step in the process to fill in the NAMES of the people you're buying tickets for. Ages optional. Maybe a checkbox for whether they posses a photo ID? It's not that hard, and the could funnel that into the magic ticket program. Given lots of us print our tickets at home, this would be a logical way to get folks lined up properly at the gate, get their photo taken, and get through the turnstiles... I agree, it would be nice if they made a coordinated effort, but given they have multiple parks with different approaches to EVERYTHING, different ticketing systems, etc., all running at once, it's no wonder they can't get the little details right now. As hard as they tried to make DL run more like WDW, it hasn't happened, and as the parks expand into China, one system for everyone is more unlikely than ever...
Originally Posted By karlg I was just at the park with a park-hopper and they were indeed scanning the bar code on the ticket with a phone with a scanner/battery shell. The strange thing was that the second day they did this, when they scanned my pass in line, my picture came up on the phone, but then when I got to the turnstile a they still asked for picture ID so it was not "linked" to the turnstile(at least yet - I would expect that it will be linked). After using my "magic morning," I upgraded to an Annual pass and they said they had my picture already. I assume this was from the picture that had been taken. I don't have a problem with Disney doing this as they are giving you a discount for a multi-day ticket. They can't have signature experts at the turnstiles and apparently there was rampant abuse (both by individuals and by some tour companies).
Originally Posted By TinkerbellPatten Yes I was in the park last week also and was there over half an hour early for my magic morning (half hour before magic morning began on a tuesday.) The lineup was so bad and all gates were operating, but the picture taking slowed things down so much that our magic morning ended up taking us about an hour to get to the gate. We were very unhappy. To get there half an hour before magic morning start time and still miss most of your magic morning, equals a LOT of very mad people. Magic morning started that day at 9 a.m. We got there at 8:30. We finally got thru the gate at 9:30 and were only able to get one early ride accomplished. Also noted that our photo was not linked to our tickets on some of the days but was linked to it on others. During our 4 day parkhopper, our photo was taken 3 times. We noticed that half the holdup was castmembers trying to explain to angry people why the photos had to be taken in the first place. Many folks thought that Disney wanted to sell them a photo, others thought it was some sort of identity theft or invasion of their privacy for disney records etc. Overall it was an ugly line experience. I hope Disney does away with this asap.
Originally Posted By ecdc If the DMV can take my picture and print it onto a license, so can Disney. Allow people who purchase online to upload a photo of themselves (hey, that way they get to choose one they like) for their multi-day tickets. Have a webcam ready at ticket kiosks at the park. Yes, some idiot somewhere will upload a picture of Bob Marley (or much worse) and think it's hilarious, but 99.99% of people will have no interest in making their expensive ticket purchase more inconvenient and will follow the rules. And also, >>Or how about they just chill and not freak out over a small percentage of people who will cheat. It's not like they're getting in for free.<< Totally this. It's been a while, but I read a book that basically said the vast majority of company attempts to prevent theft or system abusers ends up costing them more money and alienating more customers and losing sales. Put an expensive product behind the counter, and sure, no one will steal it, but no one will buy it either. You're much better off accepting abusers/cheaters as part of the cost of doing business and moving on.
Originally Posted By TP2000 What a mess. I would think Disney would only need to do this for a week or two, and then the ticket resellers working out of gas station parking lots and cheap strip malls nearby would be gone. This tactic would seem to shut down their business immediately. Then Disney could stop the picture taking, and only bring it back when the resellers slither back in to the seedy strip malls on Katella and try to set up shop again. This appears to be a tactic that would only need to pop up by surprise once or twice a year to keep the resellers away. Maybe that's what Disney will do? And if visitors are upset at the photo taking now as an invasion of privacy, just wait until the MagicBands arrive and all that info about your children is loaded onto everyones bracelet in order to get in the park, pull a Fastpass, reserve a table at Blue Bayou, get a PhotoPass picture, etc. Some folks will really freak out over that!
Originally Posted By tashajilek With all this pictures taking and I.D checking why on earth doesnt Disneyland have the same finger print scanning as WDW? sounds like it would be much easier than all of this!
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <I would think Disney would only need to do this for a week or two, and then the ticket resellers working out of gas station parking lots and cheap strip malls nearby would be gone. This tactic would seem to shut down their business immediately. > I don't think it would happen immediately. It would immediately make their business worthless, but if they're unscrupulous enough to sell them in the first place, they're unscrupulous enough to continue to sell them during the period when people who don't frequent sites like this WON'T KNOW they're going to get their picture taken. That will take a while to become common knowledge, and in the meantime, I think they'll continue to sell them, not really caring that people will be out of luck if they try to "split" them.
Originally Posted By TP2000 Dabob2, I think it might be hitting them faster than that. Most of these places work out of brick and mortar storefronts. The Chevron/Starbucks complex on Ball has a ticket reseller in the office upstairs, and they have office hours listed on the door and signage and everything. If I bought a ticket from them for 80 bucks, and 30 minutes later I was denied entry by Disneyland, I would march right back to that office and demand a refund. I would imagine these shops saw an instant and complete shut down of their main sales product, within about 48 hours of Disneyland starting the picture taking. They may still sell the tickets, but they are literally worthless now. They are shady businessmen, but aren't quite so shady as to be working out of the back of a van parked down by the river. They have (had?) actual storefront spaces in real buildings.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >> To get there half an hour before magic morning start time and still miss most of your magic morning, equals a LOT of very mad people.<< This is what I mean by inconveniencing your customers to crack down on a what is probably a minor issue.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <They are shady businessmen, but aren't quite so shady as to be working out of the back of a van parked down by the river. They have (had?) actual storefront spaces in real buildings. > Some of them did, but others, as you put it yourself, worked out of gas station parking lots. And, of course, many others simply sold online, and will probably continue to do so until word gets out.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>With all this pictures taking and I.D checking why on earth doesnt Disneyland have the same finger print scanning as WDW? sounds like it would be much easier than all of this!<< I've also wondered this. As far as I can see the fingerprint scanner (and biometric reader before that) works pretty well. No, it's not quite as fast as scanning a ticket and being done with it, but it only takes a second or two for each guest. It's also set up in a way that makes it easy for guests to see what they're supposed to do on the machine before they reach the front of the line. However, now that WDW is transitioning to the turnstyle-less entry, it appears that they're also doing away with the finger scanners. From what I've seen of the new entries (currently available in limited numbers at each park, and more are under construction at each park at this very moment), it's just a Mickey icon that you tap your ticket/bracelet to, and you're done. There must be some system for CMs to authenticate your identity (perhaps they stand there with an iPad where photos pop up), but it seems that the new system is significantly less 'secure' than the old one (in addition to not having that spinning thing that you have to walk through to enter the park)
Originally Posted By believe Yes, The new WDW system is turnstyle-less, so I would think it's easier to cheat. Hey, if you've got days left on your wristband, sell it to someone - but make sure you disable all credit card features! Gee, you can even walk thru with an expired wristband (remove the chip first!) - What's this world coming to. Next thing you know, they'll make you checkout yourself at supermakets and Home Depot. - I would say that you should find a better way to get the resellers, otherwise, leave them alone. The only reason Disney doesn't like them is because someone unauthorized is getting a cut of the profit. - Why doesn't disney just ask for a drivers license or passport? That would be faster. The names are printed on the ticket with multiday passes.
Originally Posted By karlg > Hey, if you've got days left on your wristband, sell it to someone - but make sure you disable all credit card features! Gee, you can even walk thru with an expired wristband (remove the chip first!) < I would expect that they have your photo or other I.D. tied to what is on the band and they probably can detect somebody coming through without a chip > I would say that you should find a better way to get the resellers, otherwise, leave them alone. The only reason Disney doesn't like them is because someone unauthorized is getting a cut of the profit. < I totally disagree with you. Disney cut the person a deal/discount for a multiday pass. They did this assuming that a multi-day pass person is not going to spend all day, every day in the park and/or for other reasons (such as encouraging people to stay longer). Their alternative would be to charge N-times the 1 day price. I don't mind them enforcing the the rules on the ticket, but it would be nice if they did it without the degree of hassle it seems to be causing. I didn't notice any problem/delay when I was there January 6th to 10th. > Why doesn't disney just ask for a drivers license or passport? That would be faster. The names are printed on the ticket with multiday passes. < Funny enough when I was there they took my picture one day and then saw it the second day on their iPhone while I was in-line yet the still asked for my driver's license at the gate. Personally I think it would have been a lot faster if my picture would just pop up on the screen at the booth (maybe it hadn't been integrated into the system yet). It takes people time to fiddle with getting out their driver's license and what if they didn't bring it with them? They could take the picture on the first use and then link it with the bar code on the ticket.
