Word of warning for onsite guests and scanning into gates

[Tinkerbell19672]

Stayed at GCH over the weekend. One morning we entered DCA through the GCH guest-only security entrance. We immediately went to DL gate to get ROTR BG and had no problems entering DL. Next day, we left GCH through Downtown security and went to DL first. Scanned in, got ROTR BG and left after about 15 minutes. Went back to hotel for breakfast and entered DCA through hotel security. Again we walked through DCA to go to DL. We were stopped at the point and were told our APs were flagged. They wouldn’t let us in until a CM who took our APs and left for about 10 minutes verified we didn’t allow someone else to use our passes.

I don’t know if it happens with tickets too or just APs, but it wasn’t fun standing at the gate to get it resolved and wanted to warn others. I’m glad it didn’t happen the first day to keep us from getting into DL before BGs start time opened up.

 

[gottalovepluto]

That is unfortunately a problem they have had for years now. Its ridiculous. Don't recall if it's just APs or if it happens to ticket holders too. So annoying because it can be nice to walk through DCA instead of DtD, I find the Grizzly falls area very relaxing.

 

[Tinkerbell19672]

That is unfortunately a problem they have had for years now. Its ridiculous. Don't recall if it's just APs or if it happens to ticket holders too. So annoying because it can be nice to walk through DCA instead of DtD, I find the Grizzly falls area very relaxing.

I agree. Seems like there should be a better way to confirm if there’s a problem or not. Funny, for as advanced as Disney is with rides, movies, etc, they seem to be lacking in this and upgrading tix to APs at their booths.

 

[gottalovepluto]

I agree. Seems like there should be a better way to confirm if there’s a problem or not. Funny, for as advanced as Disney is with rides, movies, etc, they seem to be lacking in this and upgrading tix to APs at their booths.

OMG as the victim of a nightmarish ticket to AP upgrade I HEAR YOU!

 

[Becca1007]

Stayed at GCH over the weekend. One morning we entered DCA through the GCH guest-only security entrance. We immediately went to DL gate to get ROTR BG and had no problems entering DL. Next day, we left GCH through Downtown security and went to DL first. Scanned in, got ROTR BG and left after about 15 minutes. Went back to hotel for breakfast and entered DCA through hotel security. Again we walked through DCA to go to DL. We were stopped at the point and were told our APs were flagged. They wouldn’t let us in until a CM who took our APs and left for about 10 minutes verified we didn’t allow someone else to use our passes.

I don’t know if it happens with tickets too or just APs, but it wasn’t fun standing at the gate to get it resolved and wanted to warn others. I’m glad it didn’t happen the first day to keep us from getting into DL before BGs start time opened up.

It is based on the time between scans, so if you are heading to DL in order to get a BG then they recommend just going straight to the DL gates via the DTD security screening.

 

[wowsmom]

We encountered this back in November. Headed into DCA and found out the popcorn bucket we wanted was only available in DL. So we popped over to DL but having heard about this on this board a few months prior, as I had my AP scanned, I said "it might show that we just went into DCA - we want the Mickey Xmas tree bucket and didn't realize it was only over here". He looked at the screen, cleared something and sent us on through.

 

[ParkHopper1]

They have seemed to have resolved the single path GCH>DCA>DL flagging issues since the Holidays but you were ping ponging around in and out of DL which while makes total sense why is NOT typical guest behavior.

 

[Tinkerbell19672]

It is based on the time between scans, so if you are heading to DL in order to get a BG then they recommend just going straight to the DL gates via the DTD security screening.

Kind of defeats the purpose of getting a room near the entrance into DCA if we have to walk further

We encountered this back in November. Headed into DCA and found out the popcorn bucket we wanted was only available in DL. So we popped over to DL but having heard about this on this board a few months prior, as I had my AP scanned, I said "it might show that we just went into DCA - we want the Mickey Xmas tree bucket and didn't realize it was only over here". He looked at the screen, cleared something and sent us on through.

I wish the CM who scanned us could have done that

They have seemed to have resolved the single path GCH>DCA>DL flagging issues since the Holidays but you were ping ponging around in and out of DL which while makes total sense why is NOT typical guest behavior.

I agree, not typical. Only done because of new system to get on ROTR ride. Just seems like they could come up with a quicker way to know if there was fraud going on. I actually don’t understand what they’re looking for. Our pics come up when they scan tickets,so it’s obviously us.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

There was a long thread on this exact issue a while ago. Apparently, while plenty of honest guests cut through DCA to get to DL, there are plenty of dishonest people who do this to scam the system. That's why you get stopped at the DL gate and someone has to override the system to let you in. Just make sure that you allow enough time between entering DCA and heading for DL. Stopping for something at FF&P/Starbucks on BVS usually works fine for us.

 

[ParkHopper1]

There was a long thread on this exact issue a while ago. Apparently, while plenty of honest guests cut through DCA to get to DL, there are plenty of dishonest people who do this to scam the system. That's why you get stopped at the DL gate and someone has to override the system to let you in. Just make sure that you allow enough time between entering DCA and heading for DL. Stopping for something at FF&P/Starbucks on BVS usually works fine for us.

Just as a data point...we did this route MULTIPLE times throughout the recent holiday season with zero issues as did others in our groups at various times. From my experience it seems that have resolved the timing of the scanning issue from GCH>DCA>DL unless other have been recently stopped.

That is different than what the OP was doing resulting in the current flagging.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Just as a data point...we did this route MULTIPLE times throughout the recent holiday season with zero issues as did others in our groups at various times. From my experience it seems that have resolved the timing of the scanning issue from GCH>DCA>DL unless other have been recently stopped.

That is different than what the OP was doing resulting in the current flagging.

The way I understood it, the OP first went from the GCH to DCA to DL without any problems, (Agree that the issues there seem to have been corrected most of the time.) Next day, the OP went from the GCH to DL first, then returned to the hotel, later scanned from GCH to DCA to get to DL (which is a repeat of the problem which used to happen a lot). Not sure why it popped up then, when it wasn't the first entry of the day on that pass.

 

[Indiana Scott]

So sorry that happened to you.
That's about as far from being "magical" as you can get.

 

[DLgal]

Sounds like Disney needs to invest in facial recognition tech at this point.

 

[Evita_W]

Sounds like Disney needs to invest in facial recognition tech at this point.

Actually, facial recognition (which is illegal in California at present) wouldn't avoid the issue they are having, which is with identical twins/triplets/etc. using the same pass, apparently it has become a massive issue since they started allowing you to put your pass on your phone, at least massive enough that they implemented this waiting period bit.

Now, they could use fingerprints (like Universal Studios does) and that would eliminate the issue with no more need to take pictures, making it substantially faster to get people into the parks. I would imagine they even still have the old turnstiles from WDW somewhere that they could reuse that already have the scanners on them.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

Actually, facial recognition (which is illegal in California at present) wouldn't avoid the issue they are having, which is with identical twins/triplets/etc. using the same pass, apparently it has become a massive issue since they started allowing you to put your pass on your phone, at least massive enough that they implemented this waiting period bit.

Now, they could use fingerprints (like Universal Studios does) and that would eliminate the issue with no more need to take pictures, making it substantially faster to get people into the parks. I would imagine they even still have the old turnstiles from WDW somewhere that they could reuse that already have the scanners on them.

With all the privacy laws and move toward more privacy laws in California, I doubt Disney wants to go into the fingerprint thing here. Yes, there are theme parks in California already using the tech, but I believe there is at least one outstanding non-California lawsuit against Six Flags for their use already, and who knows when California might jump into the fracas? I doubt Disney would want to invest in an infrastructure change that might just have to be ripped out again if laws get more stringent or people get more litigious.

 

[Kender]

Actually, facial recognition (which is illegal in California at present) wouldn't avoid the issue they are having, which is with identical twins/triplets/etc. using the same pass, apparently it has become a massive issue since they started allowing you to put your pass on your phone, at least massive enough that they implemented this waiting period bit.

Now, they could use fingerprints (like Universal Studios does) and that would eliminate the issue with no more need to take pictures, making it substantially faster to get people into the parks. I would imagine they even still have the old turnstiles from WDW somewhere that they could reuse that already have the scanners on them.

Yes and no. The law is a lot more grey area than that.

Yes, it is illegal for police body cameras to have facial recognition in California. That is true. It's valid until 2023 (at least), but does not ban it in other types of cameras used by police. Just body cameras. And recordings from body cameras also can't be run later through recognition software either.

There is a part of the law governing businesses so there is a legal way Disney could do it, but I feel like it would be too much hassle (and cost too much) to implement.

I have facial recognition for my Nest Hello. I had to look extensively into this law because of it to be sure I was legally okay to use the feature. It does appear the feature is removed in states where it's against the law totally, though (Illinois seems to be one I believe?).

The fingerprint reader would still also have to be an authorization given as privacy laws govern biometrics like that as well. But again there is a way to do it legally under California law.

 

[Tinkerbell19672]

Actually, facial recognition (which is illegal in California at present) wouldn't avoid the issue they are having, which is with identical twins/triplets/etc. using the same pass, apparently it has become a massive issue since they started allowing you to put your pass on your phone, at least massive enough that they implemented this waiting period bit.

Now, they could use fingerprints (like Universal Studios does) and that would eliminate the issue with no more need to take pictures, making it substantially faster to get people into the parks. I would imagine they even still have the old turnstiles from WDW somewhere that they could reuse that already have the scanners on them.

Is the twin thing really happening that often? And what are the chances the 3 of us were all twins

 

[bcla]

Yes and no. The law is a lot more grey area than that.

Yes, it is illegal for police body cameras to have facial recognition in California. That is true. It's valid until 2023 (at least), but does not ban it in other types of cameras used by police. Just body cameras. And recordings from body cameras also can't be run later through recognition software either.

There is a part of the law governing businesses so there is a legal way Disney could do it, but I feel like it would be too much hassle (and cost too much) to implement.

I have facial recognition for my Nest Hello. I had to look extensively into this law because of it to be sure I was legally okay to use the feature. It does appear the feature is removed in states where it's against the law totally, though (Illinois seems to be one I believe?).

The fingerprint reader would still also have to be an authorization given as privacy laws govern biometrics like that as well. But again there is a way to do it legally under California law.

Fingerprint readers aren't illegal under California law. I've seen plenty of them all over. Six Flags was using them for season pass/membership validation at least until they switched to a photo based system.

The law on "biometric surveillance" doesn't actually cover the use of facial recognition on recordings, but some reporting on it claims it does. They just can't use active (i.e. real time) facial recognition to automate checking databases for wanted suspects, etc. It certainly wouldn't be tenable if a body cam captured someone actively committing a crime, and they couldn't use the recording to try and identify possible suspects based on facial recognition?

http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB1215

 

[Pamela M]

Sounds like Disney needs to invest in facial recognition tech at this point.

or do the finger print like they do at WDW. It's nice they have 2 scanners & finger print check per CM. So 2 people can scan through at the same time.

 

[Kender]

Fingerprint readers aren't illegal under California law. I've seen plenty of them all over. Six Flags was using them for season pass/membership validation at least until they switched to a photo based system.

The law on "biometric surveillance" doesn't actually cover the use of facial recognition on recordings, but some reporting on it claims it does. They just can't use active (i.e. real time) facial recognition to automate checking databases for wanted suspects, etc. It certainly wouldn't be tenable if a body cam captured someone actively committing a crime, and they couldn't use the recording to try and identify possible suspects based on facial recognition?

http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB1215

I didn't say fingerprint scanner were illegal. I said they required authorization which is true . Others are debating these things are illegal/banned. There's definitely a lot of nuances and legal loopholes.

One can refuse the fingerprint reader. You just have to be willing to show ID. In fact I usually have to do this at USH anyways because the fingerprint reader always fails with me