I was watching, or really just listening to a morning news show one day last week and they were talking about raising the prices at Disneyland. I kind of thought to myself it wasn’t really that big of a deal. It was only a few bucks. I just figured that if you couldn’t afford that amount, you probably shouldn’t be going. That’s just how I look at it.
They started playing music and I turned from the computer to see what they were showing and it was one of the amusement park rides of some kind. That wasn’t really what I was looking at though. I was watching the people in line. In order to get in, they scan your pointer and middle finger. I thought, what!?!?!?
It turns out they have been doing this for a while now. Almost a year. Man, am I ever out of the loop. Have you heard of this? It’s not so much I have anything to hide from. My biggest crime (that I got caught for) is a speeding ticket in 1992. But there’s something inside of me that says I don’t like it. I can’t give you a reason or say why I don’t but I just don’t. The only time I’ve been fingerprinted was in the hospital when I gave birth. They took my thumb and put it with the baby’s footprint. I don’t even know if they do that anymore.
Am I alone here? Has anyone been there or anywhere else where this is done? Does it bother any of you and if so, why? I almost feel like it’s an invasion of ME. Disney claims it’s for counterfeiting ticket concerns. What about those bracelets or something like that? I just feel creepy about this and I’m not really sure why.
Us Girls..Our Views 
I wrote about it. Its disgusting. My husband and a whole group of us went from all over the world to disneyworld for his 40th birthday. We all were horrified. It was terrible. Everyone was completely freaked out and no one could relax. A corporation the size of Disney should NOT have access to your personal Bio information along with your credit card and picture. Yeh, they take your picture as you go in too… Can anyone say BLACKMAIL?
Very scary. Thankfully, Disneyland does not do it. Thank GOD.
This is NOT so they can look at your personal information. They don’t do that and they don’t care.
They take your fingerprint so they know that it is YOUR ticket. Many people will buy a 5 day parkhopper pass and try to
resell it to people every 5 days and make more money of it than Disney would. So they take your fingerprint so that only YOU can use the ticket.
There are still a LOT of really good arguments as to why this is done and why only the person who bought the tickets can use them which you’ll see if you read all the comments. Also, if it’s only a matter of a five day pass not being resold, what’s wrong with dating the ticket and after 5 days it’s no longer valid? Certainly you don’t need a fingerprint for that.
AND, why can only the person who bought the ticket, use it? What if a wife changes her mind about the ride and wants to let one of her kids or husband go on it instead? That’s one of the lamest things I’ve ever heard. It’s just one way they make more money. The ticket is paid for no matter who uses it.
I agree with Amber, that’s ridiculous! What’s next criminal background checks. That’s a invasion of privacy if you ask me and it’s only getting worse everywhere you look.
I don’t like it.. They offered us to take the kids’ fingerprints at the doctors’ …so they can identify the kids by fingerprints if we would by some reason forget to bring the magnetic cards.
I said no!!
I have never heard of them doing it just so you can get into an amusement park. Is it because everyone is a terrorist over there now?
The first time I was fingerprinted was at 12 in order to get my passport, here we do it for everything. I am actually surprised the ink isn’t ingrained in my fingers by now. Yes we don’t use electronic scanners yet.
This is really shocking though, for an AMUSEMENT park???
*scratches it off the list of to do while in America* I think I’ll just skip Disneyworld/land and head over to Ambers for that meal!
One thing to consider (as a parent of small children). Amusement parks (in general) are fantastic places for pedofiles to hang out.
Their finger prints are already on file and I imagine it would set off some sort of alarm if they were to try to sneek in.
This doesn’t totally freak me out, but it does surprise me. I guess I could see the point and I think a lot of things will go in that direction over time. Fingerprints are nothing compared to all the stuff they have on you already in databases. Dude, if you ever decide to buy anything you wouldn’t want the world to know about, forget it. Every single credit card purchase you ever made has gone into a database that is used to compile information on you so companies can “target” their marketing and such. This is nothing new, they have been doing it for years. Your car probably has a chip in it that can track where you are at all times. Every call in and out on every phone you own, every stop you ever made on the internet . . . . You have to know this is available to any government entity that asks, not to mention lots of hackers who have bad intentions. Privacy is a thing of the past, if it ever existed. (And no, I’m not a paranoid person. I personally have nothing to hide. But I used to do some work for a company that specializes in this computerized spying [customer data collection / analysis] and it’s both brilliant and scary.)
Personally I’d say if you don’t want your fingerprints scanned, you should vote with your pocketbook and don’t go to Disney. Of course, it’s too late for those who already planned their vacations without knowing this was in store for them.
I guess it doesn’t matter to me. If it keeps us safe, and that isn’t even the reason they do it, then whatever. It really is the world we live in now and there’s nothing we can do about it. I haven’t been to Disneyland since I was 12 or so and I’m hoping that I can someday take Bailey there. It doesn’t freak me out, surprises me a little but I guess it shouldn’t. I’ve lived in this town for many years and have gone to our court house numerous times, but now there is one entrance. You used to be able to go through the side doors and now there are 2 uniformed police officers waiting at the door and you have to go through the metal detector. No biggie to me I guess but my father in law was not too happy. “An old man can’t even carry a pocket knife these days” he said!!
We just got back from a trip to Universal Orlando. Our fingerprints were scanned as we presented our tickets. The next day as Hub passed out our tickets to get in to the park for a second day he accidentally switched mine and his. Since his fingerprint didn’t match with the ticket he was presenting they weren’t going to let him in. Once we figured out what had happened and switched tickets we were able to get in. I think the parks are doing it that way to prevent people from passing their tickets on to others who haven’t really paid for a ticket. One ticket/one finger scan per person. I didn’t mind having my finger scanned. What I find unfortunate is that the parks continually have to find new ways to combat the dishonesty of others.
The thing that bothers me about that Kween is if the ticket in fact was paid for, why would it matter who used it? There have been many times we’ve left a carnival and had an odd ticket left so instead of buying more so both kids could go, we’d give our left over tickets so someone walking in when we were walking out. They were paid for so it’s not like they are losing any money. That kind of bugs me too. You could change your mind or want to give it to your husband or one of your kids but now your stuck with that ticket and nobody can use it but you.
I do agree with you on that Joy. They are paid for and sometimes you buy tickets and something comes up & you might give them away so they are not wasted.
This doesn’t really freak me out either but it is very unsettling for some reason. I’m not sure why. I had no idea this kind of thing was done though. I guess I don’t get out much! I do agree with the ticket deal. To me, if it’s paid for, who cares who uses it? That in itself kind of sounds greedy to me. A lot of things could change your mind or happen and you couldn’t use your ticket so why shouldn’t someone else be able to use it?? I don’t like that.
Not sure how old these post are but I though I’d tell about my trip to Disney land in Florida in 2006. I went online and booked the whole trip. Disney’s site never mentioned anything about fingerprint scans. Upon arrival at the park, standing in line waiting, I noticed the people entering were placing a finger on the scanner. Looked at my wife and thought about cancelling everything. In my mind, money lost is better than giving something to a Playground that hasn’t ever been given to anyone else. The people behind me heard me talking and expressed there concern about privacy also. When we reached the scanner the person standing there asked for the tickets and told me to place my finger on the scanner. I said “No, I feel it’s an invasion of privacy and is there another way to enter without the scan”. To my surprise, He said sure and asked for was another form of I.D. I showed him my drivers license and we walked in. This held true at all of the different Disney parks in Florida.
Thank you for commenting Karl. That’s very good to know.
At magic kingdom the girl insisted on getting our finger prints, for a One Day pass! She fought us for 15+ minutes, though she refused to get a supervisor. Finally, I told her we wanted a full refund including parking, suddenly it was OK for us to enter with just ID and a signature.
Oh ya, the excuses were many. First off, it was not a fingerprint, it was a biometric… lol
A one day pass is not a fraud concern. Makes you wonder why they want the finger print so bad?