What's the deal with Finger Scans?

[Ggatorgirl]

I have several non-expiring tix with PI and Water Parks included. I will be buying more tickets to cover the length of our upcoming stay. How will the finger scanning be handled? Do the scans apply to the old tickets? Since we are a group of six and since we will not have the tickets on our KTTW, does each person have to have the same ticket associated with their scan? I read somewhere that if purchased in a block, any person in the group can use any ticket. We may be splitting up and not all going to the same park on the same day, so will this be a problem?

Thanks.

 

[Sam60]

I think the scan is a sham. This week I tried scanning different fingers, even different hands- they all were accepted.

I suspect that Disney is using the scan to make people afraid to loan out annual passes to their friends.

 

[Tinkerbell21]

I think the scan is a sham. This week I tried scanning different fingers, even different hands- they all were accepted.

I suspect that Disney is using the scan to make people afraid to loan out annual passes to their friends.

It may be a scam but when I was down there my finger wouldn't scan at all for some reason so my fiance had to scan for both of us EVERY SINGLE TIME!

 

[wilde_oscar]

I think the scan is a sham. This week I tried scanning different fingers, even different hands- they all were accepted.

I suspect that Disney is using the scan to make people afraid to loan out annual passes to their friends.

sometimes it is set to accept anything.
sometimes not.
depends on crowd level and time of day

 

[dburg30]

sometimes it is set to accept anything.
sometimes not.
depends on crowd level and time of day

I've noticed that.. During busy times there seemed to be very few 'problems' but later in the day when few people were going thru you saw tons of finger scan issues

 

[Cheshire Figment]

You might want to look at the Everything About WDW Tickets locked sticky in this Forum. Post #14 deals extensively with finger scans. To get there directly, follow the link in my signature.

 

[TnTsParty]

Well I accidently tried to use my brother in law's ticket this past weekend (all the tickets where mixed in and I grabbed the wrong one) and when I put my finger on the scanner it was not accepted. That was when I realized it was the wrong ticket. So I think it might be able to be by passed by having a similar finger size as the person who originally used the ticket but if the finger size is different then it will be rejected.

 

[trjme]

One the first day of 7 we had to scan our fingers. Never had to do it again evn though dd6 instisted with the CM that she wanted to do it. The CM's each day would tell us no scanning required before we put our tickets in.

 

[centurythree]

sometimes it is set to accept anything.
sometimes not.
depends on crowd level and time of day

I think that this is correct. I've tried different fingers on occasion and still got a green light, while my father tried a different finger once and it would not accept anything but the finger he'd originally used.

 

[Schmeck]

I have several non-expiring tix with PI and Water Parks included. I will be buying more tickets to cover the length of our upcoming stay. How will the finger scanning be handled? Do the scans apply to the old tickets? Since we are a group of six and since we will not have the tickets on our KTTW, does each person have to have the same ticket associated with their scan? I read somewhere that if purchased in a block, any person in the group can use any ticket. We may be splitting up and not all going to the same park on the same day, so will this be a problem?

Thanks.

Once a ticket has been linked to a finger scan, it can only be used by that person - Disney tickets have 'nontransferable' printed right on them.

 

[WDSearcher]

I think the scan is a sham. This week I tried scanning different fingers, even different hands- they all were accepted.

I suspect that Disney is using the scan to make people afraid to loan out annual passes to their friends.

Yes ... that's exactly it. Disney located the technology, bought all the scanners, installed them and continue to operate them simply to stop people from loaning out their annual passes. Because when friends borrow annual passes, the come into the parks and spend money on food and souvenirs (probably more than normal, since they figure they got in for free), and goodness knows Disney doesn't want THAT!

If Disney truly, really wanted to be sure people weren't loaning out their annual passes, they'd ask for ID before people used them. I would imagine that the finger scans are more to cut down on the number of people buying and selling used tickets over on I Drive and 192 than it is to scare annual passholders.

 

[seashoreCM]

Pre-2005 tickets acquired and used finger scans starting with their first usage after about May 2005. The finger scanning procedure is the same as for MYW tickets.

>>> I will be buying more tickets to cover the length of our upcoming stay.

Buy new tickets to cover an entire stay, not the rest of a stay. Otherwise your cost per day is likely to be much higher.

However it is not a bad deal to use older tickets for water parks only as an alternative to adding water park fun to a new ticket.

>>> ... than to ... scare annual passholders

Finger scans were used only for annual passholders at first (before 2005).

 

[aribelle]

I have several non-expiring tix with PI and Water Parks included. I will be buying more tickets to cover the length of our upcoming stay. How will the finger scanning be handled? Do the scans apply to the old tickets? Since we are a group of six and since we will not have the tickets on our KTTW, does each person have to have the same ticket associated with their scan? I read somewhere that if purchased in a block, any person in the group can use any ticket. We may be splitting up and not all going to the same park on the same day, so will this be a problem?

Thanks.

It MIGHT be less expensive to take your existing ticket and upgrade it. That is assuming that you want to keep it non-expiring and still go with the PI and water parks (remembering that PI will be closing in September).

A 2 day MYW Premium, no expire is $265.19 (all prices include tax),
a 3 day is $338.67 so that's a big jump, but then
a 4 day is $374.88
a 5 day is $394.05
a 6 day is $401.51
a 7 day is $435.59
an 8 day is $474.99
a 9 day is $503.75
a 10 day is $532.50

I say "MIGHT" be less expensive, because if you no longer want/need the PI and water parks, non-expire, you unfortnately can't "downgrade" the ticket you have so you have to purchase the same class. But if you DO want those options you can see that the more days you buy the cheaper "per day" rate.

If for this trip you simply want base tickets, then upgrading won't save you really. So use up what you have and then buy tickets with the options you need.

There is a great page on allears that shows all the different options and costs, including where you can buy new tickets at a discount online (doesn't work for upgrading, you have to upgrade at the parks).....
http://allears.net/pl/ticketchart.htm

 

[disnut8]

To get back to the original question and leave all the "do the finger scans really work" discussion -

There is a certain date where you do have to use the finger scans for older tickets. I can't remember when it is - after 2005? But you can just go to Guest Relations or a ticket office before you enter your first park if you are nervous. Otherwise, just put the ticket in and see what happens. There are Cast Members there who will let you know.

As far as blocks are concerned, that may or may not be true (hence the responses above). But, you don't all have to be together to enter a park. Each ticket will have a finger scan associated with it. I can enter Epcot with my pass and my husband can enter Blizzard Beach with his at the same time.

The idea behind the finger scan (no debates here) is that one person gets one ticket and that ticket is identified with that one person by the finger scan. That is the entire idea.

 

[Ggatorgirl]

Do they use the finger scan at the water parks and PI or is it just the Theme parks?