All New Ticket Media will be Biometric...

[disneyjunkie]

I was just looking at our old FITS passes from last April. I wonder if the activation process for new passes will work like the FITS passes?

When you order, you get a voucher in the mail that has to be turned into guest services for your actual tickets. Your name is listed on the back of the ticket (adults have to show id) along with the date the tickets expire. You had to do the finger scan to enter the park.

 

[Brian Noble]

but I just wonder what kind of hardware/software they must have to store all the fingerscans/days used/etc

Don't know about the hardware, but if I understand the scan correctly, there are only a handful of numbers to record per ticket. Considering they already store timestamps (plus lots of other information) every time the ticket is swiped anywhere, this is a modest increase.

 

[mochabean]

If what Mochabean says is correct - then the pass are transferable within your party. Unless I misunderstand, anyone in your party can use any ticket - all the tickets would be associated to all members of your party.

Well, maybe. Although it may be possible for members of the same party to use each other's passes when entering, and have the biometric scanner give the green light, it's technically not permitted, but it seems Disney has done it to speed up the park entry of a group of people. However, it is well within their right to ask for ID at any time, and if the names are printed on the tickets but they don't match your ID, they can still deny your entry. So the fact that members of a party can use each other's tickets is a convenience for Disney but not a change in policy.

 

[mochabean]

They're non-transferrable because of the huge park-hopper black market.

If they were to add biometrics to all admission, I think it would be great because it would seriously cut down on all the Disney ticket scalping. It's just such a shame that it DOES have to come to that.

It actually surprises me it took them so long to address the issue of black market/ticket scalping, since the technology to do what they are doing has been in place for quite a while. I am sure they were thinking of ways to do it for a while, and with the invention of the new tickets, it's time had come.

It may be a shame that it has come to this, but I can actually see it coming to the point where Disney issues each and every guest a permanent plastic id card, and when you buy ticket media it is just added to your card. Sort of like a refillable gift card or calling card. Think of the possibilities for Disney - elimination of ticket reselling altogether, since tickets really won't exist per se. You can just give them your card and they can encode your room keys onto it at checkin; when you buy Cirque tickets or MVMCP tickets, they just get added onto your card, and they won't have to even mail you anything.
You can still buy ticket *vouchers* to use as gifts, and buy discounted vouchers from resellers, but these will all have to be redeemed and added onto your card. Viola, no more tickets. And if you lose your card, Disney can invalidate the old one and issue a new one on the spot, just like credit card companies do.

 

[DrTomorrow]

It actually surprises me it took them so long to address the issue of black market/ticket scalping, since the technology to do what they are doing has been in place for quite a while. I am sure they were thinking of ways to do it for a while, and with the invention of the new tickets, it's time had come.

I'm surprised it took so long, too - but there's just such an incredible sense of inertia at Disney that change has a lot of ramifications. For example, the addition of the Evening Magic Hours has a lot of PS planners scrambling.

[...] And if you lose your card, Disney can invalidate the old one and issue a new one on the spot, just like credit card companies do.

For a small - say $5 - "Disney ID Replacement Fee".

 

[sjdisneywedding]

It actually surprises me it took them so long to address the issue of black market/ticket scalping, since the technology to do what they are doing has been in place for quite a while. I am sure they were thinking of ways to do it for a while, and with the invention of the new tickets, it's time had come.

It may be a shame that it has come to this, but I can actually see it coming to the point where Disney issues each and every guest a permanent plastic id card, and when you buy ticket media it is just added to your card. Sort of like a refillable gift card or calling card. Think of the possibilities for Disney - elimination of ticket reselling altogether, since tickets really won't exist per se. You can just give them your card and they can encode your room keys onto it at checkin; when you buy Cirque tickets or MVMCP tickets, they just get added onto your card, and they won't have to even mail you anything.
You can still buy ticket *vouchers* to use as gifts, and buy discounted vouchers from resellers, but these will all have to be redeemed and added onto your card. Viola, no more tickets. And if you lose your card, Disney can invalidate the old one and issue a new one on the spot, just like credit card companies do.

I love this idea!

 

[mochabean]

I love this idea!

I'm glad someone else is so much into technology like me that they like this idea! It would be cool. I'm just waiting for the privacy police to jump all over it!

 

[webray]

LOL...it is not AP'rs who have the problem with the scanners..lol, it is the scanners themselves.

The slow problems in the lines are definately adults who let their children put their own tickets through..lol.

 

[Penny12]

Hey, I was thinking about this some more....in certain circumstances it might actually be quicker (or at least not take any longer) because add to my list of 'types' I get stuck behind (and I do have some sort of inner instinct inside of me that always draws me to the slowest security check/ticket gate line, hehehe), you can also add the first time visitor who's been standing in line waiting to go through the gate....who've seen the people in front do the biometrics...and then think they have to do the same thing until the CM realises what they are doing and waves them on through. So, if these changes do come in to effect, it's actually won't take any longer for that particular scenario

 

[Mary Anne]

I have to agree with Penny on that. I've seen first time visitors get really upsent that they can't use the biometric fingers and why aren't they special