Bag check guard opened wallet

[Hikergirl]

If your wallet is in your bag, and you are going through a bag search then of course its reasonable for your wallet to be searched. Anything in that bag can be gone through.
I think you might want to look up the legalities of strip searches.

As others have pointed out this is security theater. It doesn't make us any safer, but it makes people feel safer. You don't have to agree with how they go about doing that, but it is what it is.

 

[flatlandcycle]

"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." - Ben Franklin

 

[Jadyreen1282]

"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." - Ben Franklin

Didn't they just catch a dude with a gun at MK bag check? This quote may just not apply.

 

[Hikergirl]

"By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail."- Ben Franklin

See, even he knew enough to open up all his zippers.

 

[Jennasis]

All persons, bags, parcels, clothing, and other items may be subject to screening/security checks at the Park entrances and also within the Parks.

According to this, they can strip search you, look at the inside of your underwear, and the fillings in your teeth. I hope most of you agree that is not reasonable, so please stop saying searching wallets is reasonable based on this statement. How would you feel if WalMart implemented the same policy? Is would be their right as a company to do so. Searching a large bag is one thing but searching something as personal as your wallet in public is not necessary to provide a reasonable level of protection.

Bad things are going to happen because there are bad people. Taking reasonable precautions is good, but allowing our society to crash into the thought that we must yield ALL individual privacy to make certain nothing bad ever happens anywhere at anytime is the wrong direction.

I get it that Disney is searching bags to keep weapons that can cause multiple homicides out of the park, but there is nothing I can carry in my wallet that could be reasonably used for multiple homicides. If there is, then they should close the parks immediately because life is just too dangerous. If our society is so terrified that we feel it is reasonable to open up something as small and as personal as my wallet to make sure I don't have a razor blade or credit card knife on me before I go see Goofy then the spirit that founded this country is dead.

Did it ever occur to anyone that you can hop a crowded bus, or the monorail, or the boats packed with people without any type of security check? You can access the resorts, pools, beaches, all kinds of places in Disney carrying any weapon You desire, but once I pass the ticket gate for a park I am suddenly supposed to think there is a good reason to check out my credit cards? If someone wants to stage an attack at Disney they can do it easily. I personally don't think that is likely because it is a very difficult location for someone to escape from, but we should be able to achieve a reasonable level of security by searching for firearms and other relatively large dangerous objects during bag check and not looking at my private phone or business cards.

It is what it is. If you object to having your things searched you can be a conscientious objector and not go to the parks.

I enjoy going to the parks more than I am annoyed at metal detectors and bag searches, so no complaints from me.

 

[dmc6469]

The reason sticks or such are to be used to move items around is to protect you; if they use their hands, they can always have something 'illegal' in them and drop it in your bag. The stick or whatever is used is to prevent a person from getting 'framed' for having something illegal in their bags that can't be planted

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

Didn't they just catch a dude with a gun at MK bag check? This quote may just not apply.

It only applies if they caught every dude that tried to bring in a gun or knife.

But they don't. In fact, there was just a poster whose husband ended up with a knife in the park. And they just let him walk on through.

 

[Jennasis]

The reason sticks or such are to be used to move items around is to protect you; if they use their hands, they can always have something 'illegal' in them and drop it in your bag. The stick or whatever is used is to prevent a person from getting 'framed' for having something illegal in their bags that can't be planted

Ah...I see. My bad. There was what appeared to be a double negative in the post of yours I originally quoted. I thought you were saying that LEGALLY nobody was allowed to stick their hands in your purse and that a stick was required. Now I see you meant that LEGALLY they can search your bag but they SHOULD use a stick.

Gotcha. I think.

 

[MamaGT]

There is no constitutional debate here. No one is being forced to submit to a search. Period. Not one person. If you don't like it, you don't go or you leave.

You are making a CHOICE to submit to the search when you get in line and when you allow the search to proceed. If you don't like it, you exit and line and leave - thereby exercising your rights.

Disney is doing what they feel necessary in order to mitigate their own liability in the event anyone enters the park and does harm. They make a reasonable effort to protect. It's not flawless, its not foolproof - it's reasonable.

Any other discussion of the topic is an attempt to villainize a corporation because you don't like their practices. You have that right. But if you want to do more than complain, you have little choice other than to vote with your wallet.

 

[yulilin3]

The reason sticks or such are to be used to move items around is to protect you; if they use their hands, they can always have something 'illegal' in them and drop it in your bag. The stick or whatever is used is to prevent a person from getting 'framed' for having something illegal in their bags that can't be planted

also the stick protects the CM doing the search. In case the person has any sharp objects that can puncture while reaching around

 

[margot31]

I don't carry a wallet anymore. If I do its very small wallet to carry very little things. An ID and one debit and/or credit card.

 

[Tomh]

Is it really safer though? You can walk through the no bag line with things stuffed in your pockets but a wallet gets unzipped and checked?

I don't honestly know if it is safer than it was before, but I am pretty sure it isn't less safe. As I said, what ever measures they feel they need to put in place are fine by me, but honestly, I would like to see EVERYONE go through screening. True enough, MOST days of my vacation I was able to walk through the no bag line with my pockets stuffed to the gills with crap, and not a single person said word one to me about it.

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

The guards tell you to open everything in advance. Everything means everything. If you're going to have a wallet with a zipper, then you have to open it. Your family didn't open it. So they opened it for you. If that bothers you, then don't take a wallet with zipper to the parks. I have a backpack with several interior and exterior zippers. And the dozen times I entered the parks on my recent visit to the World, I unzipped every single one of them and then zipped them back up when the guard was done. You don't get a pass on it just because it's a wallet.

 

[mefordis]

The entire process at WDW is just stupid. If I"m going to carry a firearm into the park, I will carry it on me, not in my bag or my little change purse (?!?!). At Universal they have you go through a metal detector and your bags go through one as well. They have some smart people over there making their security decisions. Maybe WDW should try to hire them.

 

[Dismama2boys]

The entire process at WDW is just stupid. If I"m going to carry a firearm into the park, I will carry it on me, not in my bag or my little change purse (?!?!). At Universal they have you go through a metal detector and your bags go through one as well. They have some smart people over there making their security decisions. Maybe WDW should try to hire them.

What makes you think they are only looking for firearms?

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

What makes you think they are only looking for firearms?

Hopefully they are looking for more than just firearms. But they aren't finding the firearms or knives.

What else are they missing?

 

[Dismama2boys]

Hopefully they are looking for more than just firearms. But they aren't finding the firearms or knives.

What else are they missing?

I don't know. I'm not trained in security, nor do I have access to any intel about what they might be looking for. I also don't believe that we hear about every little thing they find. I just thought that the pp calling them "stupid" for how they search for firearms was....interesting. I didn't know that anyone thought firearms were the only threat out there.

 

[AngiTN]

I know I am going to get flamed for this but today we went through security at EPCOT and the guard was looking through my backpack and then he did something that irked me a little. He took my wife's zipper wallet and opened it, with her cash and credit cards in it. Even in the name of security, he could have asked me to open it instead of just taking it upon himself.

May have been addressed now but proper procedures is to upzip any zippers in and on all bags you bring in. I do this. I assumed everyone knew to do this. Had you unzipped the pouch yourself he wouldn't have had to do it.

 

[Aflyingbuttress]

The thing I dread most about my upcoming WDW trip is security, and it's a shame we have to dread anything at all. However, with the criminals that prey on people, the world/Disney has decided to be extra careful. However, in protecting us one way, I feel violated in other ways.

Replying to this comment because it strikes a cord with me by using the term "violated", but I'm really speaking in generalities here.

Honestly, there is nothing about standard security measures that make me feel violated. You know what does make me feel violated? Spending my hard earned money at a place that doesn't care enough about my safety to implement proper security procedures. It is not a violation if you agree to it. It's not like Disney is randomly approaching people in public or their own homes and unzipping their bags and wallets. You have to willingly take yourself to their park, walk yourself into the security line, knowingly stand there in line waiting to be inspected, and willingly hand over your belongings of your own free will. Sorry, but that is not a violation, that is something you are agreeing to.

You have every right to feel that someone searching your belongings is a violation...until the moment you choose to join thousands of other people in a common place that is not your own. That is a choice that you can choose not to make if it's a problem for you. No one is forcing you to stand in the security line.

And this isn't just about terrorists. It's also a by-product of living in a world with 7 billion people in it. The population has nearly doubled since 1970. In the US the population has grown from 200 million to 318 million in that same time frame. It only makes sense that the security measures have increased exponentially along with the population.

Again, all "you's" are general.

 

[trvlgirlmq]

Every single person and bag should have to go through an xray machine just like at the airport. Every person would then HAVE to empty their pockets or risk setting off the machine. Disney makes plenty of money from all the sheeple so they could afford to do this. Make it the same for everyone and then it would at least seem more fair. If something looks out of place in a bag then they can hand check it while the owner is present just like at the airport. It is exactly about terrorists because no one ever had to go through this much to get into a theme park before. Yes, Disney is just a theme park, no where special that should require such security.