Children and finger scans when entering parks.

[pd1138]

We just returned from an absolute wonderful 10 day trip and have lots of happy memories and did just about everything. We only had one problem the entire trip and I thought I would write this to prepare anyone going down since I wished we had a heads up. The first four days of our trip my three children simply scanned their magic bands as they entered the park just as they did in our previous trips. On day five we entered one of the theme parks we had previously visited on this trip all of our kids mickeys turned blue. They are 5,7, and 8 years old. We were then told they needed to scan their fingers now. Policy changed. They told me to use my finger for my five year old while the 7 and 8 year old scanned their fingers. I was really confused. We park hop so the next time we entered a park one kids forgot which finger while the other one did use the correct finger, but it had to be reset again. Then my husband was upset since I was now the only one to bring our daughter into the park since it was my finger. By the next day I was warning people who would line up behind us that they might want to find another line since I was beginning to see the pattern that every time we entered a park the kids' mickeys would turn blue. Two times they took pictures of the kids with their iPads. Meanwhile I'm watching other families with their children not using their fingers. I asked a few families with same age kids and they said they didn't use fingers. By the last day they were using my finger with all three kids and told me this was a brand new policy and it depended on your ticket, we bought ours as park of a bounceback from Disney last year, why would the policy change for us in the middle of a trip? I don't understand the security issue where they want only one parent to be allowed to bring a child into a park, we often switch off and one of us takes the baby back early so the other takes the kids back into the park in the evening. I ended up being the one to take the kids back to the park. Has anyone else been told of this new policy? Or , were we somehow singled out for this additional policy on a case by case basis?

 

[BigAlsGal]

We just returned from an absolute wonderful 10 day trip and have lots of happy memories and did just about everything. We only had one problem the entire trip and I thought I would write this to prepare anyone going down since I wished we had a heads up. The first four days of our trip my three children simply scanned their magic bands as they entered the park just as they did in our previous trips. On day five we entered one of the theme parks we had previously visited on this trip all of our kids mickeys turned blue. They are 5,7, and 8 years old. We were then told they needed to scan their fingers now. Policy changed. They told me to use my finger for my five year old while the 7 and 8 year old scanned their fingers. I was really confused. We park hop so the next time we entered a park one kids forgot which finger while the other one did use the correct finger, but it had to be reset again. Then my husband was upset since I was now the only one to bring our daughter into the park since it was my finger. By the next day I was warning people who would line up behind us that they might want to find another line since I was beginning to see the pattern that every time we entered a park the kids' mickeys would turn blue. Two times they took pictures of the kids with their iPads. Meanwhile I'm watching other families with their children not using their fingers. I asked a few families with same age kids and they said they didn't use fingers. By the last day they were using my finger with all three kids and told me this was a brand new policy and it depended on your ticket, we bought ours as park of a bounceback from Disney last year, why would the policy change for us in the middle of a trip? I don't understand the security issue where they want only one parent to be allowed to bring a child into a park, we often switch off and one of us takes the baby back early so the other takes the kids back into the park in the evening. I ended up being the one to take the kids back to the park. Has anyone else been told of this new policy? Or , were we somehow singled out for this additional policy on a case by case basis?

Wow if that's the case this could be a big problem. Adults can barely get the finger scanner right. Can't expect little kids to be able to pull this off.

 

[mrzrich]

My 16 is autistic and has an adult ticket for several years. He always has difficulty with the finger scan. For a while I used my finger for him, but as you mentioned, it was problematic if he went with my husband instead of me.

Last year they took his picture with the iPad. This method has worked like a charm. Ironically, now that everything is sorted, he has consistently been using his finger for the past few trips without difficulty

 

[flatlandcycle]

Wow if that's the case this could be a big problem. Adults can barely get the finger scanner right. Can't expect little kids to be able to pull this off.

I'm not sure that it's the fault of the adults; this biometric scanning is subject to all sorts of glitches. The Universal bio-scanners give me trouble. A scan technician suggested the middle finger for scans. After I switched fingers, the glitches oddly went away.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

We went to EP on Saturday and my DS8 used a one day ticket that I purchased through Disney. He too had to scan his finger. I guess we'll see how this policy plays out but certainly having a parent scan is not a good solution for the very reasons mentioned.

 

[pd1138]

We went to EP on Saturday and my DS8 used a one day ticket that I purchased through Disney. He too had to scan his finger. I guess we'll see how this policy plays out but certainly having a parent scan is not a good solution for the very reasons mentioned.

Yes, having a parent scan is not a solution. At first we thought maybe they had the kids scan because adults were using kids magic bands and getting in? But, then when they had me scan my finger on my daughter's first and then the other two later ....well.... Now I could basically use their magic bands to get in so not sure what they are solving here....

While they were resolving the blue mickeys yet again on the second to last day and resetting them all with my finger My DH did say out loud...."I guess they just want the kids to come in with the same parent each time", and the CM with the iPad responded, "yes, that is the goal". Hoping that was a sarcastic remark to my DH's frustration rather than the new policy.

 

[Pluto80]

We were at AK when this first started, literally 10 minutes after it started. We were chatting with the CM about it and he said they were trialing it. It refuses to work with my 5 year old so I scan my finger. I queried this to ask what if my husband was with her, without me. They said it wouldn't be a problem and took a photo of her too. We've not tested it out, but it seems to take longer to go through the turnstiles with this happening now.

 

[linzbear]

They probably picked a few types of tickets to run a trial on finger scanning kids. I hope it fails miserably, that's just ridiculous.

 

[ktlm]

DD is 10. We have gone to WDW every year since she was 2. There does not appear to be any rhyme or reason to this. Over the years, we have had trips where she never had her finger scanned. We had a trip when she was pretty little when she had to have her finger scanned every time at every park. We have had trips where sometimes she would have to scan to enter and sometimes she would not. Even when she was little, they scanned her finger, not mine.

 

[linzbear]

While they were resolving the blue mickeys yet again on the second to last day and resetting them all with my finger My DH did say out loud...."I guess they just want the kids to come in with the same parent each time", and the CM with the iPad responded, "yes, that is the goal". Hoping that was a sarcastic remark to my DH's frustration rather than the new policy.

LOL. That's completely unenforceable! What are they thinking? Mom can't go ahead while dad fiddles with the stroller? Grandparents can't take the kids for a day?

 

[pd1138]

We went to EP on Saturday and my DS8 used a one day ticket that I purchased through Disney. He too had to scan his finger. I guess we'll see how this policy plays out but certainly having a parent scan is not a good solution for the very reasons mentioned.

Thanks for your response. Good to know we weren't the only ones! I was surprised the policy changed for us literally in the middle of the trip without warning and it seemed only for us as families around us weren't being scanned.

 

[karasmom]

During each and every trip we have taken since MB were invented (at least yearly... and 3 times in 2014)... out girls had to scan their fingers... I never paid attention to others... my older DD always scanned her own and my younger one I used my finger... SUPER annoying as non of us can ever remember who used what finger who who...

 

[seashoreCM]

The original purpose of no finger scanning for children was that the very old scanners recorded finger length measurements and growing children would make the scan data obsolete.

I would question the idea of having a parent substitute his finger for his child's finger.

Does Disney have a procedure to resolve glitches of this kind without sending the family to Guest Relations, unless the latter is willing to hand out a bonus set of fastpasses for that family?

 

[DisneyKeepsUsYoung]

I really hope this "trial idea" fails and gets reevaluated, FAST. We have plans for our trip in a week for different people to bring the children different days. 1 specific adult tied to the children will NOT work!

 

[Disney Khi]

We had problems with this last week, too. We have AP's. DD is 7. Our last trip before last week was in June. DD has always liked to put her finger on the scanner even though it was unnecessary. I don't remember if it even lit up for her at all because the kids' tickets didn't use the scan. Well, last week it started flashing blue when she put her finger down. At every park we had to wait for someone to come over with an iPad to clear it. At the Epcot main entrance someone with an iPad finally took a picture of her. While we were waiting for that person to come, DD kept trying the scanner. It finally flashed green, but when I told the CM he argued with me it hadn't. Then when the iPad person scanned her band he said that her band had already scanned properly that morning. It was all very confusing, and the family in front of us were having trouble with all three of their kids. I felt bad for the CM's.

When we had trouble at DHS, I asked the CM with the iPad why we were having trouble now when we never had before. She said that last week was the first week kids had to be scanned. She took a picture of DD and told me to use my finger to scan and said if she came with someone else they could just use her photo to verify her identity.

At the Epcot IG security was very chaotic. The guards decided to split my family in half and send half of us through the metal detectors. DD ended up with my mom in the half going straight to the tapstiles. Then when my mom realized I had to wait for the detectors, she brought DD back through the crowd to wait with me so that I could use my fingerprint to get in.

Then yesterday at the IG at Epcot, I managed to get DD scanned in with my fingerprint, then scanned myself, only to be stopped by a CM when I tried to enter the park because she thought that I had only done DD and not myself.

My uncle had trouble with his fingerprint scan at MK, and my grandmother had trouble with entry at more than one park. It was all very frustrating.

 

[Accident]

Has anyone else been told of this new policy? Or , were we somehow singled out for this additional policy on a case by case basis?

If you haven't chimed in with guest services, please do so. How to reach them is under the contact us section of the disneyworld website. I think you have some great points in changing middle of your trip, trouble with other parent bringing the kids without you that would be great feedback on why to not do this mess with kids.

Does Disney have a procedure to resolve glitches of this kind without sending the family to Guest Relations, unless the latter is willing to hand out a bonus set of fastpasses for that family?

The only time I've seen or heard of going to guest relations was when a band was doing funny errors. It happened to be my daughter but they let her in with the last resort take your photo method and we did go to guest so they can open an It ticket. We actually scored a free fancy band from the hassle later in the evening so in the end my daughter was really happy...

 

[BigAlsGal]

I'm not sure that it's the fault of the adults; this biometric scanning is subject to all sorts of glitches. The Universal bio-scanners give me trouble. A scan technician suggested the middle finger for scans. After I switched fingers, the glitches oddly went away.

I have also had complications at the scanner. It's irritating because I know which finger I use all the time. I know how to put my finger on the reader. Yet sometimes it doesn't work. Then the CM's start asking "Are your hands wet? Did you apply lotion?" Uhhhhhh no. Your scanner is just wonky. I'm saying it's hard enough for the adults. Now we're potentially throwing kids in the mix who won't understand to use the same finger. Press hard. Wait a second (that will be the hard part).

I really hope this isn't happening.

 

[Roccosmom]

We were there in Jan 2016 and my, then 10 year old son had the same issue when entering EP at the International Gateway. We were staying at BCV so we ran over to EP frequently! Every time- his MagicBand wouldn't work, the finger scan worked some times. They took his picture on their IPads on at least 3 different occasions! Kind of frustrating - but not a big deal. Prior to the 2016 trip our son had to scan his finger once or twice a trip but he never had to have his picture taken.

 

[eww1024]

We were there in mid-August with APs. DD11 and DS10 have "adult" APs, so they do the finger scan always. DD4 has a child AP and for the first part of our trip, no finger scan. Then she has to scan her finger during the second half. Of course, being 4, she can't always get it to work. When the CM at MK suggested adding my finger scan, I said, "No, then my wife can't bring her into the park without me." He seemed annoyed but called for a manager to take DD's picture. I hope this policy changes soon. I've already contacted Guest Services.

 

[pd1138]

We were there in mid-August with APs. DD11 and DS10 have "adult" APs, so they do the finger scan always. DD4 has a child AP and for the first part of our trip, no finger scan. Then she has to scan her finger during the second half. Of course, being 4, she can't always get it to work. When the CM at MK suggested adding my finger scan, I said, "No, then my wife can't bring her into the park without me." He seemed annoyed but called for a manager to take DD's picture. I hope this policy changes soon. I've already contacted Guest Services.

Thanks! Ok, so it wasn't just us! I just contacted guest services too. We didn't understand the point of using my finger either. They insisted on my finger with my five year old, I'm glad you stood your ground and had a manager come over. Hopefully this is just s test.