Disney park safety

[DaisyJ]

Disney is the one place I feel I can let my guard down, a little. I've watched the security people and they have gotten very thorough in their bag checks. I've seen people try to go through the bagless line, but they were stopped. I also noticed, on my last trip in March, a young man who was bagless, but his cargo shorts were full of 'stuff'...the pants were actually drooping!!! He was made to go through the 'xray' scanner, after emptying every pocket...man, he was peeved!!
Once inside the parks, there are cameras everywhere, watching and yes, probably 'profiling' people. There are plain clothes security people...I always wonder if it's the tubby guy in the sandals with black socks and the white belt on his madras shorts!!
I suppose that if someone really wanted to get in, with some kind of chemical agent, it might be possible. But, there's only so much I can worry about. I try to be aware of my surroundings. And I always know how I'm going to get out of a place in the event of an emergency!!! Yes, I am that worrier mom!!!

If you're people watching and paying close attention, you can spot plain clothes security. I think people would be shocked to find out how many there actually are in the parks.

 

[CdnCarrie]

This sounds about right. If I were a bad guy I'd be a bit concerned that I'm surrounded by thousands of people with cameras!

Makes no sense as most of them either commit suicide or go in knowing they will be shot down. They aren't exactly trying to go in hiding their identity.

 

[marcyleecorgan]

We were bagless, not bagels. Got to love autocorrect.

BUT! You could have given someone a serious case of the LOX!

 

[marcyleecorgan]

I am always scoping an exit and observing the crowd when I'm in public anyway.
Disney does make me a little nervous but that's because it is a gathering place of massive amounts of people, no matter if you're on Tom Sawyer Island or you are lining up for pictures with Mickey.
Security bottlenecks make me as anxious and alert as the security teams anyway, and yeah, I notice who *isn't* people-watching the crowd for recreation! So I tend to be very compliant so we can get through as fast as possible.

 

[anniemae]

Unfortunately, Disney could be a potentially attractive target. Like anywhere, it's important to be aware of your surroundings. The saying, "if you see something, say something" comes to mind also.

 

[DLgal]

Unfortunately, people are still having to que up to get to security, which is in it's own way a place of vulnerability. I really tried hard not to think about the danger.

This is why the security checkpoints at MK were switched up. "Expanding the perimeter" is how you mitigate the possibility of soft target attacks. The distribution of security checkpoints is a very effective deterrent. In addition, stepped up security at the MK resort entrances has been put in place. There will no longer be huge crowds in one area. Eventually, the other parks will be changed up as well, with security taking place primarily at resort bus stops and then a smaller one for people arriving via car, offsite shuttle, boat, or walking path.

The parks are as safe as they can be. Nothing is 100% safe, but I'd personally put Disney parks in the US somewhere in the vicinity of 100%, considering the odds of being killed in America by a terrorist hover around 0.002%. So, if I am generally 99.998% safe, I'm gonna say I am even safer at Disney parks.

The odds are much higher of being involved in a theme park related accident.

 

[DLgal]

When we were in Disney this time last year, DH was stopped every. single.time. I don't know what it was about him, but they loved to run him through the metal detector. The other 5 of us were not stopped. Kind of became comical.

His face probably got flagged by the facial recognition system they use. It's like how Facebook wants to tag my 11 year old son as my husband EVERY time we put a picture of him on FB. The software uses specific measurements that can be very similar among several people.

 

[DaisyJ]

Unfortunately, Disney could be a potentially attractive target. Like anywhere, it's important to be aware of your surroundings. The saying, "if you see something, say something" comes to mind also.

There is no 'could' about it. Disney IS a target. I think some people get in the Disney bubble and forget all common safety sense.

 

[handinpocket]

This sounds about right. If I were a bad guy I'd be a bit concerned that I'm surrounded by thousands of people with cameras!

I'm sure suicide bombers are really concerned with cameras......

 

[MillauFr]

Thousands of people have been killed over the years on their Disney vacations. 99.9999% of them have died on the drive to/from the park. I still don't understand why our culture accepts that 40,000 people needlessly die in auto accidents every year. Just think if an airplane crashed every week and hundreds of people died. We would never tolerate that.

 

[Feralpeg]

I was at Universal Orlando this past week. Even employees had to go through a security checkpoint before going to work. I think that is a great idea. I'm sure part of that is because of an incident last year where a terminated Universal employee stabbed another employee, but it is smart in general. I think Disney should follow suit. Disney CMs just walk in through castmember entrances. What's to keep someone from getting a job at Disney and bringing in a weapon?

 

[DLgal]

Thousands of people have been killed over the years on their Disney vacations. 99.9999% of them have died on the drive to/from the park. I still don't understand why our culture accepts that 40,000 people needlessly die in auto accidents every year. Just think if an airplane crashed every week and hundreds of people died. We would never tolerate that.

It's the psychology of fear. People justify things they do frequently as being "safe" because otherwise no one would ever get into a car, which is kind of a necessity these days.

The reality is, "death by terrorist/random crazed lunatic" is basically at the very bottom of the charts, statistically speaking, right above "death by shark attack."

 

[MillauFr]

Isn't the easiest way to get a weapon into the park is to fly a drone over the fence?

 

[DLgal]

I was at Universal Orlando this past week. Even employees had to go through a security checkpoint before going to work. I think that is a great idea. I'm sure part of that is because of an incident last year where a terminated Universal employee stabbed another employee, but it is smart in general. I think Disney should follow suit. Disney CMs just walk in through castmember entrances. What's to keep someone from getting a job at Disney and bringing in a weapon?

Who's to say Disney CM's don't get screened? I think they do.

 

[MillauFr]

It's the psychology of fear. People justify things they do frequently as being "safe" because otherwise no one would ever get into a car, which is kind of a necessity these days.

I think this is one of the big reasons that Amazon is taking over retail now. Why risk driving your car to the store? It is much safer to stay at home and order from Amazon. When we bought our house I chose a neighborhood where I didn't have to drive to the store or drive to work.

 

[MillauFr]

Who's to say Disney CM's don't get screened? I think they do.

Agreed. I would be willing to bet they aren't hiring convicted child molesters to work as cast members.

 

[DLgal]

Agreed. I would be willing to bet they aren't hiring convicted child molesters to work as cast members.

I also mean, they might have to go through bag check and metal detectors as well. They have to at Disneyland. I see it all the time.

 

[goofy4tink]

I was at Universal Orlando this past week. Even employees had to go through a security checkpoint before going to work. I think that is a great idea. I'm sure part of that is because of an incident last year where a terminated Universal employee stabbed another employee, but it is smart in general. I think Disney should follow suit. Disney CMs just walk in through castmember entrances. What's to keep someone from getting a job at Disney and bringing in a weapon?

Hey...haven't seen you around for a monkey's age!!! Good to see you! Anyway...I just checked with my dd...was a CM in DHS until a few weeks ago. She said they seldom were checked out when heading in to work. Every so often they did a bag check but not very often.

Isn't the easiest way to get a weapon into the park is to fly a drone over the fence?

That would be grabbed fairly quickly. When some of us say there are cameras out there, I think we mean that they are just watching. They know what kind of behaviour they're looking for, so if they see it, they send someone to deal with it. Watching, always watching!!!!!

 

[earfulofmagic]

Watching, always watching!!!!!

This is probably who they employ.

 

[MillauFr]

That would be grabbed fairly quickly. When some of us say there are cameras out there, I think we mean that they are just watching. They know what kind of behaviour they're looking for, so if they see it, they send someone to deal with it. Watching, always watching!!!!!

How would they see it on a dark night or hear it during the fireworks?