Disney Security .... It's not really that bad

[DisneyCowgirl]

No. It's not about extra time going through security. It's the fact my family had no idea where I went. They didn't see me whisked away. All I asked is to either wait a minute so I can tell them where I am, or go through the detector near them so I can find them afterwards.

Seeing as though I didn't have a cell phone, we were seperated 30+ minutes.

MG

I agree they are a little off as far as keeping families together. When we were there they seemed to be sending everyone through the x-ray machines. We had a situation where they were pointing me in one direction telling me to leave the kids and the stroller, and pointing my husband in another also telling him to leave the kids and the stroller. Luckily, it was in the middle of the day so not crazy crowded. I just stood there and stayed with the kids and stroller and the guy seemed to forget about me. On another day, they put both me and husband through the x-ray, they rolled the stroller and told the kids to go wait on the other side of the machines. If it had been at park opening with massive crowds, no way I would have let that happen. Other times, the security guy was fine to let the kids stand with me while I waited to go through the machine.

I am in favor of the screening and the machines, but it needs to be set up in a way that the kids stay with the parents.

 

[maxiesmom]

And they are not there to seperate families either. All I asked is not to be seperated from my family, or at least let my family know where I will be. They were in the bag line and had no idea where I was. We were seperated for quite some time.

MG

Whatever you do don't fly in thru Orlando then. My family has been separated at security with part of us being forced into the tram and sent on our way.

 

[RustManFan]

At least 2 times recently men tried to walk into MK with guns. I personally am thankful for security measures.

 

[Disneylover99]

And they are not there to seperate families either. All I asked is not to be seperated from my family, or at least let my family know where I will be. They were in the bag line and had no idea where I was. We were seperated for quite some time.

MG

You actually separated yourself from your family when you went through a different line. Now that you know the potential for this, go through the bag check with your family next time.

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

You actually separated yourself from your family when you went through a different line. Now that you know the potential for this, go through the bag check with your family next time.

When they tried to separate me from my family, we were all together in the bag line. They finished my stuff and then DH was next in line. The guy pulling people to x-ray was right there on me while DH was still getting stuff checked.

Whatever you do don't fly in thru Orlando then. My family has been separated at security with part of us being forced into the tram and sent on our way.

Unless something has changed at the airport since July, I don't see how you get separated from your family by security in such a way that part of your family is forced onto the tram. It's not even laid out such that you go through security and immediately onto the tram. My experience at airport security has always been that TSA is cautious to make sure my kids stay within my sight. I'm sure there are exceptions, but the layout at Orlando airport makes it pretty easy.

 

[Catvondita]

I'm personally fine and happy with the extra security. No guns in the parks= a happy me. The only time I was ever hesitant through security was because I had a make up bag with tampons in them and thought it might be embarrassing having the guy unzip it. Then I realized I was being stupid and was fine.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

You actually separated yourself from your family when you went through a different line. Now that you know the potential for this, go through the bag check with your family next time.

You're right. Silly me for trying not to clog up the bag line. I truly should have known better, and have really learned my lesson.

MG

 

[W.E.D.]

I understand your concern, Maistre Gracey.

The "You are wrong! Shut up!" attitude with some DISers can really be annoying sometimes.

I would flip if I couldn't locate my wife for thirty minutes. And vice versa I'm sure.

 

[Disneylover99]

You're right. Silly me for trying not to clog up the bag line. I truly should have known better, and have really learned my lesson.

MG

You're not clogging up any line if you're just passing through with your family.
But I'm glad you learned your lesson.

FWIW, I would feel anxious if I were separated from my family without a cell phone for over 30 minutes. The difference is, I would chalk it up to security just doing their job.

 

[TavieP]

And they are not there to seperate families either. All I asked is not to be seperated from my family, or at least let my family know where I will be. They were in the bag line and had no idea where I was. We were seperated for quite some time.

MG

This. This happened to me on Monday and luckily I kept my eye on my party and was able to worm my way back to them before we could get too separated from the crowd, but it could've gone another way and really put a crimp in the start to our day.

I have no problem with being screened or double-screened for security, but if they're going to drag people away from the rest of their parties without giving them an opportunity to even NOTIFY them or make EYE CONTACT with them so they can see they're being dragged away, that's a bonehead move, just as Maistre Gracey said.

 

[Disneylover99]

This. This happened to me on Monday and luckily I kept my eye on my party and was able to worm my way back to them before we could get too separated from the crowd, but it could've gone another way and really put a crimp in the start to our day.

I have no problem with being screened or double-screened for security, but if they're going to drag people away from the rest of their parties without giving them an opportunity to even NOTIFY them or make EYE CONTACT with them so they can see they're being dragged away, that's a bonehead move, just as Maistre Gracey said.

Maybe it's a security measure that we are not privy to. Gage the reaction of the person being led away, or perhaps they are looking at the reactions to others around them. I don't know. Point is, many people want more security or feel that it is still lax, but they complain when security targets them specifically.

Calling it a bonehead move implies that security is doing this for no reason. We don't know what the reason is.

 

[TavieP]

Maybe it's a security measure that we are not privy to. Gage the reaction of the person being led away, or perhaps they are looking at the reactions to others around them. I don't know. Point is, many people want more security or feel that it is still lax, but they complain when security targets them specifically.

Calling it a bonehead move implies that security is doing this for no reason. We don't know what the reason is.

No disrespect intended to you, but that's the silliest thing I've ever heard.

Separating people from their parties - their children - in a crowded place without giving them opportunity for warning those parties and children? Dragging them out of sight? No need to gage the reaction. The reaction will be, at least, mild alarm, and at most, panic.

In my case it was the mildest of alarm because I had the opportunity to keep an eye on my party and it wasn't incredibly crowded. In another circumstance, panic on the part of the guest would be entirely warranted.

It's a boneheaded move. We'll agree to disagree.

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

No disrespect intended to you, but that's the silliest thing I've ever heard.

Separating people from their parties - their children - in a crowded place without giving them opportunity for warning those parties and children? Dragging them out of sight? No need to gage the reaction. The reaction will be, at least, mild alarm, and at most, panic.

In my case it was the mildest of alarm because I had the opportunity to keep an eye on my party and it wasn't incredibly crowded. In another circumstance, panic on the part of the guest would be entirely warranted.

It's a boneheaded move. We'll agree to disagree.

Why didn't you and anyone else in the rest of your party have a cell phone? You said you didn't in an earlier post. I can't imagine entering a Disney park without every responsible member of my visiting party having one for security and meetup purposes. Also, how far would the rest of your party really get without you? Unless they weren't immediately behind you, they surely saw you being escorted to a metal detector. And even if they didn't, telling the security staff at the metal detector that you had just lost your kids would have gotten them found for you pretty quickly. You also don't say who was in your other party, and I'm wondering if that's because it wasn't kids but a mixed group of one or more adults and kids, which makes this whole issue kind of moot. Furthermore, you don't say what the reaction was of the rest of your party when you were removed to the metal detector, and I wonder if that's because they didn't think it was a big deal?

 

[Disneylover99]

No disrespect intended to you, but that's the silliest thing I've ever heard.

Separating people from their parties - their children - in a crowded place without giving them opportunity for warning those parties and children? Dragging them out of sight? No need to gage the reaction. The reaction will be, at least, mild alarm, and at most, panic.

In my case it was the mildest of alarm because I had the opportunity to keep an eye on my party and it wasn't incredibly crowded. In another circumstance, panic on the part of the guest would be entirely warranted.

It's a boneheaded move. We'll agree to disagree.

I'm just looking at it from a security perspective. Keep your party together as you enter. That way, everyone can see what's happening. I haven't heard of any instances where children were separated and left unattended from at least one adult. That would be a different story altogether.

 

[tnd]

We had a bad experience at AK yesterday where my husband was pushing the stroller with my five and 1.5 year old daughters in it by himself and he was told to go through the metal detector (i was with my son in a different line because we got separated). The security guard said he would watch the girls, but did not. There were several people in front of my husband and he was separated from the girls for a couple minutes and could not see them. This worried us because the little one could have gotten out of the stroller and run. We talked to the manager about the issue and he said he would "instruct the cast member." My kids were fine, but I could see a single parent with a disabled child being very concerned. They need to figure out a consistent way of handling single parents with kids.

By the way, I do not think the security is "random." My husband, who is dark haired and olive skinned, gets pulled out nearly every time. I am fair skinned with lighter hair and have only been pulled out once. It also looks like some guards pick adults with no kids and few bags to make it go faster. None of this actually effective for security. If Disney really was concerned about security, rather than security theater, they'd send everyone through the metal detectors. I understand why they are not doing that, but relying on "random" screenings is unlikely to be successful.

 

[Angel Ariel]

i don't think it's bad. I just think it's ineffective. If they were really concerned about security, everyone would be going through the metal detectors.

I agree. I also think it easily creates a target outside of security. And let's face it, something happening *anywhere* on property - whether it's in a park, a hotel (no bag checks/no metal detectors), a parking lot (pre-security), or in the entry to a park (pre-security) would still have a headline of "xyz happened AT Disney World". There is no way possible to make everywhere we go safe. IMO, the new "security measures" are more for show than anything, and I think the techniques Disney employs behind the scenes are far more effective than metal detectors - even sending everyone through them - ever will be.

 

[MYD714]

I have no complaints.
Myself and members of my family were asked to go through the scanners on multiple occasions throughout our last visit, and it took mere seconds. Each time, the guards were polite and personable. Everyone who checked our bags was friendly and thorough. One guard even remembered me because of the buttons on my backpack. Overall, I felt the lines were quicker than ever even though they were way more thorough.

 

[cleophus12]

I have heard a former Disney security officer do a lecture on how the bag check is actually "so much more" than a bag check. While we may think it is ineffective, there is more going on there than meets the eye.

 

[Angel Ariel]

Why didn't you and anyone else in the rest of your party have a cell phone? You said you didn't in an earlier post. I can't imagine entering a Disney park without every responsible member of my visiting party having one for security and meetup purposes.

I can't speak for the person you were asking, but when I'm at Disney I frequently keep my cell phone in the backpack (which is also our diaper bag, etc). DH tends to carry the backpack more than I do, as I usually have the heavy SLR around my neck, so if we were separated as that person was from his family, I would likely also not have my cell phone on my physical person. I'm sure I'm not the only one who likes to have technology with me, but not as ever present as it is in daily life, at WDW.

 

[Angel Ariel]

Unless something has changed at the airport since July, I don't see how you get separated from your family by security in such a way that part of your family is forced onto the tram. It's not even laid out such that you go through security and immediately onto the tram. My experience at airport security has always been that TSA is cautious to make sure my kids stay within my sight. I'm sure there are exceptions, but the layout at Orlando airport makes it pretty easy.

I agree..we've never been separated by security. One of us has usually been pulled over to secondary inspection for them to inspect the liquids for our young child (soymilk), and the other was busy getting all of the carry-on's off the belt and everything together (with one of us carrying DD on our back in a carrier). Usually the one getting everything together has had to wait for the one getting the soymilk inspected, and the one waiting has never been forced to board the train.