Fingerprint

[CleveRocks]

Well, I don't know about the above situation but when we were there a couple of weeks ago I accidently used my son's ticket and got through just fine. And we did not buy the tickets at the same time/place. I have an annual pass and he had a 10 day pass.

It's entirely possible they had turned off the finger scan process. As mentioned by others, it occasionally gets turned off during some high-traffic times. They figure that sometimes it's better to avoid long lines and delays and risk the off-chance that someone is going to try to cheat the system.

 

[stitch09]

The fingerprint is just a distraction while a cast member implants a microchip behind your ear.

I almost laughed out loud in my communications class!

 

[midnightlouise]

I almost laughed out loud in my communications class!

tsk tsk, stitch! You should be studying hahahaha! I'm also in a communications class right now...at IU Luckily mine is online!!

Thanks everyone for the technical info, my family has always wondered about it but we've never bothered looking it up...

 

[KellyNY]

It is all part of Disney Love Magic. They get your DNA and use it to put a Disney Spell on you, why do you think we all go again and again.
They used to spray Disney Love potions around the park but when it mixed with some parfumes it had abnormal reactions like love to Universal instead.

 

[linzbear]

Well, I don't know about the above situation but when we were there a couple of weeks ago I accidently used my son's ticket and got through just fine. And we did not buy the tickets at the same time/place. I have an annual pass and he had a 10 day pass.

It's entirely possible they had turned off the finger scan process. As mentioned by others, it occasionally gets turned off during some high-traffic times. They figure that sometimes it's better to avoid long lines and delays and risk the off-chance that someone is going to try to cheat the system.

Also as posted above there's about a 1 in 1000 chance that you'll have the same hash as another person. Considering the 10s of thousands of people entering the turnstiles in a day, there is a pretty good chance that at least 1 or 2 other people in the park have the same hash as you on a given day.

 

[avgeek81]

Yes, this. And that doesn't always work anyway - we have mixed up tickets at the turnstile (that were all purchased in one transaction) and had issues. So sometimes that grouping thing seems to work and sometimes it doesn't, for whatever reason. It definitely stores the info long-term, not for a day.

I always seem to get behind someone who has mixed up thier tickets with someone else in thier family of like ten people and they have to keep scanning tickets til they find the one that matches them

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Here is what is in Post #14 of the Everything About WDW Tickets sticky:

The finger scans are used to tie a person to a particular ticket. This will work to prevent people switching or selling tickets. It also eliminates the need for hand stamps for reentry to a park or hopping between parks.

First of all, Child (Age 3-9) and certain other tickets, such as the YES Program, do not take scans and will unlock the turnstile if they are valid for the park.

The first time a ticket is used it will read the fingerprint and select an area about 1/4 inch by 1/8 inch and analyze that area.

It will then apply a mathematical algorithm to that reading, convert it to a numeric string, and store that string of numbers tied to the serial number of the ticket in the Automated Ticketing System (ATS) computer.

On subsequent entries ATS will look for that particular string on the ticket. If it finds it, the turnstile will unlock and a green light will come on.

If ATS cannot find that string, a message will show up of "identification fails". At that point the greeter will have several options; one of these is to tell ATS to replace the numeric string tied to the ticket with a new once based on the most recent scan.

If MYW tickets were purchased at WDW directly from ATS in one transaction they may be linked together, in which case the people can switch the tickets, but don’t count on this working.

And there are times when the lines are very long and management may decide to turn off the scanners for a while, in which case as long as the ticket is valid for that park it will be accepted without a scan.

If a person does not want to have their finger scanned, as an alternative they may present a photo ID where the name matches the name printed on the ticket. If it is a Florida Resident Ticket or an Annual Pass the name will automatically be printed on the ticket. If the name is not preprinted on the ticket, the ticket owner should print their name (in ink) legibly in the space provided on the ticket.

Note that this is not a full fingerprint record, and the partial print still has about a one in a thousand chance of being duplicated.

 

[NYDisneyKid]

john walsh from amw is waiting for you as you enter

 

[DonaldTDuck]

Disney used to tell people they were measuring bones or the distance between the bones. A lot of people believed it then and still do. However, Disney is now admitting to using fingerprints.

Of course they store the info. If they didn't, anyone could use the thing and there'd be point to holding everyone up and making entering their parks such a drag.

It is NOT a fingerprint. It is a biometric scan that measures points on your finger. The number associated with it is stored. There are about 1000 such numbers, so yours is not unique. Where I work there are 2 girls that I know of that have the same scan out of about 150 employees.

 

[tiink3rbella]

they only do this at epcot for me too

 

[DVCPAT]

It is NOT a fingerprint. It is a biometric scan that measures points on your finger. The number associated with it is stored. There are about 1000 such numbers, so yours is not unique. Where I work there are 2 girls that I know of that have the same scan out of about 150 employees.

I’m curious, how do you know the number of numerical points that Disney records from the fingerprint scan? The manufacturer of the biometric scanners, Lumidigm Inc. has many software options and Disney doesn’t publicize any information.

 

[CleveRocks]

I’m curious, how do you know the number of numerical points that Disney records from the fingerprint scan? The manufacturer of the biometric scanners, Lumidigm Inc. has many software options and Disney doesn’t publicize any information.

DonaldTDuck never made any mention of the number of points Disney records from the scan. In one of my earlier posts, I wrote "2 or 3 points." I don't know the exact number, and I never claimed to know. The "2 or 3" was reported in thre past by a Disney CM, and that Disney CM was probably told that vague value of "2 or 3" also.

 

[kmadams]

It's entirely possible they had turned off the finger scan process. As mentioned by others, it occasionally gets turned off during some high-traffic times. They figure that sometimes it's better to avoid long lines and delays and risk the off-chance that someone is going to try to cheat the system.

Yep, that could be. But we weren't there at opening or busy times, I was just surprised that it worked.

 

[DVCPAT]

DonaldTDuck never made any mention of the number of points Disney records from the scan. In one of my earlier posts, I wrote "2 or 3 points." I don't know the exact number, and I never claimed to know. The "2 or 3" was reported in thre past by a Disney CM, and that Disney CM was probably told that vague value of "2 or 3" also.

Disney won’t tell the public how many points they record. They only tell the public they don’t store images but once you record enough numerical dimensions, you have a digital fingerprint. I remember reading an article a few years ago that said Disney has been working with a few facial recognition biometric companies (Identix Inc. & A4Vision Inc,) that captures 3d images of your face. ….you can’t fool it with a hat or sunglasses. Super bowl security used this technology and found 17 wanted felons….no terrorists.

 

[doconeill]

I’m curious, how do you know the number of numerical points that Disney records from the fingerprint scan? The manufacturer of the biometric scanners, Lumidigm Inc. has many software options and Disney doesn’t publicize any information.

It's not "1000 points" recorded. It takes several identifiable points, and performs calculations on them, and comes out to a number. That number is something like 3 digits (basically, 000-999) and THAT is what is recorded.

The algorithm for selecting the points, conversion to a number, etc. is done to be fast, repeatable to a high degree (not affected by angle, temperature, pressure on the lens, etc.) and "good enough" for Disney to be reasonably assured the ticket user is authorized. They aren't looking for absolutely proof - they just want reasonable assurance.

There are similar systems built in to a lot of business class notebooks, although the scan technology is different (capacitance vs. optical).

It gets me how many people say they are just for show - yet plenty of people run into problems with them. It's a relatively expensive show for something that can actually work to do what they want.

The old "geometry" scanners did the bones. This system does not.

 

[Snape]

I don't see what the problem is. Even if they did keep fingerprints, or videos, or digital photographs, it's a great security measure.

 

[puffkins]

Well then that would defeat the whole purpose of the finger scan in the first place. I'll bet that you also bought a ticket at the same time in the past that your wife bought that 10-day ticket. Tickets purchased together and initially activated together often have their finger scans linked. In doing so, Disney helps reduce the inevitable delays at the turnstile when a Mom hands out the family's tickets and messes up who's ticket is who's.

Quickly, it doesn't take a pic of your fingerprint, and it no longer measures bones (that was the old one). It takes a look at 2 or 3 points on your fingerprint, measures the distances between them, and then puts that data through a proprietary algorithm to arrive at a number, referred to in the industry as a "hash." The hash is a meaningless number except in this exact context, so it's not like Disney is storing any personal data about you. There are only about 1,000 different hashes, so there is roughly a 1 in 1,000 chance you could successfully use a stranger's ticket (when the finger scans are in operation), but that's good enough for Disney in deterring the sale or distribution of partially-used multi-day tickets.

Nope. Sometimes they are bought together, other times not. I have never had a problem...peak or non-peak.

 

[NYDisneyKid]

how woulod they scan a person with no arms? (toe scan?)

 

[doconeill]

how woulod they scan a person with no arms? (toe scan?)

Anyone can opt-out and provide a valid ID instead - but I would doubt that a CM would give anyone a hard time in that case.

 

[SteveTrek]

First post ever! <<fanfare>>

If the finger scan measures distance between points on the fingerprint, would it then reject someone whose fingers may have changed shape somewhat, perhaps from swelling? Both myself and DW have trouble with this particularly if we've been walking a lot, swinging our arms as we do so - tends to force fluids into the hands and making fingers swell (often I can't get rings off as a result).