Foreigners--Did You Know?

[BobC]

Ahhh welcome to USA! The land where Prohibition still exists in some states to a degree!

I'm from Indiana. I cannot buy liquor/beer on Sundays. Nor can we buy cold cans of beer except at liquor stores. Blows my mind to go across the border to Illinois or Michigan and get gas and see that I can get a cold can of beer there. Crazy to me.

To confuse things more, like the PP said; companies also have their own right to regulate this too above and beyond counties and state and Federal laws. At Walmart, you cannot buy liquor prior to 7am and also have limits on how much you can purchase.

 

[HopperFan]

Wish there was a way to incorporate this into IDs/MagicBands upon check in. Verify your age once at the front desk and boom you're in. Just like they do here in the states at festivals. Check your ID upon entrance and slap a bracelet on you and you're good to go for the rest of the day and no more hassles or renegade workers policing the system with their own rules.

Problem is folks would switch bands. They would have to add a photo to the system that comes up on their screens like they can do at FP+. That would mean more expense for tech and tablets at all locations serving alcohol. But again, the State law would require the person selling it to see the ID, so doing it at the resort would not be in compliance.

 

[samsteele]

A simple solution (but no doubt there will be a wrinkle somewhere) would be for WDW Reservations and TAs to make it clear to non-US residents on their reservation confirmation to "carry a colour photocopy of your passport" with you at all times should you wish to purchase alcoholic beverage. Its a good idea to have this with us anyway. In many (if not most) countries, non-residents must carry their passports in case they are stopped by the authorities. I think the confusion is that the policy isn't applied uniformly and consistently. However, if most of us know we have to have it on us, then its not an issue. Perhaps it is a testament to how friendly and relaxed our relationship with America is to us Canadians, Brits, Aussies and others that we don't actually think of ourselves as foreign visitors when we really are.

 

[BobC]

Problem is folks would switch bands. They would have to add a photo to the system that comes up on their screens like they can do at FP+. That would mean more expense for tech and tablets at all locations serving alcohol. But again, the State law would require the person selling it to see the ID, so doing it at the resort would not be in compliance.

Ahhh touche . My mind is in Monday mode and not sharp enough to think of outs like this.

 

[LilyWDW]

A simple solution (but no doubt there will be a wrinkle somewhere) would be for WDW Reservations and TAs to make it clear to non-US residents on their reservation confirmation to "carry a colour photocopy of your passport" with you at all times should you wish to purchase alcoholic beverage. Its a good idea to have this with us anyway. In many (if not most) countries, non-residents must carry their passports in case they are stopped by the authorities. I think the confusion is that the policy isn't applied uniformly and consistently. However, if most of us know we have to have it on us, then its not an issue. Perhaps it is a testament to how friendly and relaxed our relationship with America is to us Canadians, Brits, Aussies and others that we don't actually think of ourselves as foreign visitors when we really are.

Why should they have to do that? When I travel to another state/country I make sure to know the laws of that place. It's not very hard and is a logical part of traveling, especially when you will be in another countries. I almost messed up because I forgot my passport at my friend's parent's house when I was in Germany. Thank god nothing happened!

 

[BobC]

The last thing I'd want to do at DIS surrounded by literally thousands of people is carry my passport with me (aka my only ticket home.)

There has to be a better solution to this. Send a scan to Disney securely? I don't know.

Bring 3 forms of non-government provided ID that has DOB? I cant imagine that serving liquor should be that difficult, but yeah its America. America and liquor definitely don't mix. America and violent movies! HELL YA! 'MURICA! lol *all said in jest*

 

[Alesia]

The last thing I'd want to do at DIS surrounded by literally thousands of people is carry my passport with me (aka my only ticket home.)

There has to be a better solution to this. Send a scan to Disney securely? I don't know.

Bring 3 forms of non-government provided ID that has DOB? I cant imagine that serving liquor should be that difficult, but yeah its America. America and liquor definitely don't mix. America and violent movies! HELL YA! 'MURICA! lol *all said in jest*

There already is a simple solution: just carry a color copy of your passport.

 

[HopperFan]

The last thing I'd want to do at DIS surrounded by literally thousands of people is carry my passport with me (aka my only ticket home.)

There has to be a better solution to this. Send a scan to Disney securely? I don't know.

Bring 3 forms of non-government provided ID that has DOB? I cant imagine that serving liquor should be that difficult, but yeah its America. America and liquor definitely don't mix. America and violent movies! HELL YA! 'MURICA! lol *all said in jest*

There already is a simple solution: just carry a color copy of your passport.

This^ It's not hard at all.

Disney is already bending the rules by asking for a color copy of your passport along with a government ID. I am US Citizen but I have color copies of our passports that are laminated that I take along with passport when needed out of country. It allows me to leave one in the room safe accessible by family. A $2 investment is worth it. My parents have even done this and left them with me for my safety box because they travel all over the world and wanted someone to have something here for info purposes.

 

[jba2]

Why should they have to do that? When I travel to another state/country I make sure to know the laws of that place. It's not very hard and is a logical part of traveling, especially when you will be in another countries. I almost messed up because I forgot my passport at my friend's parent's house when I was in Germany. Thank god nothing happened!

I guess we erroneously thought that a driver's license would be acceptable id as Disney hotels accept it when checking into their resorts. Also, a driver's license from Canada is acceptable id when renting a car.
Not to argue with you LilyWDW but you can't possibly know all the laws of a country that you are traveling to. It sounds kind of arrogant of you.

 

[minnie mum]

I guess we erroneously thought that a driver's license would be acceptable id as Disney hotels accept it when checking into their resorts. Also, a driver's license from Canada is acceptable id when renting a car.
Not to argue with you LilyWDW but you can't possibly know all the laws of a country that you are traveling to. It sounds kind of arrogant of you.

Au contraire . It sounds like Lily is an experienced international traveller. It is of course impossible to know every law in every country you may visit. But it is the responsible traveller who makes an effort to acquaint themselves with those laws likely to have a direct impact on their time in that country or area.

Personally, I don't get the angst about carrying your passport around. Even though it has been stated ad nauseum on this thread that a photocopy plus photo ID will suffice. Do you panic at the thought of carrying your DL with you when you're out and about? Or your credit cards? We've travelled all over the world with our passports and have never had them lost or stolen.

 

[Lesverts]

Ahhh welcome to USA! The land where Prohibition still exists in some states to a degree!

I'm from Indiana. I cannot buy liquor/beer on Sundays. Nor can we buy cold cans of beer except at liquor stores. Blows my mind to go across the border to Illinois or Michigan and get gas and see that I can get a cold can of beer there. Crazy to me.

To confuse things more, like the PP said; companies also have their own right to regulate this too above and beyond counties and state and Federal laws. At Walmart, you cannot buy liquor prior to 7am and also have limits on how much you can purchase.

I'm from Ontario. Beer can only be purchased at something called The Beer Store (A store owned by AB InBev, Moslon-Coors and Sleemans) or the LCBO (Liquer Control Board of Ontario). You cannot go to a gas station, corner store, Walmart or anywhere else in the province to buy alcohol and all restaurants and bars must buy their alcohol from the LCBO or The Beer Store, unless they are willing to import it in certain volumes.

Au contraire . It sounds like Lily is an experienced international traveller. It is of course impossible to know every law in every country you may visit. But it is the responsible traveller who makes an effort to acquaint themselves with those laws likely to have a direct impact on their time in that country or area.

Personally, I don't get the angst about carrying your passport around. Even though it has been stated ad nauseum on this thread that a photocopy plus photo ID will suffice. Do you panic at the thought of carrying your DL with you when you're out and about? Or your credit cards? We've travelled all over the world with our passports and have never had them lost or stolen.

The angst about carry your passport around is that if lost, you are up a brown creek without a paddle. It will waste at minimum two to three days of your vacation, cost you hundreds to thousands of dollars and create all kinds of headaches for you. Especially since you would normally not have the necessary identification to obtain a passport to begin with. For Canadians that is a SIN Card, a Birth Certificate/Citizenship, and Driver's Licence/Status Card/Age of majority card. If you have never experienced losing your passport you shouldn't talk about it as no big deal. It requires making hours long phone calls to whomever issues the passport (in Canada Passport Canada), a filing of a police report, contacting the closest consulate or embassy, for Canadians that is in Miami or Atlanta. Potentially having to physically travel to Miami or Atlanta. So please don't be patronizing about an experience you have no experience with. I would rather go without then carry a passport. And to top if all off, Passport Canada's official position is to not carry your passport with you unless you are in a country that requires it (no place most sane people would travel to) or are in transit.

Many countries communicate with their guests about issues that might be surprising to foreigners. I can think of many examples in my travels around the world. I have traveled to some far flung places (Iran, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Syria (before the civil war), Lebanon) and almost every single one communicates with you about important information/laws necessary to travel safely in their country.

 

[samsteele]

Why should they have to do that? When I travel to another state/country I make sure to know the laws of that place. It's not very hard and is a logical part of traveling, especially when you will be in another countries. I almost messed up because I forgot my passport at my friend's parent's house when I was in Germany. Thank god nothing happened!

Because it makes good business sense for WDW.

Mixed drinks & booze have one of the largest profit margins in the industry.

If you want to sell more liquor=make more profit, then you want to ensure that all of your adult guests meet your carding requirement.

And no WDW doesn't owe us anything. We are just repeat guests like everyone else.

 

[kamik86]

Because it makes good business sense for WDW.

Mixed drinks & booze have one of the largest profit margins in the industry.

If you want to sell more liquor=make more profit, then you want to ensure that all of your adult guests meet your carding requirement.

And no WDW doesn't owe us anything. We are just repeat guests like everyone else.

This was going to be my response... no technically Disney doesn't HAVE to try and let you know about this policy in advance. But lets say that in all of WDW that 1000 guests per day don't meet this. I don't think that is far off since new people are coming in all the time that don't know and some people will not have their ID correct on multiple days of a trip since they may have come in with a Canadian drivers license and left it home.

Alcohol in WDW is probably at least 10 each. so that is at least 10,000 in revenue lost a day. Probably more, some of these people would probably have bought more then one drink that day. $3,650,000 a year in lost revenue... and alcohol is a high profit item I'm sure the cost to disney not just for the drink but for the person serving and maintenance of the equipment is no more then half of the cost of the drink... So they could be losing more then 1 million in profit a year just for not adding a few lines to the emails they send you with reservations anyway... which would take all of oh 30 min for a decent tech person to change?

 

[godders]

I generally have no problem with being ID'd for alcohol when I'm in the States. Coming from the UK I know that the US is stricter plus obviously the drinking age is 21 rather than 18. I can also understand using my passport for ID and I don't generally worry about losing it when I'm at WDW. I was shocked however that my driving license was refused at the Rose and Crown (it was the one day I didn't have my passport). I can understand anywhere else but in the UK pavilion by a UK server.....seemed a bit ridiculous to me

 

[pigby]

Has the copy got to be in color - we are a little behind the times here and photocopier at work is black and white.

We started to carry original passports around with us as we had been asked many times (even though myself and DH are over 50!!) - placing them inside a small plastic wallet inside my bag to protect from the Florida rain.

 

[Alesia]

I'm from Ontario. Beer can only be purchased at something called The Beer Store (A store owned by AB InBev, Moslon-Coors and Sleemans) or the LCBO (Liquer Control Board of Ontario). You cannot go to a gas station, corner store, Walmart or anywhere else in the province to buy alcohol and all restaurants and bars must buy their alcohol from the LCBO or The Beer Store, unless they are willing to import it in certain volumes.



The angst about carry your passport around is that if lost, you are up a brown creek without a paddle. It will waste at minimum two to three days of your vacation, cost you hundreds to thousands of dollars and create all kinds of headaches for you. Especially since you would normally not have the necessary identification to obtain a passport to begin with. For Canadians that is a SIN Card, a Birth Certificate/Citizenship, and Driver's Licence/Status Card/Age of majority card. If you have never experienced losing your passport you shouldn't talk about it as no big deal. It requires making hours long phone calls to whomever issues the passport (in Canada Passport Canada), a filing of a police report, contacting the closest consulate or embassy, for Canadians that is in Miami or Atlanta. Potentially having to physically travel to Miami or Atlanta. So please don't be patronizing about an experience you have no experience with. I would rather go without then carry a passport. And to top if all off, Passport Canada's official position is to not carry your passport with you unless you are in a country that requires it (no place most sane people would travel to) or are in transit.

Many countries communicate with their guests about issues that might be surprising to foreigners. I can think of many examples in my travels around the world. I have traveled to some far flung places (Iran, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Syria (before the civil war), Lebanon) and almost every single one communicates with you about important information/laws necessary to travel safely in their country.

Losing your passport is a huge problem, you are absolutely correct. Do not carry your passport around town.

The thing is, a simple solution has been presented over and over on this thread: just carry a color copy - you don't have to have your actual passport. Everyone wants to talk about the danger of losing their passport, but it's a moot point. You don't have to carry your passport around and risk losing it.

Knowing what constitutes proper ID is not what most people would consider necessary for safe travel. It's certainly helpful information, but it's not life-saving. All of the places you mentioned in your example are places where travel can often be unsafe. That's not the case for US travel. If you travel to New Zealand, you're not likely to be warned that you'll need your passport to buy alcohol, but you will need it.

 

[samsteele]

Has the copy got to be in color

Colour copy is what has been most mentioned. I'd play it safe & just pop into a Walmart or Staples on a weekend and make a couple of copies. Not terribly expensive & a bit of piece of mind.

Edit: just noticed you are from the UK. Sorry! So no Walmart or Staples. But probably other big box or office supply stores around you.

 

[Alesia]

This was going to be my response... no technically Disney doesn't HAVE to try and let you know about this policy in advance. But lets say that in all of WDW that 1000 guests per day don't meet this. I don't think that is far off since new people are coming in all the time that don't know and some people will not have their ID correct on multiple days of a trip since they may have come in with a Canadian drivers license and left it home.

Alcohol in WDW is probably at least 10 each. so that is at least 10,000 in revenue lost a day. Probably more, some of these people would probably have bought more then one drink that day. $3,650,000 a year in lost revenue... and alcohol is a high profit item I'm sure the cost to disney not just for the drink but for the person serving and maintenance of the equipment is no more then half of the cost of the drink... So they could be losing more then 1 million in profit a year just for not adding a few lines to the emails they send you with reservations anyway... which would take all of oh 30 min for a decent tech person to change?

I think you math is way off.

Most guests probably do know the requirements. Contrary to what people seem to believe here, it's not secret information. It comes up here pretty regularly. I've read it in travel guides. It comes up on various websites.

If it were really resulting in such a huge revenue loss for Disney, they would be more proactive.

 

[kamik86]

I think you math is way off.

Most guests probably do know the requirements. Contrary to what people seem to believe here, it's not secret information. It comes up here pretty regularly. I've read it in travel guides. It comes up on various websites.

If it were really resulting in such a huge revenue loss for Disney, they would be more proactive.

Really? Given the number of people that don't know how the fast pass system works still and the number of foreign travelers at WDW in a day I thought if anything my numbers were low.

 

[disnut8]

Ahhh welcome to USA! The land where Prohibition still exists in some states to a degree!

I'm from Indiana. I cannot buy liquor/beer on Sundays. Nor can we buy cold cans of beer except at liquor stores. Blows my mind to go across the border to Illinois or Michigan and get gas and see that I can get a cold can of beer there. Crazy to me.

To confuse things more, like the PP said; companies also have their own right to regulate this too above and beyond counties and state and Federal laws. At Walmart, you cannot buy liquor prior to 7am and also have limits on how much you can purchase.

Indiana - that's the state I was trying to think of without Sunday sales. We here in Georgia finally got a Governor who wouldn't veto the law to be changed so we finally got Sunday sales a few years ago. After being asked to vote on it so the Governor would see if it was going to happen. 79% of the state voted for Sunday sales.

Oh - and in the example above, if this poster had bought a can of beer in Michigan and took it back to Indiana, that's a federal violation of transporting across state lines. And here, it's 8:00 AM to buy alcohol in Wal Mart.

So yes, alcohol laws vary from each state, from each county, from each city (we once went into a restaurant in the city limits of our town and were denied a beer because of the city rules since it was a Sunday - we went right across the street to an unincorporated area and were served).