FYI - prepare to wait a LONG time to enter parks!

[cbnsoul]

We went over Easter break. The lines weren't terribly long for the RFID scanners, but they were unpredictable. For five days in the parks, my KTTW card only scanned properly on two of the days. It took longer than it ever did with the old system for us to get into the parks. We were pulled aside and I had to answer a few questions to verify my identity. I didn't realize that when this was going to be put into practice that we would still have to do the fingerprint thing. Just tapping the card would save time. Adding the fingerprint scan to the process is just as time-consuming as putting your card through the machine imho.

We went the week after Easter and didn't have nearly the issues we had this week. The crowds in the parks are similar (actually probable better now). I'm wondering if new issues are cropping up or more people are just coming at the same time. As I mentioned in a previous post, I think the early EMH helped a LOT during spring break.

 

[AngiTN]

We were there 5/11-5/19, and I complained about the RFID scanners due to the long waits and unpredictability of the machines. It seemed to be a 50/50 chance of the RFID scanner accepting a ticket at any given time. One morning my ticket (and lots of others) weren't scanning. The CM was getting a little snippy and said to me, "You just have to scan your finger!" like I was an idiot. I snapped right back, "Oh really? Is that how it works? You mean like this?" I was scanning my finger at the time and the machine STILL wouldn't take the flippin' thing! Happily, a manager was right behind the snappy CM and did something manually while apologizing to me. The apology wasn't necessary, but I did tell the manager that the new system has a lot of bugs to be worked out, and that it seemed to be adding a lot of time to the turnstiles. I am not a fan!

Same exact things we found in March. RFID did not work way more often than it did work. Guess in 2 months time they still have not figured it out. We didn't have anyone get snippy but they'd often ask us to scan a finger when we never scanned a finger so there wasn't anything on file to match it up with. The CM supervisors that are standing behind with hand held scanners were scanning in more folks than the turnstiles were.

 

[tjmj9801]

That's so odd. We were there 5/18-/5/25 and had no issues at the entrance at all. Variety of arrival times. Wonder what causes the backlog some days?

 

[cdepauli]

Are all the turnstile scanners RFID scanners now? Does this mean that all the turnstile are having issues?

 

[goodferry]

We were there 5/31-6/10 with 14 people and not one person had a problem getting in or waited in a long line. Not discounting the OP's experience, just relaying ours. We all had the new tickets.

 

[MikkiMom]

We just got back and didn't have any problems with the RFID scanners. What I did notice though was that people crowded up to all the turnstiles and then way on the far right or left you'd see empty ones, that you almost couldn't see for the crowds at the other ones. Twice my son's card wouldn't work but CMs fixed it right away. I just figured he did something to it. But it worked fine the rest of the week.

The one thing we noticed was that there were huge lines for bag check every day. No matter what time of day we got to the park. I don't know if they were being extra thorough or if some people were just slow or what. It didn't seem to be a case of not enough security guards.

We also had issues with the buses every morning at POR. But every morning there was a cast member out there monitoring them and calling for extra buses when needed. I think the big problem at that resort is all the other stops they have to go to and by the time it got to our stop there might not be any room left. Or they would just skip our stop because the bus was full. Couldn't ever figure out a pattern though.

 

[capegirl]

All this discussion about the scanners got me to thinking. I'm almost afraid to ask but, has anyone used the Military Salute tickets since the new system went into effect? Since these tickets are not connected to the KTTW card, I wondered what will happen when we get to the turnstiles.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

All this discussion about the scanners got me to thinking. I'm almost afraid to ask but, has anyone used the Military Salute tickets since the new system went into effect? Since these tickets are not connected to the KTTW card, I wondered what will happen when we get to the turnstiles.

We used tickets that were not KTTW cards on our trip this past weekend and had no issues. They were RFID cards, though, so if the Military Salute Tickets are paper tickets that will have to go through the old turnstiles.

Also note that the RFID entrances aren't turnstiles (which is awesome...so much easier to get through with little kids). You just walk up, tap, finger scan, and go.

 

[Nole95]

We were there Memorial Day week and had no issues at all with the RFID turnstiles other than people not listening to the cast members that they could line up on both sides.

We were there at RD each day and were in the park within 5 minutes of opening each of those days. Never had any issue with our tickets not scanning. These were some days when the parks were packed.

 

[tinkerbellybutton]

Was just got back on Saturday and we had the opposite experience. The new entry was a breeze. Only the ones who cannot follow instructions had problems. We loved the easy entry.

This is what we noticed in February as well. The only time we had to wait any length of time to get in was when those ahead of us couldn't figure out how to follow the simple instructions. It never took my family of 4 more than a few seconds each to get in.

 

[luvmy2babies]

We were there June 1-7 and the only time we took a long time to get in was when they weren’t really directing that well at AK and we had paper tickets and got in the RFID line by mistake. I couldn’t see it until we got closer. The line we ended up in, the lady was scanning the tickets with a hand held device and we didn’t even need our fingers. That was neat.

Then after a few days I added 2 days to our tickets and the CM put them on our KTTW cards so then we had to switch to RFID lines. On our last park day the thing decided it didn’t like me. The lady was like, “You have to use the same finger.” I told her I’d been using the same finger for 6 days and she snapped “No you haven’t,” like she’d been with us. So I tried my other finger and it still didn’t work. My daughter’s worked fine, but someone had to come over and scan mine with some handheld device.

 

[tinkerbellybutton]

All this discussion about the scanners got me to thinking. I'm almost afraid to ask but, has anyone used the Military Salute tickets since the new system went into effect? Since these tickets are not connected to the KTTW card, I wondered what will happen when we get to the turnstiles.

We used military salute tickets in February. The salute tickets we purchased at shades of green were exchanged for Disney character tickets when we activated them. We had no problems using these tickets even tho they weren't tied to our KTTW cards.

 

[wdwjeffc37]

We were there from 5/13 to 5/18 and didn't have a single problem getting the RFID tickets to work. I found it a lot faster than the regular turnstiles because you can have two people scanning at one time on each side of the scanner. Also, I used my KTTW room key card for charging all over the World. The only issue I had was at BOG for lunch where the kiosk would not allow us to charge the meal to our dining plan. I had to go to the concierge at CSR to get the charge switched from a room charge to a QS credit. Easy fix. We loved the convenience of the RFID cards.

 

[brooke789]

I was personally stuck behind people who didn't know how to use the scanners on multiple occasions. It was terrible b/c I was soooo close to getting in but couldn't!

The people I saw were mostly only taping their finger on the finger spot instead of holding it there. The CMs who worked the turnstiles were never helpful. they wouldn't tell the people to just hold their finger (or to do their finger at all) if they weren't. It was frustrating, but for me I was never behind too many people in the mornings b/c we were always one of the first families. It was more of a problem when we hopped in the afternoon.

I did have my card not work properly one time at AK. After it wouldn't work I just moved to the scanner right next to it and got right in.

 

[goofyredraider]

We've been here for 12 days...and only had one problem (AK) so far. DD's AP didn't want to work, so they scanned it with a handheld device right away and we were off within a few seconds.

 

[Otter49]

Having had my rfid pass for a couple of months now, I've found that it works well or works poorly about the same as the non rfid.

And on three occasions now, I've gone to the legacy turnstiles because the new ones were so backed up with people having problems. And I got right in.

IMO, no time difference between the new and old ones.

 

[goofy4tink]

We were there Memorial Day week and had no issues at all with the RFID turnstiles other than people not listening to the cast members that they could line up on both sides.

We were there at RD each day and were in the park within 5 minutes of opening each of those days. Never had any issue with our tickets not scanning. These were some days when the parks were packed.

Oh man...if I had a dime for every time I heard a CM say that, with no one listening!!! We were there from May 28-June 3. I had more dirty looks from people that simply stood, like cows, in the same long line, using one scanner, with scanner lane next to them going unused. So, I just changed lines and used the empty line!! Man, I was unpopular. But, they still stood there.
Same thing at bag check. Use both sides people. But, they didn't. God forbid they line up across from their party!!! So again, I got dirty looks. One guy actually said 'Ah excuse me, but the line is back there!'...to which, happily, the security guy said 'No, she's right. Use both sides of this table.' Aaahhhhhh,

We were there June 1-7 and the only time we took a long time to get in was when they weren’t really directing that well at AK and we had paper tickets and got in the RFID line by mistake. I couldn’t see it until we got closer. The line we ended up in, the lady was scanning the tickets with a hand held device and we didn’t even need our fingers. That was neat.

Then after a few days I added 2 days to our tickets and the CM put them on our KTTW cards so then we had to switch to RFID lines. On our last park day the thing decided it didn’t like me. The lady was like, “You have to use the same finger.” I told her I’d been using the same finger for 6 days and she snapped “No you haven’t,” like she’d been with us. So I tried my other finger and it still didn’t work. My daughter’s worked fine, but someone had to come over and scan mine with some handheld device.

Again, if I had a dime for every time I heard 'Are you using the same finger?'!!! After the fourth time of being asked this, and telling them that yes, I used the same finger (have been using that finger for over 10 years now...mr pointer on my right hand), I shrugged and used my left thumb!! And it worked. The CM just smugly smiled and said have a nice day. Yeah, as if I always used my left thumb!!! Geez.

We had a more than usual number of long lines for park entrance...it seemed to be an issue of old, regular passes vs RFID passes. People would get in one line only to find out they had to get in another line. And there seemed to be a lot more people that had never used the scanner system before. Add to that the fact that there were a lot of times the scanner just didn't work right. I've never had the ticket issues I had this time around. And it wasn't a new ticket...it was my trusty AP that has been used with no issues over and over.

 

[MommaMcG]

We only had one major problem and that was at AK on may 9th. It was chaos and no one seemed to know what to do or where to go. The CMs also seemed lost.

 

[MommaMcG]

Oh yeah, and the finger scanners never really worked for us either at any park. We didn't even get scanned a couple of times.

 

[Missymouse18]

We were there May 26-June 1 and we did not do crowd recommendations because I have a set line up for park visits, regardless of the crowds. Even with my plan, we experienced no real problems other than people who couldn't get their card to work and instead of listening to cast member's instructions would stand there and argue or complain, which makes a longer wait for everyone. The day we were at DHS DH's card didn't scan and a cast member brought him through the turnstile and scanned it on a sort-of notebook. And we were so happy to be at WDW that it didn't bother us one bit. Why complain about something that takes a few seconds to fix when you get to spend the rest of the day in the park?