Just Back. Issue 1: Profiling at Park Entrance..

[IrishNYC]

I also just returned home after spending spring break at Disney. I was pulled aside twice for further screening. No big deal, I'm not trying to hide anything and it only slowed me down for a minute or so. What bothered me was them pulling my 14 year old son with Aspergers. He had NO idea what was going on and had a complete meltdown! Totally ruined our Magic Kingdom day.

If it's truly random, as they say it is, then they cannot skip your son just because he has Aspergers. If "they" know that Disney won't check individuals with Aspergers (or any other condition), and they really wanted to do something, don't you think they would pretend to have that condition?

What are the chances Disney pays more than the government??? I might head for the private sector -- and CA -- if they can match my salary and benefits!

Private sector is what you do after your government retirement, although I'd head for tax-free, lower COL Florida.

 

[eastendlights]

On our 12 day trip last month, we entered the parks probably around 20 times. My 20 year old daughter-who is white with long blonde hair, dresses very stylishly from clothes to shoes to accessories and has her hair and make up perfect before venturing out every day-was selected for the extra screening 14 times. She only carried a very tiny cross body bag and wore close fitting jeans, pants, tees and blouses-nothing could possibly have been hidden anywhere. The few evening entries when she wore jackets-she was not selected. We could not figure out why she was selected at almost every entry.

 

[DVCcurious]

On our 12 day trip last month, we entered the parks probably around 20 times. My 20 year old daughter-who is white with long blonde hair, dresses very stylishly from clothes to shoes to accessories and has her hair and make up perfect before venturing out every day-was selected for the extra screening 14 times. She only carried a very tiny cross body bag and wore close fitting jeans, pants, tees and blouses-nothing could possibly have been hidden anywhere. The few evening entries when she wore jackets-she was not selected. We could not figure out why she was selected at almost every entry.

Maybe the male security guards wanted a better look at her. This only proves they are profiling for hotties!

 

[KimBean]

Huh, I'm not for racial profiling or anything, but suspicious looking people seems like a better way to go then just random.

 

[MrsDuck]

Last trip (February), I was screened every time we visited a park. I'm super fair skinned, in my 20s, and never carry a bag.

It's random.

 

[yulilin3]

I've been selected 3 times during a 4 day visit..........Always thanked them doing a difficult job and looking to protect us. It's like drug testing.........never had a problem with it........because I had nothing to worry about. For the record I'm a middle-aged white guy.

Doug

I don't have a problem with the metal detectors and the bag checks, I do have a problem when it's supposed to be for everyone's safety and it's not done on everybody. It's a false sense of security, no real point to it.

 

[recmouse]

So my husband got picked the first 3 times we went into the parks... the fourth time he just walked over and volunteered!

 

[dkrauss]

I don't have a problem with the metal detectors and the bag checks, I do have a problem when it's supposed to be for everyone's safety and it's not done on everybody. It's a false sense of security, no real point to it.

So you see no value? Really..............you would have everyone go through?

Doug

 

[tlmadden73]

I'd rather they profile AND also do random checks.

But either way .. it is security theater to make everyone "feel" better. Someone bent on destruction will just shoot/bomb the security checkpoint rather than worry about trying to "sneak" through security to do something in less congested areas inside.

 

[Angel Ariel]

So you see no value? Really..............you would have everyone go through?

Doug

I'm not the person you quoted, but no, I see no actual security value in what they've done. As we should learn from Brussels, just as much damage can be done before metal detectors and security checkpoints.

 

[yulilin3]

So you see no value? Really..............you would have everyone go through?

Doug

I see no value in what they're doing now with the metal detectors, plus like others have pointed out, if someone wants to do real damage they will find a way. Bag checks started after 9/11, how many incidents were there before bag checks ? They can't even properly catch the selfie sticks, people smuggle them in even with bag checks. Was there terrorism before 9/11, yes, will there continue to be? Yes.
All I'm saying if they want to continue with the checks, check everyone

 

[kandb]

And racial profiling and profiling are not the same thing.

I would hope that Disney is not just checking people with darker skin. Several of the mass shootings in recent American history have been crazed white men.
Checking men between 15 and 60 more often than seniors, children, women would make sense, though, because most attacks are a man/men (or at least have a man involved).

If Disney is just doing their lousy job at bag checks and some truly random metal detection, no one is really any safer.

Yes, there have been some big profile mass murders that were committed by white men, but if you look at them, the majority were very mentally ill (Newtown shooter, Colorado theatre shooter). Even if you add up the people killed in those "high profile" cases, it still comes no where near how many people are getting killed on a weekly basis in the inner cities.

 

[JoWilly]

I'm the most white dude you will ever meet except I have a "military style" haircut. I'm 6'0 and 210 pounds with an athletic build traveling with my DW and DD.
I was "randomly" selected 6 times. I was picked more times than I wasn't.

Maybe that's what we have in common then. I'm 6'1 218 pounds amateur weight lifter and ex military. I guess it could be the way we carry ourselves, but if that's true what a poor selection criteria.

 

[JoWilly]

Of course white folks also get picked. WDW's attendees are 95% white , they can't pick the same 5% of non-whites every time.

My friend gets picked because he looks looks like a middle eastern man with crazy long curly hair and a beard. If you're white and you get picked all the time I'm sure it's because of some other profile security is using.

I will challenge your 95% white comment unless you are going to a different WDW than I am. Please tell me where you get that number because a lot of the time I feel that speaking English is the minority on some days.

 

[JoWilly]

I dont think they profile- I got stopped at almost every park when I was there in february. I'm a green eyed blonde. I also got stopped in all the parks by disney research to do surveys for them.

We get hit for all the surveys as well, and I am fairly certain its because we do fit a profile, older (but not crypt-keeper old), not walking in a hurry, etc...

 

[yulilin3]

I will challenge your 95% white comment unless you are going to a different WDW than I am. Please tell me where you get that number because a lot of the time I feel that speaking English is the minority on some days.

there are seasons when a lot of people from South American countries come, also seasons when a lot of british people come, depends on their vacation times

 

[BuckeyeBama]

It would be stupid not to profile since it is an enormously successful tool. But the profile needs to match the villains that they are searching for and they will never admit that such a list exists making the entire exercise a waste of time and money.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

BTW, we waited in a bag check mob outside of MK last week for 45 minutes with thousands of other people. A bomb in that crowd would have killed more people than one in the hub during Wishes.

 

[Angel Ariel]

BTW, we waited in a bag check mob outside of MK last week for 45 minutes with thousands of other people. A bomb in that crowd would have killed more people than one in the hub during Wishes.

Exactly my concern with making those areas more of a choke point than they already are.

 

[sharona]

This is just my opinion...

If a white person is "randomly" selected - they assume the selection was random or that something else about them must have triggered the selection. They do not question if race was a factor as they have never/rarely had to think about their race in relation to how they are treated or perceived.
If a non white person is "randomly" selected - they have to wonder if their race played a part in their selection. That doesn't mean that it did but of course that question is there.

I would hope that they are aware of certain "risk factors" and do take those into account when selecting people. When they haven't identified anyone with those "risk factors" then they just grab people to pull through. We were there for 9 days. We went through security a lot. We were traveling in a group with 7-9 people and people in our group were pulled out a few times but not a lot, I think 4-5 time total. I was pulled aside twice. Both times, in the non-bag line. I'm a white suburban mom with nothing in my pockets and usually one of the kids in tow. It appeared to me, that they were screening someone and then walking back over and grabbing the next person who walked through. I tested this observation one day at Epcot as I had already been pulled out twice and didn't want to do it again. As I started toward the non-bag entrance I noticed that the checker was headed back to grab someone else and it would be me next, I stopped and said something to my son who was with me and waited until two other people approached the line ahead of me and the first one through was randomly selected and we followed on through and continued on. I felt that it was indeed random to the point that whoever was next was screened. Not sure if several people are approaching if they might decide to select someone other than the next person through based on profiling. But I felt from my experience, where the no bag line was concerned, it was completely avoidable with careful observation.

That's not good.