New BAR CODES on tickets. Good idea?

[Robo]

I have read (via DISer and WDW CM, Cheshire Figment) that Disney is
adding new bar codes to tickets.
These codes are not subject to the many magnetic scanner problems that demagnetization of the mag-stripes on the tickets now experience.

That sounds like it might be a good solution to the "my ticket won't scan at the gates," right?

Well, I think there MIGHT be some very serious PROBLEMS with using a bar code instead of a mag-stripe.

Can anybody name one?

Here is a hint-

(No, there is not a hidden message in this bar code.)

 

[MelanieC]

Not sure - please tell.

I do know that last month was our first time I ever had a demagnatized ticket. It's not a problem at all at the gates, they just scan it.

Except the first time it happened at Wide-World of Sports before I knew what happended and it was the first time I used it to go into WWS - The lady was acting like I was scamming to get into WWS - but that is another story, lol.

The biggest problem is when your trying to get FP's. There isn't always a person standing there to help and last month I had to get out of line at Rope drop to get someone to help me. It lost me some serious time and by the time it was fixed the line was huge to Space Mountain. I wanted to ride it twice and I'm glad I waited in line because later the ride was broken when I went to use my FP. I had to leave the park in order to go see my DD cheer at WWS, so I'm glad I waited in line. It was fast once you got inside.

 

[Robo]

Not sure - please tell.

I will, but I want to see if anyone else can see a flaw in the idea.

In general, the bar codes are much more reliable than the mag stripes.

Your ticket would not have any problem being read by the
scanners at the park gates or at the FP machines.

FWIW, FP's now all have bar codes printed ON them.
Disney does not currently USE those codes for anything (as far as guests are
concerned.)

 

[Lemoe]

Could it be that anyone can print a barcode and it will work, making fake tickets easier to make?

 

[worm761]

I could totally see someone making their own passes if they are just bar codes. I have never had a problem with the magnetic strips.

 

[Robo]

I have never had a problem with the magnetic strips.

Hundreds (thousands?) of guests do.

 

[bradk]

bar codes as tickets is not a new idea. ticketmaster offers them, movie theaters offer them, even theme parks use them (universal? and umm.. who else? oh yeah, Disney. http://disneyland.disney.go.com/disneyland/en_US/help/detail?name=BuyingTicketsHelpDetailPage )

even if you were planning on generating fake tickets, you'd have to:

(1) reproduce the media - CMs do monitor the turnstiles
(2) be able to generate legitimate ticket numbers, which the more you think about it, becomes a larger challenge
(3) assuming you can tackle 2 & 3 flawlessly, well, things will get interesting when multiple people have the same ticket. if you're trying to replicate for your own family, only one person will get in (assuming disney doesn't catch on first and throw you all out)
(4) this absolutely doesn't eliminate the use of biometrics
(5) with the right equipment, magstripes can be duplicated far more easily and stealthily since you can use legitimate media and re-encode the strip

yes, FPs have bar codes on them although that will only help when they're scanned it at the FP line to determine validity.

but KTTW started having barcodes printed on them last year if I'm not mistaken.

 

[WDSearcher]

But if it were that easy, then any theatre or concert ticket in the world with a barcode would be unsafe, from a piracy standpoint. And yet ... very few instances of someone taking their Springsteen ticket, copying it en masse, and selling to a few hundred folks and getting them into concerts nationwide.

If you print Universal or Six Flags (or even movie) tix online, they're bar coded and once you use them, the bar code is no longer valid. Which means that once that barcode is scanned at the gate, it will likely have to be matched with a finger scan or some other ID, so that multi-day tickets can be scanned day after day. But once that particular barcode is scanned, then it can't be scanned again by anyone but the owner. So any copies of that exact barcode would be come up as not valid.

Create your own barcode? Nope -- because it will need to match data in Disney's computers in order to be valid.

I would imagine Disney would have some pretty hefty security technology to make sure that tickets cannot be counterfeited. Think about it. There really aren't that many instances of fake Disney tickets making it through a turnstile. And that was true even in the "low tech" days, when CMs had to stamp the date on the front of a multi-day pass and there were no finger scans.

 

[MelanieC]

Hundreds (thousands?) of guests do.

I can attest to this last month - There were quite a few of us in our group of 27 who had problems. I was amazed.

 

[Tissa]

I think it's a great idea since I am one of those who always seem to have issues with my tickets getting demagnetized.

Not sure what the bar code issue would be.

 

[MelanieC]

but KTTW started having barcodes printed on them last year if I'm not mistaken.

I just checked mine from last month and yes - it has a bar code on it (front) as well as a magnetic black strip (back).

 

[mydisneykids]

We keep our APs away from credit cards, cell phones, even my camera yet we ALWAYS have trouble with the magnetic stripes. This is the first trip my family of five did not all need to replace our tickets at one time or another (my DS8 was ok this trip). But I agree, it is terrible when you get to the park early, go get in line for a fastpass and it doesn't work at any all day and you have to get it replaced or you are in line at opening to get in and they need to find a runner to replace it for you.
We have been saying for a long time they should use a barcode system, hopefully that is what they will switch to.

 

[Brer Shay]

Robo, don't leave us in suspense!?!

 

[deej696]

In order to read the barcode as opposed to a stripe, wouldnt this require all of the machines to be redone in all of WDW? Not just the turnstiles, but the FPs as well. Seems rather expensive, something Disney isnt very keen on...

 

[Robo]

In order to read the barcode as opposed to a stripe, wouldnt this require all of the machines to be redone in all of WDW? Not just the turnstiles, but the FPs as well. Seems rather expensive, something Disney isnt very keen on...

The gates are already being fitted with barcode scanners.
The situation at the current time is that only the CM's
have access to the barcode scanners.

If there is a problem with the mag-stripe, the CM's can take your ticket and
scan it.

Disney is not averse to changing/upgrading the FP machines and the ticket scanners/finger readers.

They have done so (to one degree or another) within the past few years.

 

[bumbershoot]

Interesting timing! We were just talking about how DLR does it on the DLR forum, and at DLR they use the barcodes. The tickets have magnetic strips on them, but I guess they don't use them. Interesting!

I've had issues with my AP being read, though, and I assume they use the barcode for the APs too. Fairly simple fix, just go to City Hall and get a "fast pass ticket" to use the rest of the day, or hop over to the other park (since at DLR Disneyland and DCA are a minute's walk away from each other), or leave and come back to the same park. But annoying when you KNOW you saw your picture pop up on the screen and the CM greeted you by name (b/c s/he saw it on the screen with your picture), but the FP ticket comes out saying you haven't used that AP for admission.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) I won't discuss bar codes, but let's talk "demagnetizing".
2) At WDW the tickets do not demagnetize!
3) OK, once in a very great while it could happen.
4) But, the many complaints are caused by the tickets and encoders.

5) In 2006, there was a HUGE study.
6) We kept "damaged" tickets in big barrels and they were later "examined".
7) Actually, they we were ordered to throw them away.
8) The truth is
. . . the ticket media was changed in 2005 to a cheaper ticket
. . . the new tickets had less-dense mag stripes
. . . WDW even bought new encoders to help cure the problem
. . . immediately, room keys started to "de-mag"
. . . actually, the encoded data got scrambled
. . . they aren't really demag'd
. . . camera, credit cards, etc, do not scramble or de-mag the room keys
. . . it is a combination of cheap mag material and encoder problems
. . . at any time, any room key can have the data scrambled
. . . we were INSTRUCTED to tell guests that THEY demag'd the tickets
. . . then, we gave lame excuses like credit cards, etc
. . . excuses backfired when guests had keys in lanyards, not near other things

 

[chartle]

1) I won't discuss bar codes, but let's talk "demagnetizing".
2) At WDW the tickets do not demagnetize!
3) OK, once in a very great while it could happen.
4) But, the many complaints are caused by the tickets and encoders.

5) In 2006, there was a HUGE study.
6) We kept "damaged" tickets in big barrels and they were later "examined".
7) Actually, they we were ordered to throw them away.
8) The truth is
. . . the ticket media was changed in 2005 to a cheaper ticket
. . . the new tickets had less-dense mag stripes
. . . WDW even bought new encoders to help cure the problem
. . . immediately, room keys started to "de-mag"
. . . actually, the encoded data got scrambled
. . . they aren't really demag'd
. . . camera, credit cards, etc, do not scramble or de-mag the room keys
. . . it is a combination of cheap mag material and encoder problems
. . . at any time, any room key can have the data scrambled
. . . we were INSTRUCTED to tell guests that THEY demag'd the tickets
. . . then, we gave lame excuses like credit cards, etc
. . . excuses backfired when guests had keys in lanyards, not near other things

Thank you I love this post.

Disney buys cheaper material and blames the customer.

It makes perfect sense though, its cheaper in the long run to make up an excuse and replace the media then to buy the better media.

And for the whole demaged card theory. Mythbusters debunked this myth when they looked into the eel skin wallets messing up credit cards. The theory was they used "electric" eels and that was the problem.

Well they made up a bunch of cards and the only thing that they could find to demag one was a huge electromagnet. The kind that MRIs use and can fling metal across the room and put a serous hurt on a person.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MythBusters_(season_1)#Eelskin_Wallet

 

[wilde_oscar]

having worked on some bar code projects... they are easy to print, not that easy to fake the system. They are cheaper than magnetic media in the long run, I am just surprised they didn't go with a 3d glyph.

 

[bradk]

the demagnetization was covered at length in http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2158148

in short, Disney isn't the only one with the problems. it is the strength of the strip and it is cell phones amongst other things. even the entire San Francisco BART system agreed and they had to invest in new media to stop hundreds of riders a day from complaining.