The GF definitely doesn't joke about access if not staying there or having an ADR. The gate guards often require both scanning your MB as well as showing ID or asking for name on the ADR along with ID.
Once holiday season decorations go up, they are particularly stringent about that.
We often stay at VGF in mid-November and have seen more than one driver have an intense conversation (as in shouting at the gate guard) prior to flipping a speedy u-turn out, sometimes flipping something else.