Out of control security bag lines

[aliceindisneyland]

I think the typical Harbor backup could be an evil plot to make people hate staying on Harbor. Not quite that dire but to be honest I now prefer to stay on Katella and get through the DLH security checkpoint almost immediately, instead of having to leave the hotel room half an hour before DL opens to have a shot at waiting fewer than 15 minutes at Harbor checkpoint.

 

[BGinCali]

I think the typical Harbor backup could be an evil plot to make people hate staying on Harbor. Not quite that dire but to be honest I now prefer to stay on Katella and get through the DLH security checkpoint almost immediately, instead of having to leave the hotel room half an hour before DL opens to have a shot at waiting fewer than 15 minutes at Harbor checkpoint.

May I ask which motel you stay at on Katella? I am currently booked at Candy Cane Inn with my niece who is coming for a visit. I normally do day trips (from Los Angeles) and am used to no wait at M&F security - the stories about Harbor side really have me concerned & considering an alternative to CCI.

 

[mamapenguin]

Have not been to Universal but security at all 4 parks at WDW have always been efficient. Never once waited in more than a 1 minute security line.

You have been really lucky, my last visit was the end of August and it took a while, but not nearly as long as the previous Spring break, all parks excluding Epcot which we normally skip. I'm going to start timing them.

 

[aliceindisneyland]

May I ask which motel you stay at on Katella? I am currently booked at Candy Cane Inn with my niece who is coming for a visit. I normally do day trips (from Los Angeles) and am used to no wait at M&F security - the stories about Harbor side really have me concerned & considering an alternative to CCI.

BW Stovall's, when I can get it for less than $125/night; when I plan ahead I can find $89. It's as nice/clean BWPPI and nicer/cleaner than BW Anaheim Inn, in my opinion.

 

[BGinCali]

BW Stovall's, when I can get it for less than $125/night; when I plan ahead I can find $89. It's as nice/clean BWPPI and nicer/cleaner than BW Anaheim Inn, in my opinion.

Thank you!! I will check it out!

 

[aliceindisneyland]

Thank you!! I will check it out!

You're welcome! Just thought of this after reading the smoking thread: make sure you book a non smoking room if you choose Stovall's since they do offer smoking rooms! I have never smelled smoke in a room and I have a nose like a bloodhound, so no problem unless you accidentally book a smoking room!

 

[BGinCali]

You're welcome! Just thought of this after reading the smoking thread: make sure you book a non smoking room if you choose Stovall's since they do offer smoking rooms! I have never smelled smoke in a room and I have a nose like a bloodhound, so no problem unless you accidentally book a smoking room!

I never would have thought of that - and I, too, have a nose like a bloodhound, so that would not be a good situation - thank you!

 

[aliceindisneyland]

I never would have thought of that - and I, too, have a nose like a bloodhound, so that would not be a good situation - thank you!

LOL I always bury my face in the rollaway when it arrives just in case it has been in a smoking room and so far so good!

 

[Captainkidd76]

If you have no bags, can you skip these lines?

 

[OlliePop27]

Does anyone have anecdotal wait times from the Harbor security lines when returning from an afternoon break, say around 5:00 pm?

 

[Malcon10t]

If you have no bags, can you skip these lines?

If the No Bag Line is open you can use it, but you still use the metal detector.

Things that slow lines down -
Not having your bag unzipped, open and off your body.
Not having the stroller prepped to be checked.

Why the metal detector backs up -
People don't empty their pockets
People don't think something counts

The metal detector is quick if you empty your pockets. But too many people feel they only need to put their cell phone in the bowl when they walk thru, then they have to go back and take something else out. I've watched one guy have to go thru it 5 times (thus backing everyone else up) because he kept not taking everything out of his pockets. Then he had to be wanded, and there was even keys in his socks (WHY???) All this does is slow everyone else down.

 

[PatMcDuck]

I usually stay at DL Hotel or Paradise Pier. Only once since they stopped allowing us to use shortcut through GC lobby to enter DD or DCA. If I remember right, we Disney hotel guests (non GC) have to enter these general security lines, right? Ugh. When I was there the lines seemed short (last July) but I only entered parks once in the early evening (was during D23, I was at the Expo during the day). I am coming in for a week in October, PP. And it will be interesting to walk thru the closed areas of DD to get to the park entrances.

 

[tink89]

I have been to Disneyland through out different times during the year we have gone in the summer in July, we have gone in September when kids are back in school, and in December during the holidays. I do not know if it is luck or if i see crowds differently but i have never experienced a bag line that lasted more than 10 to 15 min max.

 

[DizneyMommy]

They are almost always open during fireworks. The parade is hit and miss. They were not open during the second run of Pixar Play Parade this past Saturday.

Not always. More like really peak days. I rarely rarely see them open, and we avoid peak days like the plague.

 

[Pamela M]

But the guy in cargo pants will have to take anything out that is metal to go thru the metal detector. They will only let him skip it when it is really backed up.

At WDW, despite having an AP, we rarely saw AP lines. And the no bag lines were nice, but we always had a couple people (we were 12) with bags. So they would end up standing and waiting for us.

Not really - But I do feel they are checking more than they did when I was there in October 2017.

I do think if they wanted to be more efficient they should do the screenings like they do for festivals. I was at Bottlerock a few weeks ago the table for the bag check was along side the metal detector. You had your stuff looked through - walked through the metal detector then they handed you your stuff. They had a separate line for people with strollers, wheel chairs, etc.. Like Disneyland though some peoples stuff got really rummaged through whiles others didn't. The people in front of us pretty much had their bag completely emptied while my friends and my bag were barely searched.

They also need to fix the sensitivity of their metal detectors. 3 of the 5 days I was there I was able to walk through wearing my lanyard (no pins) the 4th day the lanyard set the metal detector off.

 

[DLRExpert]

Disney tried to fix some of this by building that Eastern Gateway.
Just wait until they close the Harbor entrance entirely and make people take shuttles to Mickey and Friends (won't be happening any time soon).

Harbor Security Tip:
If it's 30 -15 minutes before park opening go ahead and use that entrance
If it's 830am-11am avoid it if you can.
Usually, the farthest left line will have the shortest wait.
If you take an Uber tell them to drop you off at Downtown Disney instead. The security line on that side is usually shorter. If that line is long, walk to the backside of ESPNZone and enter from the Disneyland Hotel security entrance (always shortest). You may have to walk farther to the parks compared to taking the Harbor Entrance but you should be at the park entrances faster.

ME

 

[HydroGuy]

I have been to Disneyland through out different times during the year we have gone in the summer in July, we have gone in September when kids are back in school, and in December during the holidays. I do not know if it is luck or if i see crowds differently but i have never experienced a bag line that lasted more than 10 to 15 min max.

Yah, that is me too. We went last July the week before the D23 Expo, then in early October and again in early December. We stayed on Harbor all three times. I do not remember these nightmare scenarios and do not think we ever waited more than 10 minutes. Usually it was 1-3 minutes. I never saw a no bag line. It was just DW and me.

I confess I am a bit nervous for our trip in a few weeks, but we are only staying one night on Harbor then 4 at GCH. I have heard no issues like this coming from GCH into DCA or DTD so I think we will be OK. But our first morning will be from Harbor and I think I am going to strongly encourage we go with no bags.

I am not sure if we will have a stroller for our DGD3 that morning, but if you do does that disqualify you for the no bag line?

 

[bumbershoot]

we wasted our whole morning trying to get food from this one place.

The whole morning? Wow. Doesn’t even seem possible.

They barely look. Would be very easy to get something through.

That was your experience. Others experience different scenarios. And that’s part of it. You never know what to expect.

Then they go in the regular line.

People don’t read and they don’t think what they read applies to them. The person you were responding to was likely meaning that even if the line is for AP holders only, you will still get the people bringing their non AP friends and relatives. Those groups will take up space and then they’ll take up time having it explained and then arguing with the cm.

And they look less at strollers / car seats / children..TSA doesn't work not sure why the general population is fooled by this theatre...if the lines don't move fast it only makes us less safe sitting in a choke point PRE Security just asking for suicide bombers or some other horrible way to murder large crowds quickly.

You’ve had that experience with strollers. Others have had other experiences.

Traditionally the true security at Disney happens because of longer lines; the remote watching of it all. It’s not the cm either barely looking at your bag or nearly turning it inside out (I’ve had both happen), it’s the hidden security watching over everything.

It look us the full 45 minutes to get through security, through the gate and navigate the insane parade mess where the sidewalks became so congested at one point we were at a complete grid lock for a few minutes.

Letting a parade sneak up on you is a mistake most people make only once. From now on you’ll likely check that schedule to make sure you aren’t timing your arrival with a parade hitting Main Street.

Would anyone else be happy if the metal detector just went away completely? I think getting rid of them would move things much faster and it would better to have security CMs and the APD on hand observing guests entering.

They do have people watching.

People who think they don’t have never seen a response to an incident. Not sure where all the plainclothes (meaning they look like tourists but aren’t) and uniformed security people and officers come from, but they’ll swoop and swoop FAST. It’s an amazing thing.

Never once waited in more than a 1 minute security line.

At Wdw? Wow. Let me go when you go.

Disney World has them but they're never a problem. They do not have everyone go thru them. They pick out random guests to go thru and it takes seconds.

Not true anymore. More and more I see reports on the main Wdw page that everyone goes through.

I have heard no issues like this coming from GCH into DCA or DTD so I think we will be OK

Has the unfair and uncool elimination of letting pph and dlh guests going through the grand’s dca entrance stopped the “get there an hour before opening” necessity?

 

[bumbershoot]

I am not sure if we will have a stroller for our DGD3 that morning, but if you do does that disqualify you for the no bag line?

Almost certainly. Strollers have places to put stuff so they need to be checked.

Please have a stroller for the 3 year old. My son is an active dude who didn’t use a stroller (other than a jogger for when I would jog) at home, but he needed one until he was all the way through 5.

And the last trip we took when he was 5 we thought we could get along without it because we were staying at the Grand, but we had to carry him back for an afternoon break and he wouldn’t move when we went back to the parks later that day lol. Had to use the stroller.

Plus, our room at the Grand was literally as far from the center of the esplanade as it would have been to walk from the sidewalk outside hojo. It was the second furthest away room, as far as I could map out, using mapmyrun and the room map. Wasn’t even in the wing where we could exit into dtd using the secret door (which must be eliminated now bc security changed places).

 

[TheZue]

We went in February this year and the lines were worse than our previous trips. There were way more toddlers than our usual summer trips. We were calling that time preschool days by the time we left. I thought some of the bag check backups were due to the higher ratio of younger kids and the gear they require. Interesting to hear that may just be the norm now.