Resort Room Keys: Now with Barcodes!!

[Kick Save]

If they do, it will mean they've invented the technology. I think the expense makes it a non-starter.

I unlock my door at work everyday with a bar code printed on my id badge. No magnetic stripe on it at all. That's not to say that the technology is better/worse than the magnetic ones, but it exists.

Personally, I think it's only a matter of time before there's an RFID tag in the card and waving it in front of the door will open it. And waving it at the turnstile lets you in, waving it in front of the fastpass machines...you get the picture.

I'm guessing here -- again, pure speculation on my part -- but I think the barcode on the ticket may also be a precursor of future plans to update the fastpass system. Isn't there talk that FP may go paperless? A barcode on the ticket would make sense in that case because it would allow the CM to have a wireless handheld scanner at the entrance to the FP lane.

This is how most major sporting venues move 18k to 100k people in and out of the stadium in less than an hour, I could see this working quite well for fastpass. They already monitor various aspects of rides and queues with handheld devices, seems a natural next step.

 

[CanadianGuy]

This also happened to him when we went on a cruise a couple of years ago. The weird thing is that I have never had a problem and our cards are always together.

[[ Insert Joke about "Magnetic Personality" here... ]]

Knox

 

[seashoreCM]

"Touch and go" or rather "press and go" can be done with bar coded cards pressed up against a rectangular spot on the front of a turnstile, etc. More advanced cards with embedded chips or RFID elements would have a similar press-and-go usage but it would not be necessary to get the card matched up with the rectangle marked on the turnstile as precisely.

Some transit systems including the Boston MBTA use press-and-go fare tickets. Insert, pop-out, and take back tickets like current Disney tickets have been used for many years on transit systems including San Francisco (BART) and Washington DC and also Boston uses this system alongside the press-and-go system in the same turnstiles for differnet kinds of tickets.

Not as fast but less confusing would be using the same slot for both magnetic and bar coded tickets. Readers for both would be inside the slot. I'm sure that Disney would prefer press-and-go. Both systems can co-exist.

Press-and-go would eliminate the problem of leaving your park ticket in the fastpass machine.

Disney hints: http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[Aunt Michelle]

I am sooo happy to hear this! DH always has a problem with these but our trip to WDW was the worst with him going thru 9 keys in the first two days. His battle ended up costing us so much precious park time. But they did make great scrapbooking souvenirs.

Your DH doesn't happen to have those sunglasses that magnetically adhere to his prescription glasses does he? You described the exact situation we had with my mother. It took us forever to figure it out.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

So they will have both the mag readers and bar code scanners at park entrances?

All of the readers at the Park Turnstiles have been able to read bar codes for over a year. as well as the magnetic stripe. Also, for more than a year the printers at the Ticket Vending Machines have issued tickets with both the magnetic stripe and the bar code. If you look at the Greeter side of the ticket reader you will see the bar code reader near the top on the left.

It is now still primary for the individual to put their ticket into the reader, which is supposed to read the magnetic stripe no matter which way the ticket is inserted (except sideways, which doesn't fit anyway). Now the Greeters have an option to instead of reinserting a ticket which does not get read to scan the bar code.

Eventually all of the ticket printers property wide will be replaced. There is also the possibility that at some point we will stop issuing tickets with magnetic stripes and go to bar codes only. Of course, we will probably have to keep readers for both for several years after the change-out of the tickets.

And WDW actually has over 30,000 Guest Rooms and Suites. It will really take a lot to switch out all the door locks property wide.

 

[seashoreCM]

There is no need for the bar code or magnetic stripe to represent more than one number. This number can link to the main computers for anything and everything relevant such as how many days remain on your ticket, and your social security number.

I sized up those magnetic sunglasses but I judged that they still fall off too easily. They do make even more powerful magnets, examples of which I have extracted from worn out PC disk drives. Magnets of this power I suppose can erase a magnetic stripe from a quarter of an inch away if not further away.

The way I have seen tickets and room keys reprinted and discarded, I would decribe it as wasteful at times. There would be the need to have the "number" have enough digits or the bar code be long enough so Disney does not run out of combinations.

 

[sorul82?]

Thanks for the info Cheshire!

 

[JodiR]

I like the paper FP's just because I can remember what time they are for. Especially if I have a couple at one time. If they are going paperless, a person would just have to remember their times?

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Will this now make the KTTW cards easier to go threw when charging something to our rooms? I have noticed only at the counter service locations sometimes if the card does not go threw after the Cast Member swipes it they would either wrap a little piece of paper around it and swipe it like that, or just punch in the number if the paper option does not work.

 

[Willow1213]

Here in Atlanta our rapid transit system just switched over to an RFID ticketing system called the Breeze card. If you were an early adopter the card was free. Now they charge $5 for the card the first time. They still have the old mag stripe for single tickets, but monthly passes or other frequent users have this "tap and go" system. It also works for bus transfers and the smaller county bus systems are starting to switch so that all transit systems use the same cards. It's nice since now I only have to keep up with one card!!
More info at www.breezecard.com
~Abigail
**Now if they would just make the trains more like the monorail, I would ride everyday!**

 

[CanadianGuy]

And WDW actually has over 30,000 Guest Rooms and Suites. It will really take a lot to switch out all the door locks property wide.

Not sure what the scope of it is.. But actually, Disney is doing a pilot with TimeLox (the people that specialize in resort hotel room key and lock systems) at the Contemporary in the 1st quarter of 2008... Not sure if this is somehow related to the barcode thing.. or something 'more' / different.

Knox

 

[WillCAD]

Personally, I think it's only a matter of time before there's an RFID tag in the card and waving it in front of the door will open it. And waving it at the turnstile lets you in, waving it in front of the fastpass machines...you get the picture.

My company has an RFID card system for building access. It's as secure as magnetic stripe cards, but more stable since the RDIF tags don't suffere from demagnetization or surface scratch damage like a mag stripe. The system we have is an off-the-shelf system that works extrememly well, is easy to use and understand, and the cards themselves are not terribly expensize. The cards can also be printed on directly - our company uses them not only for access but as employee IDs.

I dunno if WDW will ever go to such a system, but if they did, I think it would work very well for them and probably even eliminate some of the problems inherent in the old mag stripe system, namely demagnetization/surface scratch damage, and the confusion at the turnstiles caused be people not understanding that "put the card in the slot in ANY DIRECTION" means you can put the card in the slot in ANY direction.

All of the readers at the Park Turnstiles have been able to read bar codes for over a year. as well as the magnetic stripe.

I never even noticed that. But then, I pay little attention to the turnstiles except to put my ticket in, put my finger in teh scanner, and get through as quickly as possible to allow those behind me to also get in.

Universal has been using barcodes on their tickets for about 2 or 3 years. When they made the switchover, I noticed that the lines at the turnstiles seemed to move much faster than they had with mag stripes. I suspect that's because the average person can easily understand how a barcode reader works, get their ticket into the proper orientation, and pass it under the scanner very quickly; the barcode scanners at the parks, after all, work the same as barcode scanners at stores accross the US.

Mag stripes, on the other hand, work different in a theme park than they do at the average store or ATM. At stores and ATMs, you MUST orient the card properly for it to work, but at the parks, it will work any which way. However, puting the card in any which way is counter-intuitive; people spend more time trying to figure out which way to put the card in than they would if there was a sign saying, "Put card in THIS way". The barcode eliminates that.

If Disney were to eventually replace the current mag stripe system with something, I'd rather it be with an RFID system than a barcode system. Barcodes can be too easily faked with a home computer and printer, but it's a lot harder to fake the RFID cards.

 

[CanadianGuy]

Barcode be faked.. but the numbers must match a known record in the ticketing system.

That's a lot harder than it sounds at first blush.

The following criteria would ALL have to match:

- Seller of the ticket - ie: Maingate, Resorts, Mailorder, Discounter etc
- Station # where the original ticket was printed (there are hundreds)
- Date the original ticket was printed
- The exact ticket number

Be pretty hard to 'guess' those five criteria and land on something accurate without some inside info.

Knox

 

[doconeill]

True, but the biggest problem is that barcodes and RFID can be read AT A DISTANCE. Not a very great one, mind you, but still. RFID tags are worse, since they don't require a clear view of the card.

I could rig an RFID reader in my back pocket, give you a bump, and read your credit card info/room key/transit card/whatever. That concerns me.

All of these systems should use two-factor authentication - something you have (the card) and something you know (a PIN). In the case of Disney, I think the fingerprint is good enough for the second part - I don't think anyone is going to steal your thumbprint to get into the park. But they don't do any verification for purchases, so in those cases something else might need to be done. Or else Disney needs to assume all liabilities.

 

[CanadianGuy]

in those cases something else might need to be done. Or else Disney needs to assume all liabilities.

If they were going to an RFID system.. which they do not appear to be doing.

 

[doconeill]

If they were going to an RFID system.. which they do not appear to be doing.

Leave your barcode pass in a clear plastic card holder, and I could potentially duplicate that as well. Not as likely, admittedly, and more likely for you to notice. The equipment is larger and more obvious. But if all that is required is for me to scan a barcode to pay for something, it can be done.

RFID is they way everyone is going, so its surprising that Disney is not taking this route, but they probably have a reason, be it security as mentioned, or disposable costs, or whatever.

In the mentioned system in use in Boston on the MBTA, the RFID cards are typically used by frequently travelers, whereas disposable paper tickets with magstripes are used for less-frequent riders, although they can be "recharged". I would expect that RFID is still too expensive to be used on disposable tickets (or short-time use, like room keys/park tickets).

 

[CanadianGuy]

I will state again - as I did several times earlier in this thread..

ALL indications are at this point - this barcode is for ticketing purposes only.

I've seen nothing to indicate otherwise.

Knox

 

[WillCAD]

Barcode be faked.. but the numbers must match a known record in the ticketing system.

That's a lot harder than it sounds at first blush.

The following criteria would ALL have to match:

- Seller of the ticket - ie: Maingate, Resorts, Mailorder, Discounter etc
- Station # where the original ticket was printed (there are hundreds)
- Date the original ticket was printed
- The exact ticket number

Be pretty hard to 'guess' those five criteria and land on something accurate without some inside info.

Knox

When talking of barcode faking, I was thinking more of room keys than park passes. Universal has been using barcodes on park passes for several years without any serious problems; my worry would be if any barcode system for room keys was ever put into place, then passkeys for the staff could be faked and used for quite a while before they were found out.

I could rig an RFID reader in my back pocket, give you a bump, and read your credit card info/room key/transit card/whatever. That concerns me.

It's not really a concern. NO info is stored on the RFID cards, NONE, except the serial number of the card - just as it is now with the magnetic strip on current WDW KTTW cards.

If you rigged such a reader, and I kept my RFID card in my pocket instead of in a less accessible spot (as I have been doing with my mag strip KTTW cards for years), the only thing you'd get is the ID number of my card; you would not know what room I was in, or even what resort, and you wouldn't get any of my ticket info or my personal info, no dining credits, nothing.

The worst you could do is clone the RFID card and use it for a few hours before the fraud was detected by the WDW computer system and flags were raised. You couldn't use the park pass entitlement because of the finger scanner, and you wouldn't even KNOW if the card had dining plan credits or room charging capability.

You'd pretty much get zip.

I will state again - as I did several times earlier in this thread..

ALL indications are at this point - this barcode is for ticketing purposes only.

I've seen nothing to indicate otherwise.

Knox

I'm only speaking hypothetically, thinking out loud about the possiblilities.

I think an RFID system would be a great improvement on the current mag strip system, eliminating many of the problems and bringing several additional features.

Theoretically, an RFID system would not even require cards - instead of a card, WDW Guests would be issued RFID fobs on lanyards, like the Exxon Mobile Speedpass. You'd wear your fob on your neck, and be able to take it out to enter your room, enter a park, get a FastPass, pay for stuff, or use dining plan credits.

And the RFID systems (cards or fobs) on the market today are not wiped as easily as mag stripe systems (if at all), so no more demagnetized tickets or room keys.

The system would require all 30,000 rooms to have new locks, and all of the turnstiles at the parks and water parks would have to be replaced, not to mention a new reader system for every cash register in every store, shop, restaurant, eatery, snack cart, and food court at WDW.

That's a HUGE investment, but it could be done in stages and the cost might be at least partially recouped through savings - not printing new room keys constantly would save a lot, and RFID proximity readers, having no physical contact and being sealed, closed units, would last longer in the FLorida heat and humidity. Heck, the reader at my company are not even built into the doors, they're built into the walls next to the doors, so they don't move with the door or wear out due to movement of the door lock mechanisms.

I'm just thinkin' out loud...

 

[seashoreCM]

But are there problems with the current key card door locks, either inherent or starting to appear? Only if there are problems would there be an incentive to upgrade to new technology in short order.

Somehow I thought it wasteful to throw away perfectly working older CRT (tube type) computer monitors in favor of flat panel LCD monitors.

 

[CanadianGuy]

Thanks Will for the thoughtful post. Interesting read.

Seashore - The only problems I'm aware of involve the demagnetization of keys.

TimeLox - the company doing a pilot at Contemporary this quarter ... sells to all the major casinos in Vegas and most major resort destinations.

Looking at their website, their newest system actually uses a 'SmartCard' which DOES contain more information than just what you would find on the mag stripe type keys. They also have a new mag stripe only key / lock system that uses wireless connections between the front desk and the door locks. Could be that I suppose.

Be curious as all get out to know what's being tested at the Contemporary.

Knox