Tickets Blocked For Entering Two Parks In a Short Timeframe

[agamble]

It seems DL needs to go with thumb prints like WDW and other theme parks. Then it wouldn't matter what you look like, only that your print matches.

 

[GeneralTso]

This hardly qualifies as "hassling" passholders!
Minor inconvenience--sure.
You better believe Disney is girding their loins for the Star Wars opening and trying to close as many gaps as they can identify.
You think this is bad, just wait til May 30th. It's going to be bananas.

 

[tarheelalum]

This hardly qualifies as "hassling" passholders!
Minor inconvenience--sure.
You better believe Disney is girding their loins for the Star Wars opening and trying to close as many gaps as they can identify.
You think this is bad, just wait til May 30th. It's going to be bananas.

Easy to say its not, but most people would have a problem with that. Nobody wants to start their day at Disneyland by having some cast member tell them they can't enter the park and to stand off to the side and wait.

 

[gottalovepluto]

I have an AP. It was mentioned that this was a fairly new security measure.

Disney is either investing in pointless security upgrades or their photo system is flawed and they’re trying to put a band aid on it. This sounds ridiculous.

 

[DLgal]

We just did the monorail entry hack on Saturday and walked over to DCA, only taking a brief minute to stop in the restroom. It was more than 5 minutes but definitely less than 10 between our gate entries and nothing happened. We got in fine.

 

[dieumeye]

My friend and I were staying at the Grand Californian this weekend. The line to get into DCA from the Grand was super short so we decided to go through that way, even though Disneyland was our ultimate destination.

When we got to the Disneyland gates about ten minutes later, our passes were blocked, and had to be unblocked by a lead. He said we got flagged for entering two parks within a short amount of time. I guess they’re looking out for people that are handing their tickets off to other people. It took about 10 minutes to resolve. He also said he does not know the amount of time between entries that triggers the block.

I hadn’t heard of this before, so I thought I’d pass it on so other people don’t experience the minor hassle that I did.

Did you, by chance, use different ticket methods at each gate? For example, a phone at one gate, and a physical ticket or a different phone at the other gate?

I’ve heard of this happening when different methods are used close together. The idea is to prevent one person from using, say, the app to enter, and then a similar looking sibling or friend trying to use the physical ticket to enter.

I’m a quick hopper so I pay attention to these kind of reports, but have never had it happen to me.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

We just did the monorail entry hack on Saturday and walked over to DCA, only taking a brief minute to stop in the restroom. It was more than 5 minutes but definitely less than 10 between our gate entries and nothing happened. We got in fine.

I remember your posting about this in another thread, and we've never had a problem (yet) with the monorail-entrance-to-main-gates entry either. But both posters here who said they experienced a problem said they used the GCH DCA entrance, then went to DL. I wonder if there is something going on specifically there -- maybe a trend of abuse that they've picked up on?

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Nope. Different one that was much older (I still had my pass at the time so it was prior to January 30). Was a whole thread about it.

If you manage to find that thread, please link it here. Would be interesting to read more background on this.

 

[wench]

Perhaps instead of freezing a pass Disney could find a way to just add a notice to the pass. Something that tells the CM at the gate to compare the pass holder’s photo extra close, but to let them in the park unless something seems really off.

I remember you posting about this in another thread, and we've never had a problem (yet) with the monorail-entrance-to-main-gates entry either. But both posters here who said they experienced a problem said they used the GCH DCA entrance, then went to DL. I wonder if there is something going on specifically there -- maybe a trend of abuse that they've picked up on?

Maybe Disney saw the Youtube video of the guy with no park ticket that covinced the nice CMs at the GCH entrance to let him in anyway. Then he went to the front gate of DL and covinced them to do the same. Although he didn’t have a ticket to track & freeze, so maybe not.

Still it’s a shame that people who scam the system like that, just make the CM’s jobs harder, & make the experience a little less magical for those of us that are following the rules.

 

[msteddom]

Did you, by chance, use different ticket methods at each gate? For example, a phone at one gate, and a physical ticket or a different phone at the other gate?

I’ve heard of this happening when different methods are used close together. The idea is to prevent one person from using, say, the app to enter, and then a similar looking sibling or friend trying to use the physical ticket to enter.

I’m a quick hopper so I pay attention to these kind of reports, but have never had it happen to me.

Nope, physical cards both times.

 

[bumbershoot]

I’m here trying to figure out how entering through Grand, walking past grizzly and soarin and to Starbucks and down the street and through the throngs entering and out the gates and across the esplanade is any shorter than lobby to hallway to pathway take a right into DTD to esplanade.

Now, I've consistently heard stories of people who will use their pass for a discount for a wife or husband, but if the debit/credit card doesn't match the name on the AP, your AP could get flagged (even though the passes have the same last name and under the same account).

I’m all in favor of that. Being someone who didn’t change her name when married rbat was never available to me, and it shouldn’t be available to others.

Unless others think it would be cool if I paid using my brother’s card that I’m an authorized user on? After all we have the same last name.

This hardly qualifies as "hassling" passholders!
Minor inconvenience--sure.

Agreed.

 

[aquamanalaska]

Read this recent thread (Can you cut through Mickey and Friends Garage to Tram?), especially posts #13-15 -- this has happened to others, too, but only took a few minutes to be resolved in those cases. Not sure why your case took so much longer.

I was post #13...I did this last trip ( Feb 2019) in the morning at gate opening. DL and DCA were opening at the same time. DW and I scanned at DCA the lines look shorter and they opened first. I had to get that Maxpass fired up ASAP. We double back and go to DL. At the turnstile our APs got flagged and manager came and took our APs. We both got a little nervous to say the least. The manager took them to one of those tiny rooms at the DL turnstiles and came back about 3-5 minutes later (it felt like forever) and we were on our way. I will probably stay away from that hack. My DW was not impressed.


With the price I payed for my AP I am OK with Disney making sure that someone is not trying to steal services from them. What bothered my DW and I was standing at the turnstile waiting for our expensive APs to hopefully come back from the little office at the gates. There was very little explanation on why the APs were confiscated before or after except "were you just at DCA?" It would be awesome to really understand what scam they are trying to stop. Also if the lead CM could have not just left us hanging in the wind, like maybe take us to the little office with them and telling us "no worries this will just take a minute or two." The CMs and their Customer Service is one of the reasons I am an out of state AP, but that customer service was highly lacking for those 5 minutes.

 

[midnight star]

With the price I payed for my AP I am OK with Disney making sure that someone is not trying to steal services from them. What bothered my DW and I was standing at the turnstile waiting for our expensive APs to hopefully come back from the little office at the gates. There was very little explanation on why the APs were confiscated before or after except "were you just at DCA?" It would be awesome to really understand what scam they are trying to stop. Also if the lead CM could have not just left us hanging in the wind, like maybe take us to the little office with them and telling us "no worries this will just take a minute or two." The CMs and their Customer Service is one of the reasons I am an out of state AP, but that customer service was highly lacking for those 5 minutes.

That's the part that would terrify me. Even if I knew I did nothing wrong, the CM's just taking it without saying something is worrisome to me.

 

[hjgaus]

Perhaps instead of freezing a pass Disney could find a way to just add a notice to the pass. Something that tells the CM at the gate to compare the pass holder’s photo extra close, but to let them in the park unless something seems really off.

Maybe Disney saw the Youtube video of the guy with no park ticket that covinced the nice CMs at the GCH entrance to let him in anyway. Then he went to the front gate of DL and covinced them to do the same. Although he didn’t have a ticket to track & freeze, so maybe not.

Still it’s a shame that people who scam the system like that, just make the CM’s jobs harder, & make the experience a little less magical for those of us that are following the rules.

Interesting somebody has finally mentioned HIM!! Simon Wilson was that guy from Youtube ! I was totally stunned that he was able to pull it off BUT I felt it was all of the CM's fault that he had dealt with by pretty much falling for his stories and being charmed by him !!! That's what his channel is ALL about anyway.... how to get into ANYWHERE for FREE!!!
He has also got into Disney World as well!!! Without fingerprints!!!

 

[wench]

Interesting somebody has finally mentioned HIM!! Simon Wilson was that guy from Youtube ! I was totally stunned that he was able to pull it off BUT I felt it was all of the CM's fault that he had dealt with by pretty much falling for his stories and being charmed by him !!! That's what his channel is ALL about anyway.... how to get into ANYWHERE for FREE!!!
He has also got into Disney World as well!!! Without fingerprints!!!

Yes, I was absolutely shocked that showing a picture of Cinderella’s castle on his phone, sufficed to someone as proof that he’d been in DL that day. Blew my mind!!!

 

[longboard55]

we know a family with 3 blonde daughters and one pass, probably happens more than you know. I really see a lot of the Disney AP maneuvers as ways to protect paying customers. AP users can get out of hand, and it is not fair to the people who drive 12 hours and buy full price tickets

 

[dieumeye]

Here’s some info I got today...

I scanned in at DTD monorail, didn’t ride, and walked to DL gate and scanned in. No issue. I was at DL for about 30 minutes before walking to DCA main gate. Scanned in no issue.

After an hour I wanted to try to make it happen, so walked over to DL main gate, scanned in and immediately turned around and walked to DCA main gate. Couldn’t have been more than a couple minutes. Got stopped at gate. CM said my pass was “locked” to DL since I had just entered there. And my pass would have to be “cleared” by a senior CM.

After maybe 1 minute a senior CM came over. Here’s the info she had: two scans close together will trigger this. For regular tickets, the gate CM can do an override without having to call over a senior CM. But for APs, they have to call over the senior CM to override.

This is a new policy in place specifically to prevent AP abuse. The whole thing was cleared up within one or two minutes.

I want to reiterate that this did not happen when I was doing my regular park hopping use. It only happened when I explicitly tried to trigger it by scanning in back to back as close as possible.

I’m glad they’re taking some steps to prevent fraud. To the OP who had to wait 10 minutes, Maybe that’s because it was a new system, maybe even the first day? But it didn’t take more than a minute to clear it up for me and it only happened in the first place because I made it happen.

 

[SeaDis]

I’m here trying to figure out how entering through Grand, walking past grizzly and soarin and to Starbucks and down the street and through the throngs entering and out the gates and across the esplanade is any shorter than lobby to hallway to pathway take a right into DTD to esplanade.

Yeah, not much justification on distance. And depends where you are in the hotel. From NR elevator it's shorter. From VGC elevator it's longer, even cutting through the pool. We measured just for fun when having this discussion in the past. That difference (under 200') is nothing on a DLR trip, so not really a factor.

We just got in habit of taking this route for a few reasons: paper fastpasses (in the past), riding Grizzly, and ambiance. These days it's just a preference, not a distance thing.

Maybe Disney saw the Youtube video of the guy with no park ticket that covinced the nice CMs at the GCH entrance to let him in anyway. Then he went to the front gate of DL and covinced them to do the same. Although he didn’t have a ticket to track & freeze, so maybe not.

I'm in the doubter-camp on that video. I encourage anyone to watch it again and look for the following: At DCA/GCH entrance it's heavily edited/chopped up. At DL entrance there is a much more subtle edit just before the CM says "That should be enough". In both cases, there is no doubt in my mind he scanned a valid ticket (off camera) to get in the Park. He also appears to push his way past the GOTG FP return. That would be much easier to do, especially as a single. But if you look closely the scanner is on the left out of frame-- could have easily reached out and scanned walking past it. Or not.
Either way, I say no way at the front gates with seasoned CMs, a photo of Cinderella's castle, and an edited video. Not to mention Disney would have all of this on video themselves. His motivation is growing subscribers $$$. 250k and counting.

After maybe 1 minute a senior CM came over. Here’s the info she had: two scans close together will trigger this. For regular tickets, the gate CM can do an override without having to call over a senior CM. But for APs, they have to call over the senior CM to override.

Great info, thanks for the test! This confirms what I observe with Parkhoppers when they scan red "BONG". The CM usually looks at the photos and waves us through. Never had an issue when we had APs. But that's been a couple years.

 

[Kender]

Here’s some info I got today...

I scanned in at DTD monorail, didn’t ride, and walked to DL gate and scanned in. No issue. I was at DL for about 30 minutes before walking to DCA main gate. Scanned in no issue.

After an hour I wanted to try to make it happen, so walked over to DL main gate, scanned in and immediately turned around and walked to DCA main gate. Couldn’t have been more than a couple minutes. Got stopped at gate. CM said my pass was “locked” to DL since I had just entered there. And my pass would have to be “cleared” by a senior CM.

After maybe 1 minute a senior CM came over. Here’s the info she had: two scans close together will trigger this. For regular tickets, the gate CM can do an override without having to call over a senior CM. But for APs, they have to call over the senior CM to override.

This is a new policy in place specifically to prevent AP abuse. The whole thing was cleared up within one or two minutes.

I want to reiterate that this did not happen when I was doing my regular park hopping use. It only happened when I explicitly tried to trigger it by scanning in back to back as close as possible.

I’m glad they’re taking some steps to prevent fraud. To the OP who had to wait 10 minutes, Maybe that’s because it was a new system, maybe even the first day? But it didn’t take more than a minute to clear it up for me and it only happened in the first place because I made it happen.

It's definitely not close to the first day. I've been seeing people report this happening for a few months. But definitely new in the sense not all CMs seem even totally aware of it and likely still tweaking it.

Still trying to locate the thread I read previously that mentioned this coming up.

Thanks for doing an experiment! I would love to see more experiments too if anyone is willing with other times between. I wanted to my last trip back in January, but it was my last trip before letting my pass lapse so I couldn't bring myself to give up the time .

 

[hjgaus]

'm in the doubter-camp on that video. I encourage anyone to watch it again and look for the following: At DCA/GCH entrance it's heavily edited/chopped up. At DL entrance there is a much more subtle edit just before the CM says "That should be enough". In both cases, there is no doubt in my mind he scanned a valid ticket (off camera) to get in the Park. He also appears to push his way past the GOTG FP return. That would be much easier to do, especially as a single. But if you look closely the scanner is on the left out of frame-- could have easily reached out and scanned walking past it. Or not.
Either way, I say no way at the front gates with seasoned CMs, a photo of Cinderella's castle, and an edited video. Not to mention Disney would have all of this on video themselves. His motivation is growing subscribers $$$. 250k and counting.

I shall check it out once more to see what you had noticed in such detail!! Thanks for the heads up!!