Disney Security?

[bethymouse]

I believe the parks are as safe as they can be. However, Disney Springs is a different story.

 

[thomas998]

Unfortunately over on gun forums I read people talking about concealed carry into Disney all the time. They say it has gotten harder since they now run everybody through the metal detectors, but not impossible. Some guns are even mostly polymer now.

Unless you've printed a gun on a 3d printer it will get caught on any functioning metal detector. The only guns that have ever been made that were invisible to them were very early Glocks and because of that Glock was forced to modify their guns so that they would set off metal detectors or be banned from the US.

Of course that assumes the metal detectors are functioning properly and it wouldn't surprise me if they weren't because the main purpose of them is just to make people feel safer otherwise they would ban any outside strollers, wheelchair, motorized scooters and anything else that wasn't small enough to go through an xray machine.

 

[Minthorne]

It's safer than driving on the highway.

 

[Gabe1]

Disney's security isnt just point enforcement, but distributed in depth.

Well of course it has depth. Just not the depth that many guests imagine it to be. The amount of incedents at Typoon Lagoon. The deaths from drowning at unguarded pools at resorts kinda demonstrates how many places are not being monitored by security or cameras. Last year the county was investigating a rash of burgleries of guests at Saratoga Resorts. This year it was a woman leaving the parks with strollers and belonging of other guests-took the end receiver that bought the stolen goods to crack the case. The indepth security wasn't seeing it. We've had members here have their cars broken into, car stolen from Epcot parking lot, to having licence plates removed from their cars in lots. Lots of crime happens at Disney just like any other place. We need to stop believing Disney has everything covered, be aware of our surroundings. No we don't need to be paranoid but also not be lulled into a false allusion that Disney can be expected to have 40 square miles covered in depth. It just isn't realistic.

This is one of my more favorite stories where a guest catches a thief. A banned from WDW thief. Kudos goes out to Disney for helping the guest catch the thief.

http://www.davelongstrethmusic.com/archives/231

 

[Gabe1]

That's kind of the area I was referring to when I said they can do more. I am long proponent of complete x-ray of all bags.

You mention the TSA, but they are probably the worst group of security in the US. Many studies have shown they miss almost everything.

I agree with the first part, the second about TSA I'm not sure how that is actually compiled. We don't know WHAT is really missed anymore than we know what is missed by Disney or security at a Chicago Bears game. I worked at Ohare for many years a gun is really hard to miss as is a knife, axe even scissors. You'd need to be asleep to miss those. Guide me to the studies please 'cause I'd love to read them.

 

[Gabe1]

Unless you've printed a gun on a 3d printer it will get caught on any functioning metal detector. The only guns that have ever been made that were invisible to them were very early Glocks and because of that Glock was forced to modify their guns so that they would set off metal detectors or be banned from the US.

Of course that assumes the metal detectors are functioning properly and it wouldn't surprise me if they weren't because the main purpose of them is just to make people feel safer otherwise they would ban any outside strollers, wheelchair, motorized scooters and anything else that wasn't small enough to go through an xray machine.

Huh! Well I never even thought about the motorized scooters being brought into the parks. Wooba! Yikes!

 

[Biggen]

I still don't understand how a sneaking a pocket knife into the park buried in the depths of a stroller will protect your family from a shrapnel bomb or semi-automatic weapons, but if that makes you feel safe, go for it.

Who says it just shrapnel bombs?? People can use all kinds of things to hurt other peoole. I use to carry my firearm in for years into the parks until they put in the detectors. Now that I cant do that i have to settle for a knife. Its better than nothing if the unthinkable happens. Its called be prepared and and it's better than being a sheep and thinking that Disney has everything under control...

 

[correcaminos]

I agree with the first part, the second about TSA I'm not sure how that is actually compiled. We don't know WHAT is really missed anymore than we know what is missed by Disney or security at a Chicago Bears game. I worked at Ohare for many years a gun is really hard to miss as is a knife, axe even scissors. You'd need to be asleep to miss those. Guide me to the studies please 'cause I'd love to read them.

I can tell you I had the same knife keychain in my bag for years and so many flights and they missed it. So I can say they miss small blades easily.

We got TSA Pre-Check to avoid the annoyance of smokescreens, but I have zero faith in those guys.

I have about the same level of faith in Disney bag check security. Much more inside the parks itself though. IMO it's there to make some feel better but it won't stop everything. However I refuse to live my life in fear for a bunch of reasons.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I agree with the first part, the second about TSA I'm not sure how that is actually compiled. We don't know WHAT is really missed anymore than we know what is missed by Disney or security at a Chicago Bears game. I worked at Ohare for many years a gun is really hard to miss as is a knife, axe even scissors. You'd need to be asleep to miss those. Guide me to the studies please 'cause I'd love to read them.

Just search something like "tsa failure rate" on your search engine of choice.

 

[thomas998]

I can tell you I had the same knife keychain in my bag for years and so many flights and they missed it. So I can say they miss small blades easily.

We got TSA Pre-Check to avoid the annoyance of smokescreens, but I have zero faith in those guys.

I have about the same level of faith in Disney bag check security. Much more inside the parks itself though. IMO it's there to make some feel better but it won't stop everything. However I refuse to live my life in fear for a bunch of reasons.

You should have even less faith in Disney security if for no other reason than they have no xray machines and just look in bags. You want to bring a gun into Disney just field strip it and put the parts inside something else like a camcorder shell or camera lenses that you've taken the actual lenses out of.... all sorts of ways you could get a gun in when they don't even bother to xray what your bringing in. For that matter you could bring in sarin in by simply putting the two chemicals that make it into water bottles and mixing it when you got inside... When you give even the most cursory thought about how a terrorist could get things into Disney you quickly realize that their security is a joke and will only get the complete idiot trying to get something in... and while terrorists are fanatics they aren't complete idiots.

 

[Incomudro]

When it comes to safety and security, I look at it this way:
I look at the odds of my and my families personal risk.
What are the odds of such a thing happening while I'm there?
In the case of a Disney trip, during the vacation that we're on?
Even if it happened during that time frame, what are the odds of it happening near where we are at that moment?
The answer to all of that is extremely slight.

 

[thomas998]

It's safer than driving on the highway.

Well if you want to use statistic... it is also safer to fly on an airplane than it is to travel in a car.... then again those same statistics will say it is safer to walk a tightrope than it is to fly in an airplane.... In the end statistics are just a fancy way to support whatever you want to support.

 

[correcaminos]

You should have even less faith in Disney security if for no other reason than they have no xray machines and just look in bags. You want to bring a gun into Disney just field strip it and put the parts inside something else like a camcorder shell or camera lenses that you've taken the actual lenses out of.... all sorts of ways you could get a gun in when they don't even bother to xray what your bringing in. For that matter you could bring in sarin in by simply putting the two chemicals that make it into water bottles and mixing it when you got inside... When you give even the most cursory thought about how a terrorist could get things into Disney you quickly realize that their security is a joke and will only get the complete idiot trying to get something in... and while terrorists are fanatics they aren't complete idiots.

I suppose, but honestly I don't have much faith in either. I've had more issues with TSA not doing their job and yet profiling like crazy to annoy the snot out of me. I don't have much love or faith in them or Disney. Though that said, I don't feel the need for it all anyway. As you said there are ways to get around things no matter what, and I just kind of personally refuse to let terrorists actually cause terror in my life. I have bigger things to worry about, like will it rain when we have a FP for TT

 

[Jahona]

Unless you've printed a gun on a 3d printer it will get caught on any functioning metal detector. The only guns that have ever been made that were invisible to them were very early Glocks and because of that Glock was forced to modify their guns so that they would set off metal detectors or be banned from the US.

This is pretty much a myth that originated when Glock first came on the scene in the 80s. People heard it was a plastic gun and thought it wouldn't be detected by a metal detector. Early prototype Glocks are similar to what we have today and use a metal slide on a polymer lower. Even an all polymer or plastic gun usually has enough metal internals, to deal with the pressure of firing, that it's detectable with a metal detector. Not to mention that most handgun rounds also will set off a detector.

As for Disney Security, it's not called Security Theatre for no reason. For the most part the bag checks and metal detectors are there to deter someone thinking of causing a problem inside the parks. In a way it's worked to a degree in the past. Several non permitted gun carriers were stopped or scared enough that they were either singled out by security or deterred from entering. These people may not have intended to cause harm while visiting the parks, but it did prevent them from further breaking the law.

Disney security won't stop a planned or coordinated attack. Looking at the most recent events the attacks happen outside of the "secure" zones. Once your in the park you're probably ok. The advantage that Disney has is enough eyes watching the crowds to profile and respond to odd behavior.

 

[thomas998]

I suppose, but honestly I don't have much faith in either. I've had more issues with TSA not doing their job and yet profiling like crazy to annoy the snot out of me. I don't have much love or faith in them or Disney. Though that said, I don't feel the need for it all anyway. As you said there are ways to get around things no matter what, and I just kind of personally refuse to let terrorists actually cause terror in my life. I have bigger things to worry about, like will it rain when we have a FP for TT

Very true...though the profiling at my airport tends to be backward PC profiling where they go out of their way to avoid anyone that appears muslim and instead will do extra searches on the the little old ladies you would expect to find in a church bingo hall... If they are going to profile then they need to target everyone based on the ethnicity that is trying to blow up planes, or just go to a truly random system where people push a button at the security that randomly goes green or red because the current system where I live probably makes it easier for terrorist to get past.

 

[jloucks]

I am going to have to disagree with everyone that says WDW has security embedded everywhere. I base this on an incident last visit where a yelling match broke out in the restaurant above the Its a Small World ride.

Long story short, the place was crazy packed. A table opened up right next to the Small World ride (the little overlook areas). Person A put their purse on the table to save it, and wandered off. Person B showed up about 5 minutes later and moved Person A's purse to a less desirable table and sat down. Person B's family shows up and all start to eat. Person A shows up and sees bag moved and throws a bonified full out hissy fit. Yelling, PG cussing, video taping, etc and the sits down with Person B and their family. A refused to move. One of the B party gets bent, and more PG chastising ensues. They are yelling. It is disturbing (ok, fine, mildly entertaining). Manager shows up, and A actually lightly, but physically abuses her! Light poking, arm tapping. Nothing painful, but did cause myself and several others to gear up for a good old fashioned tackling if the manager was punched or slapped. Thought for sure that was coming.

But you know what never did come? Fliippin' security. These wack-a-doos were yelling at each other for between 7-12 minutes and security never showed up. When the wack-a-doos finally calmed down and settled in at their tables, I thought for sure security would show up and investigate and maybe do some park bootin'. Never happened. I know security was called, because I saw the manager do it. She was definitely in danger of getting slapped or purse smacked, but that didn't change anything as far as security response was concerned.

Nah, my impression of in park security has been negatively impacted by first hand experience.

 

[thomas998]

This is pretty much a myth that originated when Glock first came on the scene in the 80s. People heard it was a plastic gun and thought it wouldn't be detected by a metal detector. Early prototype Glocks are similar to what we have today and use a metal slide on a polymer lower. Even an all polymer or plastic gun usually has enough metal internals, to deal with the pressure of firing, that it's detectable with a metal detector. Not to mention that most handgun rounds also will set off a detector.

As for Disney Security, it's not called Security Theatre for no reason. For the most part the bag checks and metal detectors are there to deter someone thinking of causing a problem inside the parks. In a way it's worked to a degree in the past. Several non permitted gun carriers were stopped or scared enough that they were either singled out by security or deterred from entering. These people may not have intended to cause harm while visiting the parks, but it did prevent them from further breaking the law.

Disney security won't stop a planned or coordinated attack. Looking at the most recent events the attacks happen outside of the "secure" zones. Once your in the park you're probably ok. The advantage that Disney has is enough eyes watching the crowds to profile and respond to odd behavior.

Could be a myth... but I'm not sure on that one. I always figured that the barrel would have enough metal to trip any metal detector, but when the ATF required Glock to embed a steal plate in the receiver it gave a little more credibility to the metal detector concern.

But I don't have a lot of faith in their security actually catching someone before they do something only in making people feel safer by going through the motions of security.

 

[correcaminos]

Very true...though the profiling at my airport tends to be backward PC profiling where they go out of their way to avoid anyone that appears muslim and instead will do extra searches on the the little old ladies you would expect to find in a church bingo hall... If they are going to profile then they need to target everyone based on the ethnicity that is trying to blow up planes, or just go to a truly random system where people push a button at the security that randomly goes green or red because the current system where I live probably makes it easier for terrorist to get past.

I completely disagree about the backwards profiling (based on multiple airports I fly through). Also I'm too jaded to believe anything would ever be 'random' with them. I have an Arab based last name and a non Anglo first name - mostly common among Jewish people. I have green 'cat eyes' though not super tan (caucasian with lighter olive complexion) but wear 22k gold bangles from India. When flying alone I would get stopped every single time. I'm American born and Catholic to boot. When I flew with my childl, I was not singled out for checks. Alone, was a different story. I had so many solo 'random' checks that a TSA person remarked how amazing it was that I knew what to do for these checks (I'd start taking off certain items and removing things from my bag before they asked me to do that). They will never make it random.

Honestly as a Caucasian American Catholic, I get really annoyed with how narrow minded they are since they single out for my name and my jewelry. It's still very "let's get the Muslims" based and that's not right at all, but that's a whole other issue there with TSA. Thank goodness Pre-Check does not profile the same way.

 

[MrHappy]

Who says it just shrapnel bombs?? People can use all kinds of things to hurt other peoole. I use to carry my firearm in for years into the parks until they put in the detectors. Now that I cant do that i have to settle for a knife. Its better than nothing if the unthinkable happens. Its called be prepared and and it's better than being a sheep and thinking that Disney has everything under control...

Wuh? Why? Oh, to be "prepared." Gee thanks.

 

[RustySpork]

Tons of security goes on unseen besides what is seen. Anything can happen anywhere but I feel safer at WDW than even my local grocery store or theater (we had a shooting where 2 women died and many hurt from a random mass shooting a few years ago).

I think that's an assumption many people are making for their own comfort. There isn't a lot of evidence to support the theory though. It's quite simple to bypass Disney's security, it doesn't take much thought or effort.