Annual Passholder Parking Issues

[ABQ]

...with cars behind us, honking horns in annoyance. ...

Were people really honking horns? I will admit I don't often drive into the parks, but when I have, even with long lines, I've never experienced honking horns like those found on the NJ Turnpike or the like.

 

[acerockgal]

I had a strange, rather irritating, issue with Jim in the Magic Kingdom parking turnstile yesterday. On our way through the gate, he asked if he could scan my AP, which of course I said yes. After he scanned it, he looks at his screen and goes "Woah! Red flag!" He then looks at me and says "where did you get this?" I explained to him it was my annual pass, to which he said, "oh no it isn't. On my screen here it says it belongs to a 15 year old boy. You clearly aren't 15." I told him that must be some kind of error, that I'd been a pass holder for years and had this particular AP since last spring when they converted everyone to RFID passes. He kept shaking his head saying "nope". I asked if he'd like to see my ID to verify, and he said, "we're way past that, I'm getting management right now." So he called his supervisor, while we were still right there in the gate, with cars behind us, honking horns in annoyance. I had no choice but to wait, since Jim was still in possession of my AP.

When the supervisor (Mike) arrived, he couldn't have been friendlier. He looked at the screen and rather than being accusatory like Jim explained that it appeared to have the birthday wrong and just asked to see my ID. He verified all of my other information and politely apologized and said I should just visit guest relations to get them to update the birthday. He apologized for Jim's "confusion" and explained to Jim that next time if the ID matches, to just let the guest through and recommend they visit guest relations.

A very helpful guest relations cast member (Cierra) fixed the issue and thought it probably had something to do I with our recently registering magic bands to our accounts and linking them to our AP's for an upcoming stay ("the new system is very buggy right now.") She fixed it and even gave our whole group a fast pass for the inconvenience it caused. She also said Jim should not have been "so gung-ho" about insisting there was an issue. She took down his name and booth number.

I'm very happy the two cast members were helpful and friendly and able to resolve the issue. Both Mike and Cierra were great. Jim, however, needs some additional guest service training- he probably should not have immediately accused me of running some kind of scheme. It didn't bother me much, because it was ultimately resolved, but if my mother or boyfriend had been the ones accused (both of whom were with me in the car), they would not have been nearly as patient as I was. I can only assume Jim was new and was told to be on the lookout for potential scams. He probably thought he had uncovered some kind of scheme.

Anyway, like I said the situation was resolved and all was well, just wish it didn't require so much hassle.

I had the same thing happen with a "Jim" (yes that was his name! lol) back when New Fantasyland had just opened! I'm a season passholder, and I was signed up for the "previews" they were having for the new land. Clearly in the fine print it said that the event also included parking (even though I didn't have an AP). I went through the main gate and was held up for a good 10+ minutes while this CM was arguing with me on how I didn't have parking privileges, although it *said it in the fine print*, which I even had highlighted beforehand. He was beyond rude about the whole thing. At the end I gave up and asked him if I could just turn around because I didn't want to go to the parks anymore after my experience. He waved me right through and told me to turn around. I just kept going straight! Some CMs really need customer service. I wasn't upset at the fact that they wanted me to pay, but upset at how rude he was being!

 

[MissM]

When the supervisor (Mike) arrived, he couldn't have been friendlier. He looked at the screen and rather than being accusatory like Jim explained that it appeared to have the birthday wrong and just asked to see my ID. He verified all of my other information and politely apologized and said I should just visit guest relations to get them to update the birthday.

Several months back we had a CM scan Love's AP at the MK booth and he asked for the birthday on the account. We told him and he said, "oh that's not what it says here." We showed him Love's ID and said, "no, clearly you can see the birthday we told you is correct because here it is on the driver's license" and he waved us in. We stopped at Guest Services and said the toll booth CM said the birthday was incorrect. Guest Services CM scans AP and it's correct on her screen.

So who knows? With all the bugs in the system, it doesn't surprise me that it's wrong sometimes and not others!

 

[asianway]

I had the same thing happen with a "Jim" (yes that was his name! lol) back when New Fantasyland had just opened! I'm a season passholder, and I was signed up for the "previews" they were having for the new land. Clearly in the fine print it said that the event also included parking (even though I didn't have an AP). I went through the main gate and was held up for a good 10+ minutes while this CM was arguing with me on how I didn't have parking privileges, although it *said it in the fine print*, which I even had highlighted beforehand. He was beyond rude about the whole thing. At the end I gave up and asked him if I could just turn around because I didn't want to go to the parks anymore after my experience. He waved me right through and told me to turn around. I just kept going straight! Some CMs really need customer service. I wasn't upset at the fact that they wanted me to pay, but upset at how rude he was being!

Jims probably pocketing the cash from every other paying car so he needs to make sure that every car getting in is legit. Huge audit red flag....

 

[tissandtully]

I had a strange, rather irritating, issue with Jim in the Magic Kingdom parking turnstile yesterday. On our way through the gate, he asked if he could scan my AP, which of course I said yes. After he scanned it, he looks at his screen and goes "Woah! Red flag!" He then looks at me and says "where did you get this?" I explained to him it was my annual pass, to which he said, "oh no it isn't. On my screen here it says it belongs to a 15 year old boy. You clearly aren't 15." I told him that must be some kind of error, that I'd been a pass holder for years and had this particular AP since last spring when they converted everyone to RFID passes. He kept shaking his head saying "nope". I asked if he'd like to see my ID to verify, and he said, "we're way past that, I'm getting management right now." So he called his supervisor, while we were still right there in the gate, with cars behind us, honking horns in annoyance. I had no choice but to wait, since Jim was still in possession of my AP.

When the supervisor (Mike) arrived, he couldn't have been friendlier. He looked at the screen and rather than being accusatory like Jim explained that it appeared to have the birthday wrong and just asked to see my ID. He verified all of my other information and politely apologized and said I should just visit guest relations to get them to update the birthday. He apologized for Jim's "confusion" and explained to Jim that next time if the ID matches, to just let the guest through and recommend they visit guest relations.

A very helpful guest relations cast member (Cierra) fixed the issue and thought it probably had something to do I with our recently registering magic bands to our accounts and linking them to our AP's for an upcoming stay ("the new system is very buggy right now.") She fixed it and even gave our whole group a fast pass for the inconvenience it caused. She also said Jim should not have been "so gung-ho" about insisting there was an issue. She took down his name and booth number.

I'm very happy the two cast members were helpful and friendly and able to resolve the issue. Both Mike and Cierra were great. Jim, however, needs some additional guest service training- he probably should not have immediately accused me of running some kind of scheme. It didn't bother me much, because it was ultimately resolved, but if my mother or boyfriend had been the ones accused (both of whom were with me in the car), they would not have been nearly as patient as I was. I can only assume Jim was new and was told to be on the lookout for potential scams. He probably thought he had uncovered some kind of scheme.

Anyway, like I said the situation was resolved and all was well, just wish it didn't require so much hassle.

Inside Jim's Head:

"Well, today's the day Jim, today's the day you're gonna make Mike proud and catch those evil free parking scammers if it's the last thing you ever do. This is totally something a $8/hr employee should be in charge of... "

 

[71jason]

Yeah. Me too.

It seems to be randomly at DHS and depending on which cast members are working.

It's horribly inconsistent

New thing there Sunday--asked me (and Tucker in the car ahead of me) for our zip codes after scanning. Not sure what the issue is--one of the lots was empty, so space not an issue, and really, why would you park at DHS to go anywhere else?

 

[PhotoDave219]

New thing there Sunday--asked me (and Tucker in the car ahead of me) for our zip codes after scanning. Not sure what the issue is--one of the lots was empty, so space not an issue, and really, why would you park at DHS to go anywhere else?

Thats completely a new one.... Never heard of that before BUT not surprised. Probably the same "verification" idea of matching your billing address zipcode to teh credit card while getting gas.

Or theyre just screwing with the passholders.

 

[tikiman]

I did not read through all 11 pages so sorry if this was mentioned but we got APs at Disneyland the end of October and they took our photo that they check when we go through the gate. Also with our friends that just had 3 day park hoppers they stopped them the first time in to get their photo taken with an Iphone and it was loaded for them to check the photo against even the 3 day park hopper.

 

[WDWoptmist]

Went to Hollywood Studios last night and the CM had to "touch Mickey" on our pass to let us in...literally took less than 2 seconds thought it was an easy way to verify an AP

 

[luv]

I still haven't been questioned or anything. But it seems to me that if Disney has a problem with the APs being stolen, they should focus their efforts on internal controls and not on hassling customers.

I never hear honking at the Disney toll plazas. That must have been crazy. Lots of honking when people stop in Sunpass lanes, though. It's like it's automatic, lol. The second someone stops, everyone starts honking at them. You can just hear them in their cars, yelling, "GO! GO!"

 

[JimboJones123]

Several months back we had a CM scan Love's AP at the MK booth and he asked for the birthday on the account. We told him and he said, "oh that's not what it says here." We showed him Love's ID and said, "no, clearly you can see the birthday we told you is correct because here it is on the driver's license" and he waved us in. We stopped at Guest Services and said the toll booth CM said the birthday was incorrect. Guest Services CM scans AP and it's correct on her screen.

So who knows? With all the bugs in the system, it doesn't surprise me that it's wrong sometimes and not others!

The problem seems to be that the Guest Relations computer database and the Parking database are not linked.

I registered my daughter's name to my AP by accident on the My Disney Experience web site back in the summer when it was all kinds of glitchy.

This past weekend, the parking attendant at DHS would not let me in because her name came up on my AP. I have used it no less than 40 times for parking and at the gate. She asked me several times for my AP instead since this one was hers. She refused to let me in. Then she finally asked if my daughter was in the car. She said yes, and the CM said "well, I can let you in then."

The arrogance was incredible.

When I went to complain at Guest Services, they scanned my card, and it had my name. The CM there suggested that I gave the wrong card to Parking. Again, my fault, of course, the blame game from CMs. I then told him that I have never once used her card to enter parking or the park. He did not believe me. Exasperated, I told him to call parking and have them pull up the card, it sounded like parking was using the My Disney Experience database instead of the park entry database. He huffed off and went to "the back" for 10 minutes.

Upon return, "it looks like they do have your daughter's name on your card." I suggested, not the CM, but I suggested that we might need to get me a fresh card to use. He then pondered that for a few minutes with his supervisor and came back with "My manager suggests we just get you a new card." BRAVO DIPWAD! It then took another 15 minutes for the CM to refund my AP and reissue it to a new card.

Total time invested (wasted): 3 minutes at the gate. 45 minutes at guest services.
I didn't even get offered a free Mickey Bar.

Final parting words from the CM at Guest Relations: "You should not register your APs on My Disney Experience at all at this point. Maybe when you are told to, but not now, and not until then."

WHAT THE????

 

[JimboJones123]

I did not read through all 11 pages so sorry if this was mentioned but we got APs at Disneyland the end of October and they took our photo that they check when we go through the gate. Also with our friends that just had 3 day park hoppers they stopped them the first time in to get their photo taken with an Iphone and it was loaded for them to check the photo against even the 3 day park hopper.

DL also types the name of the AP holder on the pass.

This should have been THE FIRST THING that NG looked at.

 

[JimboJones123]

Inside Jim's Head:

"Well, today's the day Jim, today's the day you're gonna make Mike proud and catch those evil free parking scammers if it's the last thing you ever do. This is totally something a $8/hr employee should be in charge of... "

This is the exact goal of so many parking attendants the past 2-3 weeks. Downright shame.

 

[NearTheEars]

I was asked for ID again last weekend a AK but not on my way to park at MK. It's been sporadic. It seems the times I have both my AP and ID ready to go they just wave me through and when I don't I have to dig for my wallet. Luck of the draw I guess.

 

[71jason]

Yeah, Friday afternoon at MK--one would think a prime day for APs to be used unethically--barely glanced at it.

 

[ford91exploder]

DL also types the name of the AP holder on the pass.

This should have been THE FIRST THING that NG looked at.

The old paper ones had names, KTTW cards have names why in the name of Finagle cannot AP's have names printed on them!

 

[DManRightHere]

On my visit to the parks last weekend (I have the new plastic AP) - I had to show my AP and ID before I was let through the gates. I thought it was odd because normally I just flash my AP and keep it moving. I am not sure why they are checking IDs though but I do not mind. I know my AP is valid and just have my ID ready.

My first instinct says to prevent AP holders from loaning to non AP holders to avoid parking charges.

 

[MissM]

The problem seems to be that the Guest Relations computer database and the Parking database are not linked.

Yeah I think you must be right. Because everything is always fine at Guest Services. It's really quite ridiculous that they can't get everything all on the same system. Seems harder to have made it all unique databases rather than just ONE. What do I know though? I am using common sense after all. Something Disney seems to be lacking these days!

 

[PhotoDave219]

Yeah I think you must be right. Because everything is always fine at Guest Services. It's really quite ridiculous that they can't get everything all on the same system. Seems harder to have made it all unique databases rather than just ONE. What do I know though? I am using common sense after all. Something Disney seems to be lacking these days!

Disney's history with Information Technology is similar to the White Star Line's history with icebergs.

 

[Zummi Gummi]

It is highly amusing (and pathetic) that annual passes (the most expensive tickets Disney sells besides the Premiere Pass) have the bearer's name written on them WITH A SHARPIE.

When I used to live in NJ, even the local Six Flags had our names printed on the pass.