Is WDW Security Serious?

[Goofyernmost]

I was pulled at every location! I'm 72 & in shape ! I asked why,lady that waved me over whispered ...it's your hat.....I took it off & cked.It was my NRA hat!!!
I beeped when they waved me,showed them my hip repl.card.they waved me again.I said guys we can do this all day & it will still beep!!
They said I could go...I just laughed.NRA hat!! I can't make this up.

I wish it could make me laugh, but, it just shows that so many people at this point feel that the NRA is full of crazy people that think the only way to make a stable world is to shoot it into submission. Seems like that is happening everyday, so, not surprising at all.

 

[danlb_2000]

I was "randomly" selected each and every time pink mickey shirt ears and all...and it was a bit odd at first...then I just stopped caring.... they were very nice and it took less than a second to walk through...in the grand scheme of things...not a big deal

This sounds like my experience also, I got pulled more times then not, my wife on the other never got selected. I am wondering if I was selected because I was wearing cargo pants with a lot of stuff in the pockets. It became quite routine and effortless after the first two time. I had all my metal stuff in one pocket so I could easily pull it out. Another thing we noticed, was when entering Animal Kingdom later in the day the crowds were light enough that they were sending everyone through the metal detector.

 

[Vaughn4380]

I was pulled at every location! I'm 72 & in shape ! I asked why,lady that waved me over whispered ...it's your hat.....I took it off & cked.It was my NRA hat!!!
I beeped when they waved me,showed them my hip repl.card.they waved me again.I said guys we can do this all day & it will still beep!!
They said I could go...I just laughed.NRA hat!! I can't make this up.

Wear a burka next time and never be "randomly" selected again.

ETA: I assume you got the hat because you are a member? If so, thanks for supporting a great cause! Our local friends of the NRA organization just finished teaching 23 boyscouts the basic rifle safety course this past weekend. The kids had a great time.

 

[King Panda 77]

Wear a burka next time and never be "randomly" selected again.

ETA: I assume you got the hat because you are a member? If so, thanks for supporting a great cause! Our local friends of the NRA organization just finished teaching 23 boyscouts the basic rifle safety course this past weekend. The kids had a great time.

Better yet just get one of those FBI hats ... fastpass admission

 

[bunnyman]

I too got randomly selected almost every entry. It's called reverse profiling...pick enough "regular" looking people so you can't be sued for profiling when you actually do pull aside people you are targeting. We're a family of redheads and happens every time at WDW or airports.

 

[Susan Savia]

On Tuesday in Epcot we saw a family standing in front of Energy using their 'Selfie Stick' just snapping away..... Security??

 

[Siren]

Disney's security recently caught two people in separate incidents -- one at AK and one at Epcot -- both attempted to enter a park with a weapon. So, again -- the security does work and it is effective. There are always going to be risks but that's anywhere. It also helps when people are aware of their surroundings and report anything suspicious.

Disney has since quadrupled their budget for off duty police officers, in addition to full time officers. And, they are increasing security measures at all the checkpoints.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

I did get 'randomly selected' twice when my behaviour was indeed off. (Which is what profiling looks for). Such as putting my bag on the table, only to quickly take out and put in my pocket a little bag. With a half eaten sandwich. Neither the guard nor I would enjoy his fingers all over my breakfast, so I quickly put it in my pocket. I was surprised at how attentive they were.

 

[thomas998]

I did get 'randomly selected' twice when my behaviour was indeed off. (Which is what profiling looks for). Such as putting my bag on the table, only to quickly take out and put in my pocket a little bag. With a half eaten sandwich. Neither the guard nor I would enjoy his fingers all over my breakfast, so I quickly put it in my pocket. I was surprised at how attentive they were.

Reality is if you act really suspicious the will notice... But the other reality is if you are hell bent on getting bad things in their system is a joke. Random searches are reasonable if they are truly random but the only way for that to happen is for them pull a page from how it is done in other places. When you travel to Brazil they have truly random checks for your bags when you enter the country to make sure you aren't bringing in things you shouldn't or avoiding taxes, they don't rely on someone to just randomly pull people instead everyone pushes a button and if the light is green you don't have to do the random check if its red you get the check - that is random. But Disney's version is such that anyone can void the metal detectors if they try which really voids the use of them at all.

Not pushing for full on everyone gets a metal detector though because I've experienced that at a Six Flags park and it created insanely long lines which will still do nothing when people are allowed to take in wheelchairs, motorized wheelchairs, stroller and camera.... A terrorist could very easily use any of those items to take in a bomb, gun or any other weapon you could dream up and the metal detectors would do nothing. Do you ever see them really scrutinizing the motorized wheelchairs? Those things could hold enough explosives to knock down half of mainstreet but they are pretty much just waved through.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

Reality is if you act really suspicious the will notice... But the other reality is if you are hell bent on getting bad things in their system is a joke. Random searches are reasonable if they are truly random but the only way for that to happen is for them pull a page from how it is done in other places. When you travel to Brazil they have truly random checks for your bags when you enter the country to make sure you aren't bringing in things you shouldn't or avoiding taxes, they don't rely on someone to just randomly pull people instead everyone pushes a button and if the light is green you don't have to do the random check if its red you get the check - that is random. But Disney's version is such that anyone can void the metal detectors if they try which really voids the use of them at all.

Not pushing for full on everyone gets a metal detector though because I've experienced that at a Six Flags park and it created insanely long lines which will still do nothing when people are allowed to take in wheelchairs, motorized wheelchairs, stroller and camera.... A terrorist could very easily use any of those items to take in a bomb, gun or any other weapon you could dream up and the metal detectors would do nothing. Do you ever see them really scrutinizing the motorized wheelchairs? Those things could hold enough explosives to knock down half of mainstreet but they are pretty much just waved through.

This, yes. You can outgun an NRA Trump rally with what you can bring in on just one single stroller. Nobody checks those things. It makes the entire security check process superfluous.

 

[mergatroid]

So metal detectors... Supposedly they pick guests "at random" for additional screening via metal detectors. What I've found is that they do not pick guests at random. A guard will pull a guest over to the metal detectors and give them a speech of some sort about how they've been selected. Meanwhile, since this takes a good 15 seconds. When the guard is done pulling that person over they go back and pull the next person that comes up. During that 15 second window, anybody coming in will not get screened and they can just walk by because the guard is busy. By observing the process for about a minute I can and have easily been able to avoid going through any kind of security screening as I don't have a bag with me either.

When we visited in September there were several security guards pulling people and it wasn't at intervals like that. In fact I was selected about 2 seconds after the guy in front of me was and had to wait.

The reality is that if a terrorist wanted to cause maximum carnage at one of the parks, his best bet would probably be to wear a suicide bomb. The best place to do this would probably be at the gates to get in, ironically where the 'extra security' some want would cause bigger lines meaning more casualties.

 

[thomas998]

When we visited in September there were several security guards pulling people and it wasn't at intervals like that. In fact I was selected about 2 seconds after the guy in front of me was and had to wait.

The reality is that if a terrorist wanted to cause maximum carnage at one of the parks, his best bet would probably be to wear a suicide bomb. The best place to do this would probably be at the gates to get in, ironically where the 'extra security' some want would cause bigger lines meaning more casualties.

Very true the last airport bombing didn't happen after the security it was just outside the security checks where the people were at a choke point bunched up like sardines in a can.

 

[mergatroid]

Very true the last airport bombing didn't happen after the security it was just outside the security checks where the people were at a choke point bunched up like sardines in a can.

A few weeks back we arrived at the MK at about 8:50am. We'd had to use the ferry and as we and a few hundred others got off we basically joined a huge snaking queue to go through bag check/security. At no other point in the day would an explosion have caused more casualties than there in my opinion, except perhaps leaving directly after the fireworks in nearly the same spot.

 

[Sonic Sunglasses]

Any place trying to enact security screening is caught in the same Catch-22; even if you had a very effective system in place that had minimal impact on the general populace but makes life desperately hard for the bad guys, people would complain and criticise that you don't have a visible security presence. But by having an intensive screening process at the front gate, you create a bottleneck that results in a very target-rich environment. We all know how pointless it would be to smuggle explosives into the park. Nobody is going to get a political/ideological statement across by blowing up the Haunted Mansion or Winnie the Pooh (though I'd be livid if they tried). Ergo, the logical point of attack is just outside the security checkpoint.

How do you mitigate this situation? I don't have a good answer. I don't think anyone does. Does Disney have other layers of safeguards in place that aren't obvious? I certainly hope they do. It's not a job I would want to take on, and my hat is off to those who thus far been successful at keeping us safe.

 

[EOD K9]

I'm on my flight back now and we were there for 5 days in the park. I was randomly selected 3 times. One day at the Studios, I left my bag in the room, breezed on by, and wasn't selected for the magnetometer. Go figure.

 

[Phonedave]

How do you mitigate this situation? I don't have a good answer. I don't think anyone does. Does Disney have other layers of safeguards in place that aren't obvious? I certainly hope they do. It's not a job I would want to take on, and my hat is off to those who thus far been successful at keeping us safe.

Nudity - no clothes allowed in WDW parks makes for a quick security screen.

All kidding aside, it IS a balancing act. Guest Experience vx. Guest Safety as well a Guest Privacy. WDW does have security aside from the gate security people - including plainclothes security in the parks. I have a number of friends who work in corporate security (not for Disney, in other corporations). Most, if not all, large corporations take security of both their employees and their customers (whatever types of customers they have) very seriously. Many corporations have ex-high level FBI / CIA / NSA people as their cheif of security, and hire many ex-military security personell as staff. I am sure Disney does the same.


-dave

 

[thomas998]

Nudity - no clothes allowed in WDW parks makes for a quick security screen.

All kidding aside, it IS a balancing act. Guest Experience vx. Guest Safety as well a Guest Privacy. WDW does have security aside from the gate security people - including plainclothes security in the parks. I have a number of friends who work in corporate security (not for Disney, in other corporations). Most, if not all, large corporations take security of both their employees and their customers (whatever types of customers they have) very seriously. Many corporations have ex-high level FBI / CIA / NSA people as their cheif of security, and hire many ex-military security personell as staff. I am sure Disney does the same.


-dave

Actually even if you were all running around naked a terrorist could still get a bomb in and blow up things. Previous cases of drug smugglers have shown people were more than capable of either swallowing things full of drugs or even having several kilos of coke surgically placed inside their bodies.... That's just for someone drug lord trying to make money... imagine what terrorist with what they feel is an act for their god would be willing to do... Nothing is 100% and never will be.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Actually even if you were all running around naked a terrorist could still get a bomb in and blow up things. Previous cases of drug smugglers have shown people were more than capable of either swallowing things full of drugs or even having several kilos of coke surgically placed inside their bodies.... That's just for someone drug lord trying to make money... imagine what terrorist with what they feel is an act for their god would be willing to do... Nothing is 100% and never will be.

Well, I would think in order to carry in a weapon powerful enough to do a lot of damage, hidden inside a body cavity, that person would be walking really funny and might draw attention to themselves, especially if naked.

 

[thomas998]

Well, I would think in order to carry in a weapon powerful enough to do a lot of damage, hidden inside a body cavity, that person would be walking really funny and might draw attention to themselves, especially if naked.

Well the last drug mule that was caught with a couple of kilos of drugs in his body also weighted in around 300 pounds... What are the odds of anyone really looking close at someone with that type of body, odds are you and most people would be doing your best to look the other way.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Well the last drug mule that was caught with a couple of kilos of drugs in his body also weighted in around 300 pounds... What are the odds of anyone really looking close at someone with that type of body, odds are you and most people would be doing your best to look the other way.

Yes, but we were talking weapons here, not drugs. There is a difference if nothing more than flexibility. The only way that would work were if someone were to detonate something while it was still inside them and the bigger the get, the messier it would end up, but, most of the damage would be to the carrier. Condoms will not cover everything.