I apologize if this was brought up elsewhere, but a search yielded nothing.
After numerous visits to WDW lately... I've come to a conclusion: Security is a joke. Hear me out:
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.
So when I'm not trying to bypass the metal detector (which isn't hard), I sometimes get selected. Great! My buttons on my cargo pockets and my belt set off the alarm so they start checking me out. In one instance, I was screened for nearly five minutes because I had to turn all my pockets out and the guard still didn't feel comfortable letting me though. Eventually he said I was "Free to go." I didn't know I was being detained?
Keep in mind, nobody said anything about the huge round bulge in my side pocket that was my water bottle. They wouldn't be able to identify it without me taking it out as it was completely inside the pocket out of view. I was in disbelief and slightly terrified it was overlooked.
And then there was the family with a stroller I saw get pulled over for metal detectors. The bottom of the stroller was covered and could have easily concealed something. None of the guards even glanced at it.
I was also surprised to find out that there is absolutely no security screening at Disney Springs. That place can get packed on the weekends and could certainly be an easy target.
I feel at this point it's just an illusion of creating a safe place rather than actually trying to create a safe place. It makes WDW an easy target. Look at Universal, and even SeaWorld. Everybody gets screened before going in, period. At Universal even the Team Members go through the same screening the guests do.
So what are your thoughts on this? Why are they creating this illusion rather than creating a safe place to play?
After numerous visits to WDW lately... I've come to a conclusion: Security is a joke. Hear me out:
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.
So when I'm not trying to bypass the metal detector (which isn't hard), I sometimes get selected. Great! My buttons on my cargo pockets and my belt set off the alarm so they start checking me out. In one instance, I was screened for nearly five minutes because I had to turn all my pockets out and the guard still didn't feel comfortable letting me though. Eventually he said I was "Free to go." I didn't know I was being detained?
Keep in mind, nobody said anything about the huge round bulge in my side pocket that was my water bottle. They wouldn't be able to identify it without me taking it out as it was completely inside the pocket out of view. I was in disbelief and slightly terrified it was overlooked.
And then there was the family with a stroller I saw get pulled over for metal detectors. The bottom of the stroller was covered and could have easily concealed something. None of the guards even glanced at it.
I was also surprised to find out that there is absolutely no security screening at Disney Springs. That place can get packed on the weekends and could certainly be an easy target.
I feel at this point it's just an illusion of creating a safe place rather than actually trying to create a safe place. It makes WDW an easy target. Look at Universal, and even SeaWorld. Everybody gets screened before going in, period. At Universal even the Team Members go through the same screening the guests do.
So what are your thoughts on this? Why are they creating this illusion rather than creating a safe place to play?