Our photo was sent to us- creepy......

[Sarabell]

I would say they do use facial recognition. In January the fingerprint reader didn't recognize my sister's fingerprint at the entrance of MK, so a supervisor came with an ipad and scanned my sister's magic band. I was standing behind him and was surprised to see how a bunch of photos of our group came up on the screen (not just on attractions, but throughout the parks) during the past days. Us walking around, at our hotel, etc. They verified it was her and let her in without a problem without scanning her figerprint again.
Obviously at the end of our trip we had our ride photos on the app too available for purchase, so I wasn´t surprised by that either.

 

[MonorailCoral]

I was once inside Imagination, and a cast member pulled me aside and had me pick up a phone and dial a number. It was Goofy singing me "Happy Birthday" on my birthday.

*Edit - On second thought, I was probably wearing a Birthday pin.

 

[NelleBelle]

I loved all of these personally.

Seeing my name on the screen (RnB sensation apparently) in the rocknrollercoaster queue was kinda cool.

I only saw a few...I think we noticed IaSW and Star Tours! I need to pay attention a lot more to what's going on!!
Here's hoping they don't faze these out!

 

[Sarabell]

I was once inside Imagination, and a cast member pulled me aside and had me pick up a phone and dial a number. It was Goofy singing me "Happy Birthday" on my birthday.

*Edit - On second thought, I was probably wearing a Birthday pin.

LOL! same thing happened to my mom in Backlot express. It was the funniest experience cause the cast member was all serious and kind of grumpy, but after we placed our order, he told my mom she was needed behind the counter cause she had a phone call. My mom hesitantly went with him and he grabbed a phone, dialed the number and gave her the phone (poker face all along). Mickey and Minnie sang happy birthday and the guy said happy birthday but never smiled. We were dumbfounded and could only LOL. Off course she was wearing a happy birthday button!

 

[JohnD]

My favorite is "no flash pictures please" as the Medusa portrait takes a flash picture of you while starting HM.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

I would say they do use facial recognition. In January the fingerprint reader didn't recognize my sister's fingerprint at the entrance of MK, so a supervisor came with an ipad and scanned my sister's magic band. I was standing behind him and was surprised to see how a bunch of photos of our group came up on the screen (not just on attractions, but throughout the parks) during the past days. Us walking around, at our hotel, etc. They verified it was her and let her in without a problem without scanning her figerprint again.
Obviously at the end of our trip we had our ride photos on the app too available for purchase, so I wasn´t surprised by that either.

A few years back, WDW openly admitted they took random photos of guests all over the parks. I forget what it was called, but the photos were featured in WDW's first castle projection show. It was supposed to be a way of celebrating WDW's customers or something. WDW took supposedly random pictures of people having fun in MK that day, and then posted them on the castle during this show.

The funny part was, the day we saw it, the weather was particularly wet, grey, and soggy. More or less, everyone in the park that day looked like a wet rat wrapped in plastic (poncho). but when the show aired, half the pictures showed sunny skies and people having good hair days. We thought it was hilarious, but that show didn't last long. It was just comically funny how far from camera-ready everyone looked that day, and how obvious it was that WDW was using canned images. It was also clear WDW was already taking photos without expressly asking permission in the moment (other than the photo consent agreement printed on your park tickets/hotel contract/MDE account agreement).

Likewise, the first time I rode 7DMT, the Photopass picture/movie was footage of sunny skies. That too was comical to see, because we'd only ridden it late at night. The footage kept flipping between canned daytime footage and us riding at night. US! - not us - US! - clearly not us...

 

[LastoneOn]

A few years back, WDW openly admitted they took random photos of guests all over the parks.

I think there's a notice somewhere around the front that says you might be photographed at any time.

 

[Sarabell]

A few years back, WDW openly admitted they took random photos of guests all over the parks. I forget what it was called, but the photos were featured in WDW's first castle projection show. It was supposed to be a way of celebrating WDW's customers or something. WDW took supposedly random pictures of people having fun in MK that day, and then posted them on the castle during this show.

The funny part was, the day we saw it, the weather was particularly wet, grey, and soggy. More or less, everyone in the park that day looked like a wet rat wrapped in plastic (poncho). but when the show aired, half the pictures showed sunny skies and people having good hair days. We thought it was hilarious, but that show didn't last long. It was just comically funny how far from camera-ready everyone looked that day, and how obvious it was that WDW was using canned images. It was also clear WDW was already taking photos without expressly asking permission in the moment (other than the photo consent agreement printed on your park tickets/hotel contract/MDE account agreement).

Likewise, the first time I rode 7DMT, the Photopass picture/movie was footage of sunny skies. That too was comical to see, because we'd only ridden it late at night. The footage kept flipping between canned daytime footage and us riding at night. US! - not us - US! - clearly not us...

We didn´t mind, it was just really funny to feel THAT observed and seeing so many pictures of us. It played in our favor, cause otherwise we would have probably been standing there for a while waiting for them to solve the fingerprint reader issue. As long as you don't take pictures of me in the shower, go ahead and take as many pictures as you want.

Our ride pics and videos were pretty accurate though. Right time, right weather (freezing cold ang gloomy for us who live in South America with lovely tropical weather, no sunny skies at all )

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Are they doing facial recognition at the entrance in addition to biometrics? That might explain why they don’t mind turning off the biometrics sometimes.