Park hopping hand stamps

[Ringo8n24]

Could someone explain the purpose of getting your hand stamped when you park-hop? I know sometimes I have forgotten and wanted to know what tracking that impacts or does it impact anything at all. It almost seems useless from a guest's perspective when cast members hardly look at it sometimes, but I know internally it was for some tracking purpose. Anybody know the story of this?

 

[TheOneVader]

Probably because people might give the ticket to other friends, after they are done with the parks for that day, and the other peopel could get in for the rest of the day. I don't think this would happen, but oh well.

 

[pepsistar]

:lookaroun Ummmmm I think it was originally for people with just one park/one day admission-- so they could return? should they leave for a while and want to come back?

I do not remember?? I asked one time, and they said that they may ask to see the stamp if you went to another park?

Could it be when they are busy so no new guests are allowed in if it is busy? Or in case your pass does not work? I usually get one just in case, and also to see what it says-- they used to have pictures of the characters, lately it has just been a word/name.

Hummmm any of our CM'S know??

 

[figmentfan]

Disney policy is that you must have a hand stamp to re-enter the park. But, that was back with only One Day One Park tickets. Most people have hoppers now.

I got yelled at by a CM at Epcot, because I was park hopping from MGM to Epcot, and I didn't have a handstamp. She told me you always need to get a handstamp when park hopping. This was about 7 or 8 years ago, when park hopping was fairly new.

 

[Laura]

Probably because people might give the ticket to other friends, after they are done with the parks for that day, and the other peopel could get in for the rest of the day. I don't think this would happen, but oh well.

Don't they have that machine now that measures the distance between your knuckles to make sure people don't share tickets? Or do they only do that with certain tickets?

We had to stick our hands in the machine every time in September when we had the Armed forces salute tickets.

 

[HauntedPirate]

The hand-stamp is a backup in the event that the turnstyle computers go down, or if there's a question about your ticket. That's what a CM explained to us about 3 weeks ago. Basically, get your hand stamped, even if you don't plan to park-hop. Because you never know. :lol:

 

[HauntedPirate]

Originally posted by Laura22
Don't they have that machine now that measures the distance between your knuckles to make sure people don't share tickets? Or do they only do that with certain tickets?

We had to stick our hands in the machine every time in September when we had the Armed forces salute tickets.

I believe that is only for AP and other special ticket holders. We had to do that for our AP's, but haven't had to when we were using our room cards.

 

[Ringo8n24]

I was yelled at by a cast member at MK as figment fan said at Epcot. I figured this hand stamp must really be more important than I thought since the cast member got so upset about it.:animwink:

 

[swimmom]

Originally posted by TheOneVader
Probably because people might give the ticket to other friends, after they are done with the parks for that day, and the other peopel could get in for the rest of the day. I don't think this would happen, but oh well.

This is exactly what I was told by a CM a few years ago. I just get my hand stamped when leaving the park if there is any possibility that we may return or go to another park.

 

[M. Racer]

Originally posted by Laura22
Don't they have that machine now that measures the distance between your knuckles to make sure people don't share tickets? Or do they only do that with certain tickets?

Well, it doesn't measure the distance between your knuckles, but it does map out the pores and follicles on the back of your hand.

 

[Bill]

Not quite.:lol: It measures the distance between your outer skin and your bone, as well as the length of your fingers.

 

[FatBoy976]

I've been going a few times a year to Disney since I was born. I am now 23. The ONLY time they checked our hand stamps for re-entry was when we were little and we wanted to put our hands under the black lights.

On another note, about a month ago when we were there, my family gave me and my wife their single day tickets that they had used earlier in the day. We got back into the MK without any problem. There wasn't even anyone around to check our hands for stamps.

 

[Pixie Duster]

*sigh* I found it hilarious when people ask "do I have to get my handstamped if _____ or _______ or _________" It's like it takes 2 seconds do it just in case.

We use in case the system goes down, if we are worried about a ticket, etc.

Biometric is used on tickets that are suppose to belong to only one person, i.e. AP, SP, Play 4 Days, Cast Member IDs...

 

[raven]

Last week when I was there no one looked at our hands or even asked to see if they were stamped. We just used the hopper to get back in. It's always worked that way for me. I don't see the reason they keep it either unless it's just for the single day passes.

As for the finger reader, it's used for a variety of passes, including CM IDs.

You'd think by now they could find one simple way to do all of it. Next we'll be strip searched and probed. :lol:

 

[Pixie Duster]

Dear Raven,
As I just posted above we only use the hand stamps when the systems are down or if the ticket messes up and we need to verify everythingis ok by using the handstamp. It is a rare occassion that we use it, but we have to have it as backup

 

[Tom]

Just about every theme park does the hand stamps now. At Disney, with the computerized turnstiles, they're almost useless, EXCEPT to make sure you're not sharing your Park Hopper.

People would go to a park, leave, and give their ticket to a friend who would go use it for a while. Back in the day when Cast Members did their jobs and actually checked hand stamps, this was prevented, but like others said, I've only had mine looked at once in my life.

When you put your ticket thru the turnstile at each park you hop to, it knows where you've been, etc. NO need for the stamp unless the computers were to crash, or they think you'd sharing your ticket.

I was also told by a Cast Member that the computer notifies the Attendee if your ticket went through the turnstile twice within too short of a time (like if you passed your ticket out to a friend over the fence or something). Another reason to check your handstamp.

Just in case, I NEVER leave the park without a stamp.

 

[Pixie Duster]

The Cast Members don't check the handstamps stamp not because they are lazy but because they don't need to. They only check is the computer tells them to or if the systems are down.

 

[STGRhost]

I was also told by a Cast Member that the computer notifies the Attendee if your ticket went through the turnstile twice within too short of a time (like if you passed your ticket out to a friend over the fence or something). Another reason to check your handstamp.

I was just going to post that!

These things happen more than most of you might realize (probably because most of the people here are HONEST).

The computer keeps track of more than people give it credit for. The only thing a regular 1d1p or park hopper can't tell us is WHO used the ticket. That's where the hand stamp comes in. The biometrics are used for tix that will be used more long term (as other mentioned) The time it takes to enter all the info for biometrics tix isn't worth it for a park hopper, which is why there seem to be a number of different systems.

 

[Nansafan]

Our family policy is ALWAYS get your hand-stamped. We get ours stamped at each park, even if we visit 4 in one day. You never know when something special might happen and you are staying longer than planned.

 

[Langdonj]

I am guessing the powers that be figure most people assume that the hand stamp actually does keep people from sharing a hopper ticket on a given day, as I assumed. Which probably keeps a few people honest.