PHOTOS - New bag check areas greatly enhance Magic Kingdom arrival experience

[marni1971]

I've had zero trouble with Disney security so I guess we all have different experiences.

If you say that then we've certainly had different experiences!

 

[Kman101]

Their entry gate process is terrible. They are indeed very very slow.

 

[Kman101]

If you say that then we've certainly had different experiences!

I promise you it was a mess. I was actually very surprised. But I know it was also the time I got there. They also kept moving the scanners all over the place and re-adjusting that. It was very much chaos.

 

[marni1971]

I promise you it was a mess. I was actually very surprised. But I know it was also the time I got there. They also kept moving the scanners all over the place and re-adjusting that. It was very much chaos.

Bizzare. We usually enter at 830-9am (being the tourists that we are) and we both commented how surprisingly slick it was. Despite obviously a large volume of people.

 

[Kman101]

Bizzare. We usually enter at 830-9am (being the tourists that we are) and we both commented how surprisingly slick it was. Despite obviously a large volume of people.

I should be heading there at the end of the month so I'll see how it goes this time. It did seem like a fluke. I was very glad they had guys with wands so I could zig-zag through all the mess. It's not like I really waited so it wasn't like it was bad.

 

[matt9112]

What a great sight this is!

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Will those old bag check areas be torn down than?

 

[marni1971]

I should be heading there at the end of the month so I'll see how it goes this time. It did seem like a fluke. I was very glad they had guys with wands so I could zig-zag through all the mess. It's not like I really waited so it wasn't like it was bad.

Obviously spot hits are not representive of the overall system (my half dozen visits last fall could have been a fluke too) but do report back.

 

[matt9112]

My worry in the USA is guns, not knives
Generally knife crime over here is gang related anyway, so even in a theme park I don't feel likely to get caught up in it. But the chance of some unstable person getting hold of a gun and doing serious damage is a lot higher in US than UK.

It's funny this is prevailing theory. Even though violent crime rate in London is worse than say Los angels because there's obviously far less gun use its ok.

 

[wdwmagic]

What about people who walk from Contemporary to MK? Was that mentioned somewhere already?

They have a dedicated security screen along the walkway.

 

[Jon81uk]

It's funny this is prevailing theory. Even though violent crime rate in London is worse than say Los angels because there's obviously far less gun use its ok.

I've not heard of someone in London going into a cinema theatre or a nightclub or a school and gunning down a whole bunch of people. I know it is a very small risk and these incidences are few and far between, but they seem more common that incidents that involve the detonation of an incendiary device.

Yes there might be a lot of small scale knife attacks in London, but its the big attacks where someone shoots at a whole group of people, that can't be done with a knife that scare me.

Also according to Wikipedia the homicide rate in London is 1.1 and LA its 6.7 (murder/homicide per 100,000). Wiki doesn't have as many stats for LA but it reports knife-enabled crime in London as 16.8 per 10,000 people. So you seem four times as likely to be murdered in LA as any knife crime in London.

 

[Kman101]

And none of that is stopping me from planning a trip there later this year, or early next year. We just have to live our lives. I really want to hit the 25th anniversary stuff and prices are pretty good for September/October .... at least they seem to be.

 

[RustySpork]

Universal's security being outsourced is likely why their security was better. They were using a true security company to do it.

Right, that's the point. It's better, and that's the reason why.

To their entry gates, their finger scanners are atrocious. They are slower and far less reliable than anything Disney has used in the history of Walt Disney World. Hence... trainwreck.

There are only a small number of print readers on the market, they all do the same thing. They capture the print and convert it to a numeric representation. That's used to query a database using the PAN from your magic band or your ticket/pass. Are you saying that Disney is somehow better at database queries?

 

[LuvtheGoof]

Like others have mentioned, my only concern is the impact on resort to resort travel using the monorail line. I'm thinking that for the resort line only, it would make more sense to bag check at the monorail station instead of at each resort. I'm sure folks here that are way more familiar with the layout of the MK monorail station will point out reasons why that would be challenging or impossible but from a logical point of view I think it makes more sense to check immediately at drop off. Then, only folks intending to go to MK would be checked while others are free to travel resort to resort as usual.

Except that you would have to be checked at EPCOT, and they are trying to make the entire monorail system part of the secure zone. Remember that you don't have to be checked when switching from the resort monorail to the EPCOT line.

 

[Jon81uk]

And none of that is stopping me from planning a trip there later this year, or early next year. We just have to live our lives. I really want to hit the 25th anniversary stuff and prices are pretty good for September/October .... at least they seem to be.

Oh none of this actually puts me off visiting the USA, I just feel that if places are going through all the security theatre to look for explosive devices they are better off actually looking for guns etc as well. But overall there is not much you personally can do to avoid idiots that want to kill people so it is better to just live your life.

 

[Kman101]

I think most of us know this is all 'theater security' but if it does stop something then they did their job and it works. But yeah, we all just have to go about our lives.

 

[DisneyJayL]

I never really had a problem with the security at the parks that they had in place. If they have been enhanced, especially from what I experienced last month then I am greatly pleased.

 

[matt9112]

I've not heard of someone in London going into a cinema theatre or a nightclub or a school and gunning down a whole bunch of people. I know it is a very small risk and these incidences are few and far between, but they seem more common that incidents that involve the detonation of an incendiary device.

Yes there might be a lot of small scale knife attacks in London, but its the big attacks where someone shoots at a whole group of people, that can't be done with a knife that scare me.

Also according to Wikipedia the homicide rate in London is 1.1 and LA its 6.7 (murder/homicide per 100,000). Wiki doesn't have as many stats for LA but it reports knife-enabled crime in London as 16.8 per 10,000 people. So you seem four times as likely to be murdered in LA as any knife crime in London.

Your are correct homicide is lower the chance of death is lower....but rape...robbery...assault? All higher. But this has nothingredients. Do with MK.

 

[DisneyJeff]

Like others have mentioned, my only concern is the impact on resort to resort travel using the monorail line. I'm thinking that for the resort line only, it would make more sense to bag check at the monorail station instead of at each resort. I'm sure folks here that are way more familiar with the layout of the MK monorail station will point out reasons why that would be challenging or impossible but from a logical point of view I think it makes more sense to check immediately at drop off. Then, only folks intending to go to MK would be checked while others are free to travel resort to resort as usual.

The major advantage at screening at the resort vs screening at the MK station is that you can screen the guests as they arrive to the station at each of the resorts. This can be done at a more constant pace. If you screened all the resort guests as they leave the monorail at the MK, you will need to screen guests from all 3 resorts (and any additional who got on at the TTC) all at the same time. This will create a backlog at the screening area.

Another advantage would be that your monorails are now "secure". Everyone who is on the monorail has been screened. Theoretically, this will reduce the chance of an "incident" occurring on the monorail.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

What a great sight this is!

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@wdwmagic - do you think they'll leave the existing bag check structures if they won't be used?

I hope the day will come when the bag check stations will be removed from in front of MK. Restore the view!

Will those old bag check areas be torn down than?

Yes, yes, yes. Get rid of those things and redo the area - a little theming couldn't hurt!

 

[Jeff456]

The changes look good, hopefully it will help to speed the whole process up!