The reason behind Disney Land's decision to scan visitors’ fingerprint

Walt Disney World and Disney Land have incorporated a fingerprint-based access control system which requires the visitors to scan their finger to gain entry access to the theme park and other properties. This is done along with the submission of regular tickets to validate the identification of all park goers. The park used paper passes and turnstiles earlier.

Users can now exchange their existing passes to get an RFID access card. Their fingerprint is recorded, encrypted to a unique long integer and stored in a database. The fingerprint data is then discarded from the database within the next 30 days for privacy-related concerns. Till 2013, the RFID technology was available only to those visitors who stayed inside the Disney properties for more than a day. But now, every visitor has to carry a pass with fingerprint information on it irrespective of stay duration. This was done mainly to curb the issue of sharing or transferability of passes among individuals apart from the person who made the actual purchase. From 2016 onwards, the toddlers aged 3 or above had to scan their fingerprints too. This infrastructure is active only in Disney Land Florida but not in the California property.         

How was ticket fraud carried out in Disney Land?

Disney Land issues pass for availing their services. This entrance fee gets more economical as you extend the number of days you want to stay inside the park. For example, a 3-day pass will cost around $390, whereas a 5-day pass would cost $450. Per day cost narrows down after 4 days is crossed. This is exactly where people played smart by transferring the pass to other people who would continue the service on the purchaser’s behalf. Both would enjoy much lesser pricing than what Disneyland charges. This loophole caused a significant impact on the company’s income sources. In 2013, they implemented the biometric access control system successfully.

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