Disneyland Resort recently rolled out a new way guests will enter the parks, and it's giving me those Tomorrowland vibes. Yes, I'm talking facial recognition. It’s a piece of tech that other theme parks have previously implemented, including the likes of Epic Universe testing it out just last month. Yet, a common grievance is starting to come up among parents.
The Big Complaint About Disneyland's Facial Recognition System That's Cropping Up Among Parents
Now Disneyland resort’s facial recognition system is in full swing, one recent Disneyland guest started a conversation on Reddit about how they noticed it’s led to fewer cast members per gate. I'm talking like two per entry lane. The thread led to a number of parents sharing their experience with the facial recognition system. As one wrote:
I just went with my 3 year old in her stroller. She was asleep when I got to the gates. I couldn’t get her scanned in cause the thing couldn’t find her face (obviously).
As someone who went to Disneyland just last week and has experienced the system myself, I didn’t find it to be very fussy. However, I’m also not the parent of a (possibly cranky) toddler. Tired parents are bringing up good points about how the new system can be tough on some kids. As another person said about their experience:
They insisted on us waking up our 4 year-old from sleep to hold her up to the picture the other night. They would not look at her face to confirm. She told us to try another line/CM LOL. We had to wait in a long line twice to enter the park because we didn’t want to wake her. Other CM confirmed by looking at her face.
Disneyland Resort’s facial recognition system allows the park to take a picture of each guest when they enter the park which then employs biometric technology to convert those images into unique numerical values that are used to find a match. While it sounds simple enough in theory, settling down kids to take a picture has proven to be a chore for some guests. As another parent shared:
Now add kids on tickets all have to get out of strollers to sign in. It’s awful. We were in line for 10 minutes with maybe 7 people in front of us and barely budged because the CM was trying to balance the work for the two lines. Our poor kid declared she had to pee and thankfully some nice folks let us jump in to another line and get to the Main Street bathrooms. I was able to get my fresh 5 year old to the bathrooms, use them, and return to the entrance area and still had to wait for my husband who hadn’t gotten through still.
Of course we’re just talking about the complaints, here. There are surely a lot of families who’ve had a seamless process, but it’s an aspect of the changes certainly worth thinking about.
Don't Fret: How Disneyland Guests Can Override Facial Recognition Fears And Gripes
For those who are totally over (or just plain-old spooked) by the idea of the House of Mouse having a picture of you in their facial recognition system, there are some work-arounds. According to The Walt Disney Company:
Participation is optional. Entrance lanes that do not employ facial recognition technology are also available.
So, if you don’t want to be part of the facial recognition system, there are lanes available without this system in place. This allows guests to decide for themselves what the best fit is for their family. Plus, it’s not like your picture will be stored in the system forever. After 30 days, the system will apparently delete the photo information it’s acquired.
That said, time will tell whether the non-facial recognition lines will be longer or shorter in the notoriously-busy theme parks. The good news is Disneyland has rolled out a ton of new features in the past (such as the reservation system) that haven’t worked perfectly at first, but the kinks were worked out over time.
As Disneyland Resort looks forward to an upcoming expansion in Disney’s California Adventure and the Tony Stark ride boasting “new tech”, I'm guessing even busier parks are on the horizon. Hopefully, all this facial recognition brouhaha will be solved in the meantime.
