The lines at Disneyland were longer than a typical weekday in January on Tuesday, as the park moved to impose a new identification system for people who purchase multi-day passes, a spokeswoman said.
People with passes for several days’ worth of entry to the Walt Disney Co.’s Disneyland and Disney California Adventure theme parks had to stop on the way in and get their pictures taken, Suzi Brown said Wednesday.
It’s part of a months-long effort to crack down on ticket brokers who are re-selling the multi-day passes – which offer discounted admission over a period of days – to a number of guests, instead of to just one person, Brown said.
Tuesday was the first day of the new policy, so guests experienced delays getting into the park as clerks snapped their pictures on iPads at the entry booths.
Going forward, Brown said, people who buy multi-day tickets will get their pictures taken on the first day that they use them. The lines were longer on Tuesday, she said, because workers were photographing everyone who had a pass that was good for several days – not just the ones who were using them for the first time.
“Now they don’t have to show an ID every time,” Brown said. “We’re looking at it as a way we can expedite the process and not make people stop and show their IDs.”
The new policy replaces an earlier effort to crack down on abusers that was started last fall, Brown said.
That plan, which started in October of last year, required people with multi-day passes to present a photo ID such as a driver’s license every time they entered one of the parks.
Under the new system, visitors will not have to stop and show their IDs, because the park’s workers will be able to check their photographs.
The procedure is similar to one that Disney has been using at the parks for years to identify people who have purchased annual passes.
Other companies use similar methods to identify pass-holders and visitors.
Some hospitals, for example, snap photos of guests and print them on visitor badges. Universal Studios, which like NBC is owned by Comcast, Corp., records a fingerprint image of guests who buy annual passes.
Photo Credit: Paul Hiffmeyer