Well, I'm going to blame this on the late hour in which I wrote my previous post. In reality the post was published at 1AM, but I wanted to make sure it fell on the day that I actually started writing it so I updated the time and date stamp before publishing (one of the cool features of Blogger!).
I focused so much on telling the story about how I acquired the ticket and a few details of the trip, I didn't get into anything else I wanted to say. My body was fighting me and trying to go to sleep.
I know many people complain about the way we enter the parks today. You have a biometric scanner that reads one or two fingers worth of prints and you slide your ticket (paper or plastic versions) through a device that reads it for validity. It seems like every other person has problems getting their card read. In my trip in September of this year, it seemed like my Annual Pass needed two passes through the machine before it would be read properly.
Well, just think if the method employed in 1995 was still in place today.
Firstly, as Lou Mongello mentioned in his comment in my previous post, you had to get a picture taken for the ticket. This was the "authentication method" employed at the time. This made the process of purchasing a ticket much like the process of getting your driver's license at the Department of Motor Vehicles. Except, the picture on your ticket was far more grainy and unflattering. Somehow it made a super-model look like one of the Seven Dwarfs.
Throughput at the parks is much higher now than it was in 1995 (based on personal observations). The lines that would be involved to purchase tickets would be horrendous and I'm sure put many a park guest in a bad mood before they could even get in the parks.
Secondly, when you went through the turnstiles, The ticket had to be stamped and punched. I forgot why the stamping AND punching was necessary.
Each ticket had to be touched as the picture is looked at and then stamped and punched. But this was only the first time you entered a park for the day. The rest of the day, you just had to present the ticket for inspection to enter the same or another park.
Now, granted, in 1995 there weren't bag check stations, so I don't know if the time to get into the parks today compared to 1995 would be a wash. If you have a bag in this day and age, it can take some time to get through the "rubber glove" inspection and get through the turnstiles. So, the extra time it took in 1995 could actually be the same amount of time as today or quicker.
But the biggest complaint I had about the old way was that the ticket was made out of paper and was meant to be folded in half. I was always concerned about it's safety.
I don't think that many people have paper tickets anymore. If you are staying at a resort and have purchased a Magic Your Way package, your room key is your ticket into the parks and it's plastic. I'm not sure if those people who purchase their tickets at the parks get a paper or plastic ticket. I do remember at Disneyland we had the option of paying extra to get a plastic ticket.
I know holders of an Annual Pass have a paper ticket. I'm also concerned about the disintegration of my Annual Pass just like I was with my ticket from 1995.
All in all, I think Disney has made great strides in the right direction since 1995 when it comes to getting people into the parks.
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4 comments:
Stamping and punching? Sounds like a self-defense course!
I can imagine that Disney would have streamlined the process for tickets somehow. Like having your picture taken at the resort. Maybe back then, it was a form of punishment. "You wanna come into our parks? Well, you're going to have to wait through this lo-o-o-ong line just to buy your tickets. We want you to acclimate to the lines."
Ok...you still haven't given us a mini-trip report for that day? What about the girls? I am assuming that this was well before Enchanted Rose entered your life.
If you purchase your ticket online or at the parks you get paper tickets, same with the Annual Passes. The reason for this is that paper is easier to replace than plastic, something Guest relations can do in about ten seconds for you in your ticket gets damp on Splash Mountain. I used to tell people this and nobody would believe me... People!; you aren't buying a physical ticket, you're buying your name in a central computer system because Disney knows you're gonna mess up the ticket even if they made it of Teflon! =)
Foxx,
You make an excellent point. I'm not as concerned about my annual pass as I was for my paper ticket from 1995.
I was sure to ask the gentlemen at Guest Relations what we should do if anything happens to our Annual Pass. It was at that time he informed us that is why they take so much information when you purchase it. So that they can: A) verify that it's really you and B) get it to you even if you aren't at the parks.
Hmm given the problem some people seem to have with putting the same finger on the scanner each time I'm not sure if it wouldn't be quicker to return to the old stamp and punch method!
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