Disney employees ability to walk in guests is changing.

[Ultimate17]

Not sure if this has been discussed here yet, but I just got some news on a change. Someone who works at one of the parks told me that they are revamping how employees let family members access the parks. In the past he was able to walk 2-3 people through the gates on days he was working. We got paper tickets and, unless it was blacked out, could go traverse any of the parks while he went back to work. Soon, employees will be given 3 plastic tickets and will be able to use these tickets to walk family in, but if they lose the plastic tickets, they have to pay ($60+) get new ones. He said it was to cut back on employees letting in "non-family members". I guess they think this will reduce the amount of friends and cousins, etc. that employees walk in, since they have to get the plastic tickets back at the end of the day. Why would disney do this? If anything, wouldn't the guest spending be worth it? I am not a huge disney fan, but I will go 3-4 times a year when my buddy walks me in. I usually spend a good amount on food and drink while I'm there. Just seems odd to me. Anyone else hear about this??

 

[Nick]

From a business perspective, it does make sense. A lot of Disney fans get into the parks for free on their visits because they have friends who work at the park or even just bloggers mooching off a CM. A lot of this has to do with Disney not being worth the price anymore. When your hardcore fans are trying to find a way around paying and only coming if they can get in for free, there's a SERIOUS problem.

 

[UNIrd]

If the CM has to meet up with the friends or family at the start of their day and the end of their day, that sounds like a big PITA for the CM.

 

[Jakemeister]

I think it has a lot to do with NexGen. They're giving CM's the choice of wristbands or the cards. I personally think the cards are a little easier to manage. I think Universal's TM system is the best. Just pre-order the tickets and the person goes to pick them up.

 

[IzzyB]

I think it has a lot to do with NexGen. They're giving CM's the choice of wristbands or the cards. I personally think the cards are a little easier to manage. I think Universal's TM system is the best. Just pre-order the tickets and the person goes to pick them up.

You know, I never thought about how Nextgen would effect cast members access. Because right now when you let someone in a paper pass is created for them and they use that pass to get from park to park. So now they can't do that since paper passes are going away. They don't want to keep handing out the plastic passes over and over as that is more expensive, so a better way is to just give them passes that can be used. Seems logical.

 

[Ultimate17]

I honestly didn't even consider Nextgen. That makes the most sense.

 

[maxairmike]

I have some friends that are not happy at all about the situation, and it does seem like a pure cost-cutting measure. I really can't believe that the in-park spending wasn't more than making up for the difference. NextGen is a cop-out, as they'll give away the RFID ticket cards like candy to regular guests, and it would be trivial to handle this at the ticket windows.

 

[IzzyB]

They are giving them out to PAYING customers. So when you buy a ticket, the cost of the RFID would be built in. But they would never get back the cost of the RFID tickets given out every time an employee lets someone in. I would love to know how many people are let into the parks on a daily basis from cast members.

BTW, technically you are supposed to stay with your guest the entire day. So this change should have no effect on the policy that exists today. The paper tickets that you are limited with every year are a different story. But when you let someone in at the front gate, you are supposed to stay with them. I have heard this from several cast members and one time when my mom got one of her friends to let my sister in, she stayed with us the entire time because her husband never broke that policy. He was a higher up in the company and didn't want to risk getting caught and fired.

 

[maxairmike]

I don't think there's a cost to replace the new RFID cards (MagicBands are a different beast) for regular guests, and I know the Guest Relations CMs re-print tickets for families multiple times, so knowing that the cost for these is still peanuts, I find it hard to believe the cost of the ticket is a serious factor. While the other half of your post is true, its become the equivalent of the old FastPass policy. Maybe this is their way of cleaning it up, but they could have done it without NextGen just as easily the same way that you can get terminated for calling out sick and then visiting the park, they can track the ID's use. I know a few friends who almost had that happen to them.

 

[Jakemeister]

I don't think there's a cost to replace the new RFID cards (MagicBands are a different beast) for regular guests, and I know the Guest Relations CMs re-print tickets for families multiple times, so knowing that the cost for these is still peanuts, I find it hard to believe the cost of the ticket is a serious factor. While the other half of your post is true, its become the equivalent of the old FastPass policy. Maybe this is their way of cleaning it up, but they could have done it without NextGen just as easily the same way that you can get terminated for calling out sick and then visiting the park, they can track the ID's use. I know a few friends who almost had that happen to them.

I think they are just going to charge CM's. I would bet they would be perfectly content printing guest new tickets. Keep the guest happy. I know for a fact it will cost money if you lose the RFID ticket, or the wrist band. I think if they are damaged the replacement is free.

I seriously doubt it's that much of a cost cutting measure. I really just think it is NexGen. They want to get rid of all the turnstiles that aren't RFID.

 

[IzzyB]

I think they are just going to charge CM's. I would bet they would be perfectly content printing guest new tickets. Keep the guest happy. I know for a fact it will cost money if you lose the RFID ticket, or the wrist band. I think if they are damaged the replacement is free.

I seriously doubt it's that much of a cost cutting measure. I really just think it is NexGen. They want to get rid of all the turnstiles that aren't RFID.

I didn't say it was cost cutting, I was saying with nextgen the RFIDs will cost more than the paper copies to produce, so they would want to cut down on waste of losing them from cast members. I think they are just trying to keep the cost the same for employee access with the new nextgen system.

 

[Nitro_230]

Not sure if this has been discussed here yet, but I just got some news on a change. Someone who works at one of the parks told me that they are revamping how employees let family members access the parks. In the past he was able to walk 2-3 people through the gates on days he was working. We got paper tickets and, unless it was blacked out, could go traverse any of the parks while he went back to work. Soon, employees will be given 3 plastic tickets and will be able to use these tickets to walk family in, but if they lose the plastic tickets, they have to pay ($60+) get new ones. He said it was to cut back on employees letting in "non-family members". I guess they think this will reduce the amount of friends and cousins, etc. that employees walk in, since they have to get the plastic tickets back at the end of the day. Why would disney do this? If anything, wouldn't the guest spending be worth it? I am not a huge disney fan, but I will go 3-4 times a year when my buddy walks me in. I usually spend a good amount on food and drink while I'm there. Just seems odd to me. Anyone else hear about this??

Yes RFID plastic costs more then paper, and obviously they would prefer to not give that money away in comp tickets. But the bigger issue here is CMs that sell their access to the parks. It's not about stopping cousins or friends from coming. It's about a CM meeting someone they found on craigs list in the parking lot, collecting $300 and walking them into the park. CMs won't do that if they have to trust they'll be able to get the card back at the end of the day or pay $60 each.

 

[natespf]

Yes RFID plastic costs more then paper, and obviously they would prefer to not give that money away in comp tickets. But the bigger issue here is CMs that sell their access to the parks. It's not about stopping cousins or friends from coming. It's about a CM meeting someone they found on craigs list in the parking lot, collecting $300 and walking them into the park. CMs won't do that if they have to trust they'll be able to get the card back at the end of the day or pay $60 each.

Yes, I would see "the bigger issue" as the main point. RFID cards are ofcourse more expensive, but they are still quite cheap. Disney would have a much larger buying power to get them cheaper than I can, and I can get them under a quarter each.

Then the $60 replacement fee. That seems to me to be more of a deturement for people you do not know, vs anyone you do know (friends and family).

 

[IzzyB]

Yes RFID plastic costs more then paper, and obviously they would prefer to not give that money away in comp tickets. But the bigger issue here is CMs that sell their access to the parks. It's not about stopping cousins or friends from coming. It's about a CM meeting someone they found on craigs list in the parking lot, collecting $300 and walking them into the park. CMs won't do that if they have to trust they'll be able to get the card back at the end of the day or pay $60 each.

I can see this being a reason. I just don't see how hard it would be to get the pass back from a friend or family member, but a complete stranger? I didn't realize CMs did this!!! I can see why Disney would want to stop this and honestly they should. CMs should not be selling their access.

 

[Nitro_230]

Also if these cards are like their maingates they would be active by default. So a stranger has no incentive to return it because they can come back over and over until the TM reports it.

And when they try to use it after the TM reports it they can say the TM sold them tickets, and the TM gets fired and the guests get comped by Disney for the bad experience.

 

[Kevin38]

I can see this being a reason. I just don't see how hard it would be to get the pass back from a friend or family member, but a complete stranger? I didn't realize CMs did this!!! I can see why Disney would want to stop this and honestly they should. CMs should not be selling their access.

Yeah with the new RFID they can see the CM getting someone in and if they stay with them or if the person returns the pass to them as soon as thru the gate.