Disney Biometrics

// April 9th, 2006 // Technology Bits

Disney Ticket Tag Process
One of the oddest things I saw this year while at SunGard Higher Education’s Summit 2006 was the biometric finger scanners they now use at Disney. Yes, you read that right, Disney is now using biometrics to help crack down on people sharing multi-day passes and other gate fraud. Disney softens this fairly invasive technology by branding it “ticket tag”.
Disney Ticket Tag Machine
While there I asked the gate keeper what the machine actually does. He explained that the dimensions of your fingers are measured, and the first time this data is encoded on the magnetic stripe on the back of the card. On each subsequent visit, a new measurement is compared against what is on the card. He then assured me that the data is not stored in a central Disney database. Still a bit curious, I asked about reliability. He informed that they get their fair share of failed scans, especially on people with arthritis or other conditions which can cause a variation in someone’s finger dimensions.

I found this description on how you use the machine:

You insert your pass into the park entrance turnstyle just like everyone else. After you have inserted your pass, you put your index and middle fingers into the scanner located atop the turnstyle. Once your fingers are inside the scanner, you will feel two small rubber knobs. Place your fingers so that the rubber knob is between the index finger and the middle finger. *LIGHTLY* bring them together so they touch the rubber knob and push your hand all the way in so the web part between your index and middle fingers touches the small plastic spindle at the very front. Do not squeeze the rubber knob tight.

A quick blurb about how finger geometry works:

finger or hand scanning systems capture the physical, geometric characteristics of an individual’s hand – with most systems having the capacity to do so in less than a second. From these measurements, a profile or “template” is constructed which will be used to compare against subsequent readings by the user.

It is important to note this is not fingerprinting. I think in many ways it is similarly invasive, and if Disney is in fact storing and cataloging all this data it is far scarier than the police having your fingerprints. I was very surprised how few people seem to ask the gate attendants what is going on. Everyone accepts this a necessary act for entering the park. If this does bother you, you can refuse and show an ID card instead. I’d be curious how many people do… I bet it is less than .01%.

Also of interest are these further discussions:
Mickey Prints
Biometrics at the Disney Gates

biometrics, disney, disney world, finger geometry, identity, security, ticket tag, walt disney

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6 Responses to “Disney Biometrics”

  1. Jenny says:
    April 9, 2006 at 9:25 pm

    UNH has finger biometrics for their dining hall pass, you slide your card and then do the hand. i never did it there though because i left before it was installed

  2. zbtirrell says:
    April 10, 2006 at 4:49 pm

    I noticed those finger scanners a couple years ago while I was down there. I’ll have to take a look again next time I have a meeting in Durham.

  3. Stephanie Cruise says:
    January 10, 2007 at 11:14 am

    I think such concept is definitely a positive step. Different systems around the globe are becoming safer as tracking clients is getting faster. I myself am getting lots of advantages by using biometric recognition system in my company. Being In charge of the CMS division of an International Airlines agency in my city, I had to ensure smooth management of keeping the customer records. Then we integrated Fingerprint recognition systems from Atlanta Based M2SYS Technology, into our customer service software. Now the whole system works great. As I myself am a satisfied user of biometric software so I comment that where there are questions with spoofing, looking for authenticated and well established biometric firms is the only solution.

  4. Sameha says:
    February 8, 2007 at 1:43 pm

    I am glad to know that Stephanie is really benefited by the biometrics fingerprint scanners provided by our Company. Biometric devices are making transnational communication much easier, safer and more reliable. Customer service is becoming more efficient through it. Tracking clients is getting faster. For large entertainment organizations where customer service is the first priority, one need to ensure smooth management of keeping the records of the customer and the service they are availing . I am a representative of an established research based biometric firm named M2SYS Technology http://www.m2sys.com/
    based in Atlanta Georgia. We have provided our fingerprint scanners to numerous clubs, agencies, POS, super stores and malls starting from medium to large across various countries, who are now making a very fast and reliable customer payment and customer record service through integrating our secured fingerprint identification system in their software. Our’s is a patent-pending fingerprint software solution that can be instantly integrated with a host application, avoiding development burdens associated with a fingerprint SDK. We also offer several off-the-shelf fingerprints software products that are distributed to the end user market through our expanding list of channel partners. I believe to keep up with speed of service and tracking the customers as well as employees in an efficient way, finger print scanners are one of the best solutions.

  5. James Manfield says:
    March 13, 2007 at 10:48 pm

    Come on, how convenient that a shill for M2SYS and a company representative happened to be reading the blog. The above posts are blatant astroturf marketing spam.

  6. Steve says:
    April 28, 2007 at 10:43 pm

    Just went to Disney and after having my finger scanned one day, I returned the next and swapped my card with my mother who went thru using my card and her finger print scan without a problem.

    I then went in with her card and put my pinky finger in which failed. Then I put my index finger in which apparently was a closer match to my mother’s and it worked!

    Just wanted to know how much info they are getting from this… Apparently not much…

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