Walt Disney World Using Facial Recognition?!
If you’re a Disney fan, who has had access to the internet in the past few days, then you’ve probably seen the headlines about Walt Disney World using facial recognition technology on guests entering the Magic Kingdom theme park. It’s news that has taken some by surprise and others wagging their finger. Of course, there are others [myself included] that are in no way surprised by this news. . . . but we’ll get to that here in a little bit.
Before we get into opinions and personal feelings, let’s take a second to talk about what exactly is happening at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom theme park.
Starting this week, Walt Disney World began testing new technology at the Magic Kingdom theme park. This new tech uses facial recognition technology to capture an image of a Guest’s face when they enter the park and convert it into a number that is then associated with the Guest’s park admission ticket and other experiences.
If this system sounds familiar, that’s because it’s very similar to Walt Disney World’s pre-pandemic system where fingerprints were used. At the time, guests entering one of the Walt Disney World theme parks would touch their Magic Band or admission card on the scanner and then place a finger on a reader before gaining admission to the parks. Much like the facial recognition technology, this was done as a way to associate the park guest with their admission ticket. Of course, in an abundance of caution for the health and safety of park guests, Walt Disney World has discontinued the use of finger scanners.
Now, as is so often the case when it comes to new technology, there has been some apprehension and push back among Guests. However, it’s important to keep in mind that this is currently a test of new technology and has not been implemented nor is it mandatory for entrance into Magic Kingdom at this time. That said, Disney is encouraging guests to use the technology so that they can continue to develop it and iron out the kinks. The test will conclude on April 23rd and all information and photos taken during the testing will be discarded 30 days following the wrap up of the test.
Like I said at the top of our discussion today, I’m not really surprised by the fact that Walt Disney World is working on a touchless way to link guests with their admission tickets. In fact, I’m actually a bit surprised that it’s taken this long. With most of us having the ability to unlock our phones with a similar type of technology, the idea that a company like Disney wouldn’t be working on something similar just seems silly. After all, Disney has been on the forefront of working with new technology for a long time. When you put that together with the desire to eliminate high touch points, the use of facial recognition technology just makes sense. Not only can Disney eliminate one of those high touch points, but Guests can also be confident that their ticket isn’t being used by someone other than themselves.