Wrist Bands at the pools?

[skyp4WDW]

I usually stay at Ft Wilderness, and they've had some major issues with locals taking over the pool area. I've watched local groups park up front and load up an internal fort bus a with a birthday cake and all sorts of supplies and head to the pool for a free Disney party.

I've seen that same thing MANY times. I said something to one of the Life Guards who replied, "We know but we're not allowed to say anything. Supervisors don't want any unpleasant scenes..." And so the locals spend their summers at the Ft Wilderness pool. Often there are no chairs left for paying Guests and the pool is wall to wall bodies!

 

[Texans_loyal]

AKL Jambo and Kidani did not require a band in Jan.

 

[Toolulu22]

I've seen that same thing MANY times. I said something to one of the Life Guards who replied, "We know but we're not allowed to say anything. Supervisors don't want any unpleasant scenes..." And so the locals spend their summers at the Ft Wilderness pool. Often there are no chairs left for paying Guests and the pool is wall to wall bodies!

Wow! So WDW doesn't want negative interactions with freeloaders, yet paying guests can't enjoy the amenities? That makes no sense. Bad policy!

 

[OKW Lover]

I believe I saw that they're relaxing the MB policy at some pools because it was making it difficult for emergency responders to get in.

That doesn't sound plausible. Wouldn't a CM just open the gate for them in an emergency situation? Or wouldn't they have a "master key" that gets them in anywhere?

 

[rteetz]

That doesn't sound plausible. Wouldn't a CM just open the gate for them in an emergency situation? Or wouldn't they have a "master key" that gets them in anywhere?

Exactly.

 

[sunnybunnies]

When we visited in late May, Storm Along Bay (Beach Club/Yacht Club pool?) had most gates open and no one checking for MagicBands within the pool area. Same was true at Grand Floridian.
Animal Kingdom (Jambo House) and Poly (right near the fireworks-watching beach) needed a MagicBand to open the pool gates.
What's the pattern?

 

[Ponderer]

That doesn't sound plausible. Wouldn't a CM just open the gate for them in an emergency situation? Or wouldn't they have a "master key" that gets them in anywhere?

I have no idea, just reporting what I've seen posted elsewhere. DVCNews said they had a source indicating this was the case, but take it with a grain of salt.

 

[PlutoTheDog89]

During Christmas at BC, they had someone coming around and scanning MBs, then giving paper wristbands.

In April, they were waiting at the gate to check MBs.

 

[Tigger's ally]

Back in March, the gates were closed at BWI and needed a band to get in. Which seems silly because we were literally the only people in the pool. Plus, how many people willingly want to go to that creepy clown pool! I get why Stormalong Bay needs bands, but the creepy clown?!

He's a cheery clown! And he gets a bad rap. He has had millions of kids go through him over the years and never bit a one!

 

[pixieprincess925]

In Sept, WL pools needed a wristband for access, in January, stormalong bay was wide open. The locals know it because I talked to a bunch of people that were staying at dolphin and "pool hopping".

 

[Doberge]

Magic band readers have reportedly been removed from gates because of emergency response issues. While it's easy to assume that someone could just be there to open a gate, if there's a kink in the sysytem and no one opens the gate, it could contribute unnecessarily to a negative outcome. It's risk management. o You want the presence of first responders to be slowed because someone didn't open the gate, especially when there are alternative options.

An alternative option is stationing cast members with handheld readers at gates. If course this is an increased cost so the gates don't need to be manned all the time, but just enough to dissuade potential pool hoppers. This is already being done at SAB (where someone mentioned handheld scanners and wrist bands).

And if a pool isn't popular enough to attract pool hoppers who negatively effect the experience of paying resort guests, then entry isn't policed. Saratoga Springs pools must not be popular enough; people aren't going out of their way to swim there.

 

[Andrew015]

Magic band readers have reportedly been removed from gates because of emergency response issues. While it's easy to assume that someone could just be there to open a gate, if there's a kink in the sysytem and no one opens the gate, it could contribute unnecessarily to a negative outcome. It's risk management. o You want the presence of first responders to be slowed because someone didn't open the gate, especially when there are alternative options.

An alternative option is stationing cast members with handheld readers at gates. If course this is an increased cost so the gates don't need to be manned all the time, but just enough to dissuade potential pool hoppers. This is already being done at SAB (where someone mentioned handheld scanners and wrist bands).

And if a pool isn't popular enough to attract pool hoppers who negatively effect the experience of paying resort guests, then entry isn't policed. Saratoga Springs pools must not be popular enough; people aren't going out of their way to swim there.

As mentioned early in this topic, I don't buy the "first responder" thing as a reason for this change. If that were true, why are some pools still requiring MB for entrance while other pools are not? Disney is about as risk-averse a company as they come. If this truly slowed response time which could result in a negative outcome (read litigation), then this would be a sweeping change across property. After the gator escapade, they didn't just close the beach at Grand Floridian - they closed them all across property without blinking an eye. And by close, either the beaches were eliminated altogether (Wilderness Lodge) or fortified with rocks (Poly, GF) with warning signs plastered every 10 feet. The lawyers would never have allowed the pool gates to go up in the first place if there was so much as a sliver of concern over paramedic response time. While I don't know what the answer is, if I had to guess, I suspect that it's either too hard to enforce without adding additional bodies/cost (after all, the life guards should be focused on the pool, not your magic band) or too many "scenes" were caused trying to enforce the policy, which gives Disney a bad "look". Just my opinion.

 

[Doberge]

That magic band entrances existed doesn't preclude that what was an approved idea was reconsidered. Like you said, Disney is very risk averse. The beach closures were totally reactionary. Removing an obstacle to first responders may be a mixed reactionary and preventative. It's reactionary that Disney has probably undergone extensive new risk assessments after the gator incident. It's also preventative that Disney is taking an action befoe a serious first responder issue. The beaches and magic band gates may have once passed risk tests, but they just don't pass what's probably a lowered acceptable risk level.

I'm not understanding that Disney is becoming lax on pool enforcement, just that the enforcement means are changing. The reasons pool hopping limitations began still exist today and arguably could worsen in the next few years (new crowds) if unchecked. But I could well be very wrong.

 

[OKW Lover]

In Sept, WL pools needed a wristband for access, in January, stormalong bay was wide open. The locals know it because I talked to a bunch of people that were staying at dolphin and "pool hopping".

I'm confused. Staying at the Dolphin doesn't make somebody a local. Not that they are allowed to pool hop either...

Magic band readers have reportedly been removed from gates because of emergency response issues. While it's easy to assume that someone could just be there to open a gate, if there's a kink in the sysytem and no one opens the gate, it could contribute unnecessarily to a negative outcome. It's risk management. o You want the presence of first responders to be slowed because someone didn't open the gate, especially when there are alternative options.

Sorry, this fails the laugh test. Its easy enough for Disney to give RCID emergency responders a keycard that opens any door/gate. In fact I'd be surprised if they didn't already have that.

As mentioned early in this topic, I don't buy the "first responder" thing as a reason for this change. If that were true, why are some pools still requiring MB for entrance while other pools are not?

Good point!

 

[middlechild]

The company I work for removed all desk phones and directed everyone to use the voice client on their PC. The handsets were planned to be picked up at a later date. Fairly soon after this plan was launched the directive was reversed due to emergency calling and interaction with emergency services. Only after an emergency calling directive was published using the voice client, was the plan eventually completed.
My point is just that if large multi-national corporations in the communications field can overlook basic communications, can WDW be assumed to be error proof?

 

[pixieprincess925]

I'm confused. Staying at the Dolphin doesn't make somebody a local. Not that they are allowed to pool hop either...
.

Oops, my bad. I spoke to some locals that happened to be staying at the Dolphin. They were pool hopping to Stormalong, and sitting in the hot tub while awaiting their friends that were arriving from their home. They seemed to think that those staying at the Dolphin had pool hopping rights

 

[DLgal]

That doesn't sound plausible. Wouldn't a CM just open the gate for them in an emergency situation? Or wouldn't they have a "master key" that gets them in anywhere?

Or they would just jump the fence or kick in the gate. I mean, really. First responders know how to get where they need to be. I can't imagine people would sit around during an emergency and not go open the gate from the inside when the first responders arrive

 

[Remy is Up]

BC/YC and Boardwalk are generally pretty diligent about checking bands. Everytime Ive stayed in any of them they check them at the pool. I have not stayed at GF/Poly/Cont lately but they used to check and last stay at WL they were checking. Last stay at AK they were not, Riverside didnt, AoA nor Coronado were checking. I guess it just depends on the resort and how much they want to enforce the rules.

 

[Nole95]

BC has always been pretty good about checking them. When we were last there with our kids, my wife and I wore our MBs, but did not want to risk the kids losing theirs at the pool. So we left them in the room. The cast member reluctantly let them in even though it would have been clear from scanning one of the adult bands that we had two kids on the reservation with us.

 

[MusicalAstronaut]

Wow! So WDW doesn't want negative interactions with freeloaders, yet paying guests can't enjoy the amenities? That makes no sense. Bad policy!

Kind of sounds like what they did with parking, so I'm not entirely surprised. Free to park for the day to "check out" the resort (possibly swim in a pool you didn't pay for???) but guests staying there have to pay extra.