[oceanghost]

Disney uses all this data to "optimize" the park-- for profitability. They're not interested in you, exactly. They've gamified the park, which is what sucks about it now. I was very blessed to have the means to live near Disneyland and be able to afford yearly passes for a decade. I've been to Disneyland at least a thousand times-- and if you think surveillance is a new idea there, you are mistaken.

True story-- I worked as a sysadmin for a number of years, and as such found it useful to carry a knife with me to open boxes-- as receiving equipment was a daily duty for me. My weapon of choice was a CRKT "snap lock" mini knife with a blade no larger than an inch. It was completely inoffensive, but it could open a package quite well and due to the design it was quite safe to keep in your pocket. They don't seem to make this knife anymore-- but be aware it was not the quite large "snap lock" knife CRKT still makes-- this guy about the size of a key.

So, I arrive at Disneyland like any other day. Park in the mega-structure and when I arrive at the security gate, a very respectful gentleman in touristy clothes says to me, "Excuse me sir, can you come over here for a moment?"

He pulls me aside-- he says, "The knife in your pocket. You can't bring that into the park."

I am floored. How could he possibly know about a knife I literally keep on my key ring that doesn't even look like a knife? This is the day I learned that Disney employs security staff to pretend to be park guests.

I said, "Yes, I do have a knife, but I think if I was allowed to show it to you, you might agree that it's not a weapon. If you disagree, then I'll give it to you, so it doesn't enter the park, but don't throw it away because it's a great knife, so consider it a gift."

To his credit, I showed him the knife-- and he said something to the effect of, "That's fine. Have a great day at the park."

To me, this was security done correctly. The guy identified a possible problem (my knife), and was allowed to exercise his own judgement about the situation.

[Atheros]

Here [1] is a video someone recorded of a fight that happened in a Disney park. And here [2] is a Reddit thread discussing it. Expand the comments. Numerous people talked about Disney's infamous security and the apparent lack of it in the video. Not a single other person in that thread noticed the four plainclothes officers in the video, two of whom were present throughout almost the whole video.

Can you find them?

This day was grey-hat day. The first one shows up exactly 30 seconds after the incident starts. The one who does the choke-hold departs almost as fast as he arrived and acknowledges his coworker at 5:29. And no one saw them even from their armchairs. Caught on video and still complete ghosts.

[1] https://youtu.be/7N7Yha7dgxw?t=120

[2] https://old.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/cafr3l/fight_at_dis...