Disney fails to change security rule despite promise

PEOPLE'S DAILY reported on Friday that Shanghai Disney Resort, instead of deploying staff members to physically check visitors' bags to prevent them from carrying food inside the theme park, will install more security scanners to do the job. China Daily writer Zhang Zhouxiang comments:

Yet Disney staff members were still checking visitors' bags on Monday, which, according to Chinese laws, is an infringement of their privacy.

In China, only security personnel authorized to check people's bags can do so. Even at subway stations, airports, museums and other sensitive facilities where security check is mandatory, the security personnel dare not physically search an individual's bag unless they are authorized to do so. Instead, security scanners do the job.

Generally, even if a security scanner at a subway station detects something suspicious in a passenger's bag, the security personnel call police officers to check the contents of the bag.

Shanghai Disneyland has ignored this rule by insisting on searching the visitors' bags. Even after people complained online and one visitor threatened to sue Disneyland in court, the park authorities refused to change their policy, saying they had the legal right to check the visitors' bags.

Had Disneyland fully understood Chinese laws, it wouldn't have used such outdated methods to search visitors' bags. More important, even after promising to install an adequate number of security scanners, Disneyland has not done so.

Disneyland also said it will change its policy of prohibiting any outside food from being carried into the park and allow visitors to take some types of food, provided they don't have a strong smell or need to be heated.

The change in policy was expected to help Disneyland repair its image, as the foods sold by the outlets in the park are really expensive, which many believe is part of the company's policy to maximize its profit.

But since Disneyland continues to physically check visitors' bags, it seems it is not interested in an image makeover.