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This was just in from the Disneyland website:

All active Disneyland Annual Passholders who have paid for their passports in full will automatically have their expiration date extended due to the theme park closures passport.The new expiration date will be reflected on the Annual Passholder’s Passport account prior to the reopening of the theme parks. The Passholders who have paid in full may choose to receive a partial refund for the theme park closure period. Information will be provided soon on how to choose this option.

If you are an Annual Passholder on the Monthly Payment Plan:

Starting on April 5, 2020, Disney will automatically stop and waive all upcoming monthly payments while the theme parks are closed. They will also retroactively refund payments made between March 14 through April 4, 2020. Payments will resume on the Passholder’s regularly scheduled payment dates once the parks reopen. And oh boy this is huge! For those on a monthly payment plan, Passport expiration dates will not be extended and Passports will expire upon their originally scheduled expiration dates.

If you have questions, call Annual Passholder Member Services at (714) 781-7277.

In other Disney news… Disneyland has donated ponchos to the hospitals to help the doctors defeat the coronavirus. These are the same ponchos used outside when Its raining outside or you don’t want to get wet on rides such as Splash Mountain and Grizzly River Run.

Stay tuned for updates.

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So, it appears that Disneyland might have a plan when it reopens. Disneyland might be checking your temperature before letting you in after the covid-19 shutdown. Disney executive chairman Bob Iger said that Disney is preparing for a post-covid-19 world where theme park visitors demand more scrutiny in order to stay safe. I think this is a good idea because if Disneyland finds out that some people are sick, then they shouldn’t let them in. I think that they want to make sure that people don’t have a fever and get other people sick. Bob Iger also said that Disney is studying very carefully what China has been trying to do in terms of returning to normalcy.

In other Disney news… While the coronavirus pandemic closed Disney’s parks last month, the company is sticking with its policy of not issuing ticket refunds. Once the park reopens, Disneyland’s nonrefundable single-day and multi-day tickets can be used for a future visit through the end of their validity period which is good news according to the park’s website. The expiration date for promotional child tickets will be extended to Dec. 15, 2020, or 13 days after the ticket’s first use, whichever comes first.The Military Salute tickets expire on Dec. 18, 2020, and can be used on non-consecutive days.

Stay tuned for Disneyland updates.

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(via geralt/Pixabay)

The American Civil Liberties Union and New York Civil Liberties Union are challenging federal law enforcement’s use of facial recognition surveillance tech.

A lawsuit was filed Thursday against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

The agencies reportedly failed to comply with requests filed under the Freedom of Information Act.

So the ACLU is asking a federal court to order each department to turn over records concerning facial surveillance and biometric data.

“Unlike other ways of verifying a person’s identity, face recognition technology can enable persistent government surveillance on a massive scale,” Ashley Gorski, staff attorney with the ACLU’s National Security Project, said in a statement.

As of June 2019, CBP scanned the mugs of more than 20 million travelers entering and exiting the United States, according to an ACLU blog post. Several major airlines and the TSA have also partnered with Border Protection on face surveillance initiatives.

“The public has a right to know when, where, and how the government is using face recognition,” she continued. “And what safeguards, if any, are in place to protect our rights.”

The lawsuit is part of the ACLU’s ongoing efforts to bring facial surveillance technology under democratic control.

A number of cities and municipalities across the country have already passed or are considering bans on law enforcement’s use of face recognition software, according to the nonprofit.

“That we even need to go to court to pry out this information further demonstrates why we should be wary of weak industry proposals and why lawmakers urgently need to halt … use of this technology,” Gorski said. “There can be no meaningful oversight or accountability with such excessive, undemocratic secrecy.”

CBP, ICE, and TSA declined to comment on the pending litigation; Homeland Security did not immediately respond to Geek’s request for comment.

More on Geek.com:

• ACLU Sues Federal Government Over Social Media Surveillance
• London Police’s Facial Recognition System Has 81 Percent Error Rate
• Facial Recognition Privacy Act Aims to Protect Your ID

It appears that Disneyland Resort together with other Disney theme parks could be reopening sometime in the summer. Rumor has it that Disneyland Resort is reopening on June 1^st, which could have a lingering impact on attendance through 2021, in step with news analysts. One analyst’s report from J.P. Morgan also estimated that the closing of all 12 Disney parks during the covid-19 pandemic could cost the Disney parks, Experiences, and Products division, $5 billion in lost revenue in financial year 2020. In terms of the financial year, J.P. Morgan has lowered its attendance expectations for Disney theme parks through the end of the company’s 2020 financial year in late September and for 2021. The world health emergency is also expected to lower the Disney resort occupancy, in step with the report.

In other Disney news… Disneyland is planning on doing a $200,000 renovation for Frontierland gate when Disneyland reopens again. It is expected to be similar to the earlier Adventureland sign project that widened the notoriously-crowded entryway to the tropical land as part of a park-wide effort to improve pedestrian traffic flow.

Stay tuned for more Disneyland coronavirus updates.  

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