Usually It's The Other Way Around...

[CoasterMatt]

The Disneyland Parking booths have been robbed again...

http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_1291046.php

A parking toll-booth attendant was robbed Tuesday, the second armed robbery at a Disneyland lot in the past two weeks, authorities said.

[Gemini Cricket]

Yikes. Those CMs are very isolated. Sadly, Disney probably won't do anything about it until someone is shot. :rolleyes:

[Sub la Goon]

The Porsche getaway really makes it.

I suppose now that parking is $11, the booths are actually worth robbing.

[Gemini Cricket]

$11?! That just happened, I guess. When I was there it was only $10!

[SacTown Chronic]

The title of this thread has me cracking up.

[lashbear]

THis wouldn't happen if everyone had to pay by Credit Card !!

:rolleyes:


...Maybe they should switch to the "Take a ticket and validate & Pay at the automated machine on the way out" system - then the only thing thats threatened is the machine !

[Sub la Goon]

Yeah, that new $11 is putting the "P" in AP. Literally. Pay the $45-$50 per year to get the big "P" on your passport (or just so Premium and get it automatically).

They should figure out a way to go cashless in those garages. Use Debit and/or sell parking vouchers somewhere else.

And Lashbear beat me to it...

[lashbear]

And Lashbear beat me to it...

*Lash blows the smoke from his keyboard*

[Cadaverous Pallor]

"Take a ticket" would be faster, too! I wish I wish I wish...

Bummed for the CMs there, being the convenience store clerks of the Disney universe.

[Moonliner]

"Take a ticket" would be faster, too! I wish I wish I wish...



Be careful what you wish for. "Take a ticket" works great on the way in but it can really cause a disaster on the way out.

One simple solution is two fold. First, encourage use of electronic payments (perhaps a slight discount) and second add a locked drop box for each booth. They keep a bit of cash for making change and the rest goes into the drop box.

[Gemini Cricket]

They need security cast members out there. Take out a lane and install a booth for crusty security personnel. That'll do it.
:)

[keith - SuPeR K!]

I came across this link on BoingBoing.net and thought you all might be interested.

http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_1291046.php

[wendybeth]

I have an alibi.

[Kevy Baby]

I can come up with one.

I think

[Kevy Baby]

There's an echo in here (http://www.loungeoftomorrow.com/LoT/showthread.php?t=4434)

[Kevy Baby]

There's an echo in here (http://www.loungeoftomorrow.com/LoT/showthread.php?t=4425)

[innerSpaceman]

And I love the echo effect of Kevy's two 'there's an echo in here' posts when I merge the threads.


Heheheh.

[wendybeth]

Lol!!! I thought about merging these but I couldn't deprive you, iSm.

[Kevy Baby]

Anaheim PD is really taking this seriously. When I went in last night, they had a squad car parked between the lines of cars waiting to get in (albeit, no officer in the car) plus their blacked-out-window spy box lift and another police truck after the booths.

[innerSpaceman]

Apparently, the "heightened" parking structure security of an abandoned police car and a watchtower caused an amazing slow-down that had obnoxiously long lines at the pay booths for most of the day yesterday.

But ... some lucky folks got a Mickey-Pumpkin-shaped, baked goods scented air freshener for their car when they finally reached the take-your-money point.


Year of a million dreams at work???

[Not Afraid]

Year of a million bad car scents! The pumpkin was a great marketing ploy - until you unwrapped it and placed it in your closed up car for a few hours. I had the scent-sation I was trapped in a Yankee Candle store. The cute little pumpkin is now thrown carelessly in the trunk.

[RStar]

The cute little pumpkin is now thrown carelessly in the trunk.
But at least now I can say you have a great smelling trunk!:D ;)

[Babette]

When we entered the structure yesterday there was a notice about heightened security, and an anaheim patrol car in the right lane. Just past the booths was a trailer with a "cherry picker" type jobby. We asked the cast member about it, and he told us it was a portable police surveillance tower. They use it to get a birds-eye view of the area around the park. He said there was not any new threat, they have just been more careful since 9/11. I had never see this contraption until yesterday.

Today on the CBS 5:00 news there was a story about recent armed robberies at the parking booths. The story showed surveillance footage of a nicely dressed man in a gangster/panama hat get out of a black porche and rob the attendant. A second photo shows another day with a silver Camary, but not many details or mention of the day it happened. Does anyone know anything more about this?

HEY!! Didn't Nirvanaman just get a Panama hat in Ecuador?!

[Motorboat Cruiser]

All I know is what I have read on other Disney boards. Someone mentioned that there were police positioned at each of the ticket booths as a result of the two incidents that you mentioned.

I don't know. Seems to me to be a pretty stupid thing to rob. The odds of a car pulling behind you and leaving you only with the option of escaping through the parking structure are pretty high. I sure wouldn't want to navigate through that thing trying to escape. The cops might actually even have time to respond to something like that before you found your way out.

Also, I realize that they are taking in somewhere around $11 a minute at each booth but still, in a three hour period, that's only a little over 300 bucks. Is it really worth the risk for that small a take?

Apparently so...

[Not Afraid]

Here's a link to the thread CoasterMatt started with a humerous title. (http://www.loungeoftomorrow.com/LoT/showthread.php?t=4425)

We were speculating about the amount the theives got away with. Now that parking is $11, I'm sure they keep boatloads of $1's and $5's on hand to make change for the $20's they get handed.

[Babette]

Sorry - I searched and saw nothing. I knew I wasn't the first to think if it ! :)

[MickeyLumbo]

:rolleyes: those dangling pumpkins were distributed to everyone in the office today. sheesh, it was good to get home and take off my shoes.

[innerSpaceman]

Whew, more merging. Sheeh, I can't bring myself to put the threads under any other title but Coaster Matt's original witty one, but this is (for the LoT) a moderator work-out!


And, while I wish no harm to any CMs, I think it is only Karma that Disney's greed for another dollar per car would leave the booths with so much more change-making cash as to provide a more alluring criminal target.

[RStar]

I saw a news blurb about it on TV. They said they would have the film on the news tonight, and showed a 3 second clip of the actual security film.

There was also something in the Register about it. Said two guys pull up in a Porsche, the passenger gets out with a gun (but didn't point it at anyone, and demands the money. Then they take off. I guess they needed the money to make the Porsche payment.......:rolleyes: ........

[Ghoulish Delight]

Also, I realize that they are taking in somewhere around $11 a minute at each booth but still, in a three hour period, that's only a little over 300 bucks. Is it really worth the risk for that small a take?
That's some strange math there, MbC. $11/minute=$660/hour.


HEY!! Didn't Nirvanaman just get a Panama hat in Ecuador?!Perhaps, but does a faded Nirvana t-shirt count as "nicely dressed"?

[innerSpaceman]

You can't exactly make the cleanest of getaways from the M&F structure.

[Ghoulish Delight]

You can't exactly make the cleanest of getaways from the M&F structure.
Apparantly you can (among other things, a quick u-turn to the left once you pass the booths will get you out).

[lindyhop]

This is a little late in the discussion...but according to my personal source, they knew what they were doing as far as picking a time when there weren't that many castmembers around and when there was easy access back to the flyover.