A class action filed May 15 in U.S. District Court in New York accuses The Walt Disney Company of collecting visitors’ biometric data at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure without adequate disclosure or consent. The suit seeks at least $5 million in damages.
Plaintiff Summer Christine Duffield of Riverside County, California, visited both parks on May 10 with her minor children. She alleges Disney violated state privacy and consumer protection laws by deploying facial recognition at park entrances without requiring written consent.
Disney began testing the system in December 2025. Signage informing guests which lanes used the technology did not appear at the Mickey & Friends Parking Structure until April 21, 2026, roughly four months later, according to The Washington Times. The full rollout across most entrance lanes followed days later.
The system captures an image at the gate and converts it into a numerical value, which is compared to the photo saved when a ticket or pass was first activated. Disney’s privacy policy states the data is deleted within 30 days. The complaint disputes that claim, arguing the biometric values persist because they are continuously matched against photos stored in the ticket database.
“Guests should be able to expressly opt in to this type of sensitive facial recognition technology with written consent,” attorney Blake Yagman wrote in the complaint. “The onus of privacy rights should not be on the victim.”
Disneyland Resort spokesperson Jessica Jakary said Disney disputes the allegations. “We respect and protect our guests’ personal information and dispute the plaintiff’s claims, which we believe are without merit,” Jakary said.
The lawsuit follows a $10 million settlement Disney reached with the Federal Trade Commission in December 2025 over the collection of children’s personal data on YouTube.
