Just a warning: Disney may be sharing your PRIVATE Plans with "Friends & Family" that you have explicitly told them NOT to share with!

[mckennarose]

I removed a friend from friends and family due to this issue. The first time they asked about our future trip I was thinking, 'how did they see that?' Awkward.

I get it... imagine having someone you barely know, are not friends with, and see maybe once a year at a family event not only having access to, but comment on your Disney pictures before you even had a chance to see them! My reaction when I heard my son in law's mother verbally commented on my private pictures was not good!

I'm a bit surprised to see that, for some people, it appears this has been going on for YEARS. I mean, Disney is leaking private information to others without permission. Heck, it's probably a borderline GDPR violation for those in covered countries. Just sad that it isn't a "Sorry! One time fluke! We're fixing it now!" situation. It appears now to be a known, ongoing issue.

It's been going on since 2015 in our case. That was the last time one of my son in law's family members listed on my MDE had visited WDW. For some reason, I still saw him on MY MDE until recently. I never connected with ANY of my son in law's family or made/shared plans with them and never went to WDW with them, yet I could see all of them because my daughter was connected to ONE of his family; his mother.

It's like some crazy spider web of connection that you get thrown into and don't have a say in.

 

[KimBean]

I just wanted to pass this along to warn others. There is currently a bug affecting SOME users where Disney is sharing your Plans (Resort Reservations, FastPasses, and so on) with your "Family & Friends" people even if they are not part of those plans and your settings are set to share "Only Our Shared Plans."

Unfortunately, I discovered this over Mother's Day. We had decided to surprise my mother with a surprise visit. (We're from Michigan -- she lives in Orlando.) We showed up at the door unannounced and knocked -- hoping to have a great surprise for her -- and she opened the door and went "Hey! I wondered when you'd be here -- I saw that you were coming!" I have to say that I was really disappointed with the surprise being ruined. (It worked out fine in the end -- still a good visit -- but just very frustration to have that happen.) I asked her how she knew -- and she said that our Resort reservation showed up in her Disney account.

I then had her log back in to show me and, sure enough, there was our resort reservation, our FastPasses, and so on! All shown on her account.

I then logged into my account and double-checked that I had set all of our stuff to share "Only Our Shared Plans" and confirmed that she, of course, was not somehow accidentally a part of any of our plans. She was not. It was showing her our private reservation even though everything in my settings clearly said to NOT do that.

When we got back to the resort later, I called Disney and, after doing some checking, they CONFIRMED that this is a KNOWN ISSUE that they are "working on." Basically, it appears that if you've EVER had any shared plans with a member of your Family & Friends list, then, for some accounts, they can still see ALL of your existing and future plans -- even if you've got those set to Private and they are not at all a part of those plans!

Disney apologized for the mixup, but this is a huge deal to me. In this case, sure, it just ruined a Mother's Day surprise. But, I can see it being even more of an issue in other cases where you simply do not want people to know of your plans.

(Note that you can apparently remove them from your Friends list completely and then they won't see it, but these are people that, on SOME trips, I do want them added in so that we can share FastPass status and such -- and, in some cases, even resort reservations. So, permanently removing them is not a good option.)

Disney says that they are working on it, but still aren't quite sure why it is happening. I just wanted to post to warn others that might THINK that they have private reservations, but might be having them shared -- without their permission -- with others.

That is really sad. One reason I won’t connect with anyone. Sorry they didn’t offer anything more than I’m sorry.

 

[cdoc29]

This post had me worried that Disney was sharing my info with random people. If it's just those I have already chosen to affiliate with through friends and family it seems the solution is pretty easy and this is not the disaster I thought reading the title.

 

[JohnGypsy]

This post had me worried that Disney was sharing my info with random people. If it's just those I have already chosen to affiliate with through friends and family it seems the solution is pretty easy and this is not the disaster I thought reading the title.

That's fine for you. For some of us, it is a bigger deal and the "solution" is not "pretty easy" if you are just implying removing all of them as Friends and Family.

First, in my case, it was a bit of a "disaster" since it ruined a surprise for family. Second, if I had known about this beforehand, then I could have removed people from my list -- but they would have likely noticed that we were suddenly no longer friends -- so it would still have been a problem.

Also, adding people back as Friends and Family is not always trivial -- so it isn't like you can just add/remove them as you please. I have one that, no matter what we do, she never gets the invite to add her back to the list. Even though it goes through the same email server as everyone else in the family (so it isn't being blocked or marked as spam at the server side -- it is just Disney not SENDING the invite to add her in). So, there is complexity in trying to do it that way also.

In any case, others are also clearly troubled by this. No, Disney isn't necessarily showing your info to random strangers (although, at least one person above DID mention that it was doing a Friends-of-Friends things and showing data to/from total strangers, so that does appear to happen sometimes too). But, in the end, Disney is still sharing your private data to others without permission (which is all I said in the title -- so sorry if you took it as "with random strangers"). But I still disagree that "the solution is pretty easy." It very much NEEDS to be fixed. The fact that it has gone on for years is a real concern. (And, as I said, likely a GDPR violation for our overseas friends -- technically, Disney should probably have to report this by law since it is a known issue of leaking personal data.) That seems significant to me.

 

[bumbershoot]

This post had me worried that Disney was sharing my info with random people. If it's just those I have already chosen to affiliate with through friends and family it seems the solution is pretty easy and this is not the disaster I thought reading the title.

Honestly, having a total stranger see it would be LESS worrying to me. They don't know you, can't do much with the info, aren't going to talk to you about it.

But friends or family don't deserve to know every time I go. And I don't deserve to know every time friends or family go. If you're trying to travel without letting people know, this is a problem. Far more of a problem than a simple glitch.

 

[mrsap]

I think what @cdoc29 is saying is that your title is a little deceiving. When I read it at first, I thought you meant Disney was sharing my private info with the public or selling my info. I had to read your post to know specifically what you were referring to. Might want to edit your title a little so people aren’t panicked.

 

[JohnGypsy]

If a Mod wants to do it, fine. Otherwise, I'm fine with people panicking a little bit. As I said, I think this is even a DGPR violation that should be voluntarily reported by Disney. I think it is a bigger deal than some are making it out to be. And, in some cases that others explained above, Disney actually DOES appear to be sharing your private info with "the public" as far as "friends of friends" and other people that you otherwise do not know at all.

EDIT: Ok, I changed my mind and edited it. I still think it is more significant of a problem than some think though.

 

[mckennarose]

If a Mod wants to do it, fine. Otherwise, I'm fine with people panicking a little bit. As I said, I think this is even a DGPR violation that should be voluntarily reported by Disney. I think it is a bigger deal than some are making it out to be. And, in some cases that others explained above, Disney actually DOES appear to be sharing your private info with "the public" as far as "friends of friends" and other people that you otherwise do not know at all.

EDIT: Ok, I changed my mind and edited it. I still think it is more significant of a problem than some think though.

FWIW, I was fine with the original title and didn't think it was as deceiving as some took it. It IS an issue for those of us who experience it and people SHOULD be aware of it. I am genuinely surprised that people have not noticed this before, but I guess if you don't look for it or hear from someone associated with your "friends and family" list, you won't know it's happening. I had no idea until my daughter told me that her mother in law was commenting to her on my photopass pictures WHILE I was still on my trip! She looked at all my pictures every day and it really p***ed me off! We are not friends, we are not close, she had no right and it IS Disney's fault and something they need to fix.

Honestly, having a total stranger see it would be LESS worrying to me. They don't know you, can't do much with the info, aren't going to talk to you about it.

But friends or family don't deserve to know every time I go. And I don't deserve to know every time friends or family go. If you're trying to travel without letting people know, this is a problem. Far more of a problem than a simple glitch.

I agree 100%! And I would add that they also don't need to see my photopass photos without my permission!
I'll repeat my issue.... my son in law's mother...who has NEVER has been on my friends and family list has been able to see my plans, every time I've gone over the past few years, my dining reservations, my resort reservations, my photos for the past few years until my daughter deleted her from her friends and family list. Everyone connected to my son in law's mother, who traveled with her (not the same people each time!) has been visible on my friends and family list. It's how Disney connects people without permission or even notification that is the issue. I could even see my SIL's mother's DVC number and all the resorts she stayed in. I am only connected to my daughter as "friends and family" and "sharing plans together" as we travel together frequently. My son in law doesn't have his own MDE account so he doesn't have a connection to his mother's information. It is only because my daughter had her mother in law listed in her friends and family and because they took one trip together and shared plans.

 

[cdoc29]

LOL first world problems............

 

[mckennarose]

This post had me worried that Disney was sharing my info with random people. If it's just those I have already chosen to affiliate with through friends and family it seems the solution is pretty easy and this is not the disaster I thought reading the title.

LOL first world problems............

So, if Disney HAD actually been sharing your info with random people as you assumed from reading the previous title, would you still call it first world problems when referring to your own uncomfortable experience? I would think you'd be upset about it. I hope it never happens to you and I hope if it, or something similar does happen, no one dismisses your experience as first world problems.

Obviously those of us on these boards and going to Disney are all experiencing first world privileges, but that doesn't automatically discount a real security problem some of us have experienced that has caused people distress. Read around the boards.... ALL the posts are first world privileges and problems!

 

[cdoc29]

First your friends and family list is something you the consumer puts into place. If there was a data breach then it would be a problem (and something we have seen recently with many major companies) even it was just my plans showing I would be out of town and my house available to rob. Someone seeing my plans on the my Disney experience because I linked them top and now those plans are no longer a surprise or someone casually mentions those plans to me that are on my list and very much a First World Problem. Let me put it another way the issue being complained about on here in the scheme of things is an inconvenience, not a disaster or problem or even enough to rise to the level of concern for a rational person.

 

[mckennarose]

First your friends and family list is something you the consumer puts into place. If there was a data breach then it would be a problem (and something we have seen recently with many major companies) even it was just my plans showing I would be out of town and my house available to rob. Someone seeing my plans on the my Disney experience because I linked them top and now those plans are no longer a surprise or someone casually mentions those plans to me that are on my list and very much a First World Problem.

I'm speaking strictly from my experience here...
Two issues here; First, I did not link my son in law's mother, nor did I link her friends and family, all of whom showed up on my MDE. Unless you have family dynamics issues, you won't understand. When you make an intentional effort to maintain your distance and privacy from people who are toxic and love to create and maintain drama, and then find out later they have a tie to you (which was used repeatedly without my knowledge or consent), it IS a major problem.

Second, I believe I said anything on the DIS can be considered a first world problem because we live with privileges many don't. Casually throwing around "first world problems" in a response to people having an issue with the security issue and being upset about it disregards their experience. The board is full of people sharing their experiences and disappointment with things that would be considered first world problems. But to them it is something that is upsetting.

Let me put it another way the issue being complained about on here in the scheme of things is an inconvenience, not a disaster or problem or even enough to rise to the level of concern for a rational person.

The thread is important information, regardless if someone thinks so or not or if it even applies to them. And I stand by the fact that it is a security issue and a problem for some and the fact that a lot of people don't know about it. I came to that "rational" conclusion based on my experiences and how it impacts me as an individual. If you have a different opinion or experience of how the friends and family list applies to you, fine. Then this thread is not one you need.

 

[cdoc29]

Thank you, I stand corrected. Please keep us all informed of any class action lawsuits that arise from this very serious issue. Disney must be held accountable.

 

[mckennarose]

Thank you, I stand corrected. Please keep us all informed of any class action lawsuits that arise from this very serious issue. Disney must be held accountable.

Why be sarcastic? Just acknowledge that it affects some differently than other people and let others have their own experiences and opinions without needing to belittle them. No need for snark. If you're going to call people out on being rational, be rational youself. Stand by your own expectations of others.
Have a nice day!

 

[cdoc29]

You misunderstand me, your posts with detailed explanations changed my mind. I stand with you in solidarity on the issue at hand.

 

[mckennarose]

Again....Have a nice day!