Quick heads up for anyone packing a backpack.
We had been at Joshua Tree the day before Disneyland and forgot a small pair of binoculars in our bag, maybe 4x4 inches. Nothing crazy. We only had one day at Disneyland and got there early.
At security, the guard spotted them and started mocking us about why we’d even bring binoculars. Then told us we either had to surrender them or leave the park. Since we didn’t want to throw them away, I had to leave my family at the gate, take a shuttle back to the hotel, drop them off, and then come all the way back. Completely wrecked our timing and honestly the mood for the day.
What made it worse is that when I came back in, I asked another security guard about it, showed a photo of the binoculars, and he said they were totally fine.
I later contacted Disney since binoculars aren’t on the prohibited items list. They called me and basically said security has full discretion to deny entry for anything, even if it’s not listed, if they think it’s unsafe or could “ruin the magic.” So nothing to be done, just accept it.
So yeah, lesson learned. Even if something isn’t on the banned list, you might still get stopped depending on who you get at security.
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