Someone is telling you downright lies.

The customs officers are no different to any other, some are friendly, some are a little stern, depending on what sort of day they are having. But I have to say, I have always (and we go twice a year) found them to be fine.
they do take a picture of you and two finger prints (via a scanner, not by printing!)
No swabbing.
the picture and finger print picture take about four mins, nothing more.

At Orlando international airport, You come off the aircraft, walk to the customs area, this walk takes a while, but its good for the circulation after 8 hours on a plane, go to the lines on the right as they seem to move quicker. there is a red line on the floor and you stay there until called forward. now only the members of the family as detailed on teh green visa waiver form you fill in go forward. You hand over your passports, each person (unless under 15 or over 70 AFAIR) takes turn to have your picture taken by digital photo, and you put your two fingers onto the scanner. Your Green visa form is stapled into your passport and away you go!
You then walk into the baggage reclaim, collect you luggage (there will be a doggie sniffing your bags, this is the US agriculture & fisheries sniffer dog looking for foodstuffs, dairy products meat etc, which are not allowed into the country. If they find any, they will tell you off, confiscate the food and let you through) go through another desk area where you hand over the family white customs declaration form.
Next you place your luggage back onto a carrousel, which loads the luggage onto a truck to take it to the main terminal. this is so not to fill the shuttle trains with luggage.
You go out into the sattelite concourse (where you catch the plane back) go towards the sign saying "shuttle to the main airport terminal". this is a little magnetic tram, a smaller version of the Disney train :-)
onto this, and your first views of Florida. At the main terminal, follow the signs to Bag collect B and find the carrousel for your flight. pick up your bags, go down in the lift one level and collect your hire car/Shuttle bus

its that easy and not scary at all :-)
I hope that helps

Couple of finger prints and a digital picture of your face is what they take and they might ask you a couple of questions.
Like most airports now in the USA they can be difficult places to get through and a lot depends on which immigration officer you get.
Got to admit we have had both the nice type and the nasty type and the nasty type is definitely not nice.
We are off again tomorrow and don't really worry about it now because no matter what type of welcome you get at the airport once you get out of the airport the natives are most definitely friendly.

don't forget that you will have to fill out the exact address where you will be staying including the zip code. That can get you sent to the back of the line.

I would like to mention that I attended a meeting in Orlando yesterday involving local economists, business people, a representative of the Orlando/Orange County Convention and Visitor's Bureau, builders and many others (about 400 people in all) and one of the topics was the need to ensure that when UK and Irish guests and visitors arrive at Orlando International Airport or at Sanford, they are treated respectfully and with the friendliness accorded to close allies and friends. Tens of thousands of Uk and Irish citizens have elected to purchase vacation villas and condos and the local authorities and business elite are becoming acutely aware of the need to work with Federal authorities on how these visitors are greeted in Orlando. As Denny said, it sounds like someone has been pulling your leg with the stories but we don't even want to hear that "nastiness" is being reported either.

hi david,i would like to ask you a question if thats ok.my husband had an accident at work in june last year and cut off the end of his right index finger.i've asked this question before on this forum and have been reassured that we won't have a problem at immigration because of the finger scan.you obviously live in orlando so what do you think?should we get a docs letter to back it up or do you think i'm worrying for nothing?(my hubbie doesn't seem bothered and i am a worry wort!!)i wouldn't even have thought of it but i read someone's wife on this forum had a problem with this,thanks for any help

Thanks to everyone for clearing this matter up for us, you have reassured me.

I know feel i can look forward to Disney World!

Laura

husband had an accident at work in june last year and cut off the end of his right index finger.i've asked this question before on this forum and have been reassured that we won't have a problem at immigration because of the finger scan.

You will only have a problem if they already have his prints on file. I have told the story of my wifes problems before on various forums. We had loads of trouble. However the last time we went ( a couple of months ago) they had sorted it out and they got a match with one index finger and one thumb. Off again tomorrow so she has got the remaining fingers crossed

Regarding the Orlando meeting. Its unlikely that 400 locals would get together 'to ensure that when UK and Irish guests and visitors arrive at Orlando International Airport or at Sanford, they are treated respectfully and with the friendliness accorded to close allies and friends' if there had not been plenty of problems in the very recent past. Hopefully the US will wake up to the problems they are creating at immigration.

Hopefully the US will continue their strong immigration policies to better protect against terrorism and to prevent illegal immigrants entering the country (the latter rather unsuccessfully on the Mexican border).

Terry actually the meeting was an overview of Orlando's current economic situation and the topic came up in the context of discussing the need to balance national security concerns with reducing obstacles to foreign nationals wanting to visit Central Florida and for visa holders who want to pursue entrepreneurial interests here. The data on the favorable impact of foreign nationals working under visas is quite remarkable. Already Orlando is viewed as a "top ten tech city" in the United States putting us in the same league as San Francisco and Boston. Cultivating bright foreign nationals to come here with their ideas and creative energy is just a smart thing to do.

After 9/11 there was a troubling drop off in foreign tourist numbers and the recovery has been slow but each year we are making progress back to the pre-9/11 numbers.

Central Florida has a significant UK expat community. The last thing that any UK or Irish visitor needs is some sort of less than courteous treatment at OIA.

terrynewpack,this is our 5th time to florida so ,yes,my husbands prints are on file,but surely this is better than not, as we've had no problems before so shouldn't that be a plus? this is doing my head in and ruining the run up to our holiday! i will actually feel like we've done something wrong when we get to immigration just because of an accident

sunny, perhaps you can phone the embassy and learn more information directly from them as to your special circumstances.

thanks for the reply david(only just found it!)i might just do that nearer the time just to set my mind at rest