Anyone avoiding Gay Days at Disney?

[sweetapril73]

I have planned my family's first trip to Disney May 29th - June 2nd and guess what? It's gay pride week at Disney. Now, don't get me wrong, I have no problem with what people do in their lives, however I am VERY concerned with the reviews I have read about gay days at Disney. TOO MUCH explicit PDA for anyone to observe, but certainly small children. We are taking our son, 13 and our daughter, 5 and I am probably going to avoid ANY of the parks due to this event. Has anyone experienced this event and can you lighten my heart with some good news? I mean, I would think that Disney would keep the "sexual" behavior under control especially since this is a family getaway location. Is this event as "flamboyant" as it seems? I have gay family members as well as gay friends, and I love them to pieces but I do not want to see any couples being explicit in public, gay or straight! I am just sickened by the pictures and reviews I have seen about this event.

Too bad my trip can't be changed to another week!

 

[HeatherFeather]

Relax...I don't think you have anything to worry about. I don't know what kind of reviews or pictures you are seeing but we went last year and saw nothing out of the ordinary except at the entrance to PI one night when there were swarms of attractive, well dressed, fabulous smelling men coming in. DH was embarassed and said they made him feel like a big slob. I just enjoyed the "view."

 

[Anthony1971]

Evey thursday night is (use to be?) gay night at pleasure island and i never saw any bad behaivior. I am sure you will get some rude people just as you woudl expect on any day. I would not worry that much as I am sure the type of people you are worried about will not be that interested in Disney and that goes for all.....I do not know how to word it any better

 

[NotAmused]

I have never gone during Gay Days, but I have seen numerous posts about it on here. Most of the DISers who went during this time previous years, have said it's not bad and usually not noticable. Also, just avoid the "park of the day" and you should be fine. For example, if the schedule says they will be at MK on Monday, then go to one of the other parks and do MK a different day and you will more than likely not even notice the event.

 

[HunnyPots]

Nah, don't get all worked up over it. We've been twice during Gay Days and honestly we never saw anything more "inappropriate" at that time than we did when we went in July. The only thing I'd advise is to not do MK on Saturday and that is because of the crowds. Just do MK on another day and you'll most likely not notice a thing out of the ordinary.

 

[CPanther95]

We made that mistake about 10 years ago. Didn't have a problem with our trip overlapping Gay Day because I assumed it wouldn't have any impact on us. Unfortunately, the PDA was extremely inappropriate for a family park. The fact that they all had red t-shirts on may have caused us to focus on them more than other guests, so that may have contributed to us noticing more than we normally would have from the other guests. But it seemed that at least half the benches around the park had a couple playing passionate tonsil hockey. There were also plenty of extremely tight short, shorts - so much so, you could almost tell their religion with a quick glance.

Now this was 10-12 years ago, so those early unofficial, somewhat impromptu Gay Days have likely evolved since then, so I can't speak for recent years. Regardless, we have always avoided Orlando during those periods.

 

[2Kds2K9]

We happen to be there two years ago during this event. Not too much out of the ordinary, other than we saw a lot of Red Shirts. They were told to wear red. We saw a family reunion that also had red shirts and commented that they "did not get the memo!"

MK was packed on Saturday. We went in the morning and were out of there by 1pm. We saw a few off color shirts with gay/lesbian sayings on them that should have been banned. We we glad our kids didn't take the time to read them. Did not notice much PDA other than some hand holding.

We did see a group of 6 men dressed as.....well as fairies skipping through the park. Tutus, wands and crowns. My then 9YO DD looked at them and my DH commented that it must be "dress up day"! She shrugged her shoulders and carried on.

Honestly, I really don't think my kids paid too much attention to the whole bit. They were too into Disney and the Star Wars weekend.

Go and enjoy!

Leigh

 

[Blue Skies]

Check out Pete's article here on this site:

"Why I’m not going to Gay Days this year"
http://www.wdwinfo.com/disney-gay-days.htm

After reading what Pete has to say, I would avoid Gay Days (I have a young son).

 

[RACHELSMOM1]

I have never gone during Gay Days, but I have seen numerous posts about it on here. Most of the DISers who went during this time previous years, have said it's not bad and usually not noticable. Also, just avoid the "park of the day" and you should be fine. For example, if the schedule says they will be at MK on Monday, then go to one of the other parks and do MK a different day and you will more than likely not even notice the event.

I agree, just avoid the "park of the day" as listed on the gay days site. I personally don't have a problem as long as my kiddos don't have to see inappropriate behavior (by anyone, not just gay people), and I would avoid the park of the day just because of this. My kids are too young to understand these things.

 

[LisaNJ25]

Check out Pete's article here on this site:

"Why I’m not going to Gay Days this year"
http://www.wdwinfo.com/disney-gay-days.htm

After reading what Pete has to say, I would avoid Gay Days (I have a young son).

What a good and honest article.

 

[Jalva22]

I don't think you'll have any problems. I'd recommend avoiding the selected park for any particular day just to avoid crowds though. Honestly, though, if you'll search on this forum you'll find that the overwhelming majority of people have had absolutely no complaints. If the search feature pulls up nothing on your first try, type your search phrase in again on the page it brings up and it should work just fine.

 

[clutter]

We happen to be there two years ago during this event. Not too much out of the ordinary, other than we saw a lot of Red Shirts. They were told to wear red. We saw a family reunion that also had red shirts and commented that they "did not get the memo!"

MK was packed on Saturday. We went in the morning and were out of there by 1pm. We saw a few off color shirts with gay/lesbian sayings on them that should have been banned. We we glad our kids didn't take the time to read them. Did not notice much PDA other than some hand holding.

We did see a group of 6 men dressed as.....well as fairies skipping through the park. Tutus, wands and crowns. My then 9YO DD looked at them and my DH commented that it must be "dress up day"! She shrugged her shoulders and carried on.

Honestly, I really don't think my kids paid too much attention to the whole bit. They were too into Disney and the Star Wars weekend.

We were there at the same time and had the same experience. We went to MK the saturday morning that it was on the schedule. It was CROWDED, but not until around 11. Then the lines grew so fast, the time things couldn't keep up. Splash said 20 minutes, it looked like 90, but my dd insisted that we stand in line because 20 mins was short, lol.

Seriously, the only things I noticed were 1) a lot of red, 2) a LOT more men than usual, and 3) the average height of the crowd was taller than I'm used to, lol.

Agreed, there are a few 'off-color' sayings on the shirts. I don't remember ever seeing any PDAs or even hand holding. I know my dd, 7 at the time, didn't notice anything. I figured if she did, it was about time she simply learned about various types of love.

Having been there with a child that has lead a relatively sheltered life, I don't think it's anything to be afraid of or to avoid. (except maybe PI.)

 

[kandmsmom]

We went to WDW for the first time last year. Our first day at the park we noticed many gay couples holding hands and other inappropriate PDA. Then we noticed all of the red t-shirts. We commented to each other about it. A man overheard our conversation and turned and pointed to his Gay Days t-shirt saying "We storm the castle every year the first Saturday of June!"

It was quite the first impression of WDW! Our 7 and 8 year old DDs did not mention anything about it. They were too busy taking in the park.

We are going back this year May 28 - June 4th. We have searched and found the Gay Day activities. We are planning around their activities.

 

[David R]

I wouldn't call holding hands to be inappropriate PDA.

I have yet to see anything at Gay Days that is any different from what you see everyday. I think your mind just tends to overlook and not register PDAs by different gender couples. Same gender PDAs are more rare in public and therefore you notice it.

If anyone feels uncomfortable during gay days, please do not go. You have a right to enjoy your vacation.

But so do we.

And that means more room for us!

 

[Prinny27]

I went with some friends a few years ago to Disney during Gay Days and never had a problem with crowds or any inappropriate behavior at the parks.

Like previous posters have said, they all wear red shirts, and as long as you avoid the park of the day, crowds won't be an issue.

The only place we noticed anything out of the ordinary was at Pleasure Island at nights - it was definitely inappropriate and WILD. Other than that, there's nothing out of the ordinary about Gay Days - you'll just see lots of red shirts!

 

[sweetapril73]

"Why I am not going to Gay Days this year" is the article I am referring to. Amazing that everyone else thinks it won't be an issue. I still think it's going to be a problem. The multitudes that are expected are high! And for those referring to "hand holding" as the PDA that I am speaking of, you are wrong. That's not inappropriate PDA. Nonetheless, I have to go and I event tried to sell my trip to a gay uncle of mine and he said that him and his partner do NOT frequent events of this kind, it would be uncomfortable so that tells me it will be the same for me and my family.

 

[jjms97]

2Kids2K9...we were there the same time two years ago and also saw the group of men dressed as fairies with wands & tutus!! (It really is a small world!)

Anyway, that was the only distraction we had. The group of men had a "parade" of their own through world showcase all dressed up and dancing their way through the countries, and the only reason we know this is that they were in front of us all the way to Norway for our Princess lunch. They too were dining with the princesses and my only complaint was that towards the end of the lunch when all the princesses were out, that group seemed to be getting a lot of the princesses attention. In fact, at one point all 5 or 6 of the princesses at the lunch with us were over there with them and had a huge group picture. My dds (3 & 5 at the time) kept asking me why those men were "hogging" the princesses.

We saw NO PDA our entire visit (gay or straight) and in fact we are going again around the same time this year. Although this time my husband now has the memo on the red shirt thing and he's not packing a single one!!

Have a great trip!!

 

[sweetapril73]

I wouldn't call holding hands to be inappropriate PDA.

I have yet to see anything at Gay Days that is any different from what you see everyday. I think your mind just tends to overlook and not register PDAs by different gender couples. Same gender PDAs are more rare in public and therefore you notice it.

If anyone feels uncomfortable during gay days, please do not go. You have a right to enjoy your vacation.

But so do we.

And that means more room for us!

Contrary to your belief, I do think that Gay Days will be different from what I see everyday. We live in rural GA and PDA in same sex/opposite sex relationships is not common behavior in our area. I would feel the same way if it were heterosexual couples behaving in this manner. Also, I don't think that on any other given event, there will be 100,000's of same color t-shirts being worn by a specific group of people.

It is bothersome to hear you say that if I am going to be uncomfortable then don't go, you are right, I have the same right to enjoy my vacation as you, I just choose not to fondle/kiss or probe my husband in front of strangers and/or unsuspecting children. THIS is inappropriate behavior. I shouldn't have to AVOID any parks because a gay pride spectacle is planned for that day!

You will never see my side of the story as I may never see yours, however my goal is to have a fun filled week with my family w/o having to explain same sex relationships and lots of inappropriate conduct to my 5 year old.

 

[RACHELSMOM1]

We happen to be there two years ago during this event. Not too much out of the ordinary, other than we saw a lot of Red Shirts. They were told to wear red. We saw a family reunion that also had red shirts and commented that they "did not get the memo!"

MK was packed on Saturday. We went in the morning and were out of there by 1pm. We saw a few off color shirts with gay/lesbian sayings on them that should have been banned. We we glad our kids didn't take the time to read them. Did not notice much PDA other than some hand holding.

We did see a group of 6 men dressed as.....well as fairies skipping through the park. Tutus, wands and crowns. My then 9YO DD looked at them and my DH commented that it must be "dress up day"! She shrugged her shoulders and carried on.

Honestly, I really don't think my kids paid too much attention to the whole bit. They were too into Disney and the Star Wars weekend.

Go and enjoy!

Leigh

I think the men dressed as fairies would have been hilarious. There are so many funny things in this world, and that would have been fun to see. I would hope my kiddos would not see any PDA, but the fairy men would have just been ...... well, FUNNY!!!!

 

[rosiep]

I would LOVE to go to Disney on Gay Day but I hate the heat in May.

As for PDA...of course some behavior is inappropriate..but let's be honest here..any day of the week you go to Disney and you're likely to catch something you'd rather not see....a too tight t-shirt, a rowdy teenager, a rude Mom...

Let's not condemn a whole group for a few persons actions.