BAD BOYS BAD BOYS!! Undercover Security

[PhoenixStrength]

I have seen a few people mention and question a few pages back about WDW not checking the bags left in strollers. I can say that they definitely do! I was at WDW last November and saw uniformed officers with dogs in the stroller areas several times. I noticed them around Kilimanjaro Safari at least 3 times. No, they don't check every single bag, but they do make occasional sweeps of the stroller areas for suspicious bags.

Love these stories!

 

[stripesace]

I noticed on our last day in the parks at MK walking in that there were 2 guys talking to each other, with the standard in park Moto phones on there belts. I was like but they're not in costume, or anything! I was by myself so I was going to stop and ask one of them if they were security. Before I could get the words out of my mouth one of them said "yes sir we are what you think we are, but if you could keep walking we're watching a guy who doesn't know it right now." and I said "ok!" a few hours later I was waiting for my wife at the flower garden at the main gate and one of the two came up from behind me and introduced himself and presented a disney security badge and asked if I had any questions, thinking I was a leo. I wear cargo shorts that a lot of police types wear, and often get mistaken as an off duty leo,LOL. Always wanted to be a leo but never did.

 

[BerrysGirl]

When I was in high school I was a member of the marching band. Our school had a tradition of marching in the Disney parade every four years. When I first got into high school, however, I was a little worried I wouldn't get to go with the band because the year before some band members had been caught stealing from one of the outside stands in MK. Who caught them? Winnie the Pooh, of all people... just goes to show there are eyes everywhere.

 

[gk90]

Interesting story BerrysGirl, can you tell more about how Pooh caught them?

 

[BerrysGirl]

Interesting story BerrysGirl, can you tell more about how Pooh caught them?

According to our local newspaper, he was doing an outdoor meet and greet in that little patio area on Main Street. He just happened to look over and saw them stuffing merchandise (I want to say smaller keepsakes, this was before pin trading) into their shirts. Pooh must have signaled to his handler or something, and security intervened. I don't know the kids or any specifics since this was four years before I got to high school, but I do know our school was worried Disney would ask us not to return because of the incident... Apparently Disney doesn't hold grudges against a few bad apples in a high school group because we did returned when I was in high school

 

[Wadecool]

According to our local newspaper, he was doing an outdoor meet and greet in that little patio area on Main Street. He just happened to look over and saw them stuffing merchandise (I want to say smaller keepsakes, this was before pin trading) into their shirts. Pooh must have signaled to his handler or something, and security intervened. I don't know the kids or any specifics since this was four years before I got to high school, but I do know our school was worried Disney would ask us not to return because of the incident... Apparently Disney doesn't hold grudges against a few bad apples in a high school group because we did returned when I was in high school

Thanks for finishing the story. I was trying to picture Pooh tackling and subduing the thieves right there in the middle of Main St. Now that would be a very rare character photo.

 

[metzgardesign]

Interesting story BerrysGirl, can you tell more about how Pooh caught them?

Sticky honey.....he caught them with a big tub of sticky honey. Not Homeland Security approved, but effective nonetheless.

 

[dmccarty]

Sticky honey.....he caught them with a big tub of sticky honey. Not Homeland Security approved, but effective nonetheless.

EXACTLY what I first thought! Pooh captured them with honey.

Later,
Dan

 

[janiejake]

Just found this thread today...and read all 30 pages. Enjoyable stories--thanks for sharing, all of you! I've always felt 'safe' at WDW, perhaps why I've never worried about taking a few trips without DH...I feel safe "in the bubble". I'll be more on the lookout for plain-clothes security in the future. And still chuckling over that "crotch to crack" comment, lol.

 

[ParrotBill]

A couple of years ago my family and I were on a resort bus heading to the MK... as we made a turn the driver oversteered and CRACK! the side view mirror hit a pole. You'd think that was nothing for a bus. Well in New York City maybe. At Disneyworld, the bus pulls off the the side at the bus area and security swarms the bus. First someone who is clearly a transportation supervisor escorts the driver away.

Second, we are asked to stay seated and wait for a moment. A team of suits appears from nowhere, in less that 2 minutes, and boards the bus. They interview everyone to get names, addresses, and ask if we are OK.

We,and everyone else, of course, just want to get off the bus and get into the park! The whole thing took about 15 minutes but they were very clear and thorough on their procedure!

 

[dfmalone]

Headed back in September so I will be on the look again to see if I can spot them. They were actually sitting right at the turn styles at Epcot last year, and whole group of them and at AK they were actually joking around with the uniform securtiy gaurds. It was interesting because it was not until this post that I realized that there ALL over the park, which I think is EXCELLENT

 

[queenbetsey]

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[axpo23]

Awesome!!! Maybe we should have Disney Security resolve the whole conflict in the middle east. Someone suggest this to the President!

 

[jayandstacey]

A couple of years ago my family and I were on a resort bus heading to the MK... as we made a turn the driver oversteered and CRACK! the side view mirror hit a pole. You'd think that was nothing for a bus. Well in New York City maybe. At Disneyworld, the bus pulls off the the side at the bus area and security swarms the bus. First someone who is clearly a transportation supervisor escorts the driver away.

Second, we are asked to stay seated and wait for a moment. A team of suits appears from nowhere, in less that 2 minutes, and boards the bus. They interview everyone to get names, addresses, and ask if we are OK.

We,and everyone else, of course, just want to get off the bus and get into the park! The whole thing took about 15 minutes but they were very clear and thorough on their procedure!

This is purely about lawsuit prevention and benefits Disney, not any rider on the bus.

They want to know a few things:
1. Precisely who was on the bus...so that someone doesn't see a news report and claim to be on the bus, and now their neck hurts.
2. The condition of each person on the bus. They want to hear each speak, see each move...to show evidence of no injury and make note of that (or even record it).
3. They get the addresses so they can contact all passengers should a lawsuit arise. If one does, other riders would likely be asked to sign some kind of waiver of rights or possibly become part of the evidence against the accuser.

What's interesting is that Disney is willing to take the risk of holding you against your will to subject you to this. Their driver hit a pole - now you have to be subjected to 15 minutes of interrogation and being detained? This wouldn't happen in NYC as the riders simply wouldn't allow it.

 

[mishkamushka]

Awesome!!! Maybe we should have Disney Security resolve the whole conflict in the middle east. Someone suggest this to the President!

There was a comedian a few years ago who said they should use Characters to go out and fight in the trenches. I forget the exact wording but it was something about "could you imagiane if our enemies saw giant Goofys coming at them with guns -- they would retreat for sure"

Ok, that guy was a LOT funnier than me!!

 

[Princesca]

My guess is that they pull the driver off the bus for liability reasons, too, to make sure that they aren't in some way impaired.

Good preparedness and emergency response benefits everyone. There isn't much point in debating whether or not Disney does it for themselves or for their guests. The end result is that their security staff seems to be incredibly professional and responsive, in the vast majority of cases, which is the important thing.

 

[chartle]

My guess is that they pull the driver off the bus for liability reasons, too, to make sure that they aren't in some way impaired.

Good preparedness and emergency response benefits everyone. There isn't much point in debating whether or not Disney does it for themselves or for their guests. The end result is that their security staff seems to be incredibly professional and responsive, in the vast majority of cases, which is the important thing.

Yes I'm 100% sure the driver was given a mandatory drug test.

 

[gometros]

A couple of years ago my family and I were on a resort bus heading to the MK... as we made a turn the driver oversteered and CRACK! the side view mirror hit a pole. You'd think that was nothing for a bus. Well in New York City maybe. At Disneyworld, the bus pulls off the the side at the bus area and security swarms the bus. First someone who is clearly a transportation supervisor escorts the driver away.

Second, we are asked to stay seated and wait for a moment. A team of suits appears from nowhere, in less that 2 minutes, and boards the bus. They interview everyone to get names, addresses, and ask if we are OK.

We,and everyone else, of course, just want to get off the bus and get into the park! The whole thing took about 15 minutes but they were very clear and thorough on their procedure!

Something similar happened to us on our recent trip. We were on a bus to EPCOT and some idiot driver cut off our bus, forcing the bus driver to slam on his brakes. A little girl sitting up front smacked her head against one of the poles. This was in no way the bis drivers fault, as a matter of fact, have to give him credit for his reaction time and managing not to hit the car. As soon as we got to EPCOT, the bus pulled over and we waited for a supervisor to come over. They a attended to the girl and there was some conversation in the front (we were in the back of the bus, so we couldn't hear everything that was going on). We were probably kept on the bus for about 10 minutes or so.

 

[gometros]

I noticed on our last day in the parks at MK walking in that there were 2 guys talking to each other, with the standard in park Moto phones on there belts. I was like but they're not in costume, or anything! I was by myself so I was going to stop and ask one of them if they were security. Before I could get the words out of my mouth one of them said "yes sir we are what you think we are, but if you could keep walking we're watching a guy who doesn't know it right now." and I said "ok!" a few hours later I was waiting for my wife at the flower garden at the main gate and one of the two came up from behind me and introduced himself and presented a disney security badge and asked if I had any questions, thinking I was a leo. I wear cargo shorts that a lot of police types wear, and often get mistaken as an off duty leo,LOL. Always wanted to be a leo but never did.

Funny, took me a second to figure out what a LEO was. I've never seen that acronym used before.

 

[DizCaptain]

I've seen undercover security "appear" a few times, but here are the 2 most recent sightings I've had.

1. My sister and I were walking into MK and noticed a large guy with a fanny pack, visor, sunglasses, really touristy looking talking to a security guard, but he had the same sort of stance, laid back and watching while talking with him. Then I noticed he had a right ear piece and a mic on his pin lanyard, hint hint, security! Then he told the Disney security guard "Alright, I gotta go, seeya later man" and walked up to two other casually dressed guys and they disappeared into the crowd of vacationers.

2. We were at Downtown Disney and were walking over to the Lego store from World of Disney. Short walk and we were in view of this spot all but for a few seconds. A big crowd walked opposite in front of us and when they parted all of a sudden in front of one of the Lego statues 4 guys with ropes had roped off the statue enough so people were distanced but could still take pictures. Now my family and I were wondering "Why are they doing that? Did some kid try to climb up there?" Then I noticed it....an unattended rather packed looking backpack sitting on the ground without an owner. Then when I realized it was a "situation" 2 bike mounted Disney security guards and an Orange County cop showed up to investigate. The owner showed up however before a dog came or anything (he was of middle eastern looks unfortunately) and got a REAL stern talking to by several of the guys who were investigating his bag to never leave a bag unattended. Also, the Orange County cop actually searched his bag checking for anything suspicious. Talk about an adventure!