Bad incident on our trip

[AngiTN]

Can't the OP report this to Uber as well? Not familiar with Uber but the drivers are all employees, correct? I mean I would think the Uber driver would have reported something.
If this happened and someone claimed to be a police officer, Disney or not. I'd be calling the police department.
Disney isn't a Utopia, call the police.

Yes you can. I had an issue with a driver (not legal) and I reported it. There is a way right on the app

 

[sndral]

I'm probably totally off base, but the only scenario that makes sense to me is that the sheriffs were on the look out for suspects in some kind of fairly serious crime. If the Uber vehicle matched a description and was pulled over to check it out then the stern approach until the officer knew it wasn't the car/suspects they were looking for makes sense. The only federal interplay I can think of would be some kind of terrorist threat, maybe some kind of trafficking, pornography, or a gun type crime. Without hearing a tape of what was actually said it's hard to say. Wonder if OC has body cams on their officers or patrol cars.
The warning to not come back may have been good advice. If the OP's Uber car matched the description of what the officers were looking for or if there was some kind of heightened alert due to a threat so that everyone was being scrutinized OP wouldn't want to get pulled over again!
Unfortunately in the world we live in any of us can end up in the wrong place at the wrong time. IME, when you are pulled over, even if you don't know why, the best approach is to be polite, listen, follow instructions and answer questions. For a regular law abiding citizen that's not easy to do and it's a bit scary to get pulled over, but staying calm is best. Don't ask, don't volunteer, don't interfere. If you don't know why you're pulled over, assume there's something going on and that the officers probably won't tell you about it. They'll tell you if you were pulled over for speeding, but they won't if they are looking for some dangerous person still on the loose. The worst thing to do is to argue about why you are pulled over or to over react - you prolong your encounter and you slow the officers from finding the real threat if there is one. It is quite traumatizing for a law abiding citizen to be inadvertently caught up in a scenario where there's an active hunt for a dangerous suspect, but at least this wasn't a felony out of the car at gun point stop & frisk.
Not saying this is what happened here necessarily and I find the golf carts to be odd - I've seen oodles of OC sheriff's cars all over property when there are heightened threats. Not sure about the call for back up, except maybe the crying & all created issues in the officer's mind. Anyway, it's one alternative scenario as opposed to an out of line cop scenario or a person impersonating a cop situation.

 

[GrrArrgh]

It sounds like the driver didn't know to stop at the security gate and just drove through before picking the passengers up. I don't think that's a crime and they shouldn't be scaring a car full of passengers about it. I've seen golf carts used by staff at the GF, but they aren't police officers.

 

[AngiTN]

I guess my world is very different. At no point would the encounter with an officer start with threats of going to jail (for running a gate, mind you)
There's a difference between stern/serious and intimidation/threats. Officers have never ramped up that fast (or ever really)

 

[MuppetFan418]

This was a scam, almost certainly. Running a gate on Disney property is not a federal offense.

This.

Definitely NOT a federal offense. The second I heard that, I would have probably called the police on THEM, right there on the spot.

 

[DLgal]

This.

Definitely NOT a federal offense. The second I heard that, I would have probably called the police on THEM, right there on the spot.

UNLESS the driver ran the gate at the Shades of Green if she got lost or something. Entering that property without valid military ID *IS* a Federal Offense. Maybe they followed the car to the GF and pulled it over on the way out.

 

[butternut]

The Uber driver explained she was just following her Gps on her car but that wasn't good enough for him. There was no crying until after he called for back up and told us we could go to prison and yes he did tell us it was a federal offense for whatever he thought we were doing. Of course as I said earlier we cooperated and tried not to say much except for the answers to his questions but why he needed our identification is beyond me.

 

[ELSA711]

I don't understand why back up was called for running a gate? and again with the back up on golf carts? what did the back up officers do?

 

[MuppetFan418]

UNLESS the driver ran the gate at the Shades of Green if she got lost or something. Entering that property without valid military ID *IS* a Federal Offense. Maybe they followed the car to the GF and pulled it over on the way out.

DLgal, you've posed a VERY interesting scenario--perhaps the driver accidentally ventured onto SoG property. I stand corrected and agree 100%--given the relatively close proximity between SoG and GF, this is entirely plausible. This, I think, is the only scenario where the (however harsh and dramatic) actions that the "sheriff" took might be warranted.

 

[butternut]

The back up officers are the ones that eventually let us go . Why they were called I do not know. I never thought of Shades of Green. Like I said I don't know the area that well.

 

[DLgal]

DLgal, you've posed a VERY interesting scenario--perhaps the driver accidentally ventured onto SoG property. I stand corrected and agree 100%--given the relatively close proximity between SoG and GF, this is entirely plausible. This, I think, is the only scenario where the (however harsh and dramatic) actions that the "sheriff" took might be warranted.

This has to be what happened. I mean, if you try and get on any other military installation and blow through the gate without stopping and showing ID, (there are never actual physical "gates" though), you will quite literally be shot at by armed Military Police. I imagine they aren't quite so dramatic at SoG, but by law, it is a federal military installation and subject to all the laws pertaining to such, including unlawful entry, trespassing, etc.

 

[Sparkly]

Wouldn't it be a weeny bit harsh to terrify a family who's accidentally got lost (and it's very easy to do on Disney property, the resorts aren't well signposted until you get fairly close) by telling them they were going to jail and telling them to never come back...just because they accidentally entered a resort????? I don't care if it's military or not, it's Disney World and I think that's just not on at all. Even worse, it wasn't even their fault, it was the Uber car. It's not area 61, it's Disney World.

 

[Jenny Sanders]

Maybe you should have contacted the police???

 

[DLgal]

Wouldn't it be a weeny bit harsh to terrify a family who's accidentally got lost (and it's very easy to do on Disney property, the resorts aren't well signposted until you get fairly close) by telling them they were going to jail and telling them to never come back...just because they accidentally entered a resort????? I don't care if it's military or not, it's Disney World and I think that's just not on at all. Even worse, it wasn't even their fault, it was the Uber car. It's not area 61, it's Disney World.

I have to imagine there is more to this story. I'm sure this OP was pretty scared at the time and may be inadvertently misremembering what the officer actually said the driver did. He may have stated more specifics about what gate was "run" and/or why it would be a federal offense. Eyewitness accounts are notoriously full of holes. Or, the driver did something shady before picking them up. Either way, I am fairly sure the Orange County Sheriff's don't make it a habit to pull over and harass people for no reason on WDW property. Can you imagine if that was the case? It would be national news.

 

[Kindermouse]

And Now I'm terrified at the idea of using Uber at WDW. An incident like that would literally ruin our trip and my very anxious OCD child wouldn't be able to leave to room until we left for home. I know this is an isolated and unlikely situation but i'm thinking i'll stick to Disney transportation and clearly marked Taxi's. It really does hit home that Uber drivers aren't fingerprinted or bonded like taxi drivers and that the driver could have been doing anything before she picked them up.

So sorry for you OP, please do follow up with more than one source to be sure that this matter get handled.

 

[butternut]

Wouldn't it be a weeny bit harsh to terrify a family who's accidentally got lost (and it's very easy to do on Disney property, the resorts aren't well signposted until you get fairly close) by telling them they were going to jail and telling them to never come back...just because they accidentally entered a resort????? I don't care if it's military or not, it's Disney World and I think that's just not on at all. Even worse, it wasn't even their fault, it was the Uber car. It's not area 61, it's Disney World.

 

[butternut]

Thank you Sparkly. That's exactly what it was like. Also I did not forget anything he said. He was a miserable elderly man who looked like he was trying to exercise his power way to much. I thought I was in the Happiest Place on Earth! He knew we were Disney guests ,we told him that. No need to frighten us with his hand on his gun looking at us in the window and using words of imprisonment.

 

[Jennasis]

Well the Shades of Green thing would explain why ALL the passengers were interrogated and had their ID checked. If it was a traffic violation, only the driver would be in trouble. OP...try calling the Sheriff's office now, and maybe even call the Shades of Green resort and ask them if they know anything about it?

 

[saskdw]

The story still isn't adding up for me.

Did the "Sheriff" know it was an Uber driver?

There is no Uber where I'm from in Western Canada. I'll stick with regular Taxi's.

You would think that Police Officers that are stationed at Disney World would be specifically trained with how to deal with people in this tourist area. Given that the entire economy in Orlando depends on my tourist dollars and none of them would have jobs without the heavy tourism they wouldn't want to be scaring people away with this type of treatment.

 

[KonaKaiTom]

Thank you Sparkly. That's exactly what it was like. Also I did not forget anything he said. He was a miserable elderly man who looked like he was trying to exercise his power way to much. I thought I was in the Happiest Place on Earth! He knew we were Disney guests ,we told him that. No need to frighten us with his hand on his gun looking at us in the window and using words of imprisonment.

In this day and age of world terror, what would be the ultimate success???? A military resort at the happiest place on earth -- that would be every terrorist's dream. Which is why it is sad that you were confronted with such contempt. However, in the military court of law, you are guilty until proven innocent. I'm sorry it happened to you. But the thought of SOG's proximity to the GF makes that extremely plausible.

Tom