Bad incident on our trip

[butternut]

I can understand if that was the case and it was Shades of Green but the driver told him she was an Uber driver and was trying to show her identification but he would have nothing to do with it. Therefore 2 innocent Disney guests were treated like criminals while on their vacation. I'm sure there were other wYs of handling what they thought was an attack!

 

[GrrArrgh]

Even if they were in the wrong and even if the driver did go through Shades of Green (though there is no reason to assume that happened other than it might explain the intensity of the response), you can still be treated kindly while being detained.

I accidentally did break the law at the GF and was still treated well. Our first morning at the GF we were eating at 1900 Park Faire. The only purchases we'd made so far were for some quick service items at Gasperilla's the night before. You pay with your magic band before you eat, so that's how I thought it worked at Park Faire. We entered after scanning my magic band, which I thought was how payment was made. So, we finished eating and walked out and went to get the stroller and continue on to the MK. Except, that's not how you pay at buffets. You get a check (we hadn't gotten one before we left the table), add the tip, and sign for it. Our waiter found us at the stroller area and very kindly told us we'd forgotten to pay. I went back, apologizing, and gave him a pretty significant tip. Everything was cleared up quickly and nobody was made to feel like a criminal, even though we very nearly dined and dashed.

The OP could still have been asked probing questions in a friendly manner. The security guard could have listened to their responses instead of immediately telling them they were lying about where they were staying. He could have concluded that it's far more likely that the car contained confused tourists than gate-running terrorists.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

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.

Seriously. Federal offenses tend to involve federal property, state lines, or taxes. Running a gate on private property? Almost certainly nope.

And I'm highly dubious of a sheriff without a badge on display enforcing "federal" law on Disney property driving a golf cart.

 

[sndral]

Seriously. Federal offenses tend to involve federal property, state lines, or taxes. Running a gate on private property? Almost certainly nope.
And I'm highly dubious of a sheriff without a badge on display enforcing "federal" law on Disney property driving a golf cart.

OP said he had a badge that said "sheriff" on it. I agree the golf cart and reference to federal law are odd. I can think of scenarios involving joint federal/local investigations, but the golf cart - now that doesn't make sense to me. I've seen Disney security in golf carts but don't know about other LE agencies on Disney property - I've only seen the golf cart and OC patrol cars at incidents. But I'm not there enough & fortunately haven't run into enough situations to really know what is normal there.

I am honestly telling the truth. Our driver went out a road from the GF and we were stopped and everything I have said happened. He didn't just say he had a gun, the gun was in his holster and his hand was on it. He also had a badge tha did say Sheriff but that's all he provided. ...

 

[Deb & Bill]

Could the driver had run the toll gate entry to the MK without stopping, then cut off to the right to go to the GF? Like tried to enter MK without paying, but didn't plan on going to MK? If she was following her GPS, maybe she hadn't been to the GF before and didn't know to go through the appropriate gate on the right (or tried to go through the bus gate).

 

[AngiTN]

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.

Wouldn't prevent a stop by the authorities. We were on a Disney bus and our driver made a wrong turn through construction. He was trying to get to the Boardwalk and they had all kinds of cones up. We saw the officer wave the bus through to make a right turn but he went straight. A police car pulled the bus over at the entrance to Boardwalk. The driver tried to say he followed directions but he really didn't, based on what I saw. The officer told him to go drop off the passengers and return to him to continue the conversation.

Yes, that was a rare instance but just saying it's just as possible in a Disney vehicle as it is in a private one.

 

[HopperFan]

I did not go to Epcot that night . As a matter of fact I went no place except back to my room. Had breakfast in the morning and a cast member recommended us to go to Guest relations which we did immediately upon our arrival at Epcot that morning. As I said I really didn't know what to do. I asked at guest relations if I should have called the police department as well and they said they were doing the investigating. Sorry if anyone thinks this is just a story but it's not. Thank you for all your recommendations I appreciate it.

To anyone not just OP - if you think a crime or alarming or inappropriate event has occurred NEVER go to Guest Relations, forget calling Security that goes to a call center - dial 911 and get OCP to respond. They are all over property and ready.

 

[mickey2minnie1]

To anyone not just OP - if you think a crime or alarming or inappropriate event has occurred NEVER go to Guest Relations, forget calling Security that goes to a call center - dial 911 and get OCP to respond. They are all over property and ready.

Thanks, Hopperfan! Good advice for all of us.

Please keep us posted, butternut. That was awful, and I hope everyone was able to regroup.

 

[BigAlsGal]

To anyone not just OP - if you think a crime or alarming or inappropriate event has occurred NEVER go to Guest Relations, forget calling Security that goes to a call center - dial 911 and get OCP to respond. They are all over property and ready.

Exactly! As soon as this fool on a golf cart put a hand on his gun I would be calling the police!

 

[adisneyaunt]

OP, so sorry to hear of this situation. I would have been quite upset myself. I hope you will follow up with Uber, Disney and personally, I'd have contacted Fla Police thru 911, during/after that incident.

Please let us know how things turn out with your follow ups. (Hope rest of your trip was enjoyable. )

And another reminder to everyone....if something feels "off" to you, go with your gut, call 911 immediately and tell them what is/was happening. Take pix with ur cell phone, plate numbers, ID's, people. This documents date/time ..specific details.

 

[saskdw]

Could the driver had run the toll gate entry to the MK without stopping, then cut off to the right to go to the GF? Like tried to enter MK without paying, but didn't plan on going to MK? If she was following her GPS, maybe she hadn't been to the GF before and didn't know to go through the appropriate gate on the right (or tried to go through the bus gate).

Even if that were true, it doesn't excuse the behavior by the "Sheriff" described in the original post.

 

[crazylady]

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.

This is exactly what I was thinking.

 

[ellie05]

This sounds crazy! I am sorry OP that you have to go through this. I hope you figure out what really happened.!

 

[HopperFan]

OP, so sorry to hear of this situation. I would have been quite upset myself. I hope you will follow up with Uber, Disney and personally, I'd have contacted Fla Police thru 911, during/after that incident.

Please let us know how things turn out with your follow ups. (Hope rest of your trip was enjoyable. )

And another reminder to everyone....if something feels "off" to you, go with your gut, call 911 immediately and tell them what is/was happening. Take pix with ur cell phone, plate numbers, ID's, people. This documents date/time ..specific details.

Yup. Send a letter with complete details right now to date, time, location (helps identify the men) etc to Disney Guest Communications and send a copy of it to Orange County Police Department. If this was their sheriffs they need to know how they acted, if they were not and posing as sheriffs (aka security guards) both Disney and OC need to know. And Disney needs to be aware of all actions happening on property. Telling a local GR or Hotel staff will likely mean a deep file.

While I completely agree that their actions may have been "warranted" if the driver had first entered and turned around in Shades of Green, if they had left there, went to GF, found their riders, made it out of the parking lot before anyone stopped them ......... uh Shades of Green is not very well watched.

YES to photos, if you can do so safely. I once saw a couple guys jiggling door handles at POP Century. I followed them and took their photo. Once they noticed me they moved quickly to parking lot, got in car and left. [I had no phone and there was no one in sight to notify] While my photos weren't enough to do anything, they got the message and I let the front desk know. I have no issues taking photos when a scene is made or something seems off.

 

[wilkeliza]

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.

Honestly it can happen with regular cab drivers too. Regular taxi driver can also be doing anything before you get picked up as they are people not machines. I've been picked up by a yellow cab at a park that had 0 idea how to get where I want to. Not in orlando but where I live I've been in a cab where the driver was so clearly drunk I asked him to pull over and let me out.

 

[andyman8]

OP, so sorry you had to go through this. Doesn't seem like a very good officer at all.

A number of elements of this raise my concern, most notably the golf courts. While Disney certainly keeps security at their resorts, I don't believe they keep Sheriff's Officers around at the resorts and certainly give them golf courts to go around pulling over guests. I do believe, however, Sheriff's Officers are present over at SoG (googled around and found some reports of "encounters" with them: https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUse...85-Shades_of_Green_Hotel-Orlando_Florida.html), so that makes that scenario possible, but I'm still struggling with this.

Let's say she accidentally turned left (which no GPS program would suggest, given that the GF is on the right side of the road) into Shades of Green, ran into the gate, and turned around and left towards the GF, the SoG gate is still pretty far into the property (further than the Disney ones usually are), so I guess I'm confused about how a guard/employee/whoever's manning the gate would know that they headed to GF. Maybe (and that's a huge maybe), he/she saw the driver put on a left turn signal or move into the left lane, but to just assume the drive was heading to the GF would have been a pretty lucky guess on the gatekeeper's part. The gate's further from the road.

But here's what perplexes me the most: while SoG and GF appear close, there's still a decent amount of distance between them, especially between wherever SoG officers are (which is not the gate; I've never seen officers there) and the GF porte-cochere (which I assume is where your driver picked you up). The OP said that this happened within a minute or so of getting in the car, so clearly, they were well into GF property. Assuming you didn't take that long to get into your Uber, it's hard for me to see how the officer would've been able to get there on a golf cart so quickly. I'd guess that from starting the cart-to-arrival at the GF would take at least 15 minutes. Plus, there's no direct path, so did he drive his golf cart on the road? Did he drive on the grass? Somehow, he then immediately identifies the car? Then there's his backup, which would've had to repeat this whole process.

Certainly a SoG scenario is possible, but it seems like a lot of coincidences (which do happen in real life, mind you) would have to have happened.

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

Keep in mind that SoG is also home to two of Disney's three golf courses, and while they wouldn't be operating at this time of night, this does mean that guests who are not in any way affiliated with the military frequently enter this resort.

Either way, the way the officer handled the scenario is not okay at all, and I would certainly email Guest Relations (wdw.guest.communications@disneyworld.com) and contact the Orange County Sheriff's Office. There is no reason that an officer would've had reason to grab his gun/holster. Even if he did at one point think they were terrorists (which doesn't really make sense to me), it sounds like the driver was crying and he other two were being cooperative. Again, we're only hearing it from one perspective, but it seems like he did not specifically mention for what they were in trouble. If all he said is "running into a/the gate", that doesn't suffice. What gate? Where? When? All information he should've provided instead of being kind of antagonistic with these guests. Accidents because of lost tourists happen all the time at WDW unfortunately. Heck, a family just hit one of those large World Drive signs. His behavior, the way it's been explained to me, doesn't seem remotely justified.

 

[Sammie]

Actually there are gates entering and leaving the Grand Floridian, so if the OP is saying they didn't run a gate because there wasn't one, I am confused as to where they were?

 

[Lehuaann]

OP used the word "golf cart," but my impression is that it was perhaps a gas powered utility cart/vehicle (the type property maintenance uses)...and not an electric type used at FW. And, again, I believe the incident most likely happened prior to the OP being picked up.

It sounds like a sheriff, who was patrolling at/near GF, was dispatched to intercept a vehicle and did so in a cart. Not sure why it was a cart or how fast they can get around in one...probably got the wrong car doing so.

For the record - OCS are definitely used at the resorts...on an as-needed basis, I'm sure. I have personally encountered them assisting at FW and DH saw them this past trip in the Poly lobby.

OP, I'm sorry you got caught in the middle. You've received some good advice on how to address this. I do hope you are able to enjoy the rest of your trip.

 

[bumbershoot]

we called for a car to take us back to our report.

and told us we committed a federal offense

If you were in a cab-type vehicle, 1. why was he questioning the passengers and 2. why were you guys answering? Or, at least, any answer but "we're just passengers"?

I would probably have contacted the Orange County Sheriff's Office as soon as I was leaving the area to verify that the people that stopped you were with their department.

YES.

Sorry if anyone thinks this is just a story but it's not.

Unless posts have been removed, I'm seeing posts doubting what the guy said, not what you're saying. But people need more info; you're not giving us everything, because there are holes or missed bits of info.

This man questioned us as if we knew where we were going on the roads which we did not. We are from Pennsylvania and have never driven a car on Disney property

Why was he asking YOU, and why were you thinking you should answer? You weren't the driver.

To anyone not just OP - if you think a crime or alarming or inappropriate event has occurred NEVER go to Guest Relations, forget calling Security that goes to a call center - dial 911 and get OCP to respond. They are all over property and ready.

YES.

 

[butternut]

Thanks everyone for your concerns. To answer a few of your questions.. Yes it could have been another vehicle other than a golf cart but looked exactly like one . It was dark but certainly was not a car just an open air cart. As far as him addressing us as passengers, the window was down and with his flashlight he began asking his questions to us all. To pull out my phone at that time to make any call I feel may have caused more aggression by him so we just cooperated hoping nothing else would happen. Maybe we should have notified police on our way back to S/D but as I said we just didn't know what to do at that moment. As far as any gate he claimed we went through I'm sure I would have heard something hit the car. There was no gate for sure. It was less than one minute from the time we entered the car , maybe only 30 seconds to the incident . Where the driver went I really don't know but I do know we did not go through any gate. I will take everyone's advice and follow up my report at Epcot Guest Relations with a neither email as suggested and will send and contact Orange County Police Dept. We are back now in Pa. hoping to hear some response from my initial reporting to them. Thanks again to everyone for your help and support and I will give any update to this as I find more out.