Dark Days at Disney World

[WDSearcher]

Originally posted by Phoebesaturn
WDSearcher - According to one poster it appreantly is the norm and found so in doing " reaserch" before hand. So now we have Disney that was once known for faimly values now apparently known as the "College Intern Party and Grope Center". Dinsey sure has come a long way.

Again with the "one poster" thing. As I said, you've got an incredibly small sample here that you're assuming speaks for everyone in the College Program. To say that Disney is "apparently known as the 'College Intern Party and Grope Center'", simply because a half-dozen people have viewed it as such, is a vast, unfair, skewed generalization. Again ... if you truly believed that putting thousands of college kids together in a living and working situation was going to be all mid-town America, with nary a hint of distress or misbehavior simply because they were on Disney property, then perhaps your perceptions were a bit unrealistic and a little naive.

Disney's job is not to babysit these young adults and force them to behave. But it seems as though you are putting absolutely no responsibility for misconduct on the people who are actually behaving badly. Aren't the kids making out in the swimming pool, drinking when they shouldn't be, and partying too far into the night at all responsible for their own behavior? Or is it Disney's bad influence that has caused these otherwise delightful, straight-laced and orderly young adults to go to the dark side?

 

[kathylovesdisneyworl]

Originally posted by Phoebesaturn


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Well again...to say this is what happens at all colleges is at best a lie. It may be the norm at historic party schools or in parts at larger colleges.

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I do not know if you have any kids in college or have gone recently yourself, but I know from my experience with my kids this is most certainly not the exception. The list of "historic party schools" should be changed to the ones that aren't. It is the shorter of the list. Between a wide range of friends all attending different schools around the county, it seems that most schools are the same. Large amounts of young adults means lots of fun and drinking. Drinking brings along behavior that is very extreme. It seems that the Disney program is not different then most others, except Disney gets cheap labor out of the deal.

 

[caseymaureen]

To head back towards the original post, as Sarangel requested...

I do not feel that the behavior in the article at all reflects on Disney's standards as a corporation or cultural icon. If these things were occuring on Main Street in the Magic Kingdom, while these people were being paid to work, then this would be an issue. The things in the article do not affect how these people do their jobs, which is what they are there to do. Whether you agree with the views expressed by the author, or believe the author at all doesn't have much to do with it. Disney has little or no control over what people do in their time off, and this includes sexual preference, drinking, partying, what have you. And they should not have this control over their employees. Last time I checked, most people have lives outside of their workplaces. The apartment complexes have rules, as do most other apartment complexes in the country. There are standards which must be upheld to live there; this has nothing to do with their employment.
If you get fired you have to leave the complex, and if you break the rules of the apartment you get fired. This is simple to explain, because this is the only place that CPs can live, so if you don't uphold the standards you will have nowhere to live. You can't live there if you aren't in the CP because it's an exclusive community. It's not because Disney is controlling the students' lives, it's because of the exclusivity of the community and the agreement between Disney and the management company.
It's sad that the homosexuality and the partying have become such sticking points, as these are things that people do outside of work and that usually do not affect a person's work performance. Disney as you know it, the Disney of Bambi and Disneyland, is the face the company shows to the public. If you don't think that any of those animators, or cast members, or even Walt himself did things that didn't fit with that public Disney image, then I feel that you're most likely mistaken. No one is perfect, and I can say from experience, college students especially are not perfect. That's what the learning, growing up, and maturing are for.

 

[rocketriter]

I don't believe it. A couple of well-placed complaints would have put a stop to this immediately. Instead we have a right-wing story, complete with the assumption that Disney-employed homosexuals taunt heterosexuals and behave in a depraved manner. It's just too canned to believe. (And the banner below the story doesn't make it any more convincing.)

 

[wdwdvcdad]

Originally posted by rocketriter
Instead we have a right-wing story, complete with the assumption that Disney-employed homosexuals taunt heterosexuals and behave in a depraved manner.

Yeah, that would NEVER happen....

Ever see a gay pride parade?

I have no idea if it is true or not. But your prejudiced dismissal is no better than someone making up a story such as this in order to bash one group or another.

 

[Gillian]

I've researched the college program a bit, both here on the DIS and on the internet. What I found was a lot of first hand reports about partying and roommate problems. The stories posted here don't surprise me.

College dorms have security, in the form of RAs. The Disney college program apartments don't have anything. They have rules but no one to enforce them, unless someone complains. I'm sure a lot of people don't complain because they don't want to have their roommates hate them, or because they want to try to stick it out.

I think it's a great program, if you can handle it.

 

[snappyjo]

Originally posted by Paul G
Sounds like fun - where do I sign up? Do they take 44 year olds?

Its true - youth is wasted on the young!

I am not homosexual (married with 2 daughters) but from what I have read about the FRC its a hateful organization that is out to demonize homosexuality.

I don't think you need FRC to demonize homosexualty, I think they gays do a good job of it themselves.

 

[Rence]

I don't think you need FRC to demonize homosexualty, I think they gays do a good job of it themselves

How does one respond to such close-minded bigotry?

 

[dcentity2000]

Originally posted by Rence
How does one respond to such close-minded bigotry?

Um...

Dancing Send in a video and we'll all watch



Rich::

 

[Phoebesaturn]

Originally posted by Rence
How does one respond to such close-minded bigotry?

Just convince yourself that people are" born that way".

 

[caseymaureen]

Gillian,
There are RAs on the CP, they are advanced internship students whose job it is to work at the desks in the "community hall" type building, and to supervise their residents. They aren't called RAs, it's some other initials, but same idea. My RA was very involved, frequently visiting and calling to check up on us. Some people told me that they never saw their RAs so I guess it was kind of hit or miss. In addition to the RAs there was a large security force constantly guarding the entrances and patrolling the compound. There are people there to enforce the rules, but since most people try to hide when they are breaking rules and some apparently don't speak up when it happens, they have no real way of knowing.

 

[wdwdvcdad]

disagreeing with someones actions does not make one a bigot. Accepting anythin that anyone does as ok makes one a fool. Let's not be so quick to condemn someone because of a deeply personal, often religious belief. Those who believe homosexuality is immoral have as much to a right to their opinion as those who feel they are immoral for having the opinion.

 

[kozmo]

I have been to Vista Way,and i was shocked to read the article written,my little mother and i have visited my nephew on numorous occasions and until Curfew,we thought security was great and in all never saw anything out of the norm,never saw anyone at the pool ,not more than a couple of people at a time anyways,most are usually working and on their days off ,they are out and about ,this was on a 2 week basis.I am so sorry the girl had such a bad experience,she should have told security,maybe moved to another building,such a shame.I found it to be a very positive experience for young people and i want to do it to,i will room with the 44 yr old!!!!!

 

[PeterPan20]

Originally posted by wdwdvcdad
disagreeing with someones actions does not make one a bigot. Accepting anythin that anyone does as ok makes one a fool. Let's not be so quick to condemn someone because of a deeply personal, often religious belief. Those who believe homosexuality is immoral have as much to a right to their opinion as those who feel they are immoral for having the opinion.

I don't mean to be nit-picky, but didn't you just disprove your own point? If a person is not allowed to "condemn" another person for their beliefs, then this person should not be condemning a whole group of people for theirs.

It just comes down to what I always say:

Them darn GAYS will getcha every time!

 

[wdwdvcdad]

Originally posted by PeterPan20
I don't mean to be nit-picky, but didn't you just disprove your own point? If a person is not allowed to "condemn" another person for their beliefs, then this person should not be condemning a whole group of people for theirs.

It just comes down to what I always say:

Them darn GAYS will getcha every time!

you can be nit-picky all you want. But, no I did not disprove my own point. my point was, that believing that something is right or wrong becasue of deeply held beliefs does not make one a bigot. neither does condemning the action because of those moral beliefs. unfairly imposing one's morality on others and denying rights guaranteed under the constitution does.

We all judge, based on upbringing, experience, and faith (or lack thereof). disaproving of an act or action is a natural thing that everyone does. doing so is not bigoted, it is human.

 

[Sarangel]

This has devolved into name calling & re-iteration of the same points. I suggest we all move on...

Sarangel