Gay Days Changes??

[OrlandoMike]

Shrek called me three times today to tell me that Disney is putting a small damper on gay days, so I started looking around.


The Typhoon party, that was called "Beach Bash" right? I cant find anything, only a few really bad websites for a "juicy beach party"....Hmmm different party?

And the link I found for "One Mighty Party" the party that has been at DHS forever......lists no location.

I know I've worked a ton of hours this week, but am I missing something?

 

[Lukas87]

wasnt One Mighty Party at Universal Studios last year? or am i thinking of something else?

 

[zulemara]

I have been following this closely and posted in the gay days sticky.

It appears Disney has indeed put a damper on the one mighty weekend parties. omw.com states they will be announcing new venues this week.

Quite frankly I feel betrayed and furthermore I think they are complete morons for pushing away such revenue.

I will be watching closely this week.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

Welcome to the new "family" friendly Disney...

 

[DVC~OKW~96]

And everyone said I was being paranoid when they took down PI. I've heard rumors about these changes and whispers that the "gates" won't be so friendly come the actual "Gay Day" for MK.

Welcome to Florida, home of the Amendment 2 supporters.

 

[rpmdfw]

And everyone said I was being paranoid when they took down PI. I've heard rumors about these changes and whispers that the "gates" won't be so friendly come the actual "Gay Day" for MK.

Welcome to Florida, home of the Amendment 2 supporters.

If they think that's going to stop us, they're sorely mistaken.

 

[rpmdfw]

Interesting. Over on the MiceChat discussion board there is some speculation that John Chisolm Events (the promoter for Beach Ball, and One Mighty Party, et al) has finished paying off last year's events yet, and that is the reason that Disney has cancelled this year's events.

Since it's stritctly a message board rumor, I'm not sure how much credence I'll give it, but it would only make sense for Disney to cancel if that's what the issue is.

Interesting that Chisolm's main competitor in the circuit party world is the promoter who is doing the party at Typhoon Lagoon over Memorial Day weekend. I'd say that is an indication that it's not strictly a "Keep the gay parties out" stance.

 

[Chuck S]

I never attended the private ticket events. But if the promoter is indeed in a financial dispute with Disney, it would be logical for Disney to not allow that company to hold the events on site.

Just like if you don't pay your DVC dues, you can't make reservations at the DVC resorts.

 

[rpmdfw]

I never attended the private ticket events. But if the promoter is indeed in a financial dispute with Disney, it would be logical for Disney to not allow that company to hold the events on site.

Just like if you don't pay your DVC dues, you can't make reservations at the DVC resorts.

The only one of the big parties we ever went to was Beach Ball back in 2003 (literally two days after I met Scott). We had a blast. But we mainly just stuck to the waterslides and the wave pool. We certainly didn't dance and couldn't care less about the pricey DJ they'd hired.

But it was a great experience and we loved it. But we decided that it was a "you really need to do this once" type of a thing. We did it once, we were done.

The next year (and every year since) we couldn't justify the expense. Why pay all of that money for the use of the water slides when we had PAPs that would get is unto the parks 365 days a year? The party didn't offer us anything other than the chance to be there at night with a bunch of other gay folks. We opted to stick to Pleasure Island (primarily the Adventurers Club, of course) every subsequent gay days.

Not sure what we'll do this year.

 

[DVC~OKW~96]

Makes a different twist then, eh? Money being the easily understood issue.

That still doesn't address the comments we've heard (have some neighbors who work for WDW) from some CMs who say that they've "been instructed" how how to interact on the days when the gay population is obvious.

Have to say this though, not so very sure how much is reliable info. Although they make great neighbors, they tend to be doom and gloom sorts...

It would be good to know that this is all rumor being blown out of proportion based on one easily understood financial decision.

I still think PI being dismantled was telling though, but that is a separate issue.

We've never felt the need to do the special ticketed events for Gay Day. No big deal, simply far too many men! LOL. All meant in respect, of course, but that's pretty much not attractive to us, eh? (Yeah, I know there are women events too...). Kind of like gay men on an Olivia cruise. Welcome for the gayness, but would totally not be into the all woman scene, ya' know? Gay day special events tend to be heavily male oriented. Nothing wrong with that, just an observation.

Anyway, all that to say, we love the atmosphere of the parks at Gay Day and that is what interests us the most.

 

[rpmdfw]

Gay day special events tend to be heavily male oriented. Nothing wrong with that, just an observation.

Anyway, all that to say, we love the atmosphere of the parks at Gay Day and that is what interests us the most.

They're not just male oriented, they're aimed at the "party boys". It's all about being ripped, and dancing with your shirt off. That's not our scene, even though we are gay males. It's always been about the parks for us as well.

So what did the neighborhood grapevine say about how they were instructed to act?

 

[DVC~OKW~96]

Good clarification. The young...buff boys... kind of too stereotypical in some ways.

Said the stress was on "professional" and treating all the same, not to go overboard with "extra emphasis" on welcoming obviously gay couples.

As I'm sure you've noticed at the parks during the time frame of Gay days the air of celebration is high. Everyone seems very happy and we're always being greeted (and we go often, so consider ourselves fair judges of differences in atmosphere/CM interaction) with cheeriness and huge smiles.

Once had a CM waste ticket after ticket trying to get my wife a Tinkerbell AP. Usually, you take what you are given and that's that, but her AP is renewed that weekend and the CM was being super kind. :yes:

They said that they felt like they were being told to behave in a less welcoming way... All very subjective as far as we could tell, but you get the idea.

One of them said they were actually told to frown at same gendered couples who were holding hands. Not so sure that is the case. I honestly can't imagine anyone at WDW "instructing" CMs to do that.

 

[rpmdfw]

Good clarification. The young...buff boys... kind of too stereotypical in some ways.

Said the stress was on "professional" and treating all the same, not to go overboard with "extra emphasis" on welcoming obviously gay couples.

As I'm sure you've noticed at the parks during the time frame of Gay days the air of celebration is high. Everyone seems very happy and we're always being greeted (and we go often, so consider ourselves fair judges of differences in atmosphere/CM interaction) with cheeriness and huge smiles.

Once had a CM waste ticket after ticket trying to get my wife a Tinkerbell AP. Usually, you take what you are given and that's that, but her AP is renewed that weekend and the CM was being super kind. :yes:

They said that they felt like they were being told to behave in a less welcoming way... All very subjective as far as we could tell, but you get the idea.

One of them said they were actually told to frown at same gendered couples who were holding hands. Not so sure that is the case. I honestly can't imagine anyone at WDW "instructing" CMs to do that.

I can't imagine they were told to frown.

And I have no problem with them saying "no special treatment" because I've never asked for preferential treatment.

That said. There's no way to keep the celebratory atmosphere out of the parks those days and the cast members LOVE working gay days because they guests are so much nicer to them. How can they not be happier? They're having more fun in their jobs, it's going to translate into genuine smiles and welcoming attitude. That can't be micro-managed away.

 

[DVC~OKW~96]

Exactly. I think that some eager beaver manager type thought that there was special treatment going on when all that it truly is, is a natural spill of merriment for the circumstances.

Everyone that comes to the gates (ok, well nearly everyone) is in a great mood and it shows. There are smart (and OH SO FUNNY) remarks being made as fast as they can be uttered and CMs can't help but laugh and be seen to be having a good time!

If some fundamentalist misinterprets that, too bad, eh?

At any rate, we'll make our own observations and determinations based on what we see, not on what we "hear." Heck, we are so beyond the group mentality that we don't even wear red. It's too darn hot! LOL. We may wear something outspoken, but have yet to wear anything red.

 

[rpmdfw]

Exactly. I think that some eager beaver manager type thought that there was special treatment going on when all that it truly is, is a natural spill of merriment for the circumstances.

Everyone that comes to the gates (ok, well nearly everyone) is in a great mood and it shows. There are smart (and OH SO FUNNY) remarks being made as fast as they can be uttered and CMs can't help but laugh and be seen to be having a good time!

If some fundamentalist misinterprets that, too bad, eh?

At any rate, we'll make our own observations and determinations based on what we see, not on what we "hear." Heck, we are so beyond the group mentality that we don't even wear red. It's too darn hot! LOL. We may wear something outspoken, but have yet to wear anything red.

We'll be in red! And you know what we look like, so keep an eye out for us, and please say hello if you see us running around.

 

[DVC~OKW~96]

Will do! We four were at City Hall, but never spotted you. Well, I know you were there, maybe Scott wasn't? Can't quite remember now.

Who knows, we may even get daring buy a red tank. LOL. That's part of the problem, we only have red t's and they are way to heavy and hot...

If you see two women walking around, it's us. LOLOLOL! Just walk on up to us and say, "Hey! Where's that beer you owe us?"

 

[zulemara]

well I'll be damned if anyone is gonna tell me not to smile to anyone. I even put a fake smile on for the christian groups I see walking around(not trying to start a debate, just stating a point)

I am off thurs fri and sat of gays, but the rest of the time I'll be working and I'm looking forward to it. Anyone who strikes up a conversation with me gets treated even better than others anyway just because I've formed that connection. I fully intend on starting lots of conversations, that's for sure! I am also hoping to sneak some rainbow mickey pins on me somehow...just to give a heads up to the guests without breaking costume requirements.

 

[Sphyrna]

Personally, I've been disappointed with how Gay Days has gone over the last several years. My first Gay Days was in '95, I believe. Maybe that one stands out so much because it was my first. But it seems like over the years it's become more and more commercial and more and more about the parties. I remember when there was gayday.com, the site for the "original" gay days. Then gaydays.com came along with a more commercial spin on it. It really bothered me when they tried to split the crowds, having a different schedule than the other site. One site would say AK and the other would say MGM for example. Then they even split parks, trying to get people to Universal. I still enjoy going whenever I can but to me it just doesn't have quite the same vibe as it used to. I would like to try Beach Ball once, but doubt I'll try the other circuit parties. For me it's about the parks and the unity and community feeling.

 

[BioCub]

If you go to thecircuitdog website, you'll see that the reason Disney has closed it's doors to One mighty weekend is because the promoter DIDN'T PAY HIS BILL FROM LAST YEAR! It's not that they want to get rid of the gays. The circuit dog even has a pdf of the letter they send to the promoter saying that his checks were bouncing!!

Buyer beware this year!

 

[TJM1976]

http://onemightyweekend.com/gaydays/Parties/BeachBall/tabid/150/Default.aspx


Beach Ball, Friday, June 5.