My Official Statement

[WebmasterJohn]

By now I’m sure most of you have seen my blog post about Pete’s departure from Dreams Unlimited Travel and the DIS. If not you can see it here https://www.wdwinfo.com/uncategoriz...-and-co-owner-of-dreams-unlimited-travel-inc/

I know many of you want my official take on the situation. Due to legalities and under advice of council I am not permitted to comment on the allegations. I may be able to say more in the future but I can’t as of right now.

I can say that Dreams Unlimited Travel and The DIS both have incredible teams of people working for and with us. We are a very strong organization and we will continue to grow and improve, as we have done every year we have been in business. I have the best people in the world working for and with me and I am so grateful for all of them. We are on strong financial footing and our business continues to grow.

For those on these boards who have decided it is OK to be mean, nasty and threatening to Kevin and myself I must say I am totally and completely appalled. We have always been nice, friendly and respectful to everyone we have met. The vitriol and hatred coming our way is uncalled for and disturbing. Just because my response wasn’t fast enough for some people you have decided that it’s appropriate to hide behind an anonymous screen name and post whatever you like. You have created false narratives and fabricated stories without knowing the first thing about us.

For those who have been supportive and good friends both on the boards and in ‘real life’ I am eternally grateful to have you in our lives. Your friendship is a blessing and I am humbled by your support.

My virtual door is always open and I have posted my email address on these boards before but in case you don’t have it – John@DreamsUnlimitedTravel.com

John Magi
President, Co-Owner
Dreams Unlimited Travel, Inc.

 

[nfreeman]

Thank you for finally making an official statement. I look forward to the New Era of the DIS as I am sure you will re-brand and create something that is bigger and better than before.

 

[Princess Jes]

I'm sure this has been some of the hardest days of your life john and I'm sorry you're facing these difficult times, and appreciate the circumstances that you're under in terms of legalities.

I did ask Jeff ( @OKW Lover ) to pass on my thoughts to yourself an Kevin.

I hope this weekend goes as well as it can given the situation.

Cheers
Jes

 

[NeuroCindy]

I appreciate you posting and understand the legal constraints. I think the confirmation that Pete will not profit off of these businesses or the Patreon is good to know and gives faith to some of the community.

 

[khertz]

Thank you @WebmasterJohn, it’s good to know that steps are being taken.

 

[Strikan]

Congratulations - you managed to turn your post into an attack. Typical.

Oh and just in case I get hit with the anonymous criticism, I am Michael Barker in the Facebook group and mjb.nyc on instagram.

Seriously, attacking your audience and supporters is not the way to move forward. You are not the victims here. Take your hit, be honest, make changes and move forward.

 

[dznyfreak]

John, Kevin and the rest of The Dreams and Dis Team. This has to be terribly tough time for you all and anyone who has any knowledge about how business ownership works would understand that an immediate comment is not always the wise or business intelligent thing to do- and could have huge legal ramifications.

The victims do need their voice because what happened to them is terrible. However, to ever come after anyone who is NOT the perpetrators of the crime is disgusting.

I look forward to meeting up with the team this weekend as planned and celebrating a new path forward.

I will continue to support this team with my viewership, my Patreon membership as well as my travel business as I have been given no reason not to since the root cause of the damage has been removed.

 

[Lexama]

Well said and thank you. I hope this trip can begin the healing for all of you.

 

[Tonyz]

For those on these boards who have decided it is OK to be mean, nasty and threatening to Kevin and myself I must say I am totally and completely appalled. We have always been nice, friendly and respectful to everyone we have met. The vitriol and hatred coming our way is uncalled for and disturbing. Just because my response wasn’t fast enough for some people you have decided that it’s appropriate to hide behind an anonymous screen name and post whatever you like. You have created false narratives and fabricated stories without knowing the first thing about us.

I hope in the future you can be more willing to take even a small amount of accountability and responsibility for what happened in your company, instead of just attacking anyone who dares to question things or not offer complete support. This is the exact tone that would come with shaming people on the boards who would ask why certain team members left so abruptly and mysteriously.

People have real questions about who knew what and if Pete was enabled or was allowed to keep his actions hidden for fear that it would hurt the business, and it's not wrong for them to ask those questions and voice their frustrations.

It's much easier to attempt to play victim, I know. But it's a very bad look to go on the attack during a time like this.

I expected better of you, John.

 

[Rsbuxt1966]

I hope in the future you can be more willing to take even a small amount of accountability and responsibility for what happened in your company, instead of just attacking anyone who dares to question things or not offer complete support. People have real questions about who knew what and if Pete was enabled or was allowed to keep his actions hidden for fear that it would hurt the business, and it's not wrong for them to ask those questions and voice their frustrations.

It's much easier to attempt to play victim, I know. But it's a very bad look to go on the attack during a time like this.

I expected better of you, John.

Exactly this . No way these horrible acts against your staff went unnoticed! Shame!

 

[bsmcneil]

By now I’m sure most of you have seen my blog post about Pete’s departure from Dreams Unlimited Travel and the DIS. If not you can see it here https://www.wdwinfo.com/uncategoriz...-and-co-owner-of-dreams-unlimited-travel-inc/

I know many of you want my official take on the situation. Due to legalities and under advice of council I am not permitted to comment on the allegations. I may be able to say more in the future but I can’t as of right now.

I can say that Dreams Unlimited Travel and The DIS both have incredible teams of people working for and with us. We are a very strong organization and we will continue to grow and improve, as we have done every year we have been in business. I have the best people in the world working for and with me and I am so grateful for all of them. We are on strong financial footing and our business continues to grow.

For those on these boards who have decided it is OK to be mean, nasty and threatening to Kevin and myself I must say I am totally and completely appalled. We have always been nice, friendly and respectful to everyone we have met. The vitriol and hatred coming our way is uncalled for and disturbing. Just because my response wasn’t fast enough for some people you have decided that it’s appropriate to hide behind an anonymous screen name and post whatever you like. You have created false narratives and fabricated stories without knowing the first thing about us.

For those who have been supportive and good friends both on the boards and in ‘real life’ I am eternally grateful to have you in our lives. Your friendship is a blessing and I am humbled by your support.

My virtual door is always open and I have posted my email address on these boards before but in case you don’t have it – John@DreamsUnlimitedTravel.com

John Magi
President, Co-Owner
Dreams Unlimited Travel, Inc.

I can imagine this feeling really hard and there being complex emotions. And, I would encourage you or anyone who's working on this to reconsider centering your feelings at this moment (if you're being advised not to make comments about some things - it might not be wise to post about how you're having fun and people are being too mean by asking for accountability because my guess is that any counsel worth their weight will bring this up). In fact, and this may get me banned, an appropriate statement could have said something like, "I realize our response has not been quick." without the defensiveness of how it wasn't "fast enough" (these issues have been talked about over months - not hours/days) and people are hiding behind anonymity. I assume you have received some hard messages and I assume from what you wrote - and feel free to share them with us so we can stand up for you - you've received some outright inappropriate messages (if you've received threats, I would turn those over to the police immediately - so, please do that because you - and all people - deserve to be kept free from threats, manipulation, abuse, violence, etc). And, I can assure you that people who've experienced sexual assault at the hands of your business partner are probably dealing with harder things right this moment (including getting messages that are unsupportive or blaming them for the abuse they experienced). Even a generic, "I realize there are lots of complex emotions/perspectives to all of this" could have been helpful; the more I re-read this post, the most gobsmacked I am (but also am not, which I think speaks to the rapidly declining assessment regarding the character of those involved). This came across - to some of us who aren't so privileged to have been blessed by your presence and friendship - as cruel.

Edited to add - regarding anonymity - the people who have been most affected by abuse by their employer (and your company) have put their names to their experiences, which takes a lot of bravery.

 

[anna samantha]

Congratulations - you managed to turn your post into an attack. Typical.

Oh and just in case I get hit with the anonymous criticism, I am Michael Barker in the Facebook group and mjb.nyc on instagram.

Seriously, attacking your audience and supporters is not the way to move forward. You are not the victims here. Take your hit, be honest, make changes and move forward.

I’m glad it wasn’t just me who caught that vibe. Hmm.

 

[Tonyz]

Nevermind.

 

[jcb]

John,

You and Kevin have my full unqualified support.

Now, I'm back to building my "ignore" list.

 

[mustinjourney]

With all due respect, this statement would have been a hell of a lot better without the 4th and 5th paragraphs.

 

[Ali]

Thank you for your message. I know this is probably not what you expected to be dealing with while you are all out in California for a fun experience with the fans of the show. I didn’t expect it either, yet I’m just reading from Home after the first day back to work for teachers, but I expect this to be extremely difficult for the people who work for you.

I hope you are reassuring your existing team that they are safe and will be taken care of throughout this crisis, just like we were told you did during the Covid shutdown. I’m sure we’d like to know that as well.

 

[SaintsManiac-vol.2]

SMDH

 

[Mcert01]

Thank you for finally making an official statement. I look forward to the New Era of the DIS as I am sure you will re-brand and create something that is bigger and better than before.

Good luck to you and the entire team during this difficult time.

 

[New England Eeyore]

“Mr. Werner’s ownership interest in the above businesses is currently being divested.”

Since I imagine this process may not be instantaneous, will you let us know when that ownership interest is fully divested? Many of us are not comfortable providing any financial support until that is finalized.

 

[carlyannek]

My thoughts continue to be with the victims here. The actual victims. Without whom none of this would have come to light.

My thoughts keep going back to the episode of the podcast where J & P insisted that there was no homophobia in Fl. (paraphrasing) and Ryno was brave enough to speak up and share his lived experience. It was clear in that moment, that you see what you want to see, even if it's right in front of you. Solidarity to the whistleblowers.

Feel free to ban me for this comment, I'm out