Walt Disney World bans sex offenders from theme parks

[ATIS1972]

I have enjoyed all of Todd's posts as they have always made sense and have helped me, at least, get a clearer understanding of what the controversy behind the sex offender and predator registries represent and what it means to folks on both sides of the issue.

I also applaud Shiny1278's bravery for coming forth with what's going on in his case and sharing his concerns with us.

Theme park and amusement companies have always maintained some sort of policies designed to ensure the safety of their park guests and to help promote orderly conduct on their parks, and that is a good thing to have anywhere.

I have read through this entire thread so I can get a fair assessment of all sides and I would be one to agree that a policy that screens for potentially dangerous guests who have a criminal background where a victim was involved is a positive step to be taken to help protect their parks and the rest of their guests and to help make the parks and resorts a bit safer, but I'm a believer that merely targeting only one or two classifications of crime and not seeming to be screening for all the other, dangerous or deadly criminals is giving me the impression that Disney is not really trying and they are not following though on what should be the full screening process, that is if they are going to have any screening process in-place at all.

So now I ask why should Disney not have a concern for other, violent and dangerous criminals who make it though the park gates on a daily basis such as rapists, grand theft, drug-related, bank robbery, etc?

And if Disney does have a concern then is there any indication Disney's screening process will be stepped up so as to effectively screen for all dangerous convicts?

I'd say if they were going to implement any kind of screening process that was meant to help ensure the safety of their parks and guests Disney should either go all the way and not stop short at just one or two things.

Your thoughts?

 

[Borishack]

Actually that is not totally correct, you have to remember these vessel sail to and from US ports, with mostly US passengers, which gives the US and the USCG/regulations a good deal of control and enforcement.

AKK

The Disney ships are all under Bahamian registry. Any incident that occurs on these ships when they are outside U.S. territorial waters is completely outside the jurisdiction of any U.S. authority. Instead, you are the mercy of Bahamas law and Bahamas law enforcement.

And before anyone tries to debate that, the image below serves as sad proof that what I say is absolutely correct.

 

[ATIS1972]

That is indeed sad and as Borishack is indicating it can happen to anyone, anywhere on any Disney venue and at anytime.

Borishack, did you have family or perhaps your spouse with you on that cruise? If so I bet their hearts were totally broken at Disney's choice of action and that any entertainment or amusement company whose reputation is known for the making of great memories of good times that last a lifetime would do that, and not be a company that creates nightmares that scar visitors and ruins the vacation plans of them and those who are with them.

 

[Disneylovingdad]

The Disney ships are all under Bahamian registry. Any incident that occurs on these ships when they are outside U.S. territorial waters is completely outside the jurisdiction of any U.S. authority. Instead, you are the mercy of Bahamas law and Bahamas law enforcement.

And before anyone tries to debate that, the image below serves as sad proof that what I say is absolutely correct.

I'm confused. May I ask what this picture shows? There is no story to it unless it was edited. Just curious. I don't know how that picture backs up what you are saying. I don't doubt you are correct but I don't get the context and connection. I see what appears to be a Bahamian official in the background. Is he a Police Officer, or customs or something?

 

[Borishack]

That is indeed sad and as Borishack is indicating it can happen to anyone, anywhere on any Disney venue and at anytime.

Borishack, did you have family or perhaps your spouse with you on that cruise? If so I bet their hearts were totally broken at Disney's choice of action and that any entertainment or amusement company whose reputation is known for the making of great memories of good times that last a lifetime would do that, and not be a company that creates nightmares that scar visitors and ruins the vacation plans of them and those who are with them.

Fortunately, we were not on that disastrous voyage.

However, we did sail on the Magic a week later and the it was clear within hours of boarding that even the crew on that ship was feeling the agony you described. Frankly, the situation hung over and heavily colored that voyage; passengers were constantly discussing the missing CM and Disney's response (or to be blunt, what most were characterizing as "non response." ).

 

[Borishack]

I'm confused. May I ask what this picture shows? There is no story to it unless it was edited. Just curious. I don't know how that picture backs up what you are saying. I don't doubt you are correct but I don't get the context and connection. I see what appears to be a Bahamian official in the background. Is he a Police Officer, or customs or something?

Sigh....Disney wants this episode to be forgotten and it looks like they are succeeding.

Here is everything you need to know:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Rebecca_Coriam

 

[ATIS1972]

Sigh....Disney wants this episode to be forgotten and it looks like they are succeeding.

Here is everything you need to know...

People are smart. They're not gonna let a company, even if it is Disney, just skate something like this. This is way too huge.

 

[Borishack]

People are smart. They're not gonna let a company, even if it is Disney, just skate something like this. This is way too huge.

I agree that most people will not accept it. But trust me, there are "Disney party line" types on this site who fully support the (lack of) action the firm took in this sad episode. In fact, the longer discussion on this tangent continues, the more likely it is members of that crowd will arrive and show their colors.

 

[ATIS1972]

When all else is said and done I'm one to make the observation that it appears Disney's current guest screening policy is half-baked, at best. I would appear that while Disney's plan to help make their parks and the resort 'safer' would be a good idea and it looks good on paper, I view this as Disney not being as thourough as perhaps they should be with this, because if their primary objective was to enhance the overall safety of the parks and resort then Disney would be screening for ALL of the really dangerous and deadly crimes and not just stopping short at one or maybe two.

With the policy as it currently is I feel short-changed in that if trying to help make the parks and resort 'safer' were truly the objective, then Disney should either follow through or just get out of the way. Further, I view Disney's policy of summonsing the County Sheriff to issue a trespass warrant to be a form of bullying, which does not sit well with me at all. Which brings me to the case of when Jesus discovered the public rally to stone the woman to death for adultery, Jesus told them that if any one of them in the rally could find themselves completely without sin then they could be the one to throw the first stone at the woman, otherwise, drop the stone.

 

[Disneylovingdad]

Sigh....Disney wants this episode to be forgotten and it looks like they are succeeding.

Here is everything you need to know:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Rebecca_Coriam

Thank you for the link. I had never heard of this incident. I started on these boards the end of 2011. Guess it was too late for me to catch it. This story is sad and I don't buy for a second that Disney doesn't know more. Maybe they don't know exactly what happened but they have to know more.

As it relates to this story, this thread, and life in general, people have to be responsible for their own safety and security as much as possible. You can't rely on government or corporations to provide total security. There are just too many ways for things to go wrong. You have to remain alert and learn to trust your instincts. There have been studies where when people are told by someone in some sort of position of authority what to do, even if it was the opposite of what any reasonable person would do, they follow along.

 

[supergoofy]

I find the policy offensive and ineffective.

Lets start with offensive.

Peeing on side of road

Flashing your upper body part(ladies) at the lake during spring break

Or being 18 and doing something with your 17 year old girlfriend

Can land you on the list. Really this is worthy of a ban.


Now ineffective. I can buy passes all day long with out a name given. And second California has lost on the order of 30,000 sex offenders. If a state can lose that many how do you think will be able to keep track of them?



Yeah I get the idea behind this and on the surface sounds like a great idea but what I fear is people seeing this kind of policy and going "hey my kids can run free as the are completely safe".

 

[ATIS1972]

Good points, Supergoofy.

Another thing folks might want to consider is how this banning process affects the families, group members and/or spouses of the one being banned and given direct orders by Disney and the County Sheriff that they must leave the entire Disney property at once. I view that as a way Disney can punish even those who are NOT on any offender or predator list because, in the event the one being banned would happen to be the one with the family or group's transportation, the rest of the group could otherwise end up being stranded somewhere on the resort or they would simply have to leave along with the one who got the ban and trespass warning. It's a mess and I can envision total disaster taking place in the event a scenario like this develops. Entire family's dreams of seeing Walt Disney World perhaps for the very first time, ripped apart at the hands of one tunnelvisioned screening process policy.

 

[old lady]

Hopefully, they do not file discrimation suit saying their rights are being violated, but Disney does have to protect its main customers from abuse. They don't hire those kind of people either.

 

[ATIS1972]

Hopefully, they do not file discrimation suit saying their rights are being violated, but Disney does have to protect its main customers from abuse. They don't hire those kind of people either.

Disney DOES have the right to protect its main customers and of course Disney DOES have the right to refuse service to anyone; any business has that right.

But by the same token theme park goers and vacationers have ALWAYS had the right to choose and if they wish, choose NOT to patronise the Disney and do business with Disney altogether. That's ALWAYS been our right and we can vote with our wallets easy enough. In light of this we see that the Walt Disney Company is not really doing its customers the service to the calibre that their guest screening policy claims it is doing, by only screening for a few things while condoning so many other, very worrisome things that do involve other forms of dangerous criminals being allowed thru the gates of their parks on a daily basis.

Right now Disney's current guest screening policy is viewed as being broken and unfair in regards to the overall goal their screening policy is supposed to be achieving. Instead it's causing much-anticipated vacations and family plans for Disney fun to be torn apart at the seams whenever someone in the group should have the misfortune of receiving the bad news and the trespass from the County Sheriff.

Now a whole lot of people in this world who have experienced the magic and the wonders of Walt Disney World and all it has to offer like to spread the word to others about their great and memorable visits to the WDW parks and resort and that generates new interest that translates into new and continued ticket sales and resort hotel bookings, but by the same token folks can, and have the right to, speak truthfully of their bad experiences they have had with anything of Walt Disney World and it's a sure bet folks who do run into the misfortune of the magnitude of the topic of this thread of discussion are gonna talk and naturally it's going to discourage others from choosing to visit, which can translate to a decreased amount of ticket sales and a decreased amount of interest in vacation packages and resort hotel stays at the WDW Resort, altogether and I would like to think that Disney is a company that wouldn't want to do anything that would eventually translate into anything that would cause a decrease in interest among potential customers and returning guests.