It's That Time Again

[Lou... 3,118]

http://articles.orla...ion-david-caton

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

sigh

[Brent... Just Brent 83]

Ugh

[campingpixi 11]

[ftwildernessguy 778]

I can't think of anything to say that won't piss somebody off, so I'm just gonna keep my mouth shut.

[Discamper 394]

I was a CM at WDW for the first Gay Days in 1991

[rdancemom... Pam 113]

I know a cheapskate who used to deliberately dress in red just to get a free tshirt when they complained. Some people will do anything to work the system...

[Discamper 394]

I know a cheapskate who used to deliberately dress in red just to get a free tshirt when they complained. Some people will do anything to work the system...

I don't think Disney can stop anyone from wearing a plan red tee shirt

[Lou... 3,118]

I know a cheapskate who used to deliberately dress in red just to get a free tshirt when they complained. Some people will do anything to work the system...

Complained about what to who to get what kind of a t shirt?

[Discamper 394]

I have not been around Gay Days since I left the company in 1993. I know the first few I saw they were acting over the top and it made a lot of guest mad. I hope they are not doing that anymore. I hope they just showing up with their red shirts to have fun like most people and don’t go over the top.

[Lou... 3,118]

I know the first few I saw were acting over the top and it made a lot of guests mad.

I hope they are not doing that anymore.

I make a point of not doing the parks during that time, so I don't know.

On the buses during the day time hours, nothing stands out as unusual.

I think if any unacceptable behavior were going on, in a full bus, the other riders would make their feelings known and so would I.

[rdancemom... Pam 113]

Complained about what to who to get what kind of a t shirt?

Used to be if you were wearing the same color shirt, and didn't realize it suddenly signified something you didn't intend, you could complain to GS and get a voucher for a free tshirt of a different color at the stores in the park. You know those vouchers - like the ones they give to keep you happy if you complain - that have the box to check for free ice cream, popcorn, replacement for lost autograph book, ect. In the last blank they just wrote "tshirt".

When it first started years ago, I seem to remember hearing about just being able to walk up to a merchandise counter and having them give you a shirt but that was a long time ago. Last I heard it had to be handled with an official complaint at GS but they were reportedly still giving shirts away in June 2009 to keep guests who were uncomfortable in red in the park.

[AC in A2......Aaron 693]

Sometimes I disagree with things other people do or believe in, but then I don't have to follow suit and do them. I've never thought about renting a plane and "airing" my grievances on a banner for thousands to see. Don't get me wrong, I can be as opinionated as the next person sometimes, but flying my opinions over WDW seems like not the correct time/place. If people want to wear a certain colored plain t-shirt, I have to ask, who cares? I have seen other tour groups of near a hundred people walk around with the same t-shirt on and causing problems, but as far as I could tell they weren't being asked to change their t-shirts. I have been at WDW during this same period before and couldn't have cared less. I don't agree or disagree publically with the lifestyle we are discussing or anyone else's because it is none of my business. If anyone of any lifestyle, etc is acting in a leud, rude, or criminal manner hopefully Disney would deal with that. Otherwise who cares......oh yeah obviously some dude and his banners. What a waste of time and money. On another note, we have had no fly zones around many sports stadiums in this country for anti-terrorism efforts, why can people fly planes like this over thousands of people at WDW?

[rdancemom... Pam 113]

I started to wonder if my information was incorrect so did a search to verify.

This page gives a good bit of history - http://www2.orlandow....asp?id=1783��- about 3/4 of the way down the page it says

Among the estimated 5,000 who attended that year were a minority who saw it as a defiant political act. As at Disneyland 14 years earlier, the chip-on-the-shoulder attitude didn't sit well with all who went or worked there. In response, about a dozen gay cast members took it upon themselves the third year to embark on some image control of their own. Groups that showed up wearing red were welcomed outside the park and given the rules: Keep your shirts on. Avoid overt sexual comments and conduct. "To walk hand-in-hand is great; to French kiss in the middle of the street is inappropriate -- not for Disney, but for us as a community," advised one greeter. Inside the park those greeters later acted as "queer police," stepping ahead of security to ensure that parade lines were not blocked and playfully obscene chants were redirected. "It was done tongue-in-cheek, but there was no question that this team of people was there to facilitate this event," recalls one gay Disney supervisor, who was among the volunteers. "And the crowd accepted it. It really was one of those epiphanies for me. People behaved." The greeters were never identified as Disney employees, and their hours were unpaid. Magic Kingdom management never endorsed their presence. "But I communicated with [management] regularly," says the supervisor, "and they never told me to stop."

Evidence of Disney's unease was everywhere. The company lined up shuttles to other theme parks for guests who complained, or gave them passes to return another day; in some instances, angry straight guests caught unawares in red shirts were given white ones to wear. Most glaring were the sandwich-board signs placed that year at the Magic Kingdom's entrance, alerting guests that there was a large gathering of gays and lesbians inside. Homosexuals weren't the only ones offended; many heterosexuals also objected to what was, in effect, a warning. But participants from Orlando who were accustomed to the Disney culture saw history in the making: It was the first time Disney featured the words "gay" and "lesbian" so prominently. Anti-gay activists, meanwhile, interpreted the signs as proof of the company's collusion.

Other more recent references to comp'd shirts & admission can be found in text and comments here -

But one thing I did not know about Disney’s ten-foot-pole participation in the annual event: They’ll refund your money if you’re a hetero who unwittingly and unhappily finds himself in a sea of gay.

“A former Disney employee who was at the park on June 5,” writes John Cloud, “told me that every year, Disney issues refunds or free next-day tickets to angry moms and dads who don’t want their kids exposed to gay couples or gay-themed shirts. Some families don’t get past Main Street U.S.A. before turning around and taking the monorail back to the parking lots.”

Full story here: http://www.queerty.c.../#ixzz1w0tbVnbC

[Discamper 394]

Well Gay Days has now been going on for 22 year WDW is still there and the sun still comes up in the east so people get over it.

[AC in A2......Aaron 693]

Well Gay Days has now been going on for 22 year WDW is still there and the sun still comes up in the east so people get over it.

I agree. Still wondering why people can fly planes over thousands of people at WDW though.

[Discamper 394]

I agree. Still wondering why people can fly planes over thousands of people at WDW though.

this has nothing to do with Gay Days it started after 911

[AC in A2......Aaron 693]

I am totally not following and for that my apologies. I thought there was a person or group flying anti-gay banners over WDW during gay days and therefore I am wondering why in a post-911 world they are allowed to fly over WDW when there are no fly-zones over numerous sports stadiums at any given time of the year because of terror concerns.

[Discamper 394]

Disney World isa no fly-zones

[AC in A2......Aaron 693]

Ok. I thought someone said they were still flying the banners overhead. I must have been mistaken. Thanks.

Edit: The article Lou linked says in the headline that they will be flying over Disney.....oh well.

Edited May 27, 2012 by AC in A2

[Discamper 394]

From the Orlando Sentinel

posted in 2003 and still holds today

No-fly Zones Shield Disney's Resorts

Competitors Said Disney Used Terrorist Fears To Get Rid Of Aerial-ad Planes And Sightseeing Helicopters

Walt Disney Co. won a rare prize on the eve of the Iraq war when federal officials permanently closed the airspace above its theme parks in Florida and California -- ostensibly to protect against terrorist attacks.

Walt Disney World and Disneyland now have 24-hour security zones that put them on par with a select few potential targets in the United States, including President Bush's Texas ranch, nuclear submarine bases and stockpiles of sarin gas and other weapons of mass destruction

[Lou... 3,118]

Used to be if you were wearing the same color shirt, and didn't realize it suddenly signified something you didn't intend, you could complain to GS and get a voucher for a free tshirt of a different color at the stores in the park.

I didn't know that.

Still wondering why people can fly planes over thousands of people at WDW though.

The article says that planes would fly over the Orlando tourist area, wherever that is.

The no fly zone over WDW does have limitations.

Aircraft can fly over WDW as long as they're over a certain altitude or beyond a certain radius.

The sky writing planes do it all the time.

[Brent... Just Brent 83]

I rarely comment on this topic. It is what it is. I think, overall, most everyone is well-enough behaved. It's that minority that make a scene and, like everything in life, ruin what is a good time for the other 99%. I totally get not wanting kids to be exposed to that 1% of behavior. That's elsewhere in the world. It shouldn't be at WDW. Even I go to be insulated from that kind of behavior.

With all that said, it's the hatred that scares me. The guy flying the plane... wow. Just wow.

[AC in A2......Aaron 693]

I am clear now. The guy flying the plane is legal, just not tolerant of other viewpoints.

[Discamper 394]

He can fly around the MK,EPCOT, Studio and AK but can't fly over it