Being Drunk in the World

[21stamps]

At What exit off the jersey turnpike do you live ?

You think Havaianas and Reef are a Jersey thing?

 

[jakeman]

If a person is so drunk that they are covered in vomit, the chances of them even being slightly coherent or even able to stand up are pretty slim. What good would it do to "call them out" and what does that even mean? You will tell them how drunk they are? Perhaps you could help them out instead of yelling at them.

That won't do well for the act, now will it?

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

You think Havaianas and Reef are a Jersey thing?

No...I was making a self deprecating joke about overuse of flip flops....

It’s what we do.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

It's just kind of a "know your situation" thing to me- If I took kids to a bar/pub, after say 8 pm and people were behaving in ways mentioned here, then that is on me if I am offended. If I am at a Disney theme park and the same behavior is taking place, I have a little more wiggle room in that regard. And conversely, if I am at a bar I may talk a bit more colorful than I would standing behind a family of 4 in line for Small World.

Now I do get at this point that Epcot has become the 'park for adults' and if you truly wish to avoid running into those people, maybe skip the world showcase on a more crowded day and stay up front riding Nemo/The Land- at the same time I don't consider it unreasonable for people to be upset with a lot more public intoxication at a WDW park than a family visiting from out of town would expect.

And I get wanting to try a number of the special regional drinks at F&W, and how for a relative lightweight that could take care of your BAC right there, but otherwise, who is going to a WDW theme park for the express purpose of getting tanked, and why? That seems considerably expensive as opposed to just going around Disney springs, doing the monorail crawl, or going somewhere in downtown Orlando/I Drive off site where drinks are no doubt cheaper.

I guess for me it's a matter of perspective- I get wanting to have a few drinks somewhere for a festive occasion, but the phenomenon of getting 'tanked' at something like a sporting event or Epcot just baffles me. Why get 'brownout' drunk for something you paid a good bit of money to do, and if so, wouldn't you rather not be surrounded by families and kids?

That right there is a cottage industry that has exploded since 2000....incredibly lucrative as well.

And it can’t be put on one specific demographic either...it spans many.

 

[righttrack]

As with all things drinking there is "amateur hour" and just normal drinking. Amateur hour occurs when there are people who don't or shouldn't drink and do heavily. Bad things happen. I'm talking about older people as much, if not more than young people. You know people who are like add alcohol = instant donkey types. It's not everyone and everyone shouldn't have to suffer for the few who just behave like this. The high cost of alcohol is the biggest deterrent to bad drunken behavior. I don't consider it a problem, it just is. I don't think there should be any change either.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

If a person is so drunk that they are covered in vomit, the chances of them even being slightly coherent or even able to stand up are pretty slim. What good would it do to "call them out" and what does that even mean? You will tell them how drunk they are? Perhaps you could help them out instead of yelling at them.

People feel the need to act tough on message boards.

 

[DisneyFreak]

This thread makes me wish even more that they would have kept Pleasure Island open.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Well at that point I suppose the solution is that there is no solution, other than 'give people fair warning about times the park will be littered with drunks' and hope people plan accordingly.

At some point then it may reach it's logical extreme where either the park starts to make less money on those occasions, or makes enough extra from it to warrant paying for increased security, potential CM turnover, and loss of revenue from forewarned families who avoid that park during special times of year.

FWIW I'm not some teetotaler or zealot, I'm fine w people enjoying themselves and even having one too many (and I've done my share of it at Epcot in relative moderation), but when it starts taking a PG13 Bourbon Street vibe during F&W I'll steer clear, because it's not the experience I, and I would imagine several other WDW enthusiasts, have in mind for a fun day at the parks.

And on F&W nights that I am on site, I am usually quite glad I don't have to drive anywhere, because adding potentially hundreds of impaired drivers to an area already littered with awful tourist drivers does not seem like a recipe for fun.

So dramatic.

Just go to WDW and enjoy yourself. Or don’t.

 

[OneofThree]

Just go to WDW and enjoy yourself. Or don’t.

Isn't this the topic at hand?

Um, yeah -that is kind of the entire point of the thread. A certain expectation of behavior in public is key to everyone "enjoying themselves". Always has been, always will be. The criticism is on those who can't seem to self-regulate, how ever many or few they may be. Personally, I thinks it's totally pathetic to get stupid drunk. At the same, I couldn't possibly care less, for real. Visiting that garbage on others, particular in a place geared for kids and families -that's a different matter altogether.

 

[jakeman]

Truly. I've never seen any of these Food and Wine debacles in all my visits. Maybe I'm too busy eating and drinking to notice.

Me either. I even climbed to the top of the Mexico ziggurat once to see if I could spot any!

 

[21stamps]

How many people here have actually seen someone who was outright disturbingly drunk while at any of the Disney parks?

Please respond with how many occasions and what you witnessed (sans embellishment). I’m genuinely curious.

 

[OneofThree]

How many people here have actually seen someone who was outright disturbingly drunk while at any of the Disney parks?

This entire thread is predicated on just that, as the OP went into some extensive detail. What's your point?

 

[21stamps]

This entire thread is predicated on just that, as the OP went into some extensive detail. What's your point?

It appears that what we’re seeing (again) is an overwhelmingly overreaction to something of which is an underwhelming number of actual occurrences.

Aka.. the “problem” is being artificially overblown. I’m not talking tipsy, I’m saying inebriated. I’m doubtful that it’s as common as some are pretending it to be.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

How many people here have actually seen someone who was outright disturbingly drunk while at any of the Disney parks?

Please respond with how many occasions and what you witnessed (sans embellishment). I’m genuinely curious.

Three times, and I lived in Orlando from 2011 to 2014 and was at Epcot about one night a week during that time.

One bachelorette party, one group of UCF bros, and one lady hunched over on a bench.

Aka.. the “problem” is being artificially overblown. I’m not talking tipsy, I’m saying inebriated. I’m doubtful that it’s as common as some are pretending it to be.

I think part of the problem is that people legitimately see boorish behavior and automatically attribute it to alcohol, completely ignoring the fact that some people are just boorish.

 

[21stamps]

Three times, and I lived in Orlando from 2011 to 2014 and was at Epcot about one night a week during that time.

One bachelorette party, one group of UCF bros, and one lady hunched over on a bench.

So in approximately 156 visits, you saw it 3 times... Any of those three times obnoxiously distracting/harmful?

 

[CaptainAmerica]

So in approximately 156 visits, you saw it 3 times... Any of those three times obnoxiously distracting/harmful?

I've seen lots of distracting/harmful behavior but I can't say alcohol was to blame. Cursing, inappropriate clothing, groping, etc. Can't say any of it has been alcohol's fault because it seems to be just as common at 9am in the Magic Kingdom as it is at 9pm in Epcot.

(I assume you know this already, but I wasn't saying "three times" as if that's a large number. I'm agreeing with you.)

 

[OneofThree]

It appears that what we’re seeing (again) is an overwhelmingly overreaction to something of which is an underwhelming number of actual occurrences.

I'm not sure anyone has ventured to guess how many occurrences there are, and I'm not sure how reasonable it is to qualify peoples' position on the matter by that estimation. I think we all know (and judging by the verbiage of your quoted post here), that people raise the concern quite often here and elsewhere. As someone who is fairly local (and lived within 10 minutes of the resort for over 10 years), I can tell that it happens, and regularly. As much as possible, I avoid these slobs when I see them to the extent I'm able to. I really prefer not to follow them around the park to see who they spill their beer on, or stumble into, for example, as I'm really just focused on relaxing and having a good time. I've regularly witnessed this happen to others, and their children as well. The threshold for BS is much lower when the kids are in tow. The fact that there are always many children in the park really demonstrates why the behavior is really never ok there.

 

[21stamps]

Enough that I don't have an accurate count. That's not 'hundreds of times' or anything, but a week I usually stay on site in October is typically during peak F&W days. I've seen plenty of stumblers, the brownout or blackout types that aren't really there, a couple of fights, the usual that you would see at like a music festival, 'Mardi Gras' type event or frat house kegger. And again, I am not offended by this, or clutching my pearls in horror at the site of heathens drinking the devil's nectar! Just some times mildly annoyed at people there ruining the time of others (again, not mine, usually the friends of said person who now have to carry Stumbly around the rest of the day) because they felt that getting dead drunk at a Disney park sounded like a good idea.

The last time in was in Epcot for F&W was 2009.. I went several consecutive years prior to that. Maybe things have totally changed since my visits to F&W.. I’m just doubtful that it’s always as distracting as people here make it sound.

Outside of F&W I’m also doubtful that it’s a common distracting occurrence.

 

[jakeman]

Good lord.

On a scale of 1 to Corona, show me on the doll where the drunk threw up on you, @CaptainAmerica.

This is ridculous. Teetotalers are going to overreact. Lushes are going to minimize.

We don't really need to start cataloging any of this.

 

[21stamps]

I've seen lots of distracting/harmful behavior but I can't say alcohol was to blame. Cursing, inappropriate clothing, groping, etc. Can't say any of it has been alcohol's fault because it seems to be just as common at 9am in the Magic Kingdom as it is at 9pm in Epcot.

(I assume you know this already, but I wasn't saying "three times" as if that's a large number. I'm agreeing with you.)

I know you were.. I just wanted to point out how amazingly small of a number of drunks vs visits was. Not to you.. just for perspective of the thread.

I think people at MK are worse.. and I wish they could use alcohol as an excuse. Unfortunately, they’re just gross humans.