Dang, drunkytown has been moved.....

[Mickey81]

In all fairness, I'm not sure how some of you are comparing Epcot to SEC football games or other sporting events. We're talking about a family vacation destination and a sporting event that is mostly enjoyed by adults. Apples and oranges.


While I don't really care too much for the alcoholic indulgences of folks at Epcot during the "drunkytown" festival, it's their business. I just wish they'd stay on the sides of the pathways instead of strolling so leisurely right down the middle.

I don't fully agree with this. Yes, Disney is a family vacation destination. However, I know my daughter has been in to sports, since a very young age, and I fully believe it's just as acceptable to take her to a game as it is epcot. All professional sports market towards that demographic, just as much as they do adults. We have a minor league team that often has promotions geared towards children. We hardly go, people are always drunk there, day or night. Still the team markets events and promotions towards kids.

 

[xdan0920]

I've personally seen people getting hammered at EPCOT. Most of the time they are more of an embarrassment than anything else. I've never seen a drunk fighting there. Yet. However, the drunks do exist in the park. Especially during F&W. I've seen angry drunks there, silly drunks, and weepy drunks. I will admit that the number of these idiots are in a very low percentile, but please do not act like they don't exist. Admittedly, the term "Drunkytown" was an overstatement and somewhat silly, but this has become polarized and there are two camps now. Camp one believes that it is out of control with drunks and the beer floweth upon the streets mixed with vomit. Camp two believes that people do not get drunk at Disney and that camp one is making things up. Both are wrong.

Camp two doesn't exist. I challenge you to find even one post from camp 2. Camp 1 does exist, and they are dopes.

 

[Matt_Black]

I don't fully agree with this. Yes, Disney is a family vacation destination. However, I know my daughter has been in to sports, since a very young age, and I fully believe it's just as acceptable to take her to a game as it is epcot. All professional sports market towards that demographic, just as much as they do adults. We have a minor league team that often has promotions geared towards children. We hardly go, people are always drunk there, day or night. Still the team markets events and promotions towards kids.

Likewise, my last two trips have been with all adults in the party. Walt Disney World is for ALL ages, not just families with kids.

 

[Mickey81]

Likewise, my last two trips have been with all adults in the party. Walt Disney World is for ALL ages, not just families with kids.

Great point!

 

[Matt_Black]

Great point!

Of course it is. I make nothing but great points.

 

[216bruce]

Just some facts thrown in from reading this greatly entertaining thread (nice to see)
1) $10 beers are quite common at most pro sports facilities, so this isn't a Disney thing and most of the folks who buy lots of them aren't millionaires- far from it.
2) Lots of stadiums have jails. When I was hired by the Browns back in '99 we had a tour of the new stadium and saw the jail cell(s). Very busy place- especially when it's Steelers day.
3)There are more drunks around during F&W and some folks go there specifically to rise to the challenge of more countries and beers/wines represented. Heck, Disney sells shirts that even are aimed for folks to "drink around the World". Yeah, it just says that they are there and doesn't 'force' you to do it. but c'mon...

 

[Minthorne]

Here is a shocker - I go to Epcot to drink and sometimes I get a buzz. Won't you take me to drunkytown?

 

[Otterhead]

Absolutely, people get drunk at Epcot, just as they get drunk at Hollywood Studios, and most definitely at Animal Kingdom (ever seen people stumbling out of Dawa Bar? I certainly have!). People get drunk at the resort restaurants, at Downtown Disney, and I'm sure they manage to do so at Be Our Guest. If you provide people access to alcohol on vacation, they will drink it. There are many terrific alcoholic drinks at WDW and I enjoy partaking of them, myself!

The bigger question is: is that a problem? In my many visits to Epcot, F&W and the F&G show, I've only seen irritating drunks a few times:
- drinking way too many beers during the Epcot New Years' Eve fest
- two guys in foam sombreros yelling SAKE BOMB! and doing sake shots in Japan
- some drunk women stumbling around and laughing way too loud, wearing "drinking around the world!" shirts.
- "bros" being drunk in Germany, which seems to have the most drinking going on

None of these people impacted my vacation at all. I have much bigger things to worry about than a very small number of people stumbling around -- like the huge massive groups of South American cheerleaders nearly mowing people down while screaming constantly, the families smashing into me from behind with their tandem strollers, or a guy on a Rascal scooter running over my foot.

 

[jakeman]

Camp two doesn't exist. I challenge you to find even one post from camp 2. Camp 1 does exist, and they are dopes.

I'm in camp 2.

Admittedly that's because I blackout around Japan and can't remember any of my time in Epcot.

 

[ItlngrlBella]

I don't fully agree with this. Yes, Disney is a family vacation destination. However, I know my daughter has been in to sports, since a very young age, and I fully believe it's just as acceptable to take her to a game as it is epcot. All professional sports market towards that demographic, just as much as they do adults. We have a minor league team that often has promotions geared towards children. We hardly go, people are always drunk there, day or night. Still the team markets events and promotions towards kids.

I think it depends on the sporting event. Cubs/Sox crosstown classic? Cubs/Brewers match up? HECK NO! It's full on "Drunkytown." Our daughters aren't allowed to attend that until they are at least 18.

A regular Brewers game? Our local minor league baseball team? Yes - it's a MUCH tamer crowd.

 

[BuddyThomas]

I beg to differ. I find the OP very astute and their description of F&W, in particular on the weekends, highly accurate.

Ladies and gentlemen, right on schedule, I give you the Wicked Witch of the West!

 

[Mickey81]

I think it depends on the sporting event. Cubs/Sox crosstown classic? Cubs/Brewers match up? HECK NO! It's full on "Drunkytown." Our daughters aren't allowed to attend that until they are at least 18.

A regular Brewers game? Our local minor league baseball team? Yes - it's a MUCH tamer crowd.

I refuse to let a bunch of morons dictate what my family is able to do. If we want to go a yankees/ sox game, than we will. Besides sitting there mocking, and making fun of the irresponsible drunks is almost as fun as the game sometimes.

 

[xdan0920]

I'm in camp 2.

Admittedly that's because I blackout around Japan and can't remember any of my time in Epcot.

Me too! usually the last thing I remember is shrubbery, or the underside of a bench. So I'm just guessing.

 

[betty rose]

Correct, sorry meant to say my last day is the 26th.

You still have one day....

 

[ItlngrlBella]

I refuse to let a bunch of morons dictate what my family is able to do. If we want to go a yankees/ sox game, than we will. Besides sitting there mocking, and making fun of the irresponsible drunks is almost as fun as the game sometimes.

I see your point and I guess it's all situation such as how old your kids are.

We have 2 young girls (9 & 5).

I thought the same as you but at our first Cubs/Brewers trip organized, we had a small group (about 6). A fight broke out (no one in our group) in the seats and the thing became a mob - we got out of there and there was a family with young kids who didn't get out as fast. The kids were screaming and terrified, someone spilled beer on them - it was horrible.

Cubs/Brewers is a rough rivalry with lots of booze and fights beak out -and lots of puking in public - it sucks but I don't want my kids exposed to it. That's why our bus trip is 21 and over.

While we're a bawdy group of adults no one in our group is that rockstar/messy drunk. Having said that it's a drinking event and at least in our case we keep it adult.

 

[draybook]

Likewise, my last two trips have been with all adults in the party. Walt Disney World is for ALL ages, not just families with kids.

I never said it wasn't for just adults. I said that Disney is a major family vacation destination. That isn't my opinion, it's a number based fact. If you guys don't see the glaring difference between Disney World and sporting events then we should just agree to disagree and move on from there.

 

[Ali in Wonderland]

I refuse to let a bunch of morons dictate what my family is able to do. If we want to go a yankees/ sox game, than we will. Besides sitting there mocking, and making fun of the irresponsible drunks is almost as fun as the game sometimes.

Absolutely! I take my kids to a lot of concerts, festivals, sporting events, and of course Disney World. We love when people get drunk. That is good people watching right there!

 

[NelsonRD]

I like pancakes!

 

[BJones82]

Did F&G for the first time this year last weekend, had a blast, will be there for my honeymoon/wedding during the F&W this fall. We are excited to Drink around the world with our bridal party one of the nights after our wedding lol

 

[Mickey81]

Absolutely! I take my kids to a lot of concerts, festivals, sporting events, and of course Disney World. We love when people get drunk. That is good people watching right there!

We do as well, my daughter has been to everything from Roger Waters concerts to Jimmy Buffett. We visit places like New Orleans, Vegas, Myrtle Beach. Once she got to be around 8 or 9, and was mature enough to understand that some people act irresponsibly at any age, we bring her along if we think it's a safe environment and she can understand what may or may not be acceptable behaviour in public. It's our responsibility to make sure we talk to them, and explain what they saw, and what is acceptable. I don't believe it does much good to completly shelter a child from reality. It makes for a tough transition in the end. Still the point is here, that compared to other places, Epcot does not deserve the title drunky town, it's an exaggeration and dumb. There is no doubt people get buzzed, drunk and so on at Epcot. Guess what we can be visiting any city and walking to dinner, a museum or any event and see some loser staggering down the street. One of my of the funniest things I've seen on vacation is a drunk guy walk straight into a stop sign, fall down into the road and then have no idea what happened. Great example of what you don't want to be when you grow up.