This interests me... When jt says there was riff-raff at Pleasure Island, he is chastised for it... And yet, an Orange Country Sheriff substation is needed in City Walk for obvious riff-raff reasons, and well, no one wants to even comment... One can surmise Disney had problems with drunken riff-raff and unruly teens in Pleasure Island just as Universal.. But, we all know, Disney just didn't know how to handle them... :lol:
Obviously Disney didn't want that kind of trouble on their property, which is aimed at mostly families... So, Pleasure Island debate settled..![]()
As former law enforcement in Los Angeles (and having dealt with both Universal and Disney security management), Universal is just far more cop-friendly than Disney. Their approaches are exact opposites - one is glad to have the police involved on property and as helpful as can be, while the other doesn't want law enforcement anywhere near the property unless they need them.
In other words, you see police at Universal because Universal wants them there, and you don't at Disneyland because Disney doesn't want them there (sometimes they don't get their wish).
As for crime? My experience is that Citywalk had more drunken behavior than Downtown Disney, but that was a consequence of the higher volumn of patrons.
I see the Sheriff at bag check for the Disney parks, too, and there is a prominent cruiser parked under the Epcot monorail station - hard to miss. I chalk this up (in both Uni and Disney) more to a 9/11 response than to behavior problems.
It is, but in reality it's all for show (including the bag checks). Much like the airports, 70-80% of contraband (not that there is a lot) that goes through those bag checks never get caught. Practically speaking they are fairly meaningless and only meant to make people feel safer.