Nasty incident outside Club Cool at Epcot tonight

[jt04]

How would you characterize it? I would describe it as "assaulted" but thats just me....

Yes, assault is what I thought of. Seems to me the CM's preformed bravely in a difficult situation. Kudos to them.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Yes, assault is what I thought of. Seems to me the CM's preformed bravely in a difficult situation. Kudos to them.

Based on everything I've heard, this went way beyond a "guest behaving badly".... And yes, Kudos to them.

 

[jt04]

Based on everything I've heard, this went way beyond a "guest behaving badly".... And yes, Kudos to them.

Wow, just learned he is an officer unless he was discharged recently. That takes it to a whole new level. I am outta this conversation.

 

[donaldtoo]

Did Disney turn around and fire the CMs and offer the guy a pay off and villa at the Grand Flo for the next 20 years?

I know your (mostly) exaggerating to make a point, but can you provide similar (substantiated) examples...?

 

[vonpluto]

Wow, just learned he is an officer unless he was discharged recently. That takes it to a whole new level. I am outta this conversation.

He is a service academy graduate (2012), so he has at least a four year commitment. He'll probably be brought before a review board, and possibly face charges of conduct unbecoming. Next stop, the Aleutians.

 

[donaldtoo]

They could just eliminate the "wine" part (no booze) and call it the "Food and Whine Festival"...No booze, but all the food you can eat. Then everyone would just be layin' around in a food coma whinin' about how full they are and takin' naps instead a' gettin' poop-faced, floor-crawlin', commode-huggin' ROWDY-smashed.
Just a thought...

 

[Communicore]

So....while the Slantinel has gotten half of it, they fail to mention the rest that DID happen. All of you think you know what completely happened (and some of you are half right about it) but all the rest of the details are completely WRONG.

Here is the real story (and before someone calls BS, I heard this directly from someone who oversaw everything and was in charge that night):

This rampaging drunk was in the back of Innoventions (near UoE) and there is a gate there that leads to a door, that leads to different offices on the second floor of Innoventions, namely a few offices for them and a small office for Guest Relations DRC, but its mainly the offices for Future World East Attractions management.

The drunk went up the stairs to the nearest level (the aforementioned floor), proceeded to walk into the FWE management office and proceeded to beat the first Cast Member, an FWE manager, which needed about 12 stitches on his head afterwards. Thankfully, the only other manager that was in there was able to fend the drunk off.

Is this office the former Backstage Magic/Computer Central? I've always wanted to see that, maybe I should be like this drunk fool, minus the violence?

 

[donaldtoo]

Yep. Just as I suspected...

 

[donaldtoo]

I once twisted an ankle at EPCOT Center in, ooohh...I think it was about July of '83...I was stone cold drunk...from the booze I had to purchase and provide myself. 'cause "Disney" was too tea-totalling at the time to provide it for me.
Buggers.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Wow, just learned he is an officer unless he was discharged recently. That takes it to a whole new level. I am outta this conversation.

Yeah, dude just screwed his career.

 

[Mickey_777]

Epcot and F&W has become the chosen Oktoberfest site for all Floridians. I don't think it is about the booze but more so about the festival atmosphere during this time of year. Why else would the locals pay $90 for park entry and $7 for a beer? F&W has become nothing but a drunk fest similar to what Alpine Helen has become in the North Georgia Mountains during Oktoberfest. You go to get hammered.

We were just there on saturday and WS was so crowded it was unbearable at times. We had previously been during F&W back in 2010 but it was nowhere near as bad as this in every aspect. There were many locals ("Go Gators!" Was blurted out every 30 seconds it seemed) and I've never witnessed the whole drinking team phenomenon before. Uniforms and all. Team "Liver Let Die" with the yellow shirts and "United States drinking team" in their blue jerseys were memorable. Needless to say our family felt uncomfortable pretty much the whole time in WS. You felt like something could go down with the way they were drinking and acting. That's why this news doesn't surprise me even though I don't know all the facts. I doubt we'll ever go back during F&W to be honest.

 

[Santa Raccoon 77]

I am available for hire, but @real mad hatter gets first dibs on my services.

He may need more than one chaperone

 

[janoimagine]

I know your (mostly) exaggerating to make a point, but can you provide similar (substantiated) examples...?

No he wasn't. He was referring to a foreign individual who choked a bus driver and pushed a child in the drivers face, the video was all over you tube. The driver was clearly the victim, however Disney placed the driver on paid leave, opted not to press charges on the individual, and (now I am not 100% certain on this) comped them rooms, tickets and meals at the Grand Floridian.

 

[disneyrcks]

No he wasn't. He was referring to a foreign individual who choked a bus driver and pushed a child in the drivers face, the video was all over you tube. The driver was clearly the victim, however Disney placed the driver on paid leave, opted not to press charges on the individual, and (now I am not 100% certain on this) comped them rooms, tickets and meals at the Grand Floridian.

That is awful. Terrible behavior like that should never be rewarded.

 

[DisneySaint]

The Club Cool staff member then said that 'security was on their way' and so we ventured in to sample the drinks in the now deserted Club Cool.

My favorite part of this whole post. Big fight in the middle of Epcot? Better go have some Beverly.

 

[Weather_Lady]

Perhaps a beneficial modification to the Magic Bands would be a built-in breathalyzer.

Seriously though, I agree that "obnoxious drunkenness" increasingly sullies trips to World Showcase, especially during F&W. Short of placing a breathalyzer at each drink kiosk and restaurant, I'm not sure what more can be done. If charging ridiculous prices for teensy amounts of alcohol isn't enough to discourage overimbibing, what is? Perhaps if they had a larger cast member presence stationed around solely for the purpose of observing behavior and removing visibly intoxicated guests...

 

[mr spalding]

There were many locals ("Go Gators!" Was blurted out every 30 seconds it seemed) and I've never witnessed the whole drinking team phenomenon before. Uniforms and all. Team "Liver Let Die" with the yellow shirts and "United States drinking team" in their blue jerseys were memorable.

I stated this before but F&W has become the designated site for Oktoberfest for Floridians and Disney needs to figure out how to change this or they are going to run off the family-oriented vacationers who are paying the big bucks for multi-day tickets, lodging, etc.. I wouldn't doubt it if Disney limited entry to those who either had APs or a minimum of a 3-day pass. This would keep the local riff-raff out.

 

[Slov72]

My experience has been that if you are visiting Disney on a family vacation, stay away from F&W on Friday and Saturday... only bad things happen, it is packed and there are a ton of drunks. During the Mon-Wed timeframe the locals aren't around and it is much quieter and family friendly. There are always a few that go overboard, but on Friday and Saturday it is ridiculous (mostly local 20 somethings).

 

[tissandtully]

How he made it to Club Cool with that in hand? No idea. He went into Club Cool and hit the third Cast Member, a woman, with the PVC pipe. There, a former Marine was inside, took notice of what happened and subdued him before OPD and Security got to him. For those of you wondering why it took so long, Security got 3 separate 911 calls from each of the locations and, as far as I know, there is no OPD officer onsite unless necessary (also says something about Security about why they took so long, but, that's another story for another day).

WHAT?? No OCSO or OPD at EPCOT? I was at HHN Sunday and there was OPD everywhere! What the hell?[/quote]

 

[AndyGator]

We were just there on saturday and WS was so crowded it was unbearable at times. We had previously been during F&W back in 2010 but it was nowhere near as bad as this in every aspect. There were many locals ("Go Gators!" Was blurted out every 30 seconds it seemed) and I've never witnessed the whole drinking team phenomenon before. Uniforms and all. Team "Liver Let Die" with the yellow shirts and "United States drinking team" in their blue jerseys were memorable. Needless to say our family felt uncomfortable pretty much the whole time in WS. You felt like something could go down with the way they were drinking and acting. That's why this news doesn't surprise me even though I don't know all the facts. I doubt we'll ever go back during F&W to be honest.

Go Gators was blurted out?! Golly gee willikers! How can people act this way?!

Seriously though. I'm pretty bummed out now. I'll be there on Thursday and Saturday night. Doesn't sound like its going to be very fun with the huge crowds.