Obama visit, Hollywood Studios Fireworks, and EMH Changes

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Mammymouse

Well-Known Member
I'm thinking that the Presidential visit might have been something on the President's and Mr. Iger's "bucket lists". I'll leave it at that because anything else I may say could be considered political (tis the season!) and I love Disney and this forum way too much to go there.
 
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Admiral01

Premium Member
Regardless of which way you lean politically, having a sitting president deliver a policy speech at your company's property is pretty cool. In this case, it just happened to be the Disney Company and the property chosen was one of the most recognizable locations in the world.
 
Tinkwings

Tinkwings

Pfizered Fairy
Premium Member
In the Parks
No
captainkidd said:
Would've been funny if someone from his cabinet got up after him and said "Excuse me, excuse me everybody. Just to clarify, what the President meant was we welcome more families from Brazil. We do not under any circumstances promote the idea of more Brazilian Tour Groups. Vote Obama in November. Thank you, and God bless America!"
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:ROFLOL: ....YES!!! That is the clarification that was missing.....Should he add that to his platform he should win by a landslide from the Disney Geek Vote...:sohappy:
 
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fosse76

Well-Known Member
Corey P said:
I've been involved in a President visiting and it's a pain . Clinton use to come to Renaissance weekend on Hilton Head which years ago was held at the Hyatt hotel. SS would do things like close route 278 because Clinton was playing golf on Trent Jones, 3 of the holes run down the side of 278 which is the main and only road to go from one end of Hilton Head to the other. At the same time I lived in a Condo right on the golf course and I was drinking a coffee reading the paper on my back porch, I look up, there was like 12 people at the tee box. Took me a minute to figure out what was going on but it was Clinton and the SS right there. Funny part is they closed a highway and I could have jumped right off my back porch attacking him with a coffee cup. LOL. We had another strange thing happen too, SS all over the place with a "war wagon" park right near the front door. A guy walked right up with a pistol in plain sight, LOL. SS jumps out of the van, walkie talkies out asking the doormen if they knew who the guy was. They did, he was a local detective and his girl friend was a sous chef in the hotel so he dropped by every couple of nights a week before she got off work. SS didn't stop him or anything but they did keep track of where he was in the hotel. My point is the SS goes a little over the top and when it's all said and done random people end up right near the President which I guess the SS does keep people with a thought out plan away from the Pres but when they are closing a highway or air space just in case and at the same time I can hit the President by throwing a pine cone or some guy walks right into a hotel with a pistol you kind of have to wonder if it really is all necessary??? One genius SS guy wanted to take away the waiters wine keys??? And they will suck the corks out of the bottles???? That's why I got paid the big bucks to point out operational problems like that....LOL. Never less to say I'm not a big fan of dealing with less than bright ideas from the SS.
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The SS can have nasty attuitudes as well. I heard stories from the theater I moonlight at on Broadway regarding SS visits. They stand in the way, blocking necessary access to aisles and exits, and when you ask them to move they threaten you with arrest. Apparently a house manager tapped one on the should and was shoved against the wall and threatened with arrest. (They aren't all like that, but the stories I heard have never been positive. I once worked when Nancy Pelosi saw Billy Elliot, and her SS detail was as nice as good be (and I took advantage of their presence to threaten a not-so-nice patron). :p
 
pcarathers

pcarathers

Active Member
We were at WDW during this..we had reservations at Crystal Palace that exact day for breakfast! we did try to change it to another day to AVOID the park that day, but no luck. there were no available times for our group! we headed to the park like usual and when we were allowed in, they escorted us "backstage". we had to walk all the way around the park to "try" to get to Crystal Palace. we were blocked on a couple of occasions by cast members who told us we could not go thru here. we asked how we got to crystal palace for our reservations then! FINALLY, after going 3 different ways and being 'diverted" back the way we came, we came across a castmember who led us to the path we needed to get to crystal palace. needless to say, after the 'trek' around the park, we had worked up our appetites pretty good!!! Secret Service was there and searched all bags as we were in line....there were curtains up all around and you could not see anything other than the top of the castle. there was a couple of people coming out of Crystal Palace and they got too close to the curtains and were QUICKLY asked to step away from the curtain!

All in all, was not as bad an experience as we thought it would be. Would have been neat to say we saw him, but hey...how many people can say they were "searched" by the Secret Service!!!!!??:)
 
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fosse76

Well-Known Member
pcarathers said:
All in all, was not as bad an experience as we thought it would be. Would have been neat to say we saw him, but hey...how many people can say they were "searched" by the Secret Service!!!!!??:)
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Not a group of people I want to be among! :p

I work two blocks from the UN...that's nothing compared to when they are in session and it becomes complete chaos here!
 
pcarathers

pcarathers

Active Member
fosse76 said:
Not a group of people I want to be among! :p

I work two blocks from the UN...that's nothing compared to when they are in session and it becomes complete chaos here!
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I guess not, but they were pretty cool. very good with the little ones. All in all, it was not a bad experience, just annoyed by it. All they really did was look in our bags and backpacks. really only took 1 minute.... the cast members watching the "curtain" were more aggressive than the secret service. When one couple coming out of Crystal Palace got too close to the curtain, one cast member came running up to them to move away from the curtain! it was really weird. I understand the security aspect of it, but when you come to a place like WDW and spend what we spend, trying to explain it to a 4 year old why they can't see the castle yet, was not easy!
 
PhilharMagician

PhilharMagician

Well-Known Member
pcarathers said:
I guess not, but they were pretty cool. very good with the little ones. All in all, it was not a bad experience, just annoyed by it. All they really did was look in our bags and backpacks. really only took 1 minute.... the cast members watching the "curtain" were more aggressive than the secret service. When one couple coming out of Crystal Palace got too close to the curtain, one cast member came running up to them to move away from the curtain! it was really weird. I understand the security aspect of it, but when you come to a place like WDW and spend what we spend, trying to explain it to a 4 year old why they can't see the castle yet, was not easy!
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Then try and think what it cost us for that dog and pony show? I can imagine it cost both Disney and the US Government millions to make that happen. The movement of the president is a cost that is hard to even imagine then add the changes Disney put into affect to help move people to other parks and the extra manpower not to mention the lost sales on Main Street USA and the list goes on. I am so proud to pay all that money to here him say something @ WDW that he could have said from the Oval Office for a lot less.
 
BadTigger

BadTigger

Active Member
PhilharMagician said:
Then try and think what it cost us for that dog and pony show? I can imagine it cost both Disney and the US Government millions to make that happen. The movement of the president is a cost that is hard to even imagine then add the changes Disney put into affect to help move people to other parks and the extra manpower not to mention the lost sales on Main Street USA and the list goes on. I am so proud to pay all that money to here him say something @ WDW that he could have said from the Oval Office for a lot less.

For the amount of money, that Disney spent they will make it back ten fold. This was nothing more then an amazing promotion for the parks.

As far as the money it costs the tax payers, I'm sure it was as much if he held the speech at any other public venue. And more then likely it might have been quite a bit cheaper since a Disney park is much more secure then many other public areas. And from the looks of it they did a pretty good job closing off the area and keeping people moving through the park.
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