The MousePlanet Mailbag is a regular compilation of some of our reader feedback and writer responses that may be of interest to our readers. We encourage you to drop your questions, opinions, or comments to us in care of our mailbag.
This week’s mailbag presents a selection of letters from readers who responded to staff editor Mark Goldhaber’s July 13 article, “Downtown Disney Dilemma,” which examined the challenge Disney faces with balancing guest security against charges of racial profiling. Spencer writes:
Your editorial on Downtown Disney was fantastic. Very well written!
Downtown Disney faces some real tough issues. I hope the direction that they take, no matter what form or function, that they do not sway simply from “equal activist” critics!
I really enjoy your articles; keep up the great work!
Jeff writes:
I enjoyed your article concerning the situation at Downtown Disney. I now understand why certain decisions were made.
The situation recently at Pleasure Island is very disturbing. My wife and I used to love to go to Downtown Disney to shop, have a meal, and a few times, actually pay to go to Pleasure Island. Now that we have two children, our vacation itinerary has changed somewhat. We now only really go over to Downtown Disney on our last day before heading to the airport. We shop until we drop and have a nice lunch. All our purchases are shipped home that day.
With the addition of The West Side, the crowds have certainly come. Sometimes it’s unbearable when House of Blues has a ton of people out front. It also gets quite crowded when the Cirque show is over.
How can Disney regroup and decide what is right for their guests and locals? I would suggest the following:
Start charging for parking for all of Downtown Disney. Before the masses get upset with another charge, make it free for all resort guests and DVC members. Wow another perk for the tourists who stay on property! But don’t go by the piece of paper on the window of the car, actually put a Key to the World card in a slot. Also make parking free for Cirque ticket holders. It’s also a known fact that many people try to avoid the hefty parking fee at the parks by parking for free at Downtown Disney and taking transportation to a resort or theme park. Make the parking fee $5, which is not a large fee and about half the price from the theme park parking. Maybe it would turn some of those avoiders away thinking why the hassle to save only a few bucks. The fee would possibly turn some of the loiterers away.
Wall off Pleasure Island again and possibly West Side. Charge all non-resort guests/non-DVC members a modest $10 fee to enter. Wow, again another perk!! Resort guests and DVC members love perks!! And here’s a way to get around the $10 fee for locals/non-resort guests. If they come and have a sit-down meal at one of the many fine restaurants (make a list), credit all or part of the fee towards the bill. Before the bean counters get all upset, Disney is just paying the restaurants back from what they took in at the gate. This suggestion needs to be fine tuned, but for the sake of brevity, I’ll stop.
A larger security presence. I go into New York City on occasion and have found the larger police presence in the theatre district, Port Authority Bus Terminal, and Penn Station (train) reassuring. How to pay for it, well Disney would already be charging for parking and entrance to PI and WS. I would also think the private restaurants and shops could pay a minimal security fee (helps in their protection also).
For the cramping swimmers in the crowd who stay at Saratoga Springs, take a few of the tram cars that used to run from the Boardwalk-Yacht/Beach Club to the International Gateway at Epcot and run a shuttle service—a nice perk for Saratoga Springs DVC member. Heck, Old Key West and Port Orleans run shuttle boats to Downtown Disney. Why can’t Saratoga Springs run a shuttle tram?
Hopefully some or most of these suggestions have already been thought of at Disney.
A reader who wishes to remain anonymous writes:
If you want to see the consequences of not facing such a dilemma directly and effectively, take a look at the disaster that has occurred with St. Petersburg’s originally promising downtown redevelopment cornerstone called “BayWalk.” It started off as a beautiful, profitable, inviting upscale daytime and evening entertainment and dining venue. It has deteriorated into a failing venture in every respect precisely because the same type of “characters” as were escorted away from Disney Downtown are what now populate BayWalk.
Facts are facts, regardless of political correctness. If Disney wants to preserve Downtown Disney’s original inviting, safe and enjoyable ambiance, it has to impose and uniformly enforce standards. If someone doesn’t want to abide by those standards, let them drive to BayWalk or, for that matter, Universal’s City Walk.
Geoff S. writes:
Interesting article but there is a solution. The same thing happened at Disneyland Paris in the Disney Village. Gangs of youths from the Parisienne suburbs would congregate outside the clubs and restaurants, and shoplifting in the stores was at a premium. There was even a drug problem to be tackled. The problem was solved quite easily. You station security at each access point and you conduct searches. If you are staying on property or have visited the parks the likelihood is that you have some proof of that—tickets, room card, etc. If you are a visitor then a few questions won’t hurt. Okay, you may think this isn’t Disney in approach but it works. I for one am more than happy to let a security guy check my camera bag if it means I can have a fun evening without fear of yobs ruining it. And I have to say can we not have an area where there are no kids? It works on board the cruises.
Gina D. writes:
This was a great article. I needed the background info as well as the current status of things. I visited that area about 12 or 13 years ago. When I returned to it last year, it really did feel like a mall and left me with no desire to go back. Didn’t the little boys turn into donkeys on Pleasure Island? I think that’s what is happening: foolish guests and greedy Disney.
Lee writes:
I completely agree with your suggestion that Downtown Disney once again become a gated entrance. As it is the clubs are now 21 and over. It seems to me they could re-gate the island and still draw traffic but I truly believe it could work under one condition: they would have to drastically upgrade the offerings of the property to appease not just the ‘party bar’ crowd but more discerning club goers. Motion would need to be transformed from what it is into a more contemporary venue, not unlike the blue-chip clubs found in Vegas or for that matter, even Seminole Hard Rock. A martini lounge would not be a bad idea, nor would re-thinking 8-Tracks from the dinosaur that it is into a better take on a ’70s club. As well, more food offerings along the midway would be a great addition.
Of course the problem with re-gating the entrance is that you will still reduce the foot traffic on the property during the week, translating into a psychological feeling that people are paying to enter an unpopular venue.
Pam writes:
We just returned from a trip to WDW amid all the fuss about the security of Downtown Disney.
We went to see Cirque du Soleil and walked around a bit afterwards but the rowdy teens and police everywhere sort of dampened the mood so we left.
Disney is a family-oriented place. One of the reasons we love it there is because—as my husband says—there is no “riff-raff”!! Disney is going to have to cater to the tourists on this one.
Perhaps a park-like entrance area using room cards or hopper passes but with no additional admission? That may leave too many guests out—but perhaps patrons with good intentions who don’t fit those criteria could obtain a free card prior to entering. Just making it a bit of an effort to enter may deter some of the problems.
If they go back to policy of no underage people without a parent, I don’t see it being a bad business decision. I think that if Disney looked at where they make their biggest bucks, it’s we tourists who are “over 21” who are shelling out the money. Disney needs to stop worrying about Universal with certain decisions, and this is no exception. They have already proven themselves with the theme parks. Until they fix this problem though we might just avoid Downtown Disney altogether.
Leasa writes:
Thanks for the story on Downtown Disney. Unfortunately, like everything else, it sounds like a few have to ruin a good thing for the majority. Like area malls in my community and I’m sure across the U.S., sounds like Disney needs to, at a minimum, institute a curfew of some sort such as all minors must be accompanied by an adult after 7 p.m. And they probably need a certain ratio met—you wouldn’t want one adult for 20 kids.
I myself support shutting off the Pleasure Island for adults only, as it used to be.
Anyway, thanks to you and MousePlanet for the always superb articles!
Mike writes:
Nicely written article on Downtown Disney. We were actually down there the day after the “kidnapping” took place. As some background, I am an attorney and practiced high-level felony defense for many years. As soon as I heard the facts on the news I turned to my wife and told her that this did not sound like a kidnapping at all—I believed from Day One that it was a drug deal gone bad, which is a theory I still maintain. Unfortunately that does not play well in the media, so they kept up the kidnapping charade until too many facts came out. Sadly, in this day and age there are too many lemmings who will take the news as gospel and then get on chat boards and state with righteous indignance that they will never go to DTD again and hope others will follow their lead.
When we were down there I immediately noticed an increased police presence—this was the day after the incident and before I knew that something had happened. Following that Saturday, however, the police presence dropped off noticeably as well. We did not experience any problems at DTD, and we were there pretty much every night of our seven-day stay. I did not see anyone that I could categorize as a “gang-banger” or outright troublemaker. There were the typical tourist knuckleheads, who are good for laughs but pose no danger, but overall I cannot say that I had any trepidation whatsoever.
One interesting side item—We were heading to MGM on the Thursday of our visit (6/14) in the early evening and noticed multiple sheriff’s vehicles (at least seven that I saw) heading at high speed under lights/siren into MGM. As we approached the main entrance to the park, I asked one of the security personnel if it was safe to enter the park (not a serious question, but I was curious to see how he’d respond). His first response was the typical “There’s nothing going on here,” but when I told him that we’d seen multiple police vehicles responding in a manner that had felony in progress written all over it, he actually told me that there was an incident going on in the parking lot and that it was under control. I was amazed that he admitted that to me, but grateful for the information.
Overall, I will not hesitate to return to Disney in the future. As with any area of concentrated population, if one follows simple common sense and keeps aware of surroundings, then problems will be minimized.
Carolyn writes:
I think it might be relatively easy to ensure that the tourists who spend money at Downtown Disney feel at ease.
Guests who stay at a Disney resort receive lots of perks (like free parking at the theme parks, etc.), simply add to those perks. If you stay at a Disney resort, you receive free access to Pleasure Island. If you stay off property (whether at a hotel, timeshare, private vacation property or you are a local) you then have to pay for access to Pleasure Island.
Or, as you seem to have suggested, simply reinstate the age restriction even if there is not an admission fee.
I am curious to see how this all plays out.
