Originally Posted By Darkbeer <a href="http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071212/NEWS01/712120425/1001/NEWS01" target="_blank">http://www.honoluluadvertiser. com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071212/NEWS01/712120425/1001/NEWS01</a> (Selected Paragraphs only, go read the entire article for the full story). >>A brawl involving two Hawai'i Pop Warner football teams and a team from Baltimore landed one child in an Orlando hospital and led to the families being thrown out of a Walt Disney resort. Seventy O'ahu residents were asked to leave the Orlando resort at 3 a.m. Saturday following a fight in a video-game arcade that sent a 15-year-old Kahalu'u boy to the hospital with a broken nose, according to family members and Walt Disney Co.<< >>The teams had finished the final day of competition and were preparing to enjoy the weekend in Orlando. Shortly after the fight, at about 3 a.m., the 70 players and family members from O'ahu as well as families from Baltimore were given written notices from the Walt Disney resort informing them that they had 20 minutes to vacate the property or Orange County sheriff's deputies would be called to remove them. The notice prompted panic. Entire families, including small children, were awakened and told to gather in the corner of a parking lot as emergency lodging arrangements were made, Kong said. "It was frantic, trying to find us a place to stay. The little ones were scared just being woken up and pulled out of bed. They were crying and wondering what was going on," said Kong. "We felt abandoned and helpless. We understand they have a no-tolerance rule, but we didn't appreciate how they handled it."<< >>"They could have handled it so much better, you know? They really could have," said Labryanna Kubo, a parent traveling with the Hawai'i teams, speaking to Central Florida News Channel 13. "They could have said, look, you know what? Fine, you guys have to leave in the morning," Kubo said. "Then our babies — we have 1-year-old, 2-year-old, 3-year-olds — that we had to just jerk out of bed and they were just crying. You know it was just a bad scene. It was really a bad scene."<<
Originally Posted By imadisneygal I'd have done the same thing in Disney's shoes. I was at WDW last year with the Pop Warner teams. It was chaos. Very little supervision, entire teams taking over resort pools and actually pushing other kids out of the way, stealing "do not disturb" signs out of doors, etc. I know this can happen at any time with even just one person, but these teams are largely unsupervised while the parents sit by the pool drinking. This was my personal experience, but I am sure there were many teams I didn't even notice because they were well supervised and acting appropriately. I'd expect to be kicked out, too, if I caused a fight that landed someone in the hospital. I do feel sorry for those children who were sleeping and had to be awakened. I'd hate to have to wake my own kids. But when there is this kind of problem it's to be expected.
Originally Posted By trekkeruss <<"They could have handled it so much better, you know?">> You could have raised your children better, you know? What in the world are young kids doing up late at night and unsupervised anyway?
Originally Posted By jonvn Really. What were they doing up at 3 AM? THREE AM! No wonder they got kicked out...
Originally Posted By barboy Wasn't it 1 am when the incident broke out? But even 1 am is way too late(or way too early) for a youngans to be out. It's those damn video games again--- they are ruining our country by making kids fat, lazy, stupid and now violent.
Originally Posted By barboy "that sent a 15-year-old Kahalu'u boy to the hospital with a broken nose," I am praying to dear God that this youth was the ring leader of the incident---- but something tells me that the chances are low.
Originally Posted By land fan Disney should be commended for reacting in a timely and professional manner. They have the safety and enjoyment of the other guests to think about.
Originally Posted By nbodyhome I think Disney needs to keep the Pop Warner groups away from normal guests. Maybe make the All Star Sports all Pop Warner during that week. I'm not sure about kicking everyone out at 3am, I'd have kicked the main offenders (and a supervisor) out immediately, everyone else first thing in the a.m. The kids should have been supervised, of course.
Originally Posted By jonvn "Wasn't it 1 am when the incident broke out?" Oh, they were asked to leave at 3AM. yes. 1 AM....same thing! What are they doing up at that hour, too!
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 When you have WalMart people managing your resorts you tend to get a trashy response like this. I don't care what Disney's 'policy' is or was. You don't kick innocent families with babies and young children (who may remember this as their first magical Disney vacation memory for life!) at 3 a.m. over the actions of a few. Totally unacceptable. And Disney will (rightfully IMHO) get some legal action for this as well as huge black-eye in the media ... not what the company wants or needs as they prepare to build a huge hotel/DVC resort on O'ahu. Rest assured, no matter what Disney says publically, heads will roll behind the scenes at the resort. No matter what policy was, what Disney did was a ridiculous overreaction. They could have waited until morning (except for the people directly involved) and then discreetly left something on the doors saying everyone due to the incident was expected to be out of their rooms by 11 a.m. That would have been fair. That would have been appropriate. This was not. Oh, and you can be sure Bob Iger is aware of it right now and he isn't a happy camper. Maybe if he spent some more time dealing with Parks and Resorts instead of simply looking at the bottom line, while focusing on ABC and The Studios, he might realize this incident and the way it was handled is just a tiny example of the problems due to the people with power in Orlando. ***Anyone want to bet that some other company like Universal or Busch jumps to invite these families for free. It would be a savvy move. And one I'd have been working on yesterday.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo I am glad Disney took a hard line. However the timing thing is not the issue. Remember these guys were from Hawaii, so it would feel like early evening. But the punching is an issue. Shame it ruined it for their siblings. Difficult call on this, Disney was damned if they did or didn't. I hate Pop Warner, and really feels it drags WDW down. Shame they don't segregate it.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo >>>No matter what policy was, what Disney did was a ridiculous overreaction. They could have waited until morning (except for the people directly involved) and then discreetly left something on the doors saying everyone due to the incident was expected to be out of their rooms by 11 a.m. That would have been fair.<<< Very true, very true indeed.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 Two quick added thoughts: No. 1: I am in no way defending the boorish, violent behavior of the kids involved or their parents for not watching them. I think I've made myself very clear here over the past few years on people having increasingly worse behavior in public places like WDW; and No. 2: This seems just like the DD incident where they targeted young black males and the quickly retreated from their prior position. For a company so concerned with its PR image, it makes a whole lot of Mickey Mouse mistakes!
Originally Posted By Darkbeer And John Frost over at The Disney Blog makes a good point... <a href="http://www.thedisneyblog.com/tdb/2007/12/more-details-on.html" target="_blank">http://www.thedisneyblog.com/t db/2007/12/more-details-on.html</a> >>To me a salient point that everyone has failed to mention in their coverage, is that Disney requires the teams and their families to stay on the Walt Disney World property if they are going to participate in the Pop Warner championship. It's not like the teams chose to sign this agreement and stay with Disney. They were forced to sign to play in the championship. This article in the Boston Globe from January shows the kind of pressure this puts teams and their families under to raise money for the trip and how much money Disney makes when teams aren't allowed to stay at off property hotels that could save them a lot of money. <a href="http://www.boston.com/sports/schools/football/articles/2007/01/07/if_they_want_to_play_they_have_to_pay/?page=1" target="_blank">http://www.boston.com/sports/s chools/football/articles/2007/01/07/if_they_want_to_play_they_have_to_pay/?page=1</a> >"We could have saved a lot of money if we went to one of the other hotels around here," said Daryel Barros, who coached the New Haven Steelers in the Pop Warner Midget playoffs at the Disney complex. While rooms were available at a nearby Comfort Inn through Expedia.com for $51.43 a night during Pop Warner's championships, Disney's least expensive package for the Pop Warner teams required a three-night stay (four persons per room) at Disney's All-Star Sports Resort and a four-day theme park pass for $319 per person. At that rate, Disney received $1,276 per room, or nearly $425 a night. "We're going home about $8,000 in debt," said Barros, one of many coaches and parents associated with Pop Warner teams who said they remained in debt after exhausting charitable donations.< To require the teams to stay on property and then require them to sign a contract that forces families to be evicted on 20 minutes notice, even at 3AM, for events they had no control over is an unreasonable expectation to say the least. To top it off, I'm sure this event is going to build some bad will between Disney and the residents of Oahu, where Disney is currently planning to build its first mega-resort not attached to a theme park.
Originally Posted By jonvn "No matter what policy was, what Disney did was a ridiculous overreaction." If you have a band of thugs running through your place, you get them out, now. Depends on what they were doing. I suspect they had to be pretty bad in order for disney to react in this manner. Hopefully it will teach these kids and their parents a lesson, and if it doesn't, then Disney does not need these sorts of people on their property in any case.
Originally Posted By nbodyhome I am not sure they needed to wait until 11am, but as I posted elsewhere, I think Disney could have kicked the offenders out right away. Then the remainder of the families could have been asked to leave in the morning. I was offsite with a senior class trip in 1984. If a couple of kids had gotten into a fight, I would have been very upset to get thrown out of a hotel at 3am. In this case there were infants in the mix too. Disney needs to re-think the whole Pop Warner and big sports groups. If Disney needs the revenue that badly, they should keep the groups separated from the guests as much as possible. And I am sure there are many, many well-behaved kids, but a few can spoil it for everyone.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<But the punching is an issue. Shame it ruined it for their siblings. Difficult call on this, Disney was damned if they did or didn't.>> Not really. There's always a reasonable way of handling difficult sitautions. The problem is most people (Disney managers included) are not reasonable. <<I hate Pop Warner, and really feels it drags WDW down. Shame they don't segregate it. >> Pop Warner is a great event for the kids, but when you have so many running around with so few adults supervising, there are going to be problems. I have never been there for PW, but have been there for cheerleading competitions and religious group trips ... and the behavior is generally out of control ... both the kids and adults.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Yep - I have met some great trips (been during PW twice), but the supervision (and therefore the behaviour) is awful. I know PW really boosts the bottom line, but it has meant I will be unlikely to return in that timeframe ever again after last year.
Originally Posted By jonvn I am absolutely intolerant of bad behavior, and think Disney should do even more in this direction, frankly. The place is there for everyone to enjoy together, not a barnyard where people can behave like animals.
