All is not well in the kingdom

[HHauntFanatic]

California Adventure is not kid-centric. Disneyland is. Disneyland does not sell alcohol.

Ok, well that makes me feel a little better then. I guess what I'm trying to get at is kids are just exposed to so much bad influences these days that there's hardly any escape. If the world becomes such where a parent has to worry about having to take their kid to Disney for fear of being exposed to a drunken patron/s, then God help us all.

[TombRaiderFTW]

So, just to summarize: that was Disneyland, and there were kids there.

[MagicDanTheMan]

I may be mistaken, but I'm pretty sure the annoying girl in the video yelling "there are kids here!" and, "is this guy drunk?!", was holding a beer herself at the end of the video. A bit hypocritical... And, obviously the guy was having problems. The employees should not have allowed the guests to gather around the scene. I know at Kings Island when security catches wind of a fight, they all drop whatever they are doing swarm to the scene, so as to deal with the matter quickly before it escalates, as it did in this situation. This could have been poor communication with security by the employees; not something you would expect from Disney...

[Monroe]

It all boils down to the guy being drunk, no one forced him to drink, and no one else is responsible for giving him too much or not cutting him off. If he was not drunk, the others would not have the oppertunity to make a total a$$ of them self. Not too many people on here seem to want to blame the drunk, to that I say: If it were not for the drunk, you would not have any one else to blame for his actions, so why not just blame the drunk.

[bkroz]

I may be mistaken, but I'm pretty sure the annoying girl in the video yelling "there are kids here!" and, "is this guy drunk?!", was holding a beer herself at the end of the video.

There is really nothing wrong with drinking responsibly, so her holding a beer is hardly something that she ought to be ashamed of. Drinking does not mean one is drunk. And her screaming "There are kids here" was probably more in response to the man's violent outbursts and foul language than in reply to his having consumed alcohol.

The drunk man is obviously at fault. Has anyone here placed blame on anyone else?

Disney's response was likely stifled by the agitated man requiring more restraint than was probably originally imagined, but it's clear enough that some form of extra personnel had arrived in time to pepper spray him. Also remember that Disney has "plain clothes" security guards stationed all over the parks. The attempt to hide them is poor at best, as most are dressed in the "plain clothes" of the 1980s and have the clear, spiraled cord between their ear and shirt collar. It's unclear if any of them had arrived at the scene and were helping to subdue the man.

A three minute response time is certainly not ideal, but consider that cast members probably did not alert security right off The Bat, probably having been trained to refuse entry to passengers in certain conditions. It could be a case of escalating tempers and then a very sudden reaction. The situation wasn't ideal and it wasn't handled ideally. I don't doubt that systems will be in place by park open tomorrow.

Most oddly:

Suzi Brown, a spokeswoman for Disneyland, told CBS2 and KCAL9: “Our security cast member was taken to a local hospital where he was treated for the injuries he sustained and then released. We appreciate the actions of the guests who came to his aid during this uncharacteristic incident.”

http://losangeles.cb...-at-disneyland/

I again wonder how thankful she'll be if one of them turns around and sues for a pre-existing injury brought to the forefront when they elected to help.

[Bennett]

Was that Fletch coming in for the arm bite...errr...assist?

[Thrill_Biscuit]

Arrrgh! Aye, but for a bit o' rum did this poxy cur throw about like a beached octopus! Arrgh! 'e shoulda walked the plank, the bleedin' scallywag! Arrrrrrrrgh!

Tb, in a Geoffrey Rush kinda mood today. Arrrrgh!

[MarketingExpress]

Sadly many current and former KI employees can say they have seen a guest like this at the park. Makes one appreciate our security guards and park police and what they deal with regularly

[rotag]

Some insight was posted on the incident which helps explain alot about the situation especially why security wasn't quick to respond, as at the same time there were two emt calls.

The now-infamous YouTube video of the drunk man being pepper-sprayed by Disneyland Security in front of Tower of Terror didn’t just have the online fan community buzzing, it had the entire Resort talking from the hourly Cast Members that witnessed it on Saturday afternoon right on up to the TDA executives who went into damage control mode on Sunday evening.

Obviously there has been the occasional unruly drunk in the parks for decades, and worse scenarios have played out over the years with hundreds of millions of people visiting Disney theme parks around the world. That said, this particular incident was certainly unfortunate for all involved. But after gathering the facts over the last few days, it’s a situation that was created by a perfect storm of bad luck, a delayed call for help, and some boneheaded policy decisions.

The incident as seen on the YouTube video is really just the tail end of a longer scenario, and something front line Cast Members often deal with nowadays. The disgruntled park guest, who reeked of alcohol, was in the park alone on Saturday. He had received a Guest Assistance Card (GAC) for a disability from the Guest Relations desk, but he had received a lesser stamp on his pass that didn’t allow him immediate boarding at DCA’s fully accessible queues and attractions. When the man tried to use his GAC at Tower of Terror, the Cast Member at the gate told him that the queue was fully accessible and that he would need to enter the lengthy Standby line or get a Fastpass and return later. The message that he needed to wait in line, even with his GAC, set him off and he began using profanity and demanding to be let on the ride immediately. The Attraction Lead was summoned to the front gate to help, and the Lead had the same problem calming the man down, and it was the Lead who called for Security to respond.

When the lone Security officer responded, practically the last available Security officer on that side of the park on that very busy holiday weekend at the same time that two paramedic runs were tying up other Security officers in nearby areas of DCA, the situation didn’t improve. The man refused to calm down, and only seemed to become more agitated at the sight of the uniformed Security officer approaching. The situation quickly turned physical, and that’s about the time when the nearby visitors with the camera began taping the incident.

The video mostly speaks for itself, but where the Security officer made his one mistake in the heat of the moment was in not calling for backup immediately upon his arrival with a visibly troubled individual. Not until after the pepper spray had been used several times did the Security officer call for additional backup, and you can see the officer go for his radio for the first time at about the 2:00 mark in the video. Also at about the 2:00 mark in the video the Tower Attractions Lead was calling for backup from his managers on the Attractions radio channel which is separate from the Security channel, and Hollywood Land Attractions Leads and managers who heard the frantic radio calls began heading to the Tower area immediately.

Additional Security officers arrive at about the 3:00 minute mark on the video, roughly 60 seconds after the first officer finally made his radio calls for backup. It’s also at the 3:00 minute mark, with additional Security and some good Samaritans stepping forward from the crowd and finally controlling the man on the ground, that the Attractions Cast Members turn their attention away from the violent man and quickly move into crowd control mode to help clear the area. The 3:00 mark is also when backup Leads and managers from around Hollywood arrive and begin controlling the crowd. Just a few moments after the video concludes is when additional Security management and some of the Anaheim police officers that are always on property arrive from the backstage gate next to Tower of Terror. The response time for all that extra help begins to arrive and leap into action within 60 seconds, but unfortunately those calls weren’t made until two minutes after the video begins.

While the video can be painful to watch as it seems like an eternity until help arrives, the help is delayed primarily because the Cast Members involved spent the first two minutes of the video dealing with a very disturbed individual before realizing this was something they would need a lot of help with. Of course the Monday morning quarterbacks can comfortably say they would have deflected the punches and called for backup simultaneously, or done a dozen things differently and far more effectively, but in defense of the CM’s the situation was volatile and rapidly changing over just two or three minutes.

The video also sheds light on just how inadequate Disney’s current training is for scenarios like this. The Attractions Cast Members involved on the video, one of whom was the Lead for that E Ticket ride, go out of their way to stand back and let the man become violent, just as they are trained to do. Disney’s training, while often vague regarding emergency situations, expressly forbids any Cast Member from touching a guest no matter how violent or threatening he or she may be. The Attractions Cast Members are doing exactly as they were trained in the first few minutes of the video by simply allowing the man to spiral into violence and physical abuse. However, when the CM’s begin to touch the man and help the Security officer restrain him, they were then violating Company policy and put themselves at risk for disciplinary action or termination. Luckily, this video went viral and Anaheim management knows full well they can’t fire or discipline the Cast Members involved now, and so far none of the Cast Members involved have received discipline even after being interviewed at length by Disney’s Security Special Services investigative department this past weekend.

The second issue involves the use of the pepper spray. That is not something Disney provides for its Security Cast Members, nor does it encourage its use. However the Walt Disney Company has a policy on the books that allows any employee to carry pepper spray on their person at any time they are on Disney property. The policy was originally created mainly for women carrying pepper spray in their purse, but the Security Cast Members took advantage of it and many began working their shifts with pepper spray clipped to their belts. Disney’s legal department in North America, afraid to put too much definition around the policy as a defensive measure against potential lawsuits, gave the de facto green light to the practice by Security officers several years ago. So instead of equipping the Security Cast Members with a quality pepper spray product and training them on its proper and appropriate use, the legal department’s unwillingness to address the issue has led to many CM’s carrying pepper spray and using it to varying degrees of effectiveness on unruly park visitors. And in the age of the iPhone, such an ugly confrontation can be up on YouTube and go viral within hours.

You would think this modern age would encourage Disney to beef up their training against physical attacks on Cast Members, but instead the company has done the opposite and provided practically no training or information aside from the instructions to “don’t touch anyone and wait for help to arrive who will also not touch anyone.”

http://miceage.micechat.com/mc/mc022212a.htm