I've been pretty honest on this blog so far and I'm not stopping now! I'm going to come out and say it! Walt Disney World hasn't been fun since they got rid of the FastPass vending machines! Phew, I'm glad I got that off my chest!
Let's back up a bit here. My mother is from the great state of Florida, home of the renowned FloridaMan, and growing up we would frequently visit family there. As an adult, I now see how difficult it was for my mom to be so far away from her parents, and I had the incredible privilege of attending Walt Disney World in the late 90s when me and my extended family would go as a group! As a team! I didn't get to go back to Florida much in my teenage years or my early twenties, and on my recent trips back, it just hasn't felt the same as it did in 1999. Of course, I am all grown up now and I am no longer easily wowed by promises of pixie dust and magic, but I still deeply believe that all dreams can come true, no matter how big.
After my most recent trip to Orlando to visit family and my BFF Keaton in the fall of 2021, I came back to New York vehemently calling Walt Disney World a "capitalist hellscape." Now, I don't think I will go too far into my opinions on the US economy and sociopolitical affairs on here (at least not yet!) but what I was so amazed by was how much money you are essentially forced to spend on merchandise and food and hotels and water and oxygen there! Okay, the last one may be an exaggeration. I didn't remember it ever being so excessive before. Was it because I was a child and had no concept of expenses? Was it because there was less merchandise in the parks in the 90s? Was it because the influx of social media made people subconsciously or otherwise buy more? Why the heck is a popcorn bucket more than my grocery bill?
Upon further research and a few not so deep dives on the good old internet, I learned that the current CEO of Disney is a man named Bob Chapek. Without boring you too much, his background is in products and merchandise, and my experience with the excessive material items in the parks suddenly made sense. Also, there are "virtual" lines for attractions now, and since you're not waiting on lines, you have more time to venture around to the shops and to - you guessed it - spend money on merchandise and food. It's actually quite genius if I do say so. Bob is one smart cookie! I fell down the proverbial rabbit hole and watched an almost two hour youtube video about the evolution and literal science of the que system at Disney. It amazed me and I was floored that there was actual complicated math involved in it all. After I watched this video, I went on with my life and didn't think about my new friend Bob Chapek until very recently. I rarely ever hear about Disney in the mainstream news. Every so often, one of the parks will flood and that will make a local news segment, but nothing like what I have read over these past few months has ever come across my desk. But if you've been following the news or have Push notifications on your phone, you may be a bit familiar.
Back in March of 2022, my bestie Bob Chapek issued a letter of apology to all workers at Disney, "You needed me to be a stronger ally in the fight for equal rights and I let you down. I am sorry.”
Crypt keeper and current governor of Florida Ron DeSantis had been pushing discriminatory legislation called the "Parental Rights in Education" bill dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" law that reads:
"Classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards."
Basically, this is saying that if a teacher talks about sexuality and gender identity in a classroom setting for kids ranging from kindergarten to 3rd grade, they could be sued and potentially go to jail. Furthermore, from an article from NPR:
During a press conference ahead of signing the law, DeSantis said teaching kindergarten-aged kids that "they can be whatever they want to be" was "inappropriate" for children. He said, "It's not something that's appropriate for any place, but especially not in Florida."
Especially not in Florida? What is this implying? I don't know, this seems very authoritarian to me. And quite scary, too. It should be noted that DeSantis is working on being the front runner for the 2024 Republican bid for presidency.
Doesn't Ron know that telling children not to do something will just make them want to do it more? Heck, if someone tells me not to do something it makes me want to do it more. Do we ever outgrow this? Do humans ever learn self-control? I will ponder this more on my own later! Also, with the state of Florida seriously struggling with gun legislation, don't you think the focus should at least be somewhat on that instead of what children (who will one day grow up to be adults with adult problems) are or are not learning in the classroom?
Anywho! Bob Chapek did not handle this situation well with his employees and took a somewhat neutral stance to this. In my opinion, it seemed like he wanted to keep the government happy and his company happy, and his shareholders happy by saying that he was fine with this legislation either way. Well, the Switzerland approach may have worked in 2002, but it does not work in 2022. After the reckoning of #MeToo, the summer of George Floyd, and the countless injustices to the LBGTQIA+ communities (namely in Florida with the Pulse nightclub massacre), the employees of Disney did not take this lying down. They organized an employee walkout and staged demonstrations across the country. With this, Bob backtracked, apologized, and promised his company that he stood with them and supported them, no matter what.
Ron DeSantis did not like this and fired back:
In 1967, a deal was made allowing Disney Property to become it's own local government called The Reedy Creek Improvement District. This allows Disney to bypass local building ordinances and some other rules, and also made it responsible for public services such as fire and rescue, sewage treatment, and road maintenance. This new bill undoes this district, leaving Disney in debt and off to fend for itself - leaving much of the heavy lifting to neighboring areas outside of Disney property.
It has been noted that this is a repealable bill, and many lawmakers have said that it will only take a wave of a pen to undo it, that this isn't a cause for concern. This was a chess move made by DeSantis who appears to be playing the long game. All of this over how underpaid and overworked educators might possibly discuss self identity in the classroom? This all seems incredibly petty, and incredibly unnecessary, and quite frankly, violent to multiple communities across Florida. Can't we focus our legislation on other things? Like a wise scholar once said, "Kim, there are people dying!"
Outrage over what our nation's children do and no not learn has been in the forefront recently and also tied to the Disney name. Just last month, parents expressed outrage over the subject matter of the latest Pixar animated film, Turning Red. This film has themes of puberty and situational experiences a young person entering their pre-teen years might possibly encounter. Many parents expressed their concern over their young one learning about themes of puberty, adolescence, and let's be frank, a young girl getting her first period. I can promise these parents that most of these themes went over their children's heads, and if you didn't want your children to eventually learn about the experiences of adulthood.... then why did you have children? You can't keep them little forever! And if you are successful at keeping this kind of information away from your child long into their young adult years, you are only doing them a disservice developmentally in the long run. (Also, in the movie My Girl, Jamie Lee Curtis explains to a young Anna Chlumsky about what periods are and what sex is and how babies are born and there was NEVER a news story about it and that movie came out in 1991. Perhaps there is more to be said about the climate of parenting these days than the content of films our young ones are consuming.)
So if you're gay or if you've ever experienced a menstrual period, I'm sorry to say that Ron DeSantis has taken a page out of the Billie Eilish handbook and has told us, "I don't relate to you" and he did in fact make us hate this city! (Please tell me I'm not embarrassing.)
I am a bit hesitant to conclude this article, because I know this story will carry on. It will be a talking point when it comes to DeSantis' 2024 presidential bid, and it will only insight more violence against marginalized communities across the country. I think about the young children who will be affected by this in the long term, and I hope they find out that it is okay to be who they are freely and unapologetically.
What does this mean going forward? This whole situation has made me learn things about Disney that I never wanted to learn, like who they donate their money to and what they do with their profits. A company that was well known for being so apolitical suddenly seemed like a sham to me. I've never protested or boycotted any brand before, but this makes me think twice about where I spend my money and what it means to support a cause. I grew up loving Disney and my comfort go-to films are all from Disney, but you know what they say, major corporations can't love you back. So I have some thinking to do. Will I feel comfortable having fun at a Disney theme park knowing what I know now? All I can think of right now is how much I miss 1999 when I didn't know anything about corporations, politics, or that one day Walt Disney World would get rid of FastPass vending machines.
EDIT: I have been told they were called FastPass Kiosks but that will not stop me from saying vending machines.
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