No Comments on Liberal Posts

I think that’s probably one of the reasons this Discussion Forum was re-opened, with the idea of respectful discourse taking place.

you are welcome to start your own site and, I don't know, post glowing praise of florida's governor to your heart's content. whatever you're into man.

Here is a comment about a liberal post, coming from someone that lives right next to WDW/Reedy Creek: clown-show is far too kind of a description for what has happened to this state's government.

1: The governor is obsessed with transvestites.

2: The previous governor made it illegal for state employees to use the phrase climate change, and the current governor still refuses to say it is real, even though we are arguably the state most affected by it.

3: The governor's sidekick (the same one that has drawn up all the Disney stuff) threatened to take away funding from the Special Olympics because he wasn't invited to a party at Chik Fil A.

4: The governor wants to appoint that same guy (the Special Olympics/Chik Fil A guy) to be the president of Florida Atlantic University even though he has no experience doing anything like that.

5: The governor appointed a guy who is famous for promoting a conspiracy theory that tap water is making people gay to be on the board of governance of Disney World's property.

6: The governor kept publicly making statements that he owned Disney and there was "a new sheriff in town," and even went around the country promoting his book on the taxpayers dime (while supposedly doing his job as governor), only to inadvertently give Disney way more power.

7: The governor has very blatantly re-drawn the electoral maps in favor of Republicans and then re-wrote the rules so they can't get challenged.

8: The governor of the state that had the biggest school shooting ever (Sandy Hook) and biggest anti-gay shooting ever (Pulse), has not only been ridiculed by academia for his anti-academic and anti-science stances, and ridiculed by the LBGT community and organizations for his anti LBGT political stances...has made it clear he is against any kind of gun control laws whatsoever and even speaks at NRA conventions.

9: The governor has taken very public anti-immigration stances, going as far as flying migrants from Texas to Florida, then to Martha's Vineyard as a political stunt, touts his e-verify legislation as keeping illegal immigrants out of Florida. But the e-verify law he signed exempts the industries that donated money to him.

10: The governor told a bunch of children to take their masks off at a press conference because "we need to stop this covid theater," even though wearing masks was proven to greatly reduce the chance of transmitting covid-19 and the CDC was recommending wearing masks indoors at the time.

And one more thing not necessarily Desantis but you would probably consider a "liberal post." When a crazy man who was president of the United States literally tried to illegally overthrow the US Government, which would have thrown the country and the world into chaos, the Republican party not only stood behind and watched but they backed him up knowing it had no chance of making it through the courts and wasn't going to happen. They defamed dozens of innocent people who did nothing wrong, almost got the Vice President killed, sowed doubts in the integrity of our institutions with ridiculous conspiracy theories that had no evidence, all to promote something they knew was a lie. So they pawned off responsibility and doing the right thing to the judicial system just so they wouldn't lose some base of voters. And the state that had the most people arrested from the January 6 riot...you guessed it...Florida.

I can go on.

@The_man2: He won with 60% of the vote, biggest margin in decades in Florida. Picking a fight with Disney didn't seem to hurt him too much.

Don't forget how he was too busy with a book tour in Ohio to even call the mayor of Fort Lauderdale when the city was hit by the worst flooding in its history.

"I find it suspect that every time the site makes a post that bashes the current Governor of Florida, or any other such political topic, comments are always turned off."

Just as suspect as I find it that a poster who has (allegedly) been a part of this site for 2+ years has yet to make a comment other than the one that initiated this thread.

given Florida's aggressive disenfranchisement of voters, I don't think touting vote share means much.

As a gay individual, Disney and Florida have always been a vacation retreat location for us. Living in a very red part of our blue state where we keep our heads down, a trip to Disney has always meant a week to hold hands in public without many looks or remarks.

This year, my wife and I were planning our very first trip to Universal but with all this going on, we decided it just isn't safe. While I'm sure the tourist sections of Orlando are still the same, we're both still scared and that's NOT what a vacation is for.

@the_man2 -- surely one of those was thrown in and is a complete lie???

What a sad state of things that is happening down there. Were from Canada and go to Orlando at least twice a year and we had already booked our hotel for HHN in October but we are seriously thinking of cancelling and going to USH instead because of the new gun laws.

This might not be the right place to ask but do the new laws mean Universal / Disney can't deny people entry that have guns? Or can they still exclude people from entering the parks?

Both Disney and Universal have always had no gun laws and I don't think that will change.

@MikeW -- I knew they had that in place for a long time but the news up here made it seem that the new laws in Florida means anyone can get a gun at any time with out background checks and anyone can carry around a gun without police being able to stop them. They also made it seem that no business would be able to deny entry so I assumed that met Universal / Disney as well.

I haven't done my independent research on this but was curious to see what locals in Florida are hearing about the change.

Disney will stop you at metal detectors for too large water bottles, I can't imagine them letting firearms inside.

I just sit back and smile, knowing full well I two years Niles will be forced to address him as President Ron DeSantis. Or even better, Vice President Ron DeSantis when Trump picks him as His running mate. The fake concerns about a gun law that has been adopted by other states is hilarious. The 1%
who think Disney was in the right by claiming they were ‘going to take down’ a state law and not suffer are delusional. The .5% that think taking tax dollars to fund state schools to educate K-3 children about homosexuality when they should be learning to read is sickening

Niles, you and your vocal minority have reached your apex of
liberal mental illness and now you’re seeing the country revolt finally. The way Florida flipped solid red last election should be a warning to you in your burning
Portland failed experiment, or is it Chicago? The great man Ron DeSantis barely won against Andrew Gillum, a ‘man’ who was found in a hotel with a dead male hooker and a bag of meth. His family left him, his life in ruins, and that was your choice of candidate

Florida is a beaming light, guiding the normal and regular people back to the promised land. You enjoy the embers of the liberal Utopia that you envisioned as it burns around you, we’ll keep
going to the parks

Stay out of my state

Just wow

...I want to think that was parody but....

In case anyone needed confirmation that our state is currently a clown show.

Well, this will end up being a very short-lived thread.

Too bad considering that we just got the Discussion Forum back...

Robert’s “Clown Show” article, with the comments turned off, is the latest example of why this theme park enthusiasts website has turned into its own political clown show. TPI is on a rapid decline, like Disney, and it may not survive it’s decision to play in one-sided politics. Universal, focused on entertainment and not on politics, has thrived and increased its guest satisfaction. Unfortunately, Disney and TPI have not. Robert, you better get that banner from Mythos as soon as you can as that may be all you have left of this once great website.

And now Disney suing DeSantis and frankly putting the money on them over whatever clown car of lawyers he can assemble.

I’m sure Giuliani has some free time if DeSantis would but reach out and ask?

Haha, Disney’s last ditch effort before they get their a$$ handed to them again. This is your preemptive “Too bad dirtbags!” And it’s called The Parental Rights in Education Act b!tch!

Oh, you're political? Tell us more about how oh so awesome you are. So, you post on the Discussion forum because you are butthurt about not being able to spout off on the actual story comments?

Loser! And you defend it.
Gutless cowards!

Sorry Keith, why is this Disney's "last ditch effort"? Desantis has retaliated against the biggest employer in the state because they expressed their first amendment right to free speech. He openly said his actions were in response to Chapek's comments.

For a party that constantly says they support free speech and minimalist government he is pretty heavy handed in restricting education and personal expression.

In the 1930s the German government banned books and started changing the curriculums in schools to represent their political ideology. It seems Desantis would prefer to rule his population rather than represent them. I think there's a word for that.

Wrong, this isn’t a fight against free speech, this is a fight against woke ideology. Disney can say what they want, but if they mean what they say, then there will be pushback. The free speech claim is false, and it will be proven in court. In fact, the free speech accusation is a standard liberal tactic that accuses others not of their faction of the same wrongdoings that they themselves are quietly doing, such as in the cases of Facebook, Twitter and TPI.

People who can't control their ego always end up shooting themself in the foot.

Woke ideology, whatever that means, is protected by free speech. Disney made a statement, this is protected. Desantis responded by specifically targeting Disney. A few days after Chapek's comments he sent a letter to his fundraisers saying,
"Disney and other woke corporations won’t get away with peddling their unchecked pressure campaigns any longer,” DeSantis said in his email. “If we want to keep the Democrat machine and their corporate lapdogs accountable, we have to stand together now.”. That week he introduced legislation to strip Disney it's power.

That is an abuse of power. When he tries to dress it up by saying that Disney's unfair advantage is why he introduced the legislation, it's a lie. His lieutenant governor said several days later that the state could reverse course if Disney stopped producing art that the Florida government finds objectionable.

Pushback is fine, people are able to vote with their wallets if they don't like Disney's content. They can also voice their opinions. But the government can not persecute a person for constitutionally protected speech.

There's plenty of Republicans who agree with this too, and Desantis is trailing significantly in the primaries now due in part to this attack on Disney. Even Trump sees it as a "PR stunt" on Desantis' part.

Funny, the sh!t you’re saying about DeSantis now is much of the same sh!t that many were saying about DeSantis during Covid. Because of DeSantis and his measures, Florida continues to thrive and grow. It’s known as a call to action and DeSantis’ actions speak louder and more consistently to what Florida voters want and expect than everyone else’s words, including Trump’s.
Too bad Disney, you don’t get to govern yourselves. You’re a part of Florida and you’ll be required to follow the same rules as all the other special districts within Florida. That’s right liberals, the rules do apply to you, no special treatment in FLA B!TCH!

"Thrive and grow" except for climate change putting more of it in danger and how he's busy banning books and threatening teachers.

No indoctrination in schools is how it should be. God has been removed from schools, so should woke ideology. These are teachings that should be reserved for in the home.

Climate change is a natural occurrence, it will continue to happen reciprocally every 100,000 years as it always has and there is nothing we can do to stop it. We don’t have the power to change warm periods or ice ages, just like we don’t have the power to change a man into a woman and vice versa.

@Keith

That’s neat how you sub in punctuation symbols in place of letters so you can say swear words without the filter catching it. I see middle schoolers do that all the time and think it’s just the coolest and most hilarious thing on the planet.

Of course, I rarely see it from actual adults because they tend to grow up and mature out of such stupidly childish things. But, hey, you do you.

A few thoughts...

1. I'm glad that Robert frequency closes the comments on the articles that have a political slant. I may not agree with his opinions, but I certainly don't care for the ensuing dischord when the comments are open.

2. Nobody wins a political argument - ever. If you think you have, then odds are, you probably aren't smart enough to know that somebody agreed with you just to get you to shut up.

3. Gov DeSantis isn't as bad as some of you make him out to be.

4. Gov DeSantis isn't as great as some of you make him out to be.

5. Disney and DeSantis are both playing to their constituents in the Reedy Creek dispute. Eventually the competing packs of chimpanzees will get tired of screaming at each other at the water hole and go off to find something else to do.

6. The hype about Florida becoming dangerous and hostile to certain groups is just that - hype.

7. Life is full of conflict. Do we all really need to find another way to disagree when sharing something that we all enjoy?

Good morning, Tim!
Great to see you on the message boards again.
Unfortunately, this conflict will not stop, sorry, no rest for the weary. As long as bad ideas like woke ideology are proposed and supported by corporations like Disney, there will always be discord and push back. There’s a reason why it’s called a culture war, it’s unpleasant, it’s just too bad Disney decided to get mixed up in it, and their losses are starting to hit them hard - layoffs, stock dumps, loss of subscriptions, loss of revenue, management shakeups, cancellation of numerous movie, television and theme park projects, etc.
Why would Disney willingly chose a side and piss off half their customer base? It’s bad business. Not much common sense in the decision or the movement they are supporting. And at the center of this movement is a lack of family morals and values. Well, you get what you deserve Disney.
Go woke and go broke.
Woke - The active promotion of identity-based social justice issues that directly counter perceived insensitivity against progressive ideology.

KS: "Why would Disney willingly chose a side and piss off half their customer base?"

Me: Did someone publish a credible, comprehensive data analysis that shows Disney has actually lost half of their customer base?

I think companies like Disney and Target realize that millennials and gen Z overwhelmingly support LBGT and that is the customer base they are targeting. By not taking a stand people saw them as giving a silent endorsement to the dog-whistle behavior of the governor. The biggest mistake was Chapek waiting to make a statement because it was obvious that they were inevitably going to have to. In the early 90s Disney was the first major company to give gay couples spousal benefits for their insurance and when the Christian groups came after them the companies management said we're not changing our mind and you're going to have to get over or stop buying our products. Eventually society got more liberal and now gay marriage is normalized, the company took a stand and ended up making a smart long-term strategic bet. I view this very similarly, as long as they keep making the best movies and attractions they will be fine.

The stock price has nothing to do with this, the death of cable is whats destroying their stock. With the death of cable means Disney is no longer able to force every household in America into overpaying for ESPN, and they felt compelled with Disney+ to spend massive amounts of money on their own content to fill the platform with. Wall Street has lost confidence that streaming is going to be as profitable for Disney as cable was. Also I think the stock might continue to go down for a while because of a slowdown in the global economy which is slowing down the parks business and rising interest rates will play a factor for a while as that hasn't really been priced in yet. For these reasons I think late 2023-2024 will probably be a good time to buy a lot of stock.

Keith sneaks in a little hyperbole about Disney "piss(ing) off half their customer base," and TH Creative shoots it down with one of his over-the-top "give me peer-reviewed, statistical studies from reputables sources" comments.

Yep. Some things on this site never change even if you step away for several months.

Anecdotally speaking, TH, Keith may have a point. Disney may be an iconic brand, but are they setting themselves up for a death-by-a-thousand-cuts? In my experience, major failures are usually the result of an accumulation of small failures combined with inclement situations.

The Bud Light situation didn't happen just because of the partnership with the transgender influencer. It happened because a tone-deaf management and marketing team failed to respect the values of a considerable portion of their customer base who were already feeling agitated about all of the virtue-signaling, DEI, and wokeness being forced on them by the left, the news media, and corporate America. Anheiser-Busch still isn't understanding the gravity of their situation, and at this point, about the only thing that is going to save their market share is going to be a very public firing of the AB CEO and the marketing team.

Now I'm not going to shoot up a case of Bud Light and post it to YouTube, but I do note when a corporation is trying to virtue signal and preach to me, and I'm going to quietly adjust my consumption habits. In the case of Disney, I greatly reduced my purchase of their products and movies and only visit the parks if it is an opportunity to spend a day with my kids and grandkids. I buy Haagen-Dazs ice cream instead of Ben and Jerry's. I've found a replacement for my beloved Pike Place coffee, I won't even try on a pair of Nikes, and I avoid Target as much as possible.

I can only speak for myself, and I'll never claim to be mainstream (What does mainstream mean anymore?), but I don't think I'm alone in my feelings about Disney becoming something that is antithetical to my values. Especially after seeing a video on the news this week of a male employee in a dress greeting small children as they enter a boutique in Disneyland. Ugh!

Tim Hillman: " In my experience, major failures are usually the result of an accumulation of small failures combined with inclement situations."

Me: While the entirety of your post carries a great deal of thoughtfulness and maturity, I find the use of the word "failures" (which you don't directly define) confusing. Likewise, I don't understand why the word "Ugh" punctuates the sentence about a "male employee in a dress greeting small children as they enter a boutique in Disneyland."

And incidentally, does anyone know for a fact that Comcast has policies that would prevent one of its male team members from "a dress greeting small children as they enter a boutique"? Or are we limiting our attacks to Disney?

I respect everyone's opinions and I would say this:
There is clearly a generational divide here. Corporations would not be outwardly supporting gay/non binary/trans if they didn't do their homework and think it was here to stay. You can point to study after study that shows this.

Ultimately they are just doing what millennials and gen z, Disney/Target/Nike etc's prime audience, wants them to do. It doesn't make sense for them to chase after boomers at the expense of younger generations.

C'mon TH, you know that Disney deliberately tries to market their products as family products, so they get held to a different standard than Comcast. It may not be fair, but they set themselves up for the extra criticism.

Sometimes our harshest feelings are for the things we once held dearest.

@the_man2: Brilliant!

T. Hillman: "C'mon TH, you know that Disney deliberately tries to market their products as family products, so they get held to a different standard than Comcast."
YOU call out Disney for a "male employee in a dress greeting small children as they enter a boutique in Disneyland," but if it happens at Universal YOU give them a pass?

Please.

By the way, Mr. Hillman, Disney broke through the limiting "family entertainment" barriers in 1986 -- the moment that Danny DeVito got that wrong number in Touchstone's 'Ruthless People'.

Nah, TH, I wouldn't give Universal a pass either.

You can relax now.

Is the bearded lady a new Disney character now? Did they buy him out from the circus?

(Chuckle)

“Corporations would not be outwardly supporting gay/non binary/trans if they didn't do their homework and think it was here to stay. You can point to study after study that shows this.”

theman2, can you produce such a study?

Should we express concerns about patronizing a Comcast theme park when their television network (NBC) broadcasts 'Will & Grace'?

Did a Comcast theme park have a bearded lady welcoming little children to a makeover (with possible transition) boutique?
Wasn’t there a bearded lady in the Shrek movies? Maybe the question should be does Disney owe Universal any royalties for the use of the bearded lady without consent?

(Chuckle)

You do realize that DeSantis is seen as an absolute joke outside the state of Florida, correct?

Thank goodness the other 49 states have you to speak for them, Anthony!

Funny thing is though that you sound just like the red hat MAGA folks around me when they talk about Gov. Newsom. ??

Who the hell is Gov. Newsome?

I took out the extra “e”.

Old people and smart phones- not a good match.

had to google him...lol I thought it was a nickname for someone not just a simple typo! haha

Hummingbirds can always find nectar & vultures can always find carcasses. If you look hard enough, you'll find whatever you're looking for...Meaning everyone can find something (and people) to justify and validate their stance.

I've mentioned this before, but the current social climate (and news media) can easily change perspectives & push whatever narratives the given audience wants to hear.

Everyone has a platform now (via social media & technology) and anyone's opinion can be presented as "newsworthy". Often times these "opinions" are given headlines, and then we see the adjectives "outrage, slams, etc.)

Look at Disney's output in the 90's. What was beloved then (the renaissance) would totally be considered something completely different now.

ALL these films would be considered " extremely woke" by the right, while the left would consider them "powerful messages". But for most of the audiences back then, they were simply good movies.

Beauty & the Beast: Belle was educated, independent & rejected the ultra masculine Gaston.

Aladdin: Middle Eastern set story with another headstrong princess.

Lion King: African set story, with a super effeminate villain in Scar.

Pocahontas: Nuff said...but interracial romance where the white settlers are presented as the villains.

Live action Cinderella: Black Cinderella & fairy godmother, Filipino Prince Charming. Ultra diverse cast.

Mulan: Asian set story where the main female character spends 90% of the movie dressing & living as a male.

None of those "classics" would come out unscathed in today's climate.

Unfortunately, so many things now have become political, and at least in the media's eyes...it would seem like humans are incapable of coexisting if they have different perspectives.

Being theme park fans, we know we can take a trip to ANY theme park & see (for the most part) people of all political & other backgrounds existing & enjoying the same theme park experience together.