Poor dude better stay away from Key West during "Ernest Hemingway Daze"

[spatch]

Bet you didn't know Santa is now a Disney character!

From http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6189521.stm:

Disney tells Santa clone ho-ho no

When James Worley paid a visit to Disney World in Florida his portly frame and white beard soon had kids asking: "Are you Santa Claus?"

Not wanting to disappoint, Mr Worley, 60, played along with some "ho-ho-hos".

But Disney officials descended, telling him to stop the impersonation or get out of the park. They said they wanted to preserve the magic of Santa.

Mr Worley took off his red hat and red shirt but said: "I look this way 24/7, 365 days a year. This is me."

'Confusing'

Even after bowing to the request to alter his appearance, Mr Worley, from Tampa, said children continued to ask if he was Santa.

"How do you tell a little kid, 'No, go away, little kid'," Mr Worley told local television.

He said Disney had told him "Santa was considered a Disney character".

Officials at Disney World's Epcot park said they had had complaints from "several guests who were very upset".

Disney said it had its own Santa at Epcot and Mr Worley was "confusing" the children.

Mr Worley said he had played a jolly elf at charity events for a number of years, while his wife sometimes dressed up as Mrs Claus.

Mr Worley said he still loved Disney and Christmas.

And here I thought Santa Claus was wholly owned by the Coca-Cola Company and its subsidiaries. Now, according to policy, Disney reserves the right to eject any overly-costumed adult guest from the premises (except the tattoo guy, but I bet that's because he doesn't show all his tattoos while in the park) but this is just silly.

Sadly there's no picture of the fellow at the news article, unless he really does look like Goofy in a red hat.

Comments

[invisibelle.livejournal.com]

That's really sad. I have a coworker who looks like that, and he gets it all the time, too. I knew about the general costume ban for adults, but beard != costume.

[spatch]

According to other online Disney-watchin' sites, the guy was wearing a red Santa hat... that he purchased at one of the park's own gift shops. (D'oh!)

[invisibelle.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow. See, I thought the Santa hat was a little over the top, but if he bought it in the park, that's... yeah. Either way, the guy got rid of it when they asked him -- what more do they want?

[antikythera.livejournal.com]

In other news, a guy was arrested in South Carolina for dressing up as Hemingway Santa, luring a little girl onto his motorcycle, and taking off with her while her father chased them in his truck.

[spatch]

Ok, see, that's not cool. And if Disney were turning Santa look-alikes away in the interest of child safety, that'd be one thing.

But telling the dude that Santa is "a Disney character" and that they've "already got one! It looks verra nice!" is pretty lame.

[antikythera.livejournal.com]

I was assuming that's what their no-costumes rule was for, was child safety. People in the park are going to assume that the various mascots and princesses and prince-charmings are nice people.

Who exactly told him that Santa was a Disney character, I wonder?

[spatch]

The article doesn't say, but I'm willing to bet it was some middle manager who tried to say "Disney already has a Santa character at EPCOT" and instead it came out as "Disney has Santa as a character" or something. Like maybe the suit dood ran his lecture thru Babelfish and back, and "Has Santa" turned into "Owns Santa".

Or maybe the suit dood was just being a jerk.

[dcart.livejournal.com]

Disney is evil.

[bedfull-o-books.livejournal.com]

Just what I was going to say. My sister is trying to shield her kids from it as long as possible.

[brinylon.livejournal.com]

Disney really is evil. I hate it when kids think Pooh is Disney >:E

Now that the serious stuff is out of the way, I can comment on this:

[scout1222.livejournal.com]

Mr Worley said he still loved Disney and Christmas.

I'm so glad he's not holding Christmas responsible for this!

Re: Now that the serious stuff is out of the way, I can comment on this:

[spatch]

"Disney kicked me out because I looked like Santa! I HATE YOU, CHRISTMAS! *kick kick*"

Well, I have seen stranger ad hoc arguments...

[dolphinsolo.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm going to Epcot this weekend...

I'll be sure to dress as an elf.

[ungratefulninja.livejournal.com]

'He said Disney had told him "Santa was considered a Disney character".'

Way to capture the magic, Disney







and then choke the life out of it.

[giantfightbot.livejournal.com]

Every character is a potential Disney character waiting to happen, then placed under lock and key through perpetual Mickey Mouse Protection Acts.

I never will understand while people fap about Disney.

[hemlock-martini.livejournal.com]

If he was dressed as this guy, MAYBE:



Otherwise, I ain't a-buyin' it.

[redtheblue.livejournal.com]

Oh I would so do it if I was skinny. Go to Disney World and hand out evil toys, like vampire Mickey Mouse doll. Make them use surface-to-air missiles against me.

[ratatosk.livejournal.com]

Weirdly, I have been in the position of getting around that costume ban. The trick is to know that they are very firm up front, but are much more likely to leave you alone once you are well into the park. So, you need to take your costume with you and put it on in the bathroom once you are out of range of the gate.

Presumably actual complaints would get them to do something regardless of where you were, of course.