Disneyland fights protesters, with balloons.

[Grim_Grinning_Girl]

Completely forgot to ask about this, wondering if anyone else saw this - or has seen this in the past? Think it happened on Friday October 9th. It was around the late afternoon, early evening. Walked through security entering to Downtown Disney to walk back to the Disneyland hotel, and we noticed there was a group of Disney employees, the more official businessy looking ones, handing out latex Mickey ear balloons, and at the same time popping blue oval shape balloons.

We didn't know what the heck was going on, but upon closer inspection we realized that the oval shape balloons had been handed out by protesters, and Disney quickly reacted by approaching guests who had received those balloons and exchange them for official Disney Mickey ear balloons, protesting balloons were immediately popped. There was also a flyer being handed out along with the Mickey ear balloons but that did seem to be coming from employees (I think?), I don't recall seeing protesters there at the time, the group of employees did seem a little flustered and frantic. The protesting balloon did say something about "Disney" but never learned what was going on.

Just wondering if anyone else saw this and has more information about what the protest was about?

 

[Teki]

Disney is in a pretty hot union debat right now according to this video the union is who was handing out those baloons. Pretty Savy of Disney Actually.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTDa8BlhGPY

 

[barefootmomma]

Yes! We were there also, my son kept that red Mickey balloon and played with it for 3 days after until it looked a little more like a Pooh Bear head than Mickey Mouse. I never saw what the blue balloons had written on them either, but when we stopped to find out what was going on (when my son was given a balloon, although we hadn't traded in a blue offender) they said that it was negative propaganda from one of the local unions, that it had happened before, and that they were trading those balloons for Disney balloons. All I know is, they were on it really quickly! It amazed me how quickly they were into action and taking care of the problem.


**Went back in our photos, and apparently it was September 24th when we saw it happen.

 

[JH87]

I love Disney's reaction to this!

 

[KBelle5]

From what little I've seen of the protests, managers/higher ups haven't been out there, so I'm glad to see we are fighting back.

While I believe that everyone should have the right to protest, I do not think they should get in the way of CMs who are trying to do their jobs. One time, protesters were handing out flyers (which seems to be their normal way of getting their message out, besides the huge signs on Harbor), and this was diverting guests away from me, making it hard to let them know which ticket booths had the shortest lines. While it was personally annoying, it wasn't anything to the magnitude of what I saw in that video. I was just glad that most people read the flyer, were disgusted at what they read, and threw it in the trash.

I commend the CM who was approached, because it looked like she handled the situation well. I doubt I would have been able to keep my cool if I had been confronted by a "guest" like that. I probably would have snipped at her to remove the camera and gotten in trouble, lol.

Had I been there that day, I probably, without even thinking about it, would have walked up to the CM in the guise of needing to ask a question, just to try to get the attention off her for a second. I'm still fiercely loyal to main entrance, even though I no longer work there.

 

[Grim_Grinning_Girl]

Disney is in a pretty hot union debat right now according to this video the union is who was handing out those baloons. Pretty Savy of Disney Actually.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTDa8BlhGPY

Great, thanks a lot for the video because this is exactly what I saw and what it was like. The narrator is right - no one knew what the heck was going on, but they were happy to get a free balloon.

My friend was very impressed by how quickly Disney reacted, though it was a little disappointing that they weren't letting the protesters freely protest, and the popping of the balloons seemed a little harsh. Personally I didn't mind the protesting, but I felt it was a little too close to things and in the way, think it would have been more effective deeper into Downtown Disney.

 

[skiingfast]

Aren't these people protesing on private land? I'm not sure why they weren't being arrested.

 

[bateman]

GOne are the days when Disney security would use force

 

[Teki]

Im glad they didnt use force it shows that while Disney obviously disagrees with them they were allowing them the freedom of speech to protest.