Is Disney World Racist?

[Jetta8300]

Here is an earlier post of mine:

Two of these incidents have nothing to do with Disney, they were guests, not Disney employees. The person at Starbucks may have been pointing if they did not want to shout over the noise in the store, or over other guests in front of you. To say that you would not visit Disney again and that they are "racist" due to one Starbucks employee (which I'm not even sure this is a Disney employee either) for pointing at something is laughable.

 

[tiggergal15]

This post concerns me...what is the point of this ?..... By asking are you making plans for retaliation based on the answers.? Why are you so worried? Sadly raciscm is every where but I have never seen,encountered or witnessed it in any way on any of my Disney vacations.

 

[lovethattink]

OP, I think you got your answer. No, it is not typical, but yes it can happen. I've never seen it from a cm, but have from guests.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

Simply No.......this has nothing to do with what race you are. It is fact.

Disney goes way over the limit to provide service and.expriences that are.in no way basis.

AKK

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

This post concerns me...what is the point of this ?..... By asking are you making plans for retaliation based on the answers.? Why are you so worried? Sadly raciscm is every where but I have never seen,encountered or witnessed it in any way on any of my Disney vacations.

Very well put. I agree, it almost sounds like someone wanting to start a fight. Guess what people of all races understand and can see racism when it happens. That is one of many reasons we go the Disney parks.. the parks and CM and management go way over the limit to provide a.equally wonderful vacation for all people.

AKK



....

 

[hiroMYhero]

@IronCloud ~ from your previous posts, it's obvious you are DL vets and are contemplating between visiting Aulani and WDW. Just know that if your family experiences racism based on your ethnicity and physical features, then yes, you can encounter the same experiences at WDW.

 

[Gracie09]

@IronCloud ~ from your previous posts, it's obvious you are DL vets and are contemplating between visiting Aulani and WDW. Just know that if your family experiences racism based on your ethnicity and physical features, then yes, you can encounter the same experiences at WDW.

People can experience racism anywhere but to say a company is racist because one experienced racism by some other guests is not correct. I can walk down the streets of nyc and experience racism but I wouldn't say nyc is racist. Besides an entity cannot be racist. The people running it or working there or visiting can be racist, but not the actual corporation.
A person can experience racism anywhere they go. The only way to 100% ensure you don't is to just stay in your house and never open the door

 

[matheke]

If you perceive every slight and/or rude behavior to be tied to your ethnicity or sex or race or religion then you will find it at WDW as you would anywhere.

 

[maxiesmom]

Is Disney World Racist? I plan to bring my family there next summer and I just want to know if anyone has had racist experiences there.

How can a theme park area be racist? Are some of the guests racist? Most likely, as they are normal people and some people are racist.

 

[IronCloud]

Yes, I should have stated can the people be racist. There has been many times at Disneyland where things like black kids couldn't have there picture taken with characters, because the characters ignored them. If you simply type in on google "racism at disneyland" there are multiple news post and articles. I am not trolling or joking or whatever you want to think. I just want to know are Disney World guests different, because I have even read posts where people complain about the brazilian tourist groups at Disney World. Disney World gets a lot more variety of guests around the world due to its size, proximity to the Eastern Seaboard, South, Midwest, the U.K and South America. I didn't want people to argue I just wanted people to tell me their experiences at Disney World and if they notice racism or not, with the guests or CM's.

Are you joking? is this a serious question? Wow! This has got to be a troll.

 

[maxiesmom]

Yes, I should have stated can the people be racist. There has been many times at Disneyland where things like black kids couldn't have there picture taken with characters, because the characters ignored them. If you simply type in on google "racism at disneyland" there are multiple news post and articles. I am not trolling or joking or whatever you want to think. I just want to know are Disney World guests different, because I have even read posts where people complain about the brazilian tourist groups at Disney World. Disney World gets a lot more variety of guests around the world due to its size, proximity to the Eastern Seaboard, South, Midwest, the U.K and South America. I didn't want people to argue I just wanted people to tell me their experiences at Disney World and if they notice racism or not, with the guests or CM's.

Of course people can be racist. Disney World does not really exist in a bubble, as much as we may like to think it does. I'm sure if you go looking to be offended, you will be.

 

[Dan Murphy]

I just wanted people to tell me their experiences at Disney World and if they notice racism or not, with the guests or CM's.

BAsed on the replies so far, would you say Disney World is racist, or not?

 

[wilkeliza]

Yes, I should have stated can the people be racist. There has been many times at Disneyland where things like black kids couldn't have there picture taken with characters, because the characters ignored them. If you simply type in on google "racism at disneyland" there are multiple news post and articles. I am not trolling or joking or whatever you want to think. I just want to know are Disney World guests different, because I have even read posts where people complain about the brazilian tourist groups at Disney World. Disney World gets a lot more variety of guests around the world due to its size, proximity to the Eastern Seaboard, South, Midwest, the U.K and South America. I didn't want people to argue I just wanted people to tell me their experiences at Disney World and if they notice racism or not, with the guests or CM's.

The thing at Disneyland is that families believe their kids were slighted because of their race and don't know why the family in front of them were allowed to go in. They assume it is based on race when there are several factors to why another group may be told OK after a line has closed when others were told no.

What you hear about happening at DL happens much less at WDW because the character meet and greet times are set and the characters have handlers. At DL some of them roam with out handlers and those are the ones that usually get complaints.

 

[Gracie09]

The thing at Disneyland is that families believe theirnkids were slighted because of their race and don't know why the family in front of them were allowed to go in. They assume it is based on race when there are several factors to why another group may be told OK after a line has closed when others were told no.

What you hear about happening at DL happens much less at WDW because the character meet and greet times are set and the characters have handlers. At DL some of them roam with out handlers and those are the ones that usually get complaints.

I agree. If you read the reports they are often like Donal duck ignored my kid who was standing right in front of him and interacted with a kid a few feet away. Well yeah Donald can't see below his beak so he didn't see the first kid.

 

[knkmom]

I've never experienced racism by Disney whether we were at DL or WDW. We were at WDW this past May and in Starbucks in Epcot and the CM pointed at us but the place was packed and loud and I took it as he was just making sure we knew he was ready to take our order. With as many people as there are in any given park on any given day you might experience another guest being rude or ignorant but not from anyone working for Disney.

 

[Happyinwonerland]

I think you're going to run across rude people who do racist/sexist/hateful things no matter where you go. I don't, however, feel like the Disneyworld culture is an overtly rrude and hateful one. Most families are just there to enjoy time together and aren't worried about you.

 

[hiroMYhero]

I understand but isn't saying a specific group is "loud and annoying" prejudice. That's like someone saying I don't hate blacks because they are black, I hate them because they are rude, loud, and annoying. See what you just said to me doesn't make sense. You say They're which means they are annoying and loud, not they can be annoying and loud. Disney World guests might not be racist but some might have prejudice derogatory toward a select group of people who they find rude, annoying, loud, different,...etc.

If you are concerned about racial profiling, the place where it occurs on a regular basis is in Magical Words With Mickey/Talking Mickey @ MK.

If the Attendant does not give the correct cues when a family enters and if an English-speaking family appears to be of Hispanic/Spanish, Portuguese, or Japanese descent, Talking Mickey will speak Spanish, Portuguese, or Japanese. It totally confuses the family who expected a great interaction with Mickey and causes embarrassment for the "friend of Mickey" because the friend has no control over which language is chosen for Mickey to speak.

The language was chosen solely upon the appearance of the family. I'm not sure how they are training Mickey's voice but quite a few interactions have not gone well.

 

[hiroMYhero]

to tell me their experiences at Disney World and if they notice racism or not, with the guests or CM's.

I'll share some more CM behavior:
~ in Future World while walking a few steps behind a Caucasian family, a CM waits for the Caucasian family to pass and then bows to us while laughing. Although some will just say this is rude behavior, the CM's behavior was based on race.

~ when our pager signaled we were ready to be seated at Captain's Grille, we approached the podium where two CMs were bickering because neither one of them wanted to say my last name. Just saying "Jennifer" would have been fine with me.

Neither said any name at all so as we were directed to our table, I discussed that the pronunciation of vowels in the Japanese language is the same as in Spanish. By the time we reached our table, I directed the CM to "go for it" and he attempted to pronounce my last name.

Hearing two CMs bicker regarding properly acknowledging your party just because your name isn't Murphy or Smith does not set a good tone for the meal especially because we had invited non-Caucasian DIS friends to join us for lunch.

~ when CM friend, GoGo, was walking backstage, a Caucasian CM honked the horn of his golfcart and shouted out, "Ni hao." GoGo has had the same training as that CM and Disney doesn't direct CMs to shout out Chinese greetings to any person of Asian ethnicity, yet it happens.

~ also backstage, a Caucasian CM called GoGo "Ruggie" as in "Oriental Rug." I had never heard that slur before so maybe it is a mid-West or East Coast thing. A Manager admonished the adult, 30 year-old CM and told her the term was racist and demeaning and he did not want to hear it again.

 

[TiffanyA]

People are people - this includes cast members. Disney does not hire any overtly prejudiced people and for good reason, but Cast members were born and raised somewhere in the world, and likely hold views common to that part of the world (though as I said, Disney doesn't want extremists). I consider myself to be Asian-American (I'm mixed but I look more Asian and the majority white population of America view me that way). I have been going to Disney World since I was a girl and do not recall any racist encounters out of the norm. Meaning I could experience the same out on the street.

@hiroMYhero

I think California is "special" in those terms because of the high Asian population. Funny story, when I moved to San Francisco from the East Coast after college I almost fell out of my seat seeing other Asians driving cars. Yes, that sounds bad, but it was true. I find California holds a much more open mind towards people of Asian descent because, literally, these are your next door neighbors. They are more informed that we aren't all from Asia and many of us do in fact speak English. Oh and not all of us are Chinese or Japanese or make peace signs with our hands in every photo. So I'm not surprised that your experiences at Disneyland were very different as a person of Asian ethnicity.

ETA: I totally hear you on all those situations. I've had my fair share of them too, but most weren't at Disney. I wonder if it's a bit of a West Coast effect. I do experience less incidents like that now that I live in San Francisco.

 

[Gracie09]

I'll share some more CM behavior:
~ in Future World while walking a few steps behind a Caucasian family, a CM waits for the Caucasian family to pass and then bows to us while laughing. Although some will just say this is rude behavior, the CM's behavior was based on race.

~ when our pager signaled we were ready to be seated at Captain's Grille, we approached the podium where two CMs were bickering because neither one of them wanted to say my last name. Just saying "Jennifer" would have been fine with me.

Neither said any name at all so as we were directed to our table, I discussed that the pronunciation of vowels in the Japanese language is the same as in Spanish. By the time we reached our table, I directed the CM to "go for it" and he attempted to pronounce my last name.

Hearing two CMs bicker regarding properly acknowledging your party just because your name isn't Murphy or Smith does not set a good tone for the meal especially because we had invited non-Caucasian DIS friends to join us for lunch.

~ when CM friend, GoGo, was walking backstage, a Caucasian CM honked the horn of his golfcart and shouted out, "Ni hao." GoGo has had the same training as that CM and Disney doesn't direct CMs to shout out Chinese greetings to any person of Asian ethnicity, yet it happens.

~ also backstage, a Caucasian CM called GoGo "Ruggie" as in "Oriental Rug." I had never heard that slur before so maybe it is a mid-West or East Coast thing. A Manager admonished the adult, 30 year-old CM and told her the term was racist and demeaning and he did not want to hear it again.

I have have a long German last name that people don't want to attempt to pronounce. I've had friends is Scandinavian and other European descents who also have long difficult looking last names that people also don't want to attempt. It seems like when your friend was called an inappropriate name the manager put an end to it. What else would you have liked to see happen? The person fired? They should spend time in the stocks? Disney employees something like 25000 people in Orlando. They probability that at least one person is racist is high. The probability that at least one person is culturally ignorant is high. If you go looks be for people "being racist" you will probably find it.
Anywhere you go you can find racism. Unless you lock yourself in your home and never answer the door, it is always a possibility. Even Asian countries can be racist. A friend lives in Japan and is mixed race and they have encountered racism.