Have you ever experienced anything neg at WDW?

[RickinNYC]

A number of my friends have asked me how Joe and I can go to WDW all the time when it's "clearly for traditional families only." Some have even considered that the both of us have gotten "looks" or any kind of problems.

Well, I'm happy to say in all the trips we've made to Disney, we've never experienced a single situation that might make us uncomfortable or unwanted. Cast members and fellow guests alike have always been great. Granted, they might not know that Joe and I are in fact a couple, but I imagine most do. And if anyone did have any ill will, they kept it to themselves.

We've never received so much as a glance or whisper, let alone anything untoward of any kind. I'm constantly trying to convey how great WDW is for a vacation destination choice for families of all types. I truly believe it is!

Thoughts? Gimme some good ammo to convince our friends that they should join us on one of our Mickey jaunts!

 

[LukenDC]

Last September my BF and I spent nine days at WDW and did not encounter any problems at all. Every cast member we encountered was friendly and welcoming and we noted that there are many gay/lesbian cast members at WDW. The guests were perfectly pleasant too.

 

[Rence]

No problems at all, ever at WDW.

At Disneyland we had an incident where in fact we were made to feel more welcome. It was a busy day and we were in a very long queue for Gadget's Go Coaster. We were about halfway through when a male cast member on the ride platform started shouting "Sir" "Sir" and pointing in our area.

We suddenly realized that he was pointing at my partner. When he got my partner's attention, he pointed at his neck and said "Glad to see the colors on display at Disneyland" and then gave a big thumbs up. We then realized that my partner was wearing his pride rings necklace and the CM had noticed us out in the crowd and wanted to give us a special howdy.

 

[RickinNYC]

Actually, Joe had to remind me of one moment two years ago while checking in that a cast member made a little joke about not putting us in a room with a king size bed. Apparently she thought we were buddies just traveling together. I tried to make light of the situation and assured her that request was indeed valid. I laughed but did feel a little burn of embarrassment. Certainly not enough to make me think poorly of the girl, nor enough to insult us in any way.

 

[LJC1861]

On our last trip this past Christmas I noticed a rainbow Mickey Icon pin. Needless to say I bought 4 of them....2 for us and 2 for another WDW loving lesbian couple that we are good friends with. Lisa and I wore ours around all week and got nothing but positive comments on them from CM's and guests alike. I complimented a woman on a hat she was wearing and she winked at me and replied..."nice pin!" The pin started many conversations with CM's and helped identify us as a couple.....which is a nice treat in WDW.

As ofr other times, we have never experienced anything negative. Granted, we only occasionally hold hands and almost never engage in other public displays of affection, but it is usually clearly evident that we are a couple. Interestingly enough though, we do occasionally get mistaken for sisters or twins....we do look a bit alike. At any rate, WDW is one of our favorite places and we do feel comfortable being ourselves.

Linda

 

[TheButlerDiditt]

We've never had any problems either. All the cast members are so friendly and the guests are always too much in a world of their own to probably notice us anyway.

A little OT, the only time I ever felt uncomfortable was when we were at Innoventions in Epcot waiting to play some sort of escape-the-housefire game and an unattended 12ish year old boy kept talking to us. Seriously, even though we didn't pursue any conversation with him, he wouldn't stop telling us everything from how many times he'd been through the game to what he wanted to be when he grew up. I kept waiting for his parents/guardians to show up and yank him away thinking god-knows-what WE were trying to do to him. Fortunately for us, unfortunately for him, they never did. Even though he was incredibly annoying, I felt really bad for the kid. It seemed as if his parents didn't care about him at all.

 

[buckylarue]

My partner and I have been going to both DL and WDW regularly since I first dragged him there in 1977, and in all those trips, I can only recall one occasion where we heard a negative comment. We were staying at POR, waiting at the bus stop to head to the MK, when a family walked by and the mother made some comment about "Why do THOSE people have to come here and ruin it for everyone?" Before we could even process it, this very prim and proper looking 70-ish year old woman sitting next to us on the park bench told her, "You'd better get used to it, because we're EVERYWHERE!" It shut the woman up, and we had a nice conversation with the woman, who was a retired schoolteacher there with her partner. We have had many friendly comments from cast members, all of whom seem to be able to tell that we are a couple...

 

[StormTigger]

I've been to WDW about 8x's w/ my partner, and we also went on the cruise together. The cruise was the best. Neither of us are flamboyant or anything but it's still easy to tell we are a couple when we are together (I think it has something to do w/ being together for 9 yrs) and especially in a setting like on the ship but everyone was great and treated us like it was the norm.

In the parks... I never worry about the cast since so many of them are "family" anyway, and can't say any of the guest has done or said anything that made us feel uncomfortable. Once though, on the WTP ride, when we where getting into the honey pot, one guy did saying something like "No making out in the dark now," but honestly I couldn't tell by the expression on his face or the tone of his voice if he was being silly, just giving a sign that he knew, or if it was some kind of insult. We decided not to worry about it and enjoy the ride (and snuck a quick kiss along the way. ).

Of course now I hope I don't jinx anything cuz we are taking another gay couple w/ us on our trip this year!

 

[Tony-NJ]

yes once unfortunately. Though once out of all the time we've spent there is no big deal. It was Dec 98 and we were excited about trying Citricos before MVMCP - we had a horrible waitress who just couldn't understand why we had the gaul to be seen in public We're not ugly or anything... Anyway we had the worst service ever in all the years we've gone to WDW. Fortunately it didn't really bother us enough to affect our trip, but we never went back to Citricos.

 

[airhead]

We've always been treated with respect.

 

[iankh]

We've never experienced anything negative. A few weeks ago before our last trip I decided to pop for DDE. I was so pleasantly surprised went the CM on the other end of the phone said, "And would you like a card for your wife or partner?" We have have always had great service and readily treated as a couple (which we are).

 

[Ronda93]

Nope, never. We've been at least 20 times and have had nothing but positive experiences with CMs and guests.

This probably has nothing to do with us being a couple, but it gave us pause... My partner saw a kid playing in the jumping fountains in front of JIYI. The little guy was leaning back and taking the water on the forehead, laughing and squealing.

She couldn't resist and snapped few pictures of the splash. A few minutes later a man approached and said, "were you taking pictures of my kid?". Uh-oh. He pulled out a business card and said if "it turns out, I'd like a copy." He was in a government position in Montreal. What a relief. We sent several pictures.

A charachter wrangler CM at Rafiki's Planet Watch struck up a conversation (we were waiting for Stanley and Dennis). She asked if we were together. I asked how it was working for the mouse. This was late 2004 and she talked about the help Disney gave her and her partner after their home was damaged by two of the hurricanes.

There's a particular waitress we always hope to get at Kona. She and her partner both work for Disney. She has oodles of vacation and spends a lot of time on their boat in Marathon.

I chatted at the pool for quite a while with a lesbian engineering CM at Pop. We talked about decorating our houses for Christmas. Normal, boring, ordinary conversations. Probably because we're normal, boring, ordinary people ; )

ETA: I can't spell

 

[LJC1861]

One of my all time favorite WDW moments came as my youngest sister and I were waiting to watch Tapestry several years ago. We struck up a conversation with 2 men and this adorable 4 year old from China. Her Daddies couldn't have been prouder of her and after the parade they each took one of her hands and walked away. It was such a wonderful family moment.....one I will never forget. Her name was Amelia and when I asked her where she was from, meaning where did she live, she looked at me with this strange expression on her face and said "China!" like I was the stupidest thing on the planet. We all had a good laugh over that one. Their faces just lit up when my sister and I complemented them on their daughter.

Linda

 

[tmli]

I have a question along this theme but a little different. My ds(9) and I were on a Carnival cruise and there were two gentleman, obviously together with a baby. We have openly discussed homosexuality and truly believe all people to be equal.

After our cruise we spent the afternoon in WDW waiting for our flight and saw the same couple. As we are walking by, my ds is saying..."okay I get they are gay and together and that is no problem....but how did they get the baby?"

I laughed because it was funny, explained to him the ways that it could have come about and on we went. I just gave them a sheepish smile as I am sure they heard. While it was all very innocent, I often think about them and if we some how offended. It certainly wasn't our intention.

 

[Tony-NJ]

I laughed because it was funny, explained to him the ways that it could have come about and on we went. I just gave them a sheepish smile as I am sure they heard. While it was all very innocent, I often think about them and if we some how offended. It certainly wasn't our intention.

I doubt you offended them. They probably or hopefully thought it was cute!

 

[vegasnw]

This past trip when we checked in on the concierge floor I had booked a king and the concierge looked at us and asked us if we knew we had booked a king bed? I told her yes and she looked right at my partner and said.."But you're 2 guys" and she had a strange look on her face. I spoke up right away and told her that if she was having a problem with my reservation, I'd be more then happy to have the manager check us in so she wouldn't have to worry about it anymore. She had a look on her face that I will never forget, like a deer trapped in headlights. After that she did everything she could to help us and we never had another problem that trip but those kind of problems hardly ever happen to us.

Every now and then we all have had someone giving us a look or saying something we can over hear and I let it slide "most" of the time but it is rare for it to happen to us at Disney.

 

[TinkerChelle]

My partner and I have been to WDW many times over the last 7 years and have never felt that our sexual orientation ever played into how we were treated. And as our friends always tell us...we don't need to wear t-shirts for people to know we are "out and proud"...we look like a lesbian couple.
When we stayed at the AKL for our honeymoon in 2001 we were treated like any other newlyweds would have been. Our trips are always memorable and we do hold hands and act like we are a couple!

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Several years ago JudySue (my late wife) and I made it a point to travel to WDW to be at MK on Gay DAy.

As we were coming off the monorail we were greeted by a couple of apparent Disney managers. One of the two we happened to know was definitely plainclothes security. We asked him what they were doing and were told that they had heard that there might be religious protesters coming and they were there to make sure that protesters would not make any trouble.

We had an enjoyable day in the park. JudySue commented to me that the grossest PDAs she had ever seen in the parks were on other days and by heterosexual couples and not gays.

I recall our meeting a nice young (maybe 30's) couple where both had red sequined high-top sneakers and sailor hats. We both complimented them on these items and found that they had done these themselves, with over 600 sequins on each shoe and hat. As we were discussing this with them there was a woman, about our age, who had the attitude that "these people" should not be allowed in the parks and so we, an obvious heterosexual couple, asked her what was wrong with people loving one another and she stormed off.

There will always, unfortunately, be some people who think that their way is the only rtight way to do things.

 

[micknpluto]

I have never had a problem at WDW. I think its one of the few places where I feel comfortable being w/my g/f.

I love the fact that there are many gay CMs . If they arent gay they should at least be "gay friendly"

 

[TeresaNJ]

Congrats on your new board!! Just happened to stumble upon it tonight while browsing the DIS. Unfortunately, my DH and I did see a horrendous episode at Boma a few years ago. We were having a great dinner when we heard an obnoxious voice chastising a gay couple having dinner. Apparently the obnoxious man was having dinner with his six year old son when he noticed the couple. He immediately started yelling at this couple, saying things like how dare they be openly affectionate (I think one man let the other taste something off of his fork, not sure, my husband thinks that is what set this guy off), and he also was yelling how now he would have to explain to his six year old why two guys are together, etc., etc. I was so embarrassed that this guy was making a horse's behind of himself, and felt so bad for the couple. The idiot left rather quickly after that, don't know if he was escorted out because I wasn't looking, didn't want to make the couple any more uncomfortable by having them think people were gawking. I guess there are ********* everywhere, including Disney.