Taking a trip to a Disney Park can be an absolutely exhausting experience — from early mornings to late nights, waiting in long lines, and dealing with massive crowds. A Disney vacation could really be an exercise program disguised as a vacation, and nerves and patience can dwindle as the day goes on. However, Disney Parks are also magical places filled with children and adults who just want to have a good time and smile. Unfortunately, a wrench was thrown into that good time recently when two groups visiting Disneyland Resort got into an all-out brawl.
The fight started while Guests were gathered along the Rivers of America at Disneyland Park to celebrate the return of the nighttime show, Fantasmic!. A video of the fight was shared on social media and, in the video, Disneyland security can be seen pulling the Guests apart as other Guests ran to get out of the way. You can watch the video, which was shared by bursteey (@theonlyburst) on Twitter, below:
It is unknown what caused the fight to break out in the first place. After videos of the fight began to go viral, Disney officials released the following statement:
“We do not condone this type of reprehensible behavior. Disneyland Resort security intervened swiftly, deescalated the situation and removed the guests from the park.”
According to the Anaheim police, no arrests were made, and the incident was fully handled by Disneyland security.
Sadly, this is not the first time that a fight has broken out at a Disney Park or on Disney property. Recently, two families got into a fight at Disney Springs when one family was caught stealing a wagon stroller from another family. In the past few months, fights have also broken out at EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, and the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort.
Disney security does its best to break up these altercations as soon as they are made aware of the issue. Guests who engage in that type of behavior are escorted from the theme park they are in and risk being banned from Disney permanently. If you see a fight while you are there, do not get involved, find Disney security as quickly as possible, and keep yourself out of the fray.
Heading to Disney’s Hollywood Studios soon? You’ll want to check out the new menu items coming to the park.
From a Disney Cast Member;
I hope you’re ready for some foodie news that’ll rock your taste buds’ world because I’ve got some exciting updates that are coming soon to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. From sweets to the savory, there are plenty of new items joining the treats roster at the park, and they are not to be missed.
Your foodie adventure is about to begin. Let’s get into this edition of What’s Cooking, shall we?
Whether you’ve been to Sci-Fi Dine-in Theater Restaurant before or have always wanted to drive into this retro classic, the new menu premiering June 2 is not to be missed. This “theater” is debuting some super tasty offerings including appetizers, entrées, and desserts. Start off your meal with the Sci-fi Smoked Wings tossed in a porter barbecue sauce with a house-made pineapple and poppy seed coleslaw or the Spinach and Artichoke Dip, a plant-based blend of spinach, artichoke, red peppers, cauliflower, cashew cheese, and oat milk served with house-made chips.
You can also enjoy the Black Garlic Caesar Salad, a petite romaine, grilled hearts of artichoke, chopped Applewood smoked bacon, shaved parmesan covered with house-made black garlic Caesar dressing and served with a tasty, toasted crostini. Or the Grilled Chicken Citrus Saladthat perfectly combines romaine lettuce, spinach, and arugula with rainbow tomatoes, candied pecans, cranberries, and feta cheese topped with a house-made citrus vinaigrette and grilled marinated chicken.
If you’re interested in some burgers, this new menu has got you covered. The Feature Film Burger – Surf & Turf is a unique twist on a classic with a signature blend of beef and house-made seasoning served on a brioche bun and topped with a shrimp and crab cake, pepper jack cheese, chipotle hollandaise sauce, grilled onions, heirloom tomato, arugula, and house-made vinaigrette. A previous “featured” item, the Pork on Pork Burger has been awarded a permanent spot on the new menu. This dish includes a grilled house-made pork patty topped with roasted pork belly, white sharp cheddar cheese, caramelized onions, cabbage slaw, and a house-made Carolina mustard sauce.
The grand finale of the meal, dessert, is also getting a revamp. The Red Planet is a delicious white chocolate cheesecake with blueberry compote on a graham cracker tart with a matcha sponge and gold candied pecans. How yummy does that sound? For a more tropical option, you have the Out-of-this-World Sci-Fi Swirl. This dish features a pineapple mousse with passion fruit cosmic swirl and a spiced lime spaceship garnished with space dust and blood orange coulis.
You better get the whole family together because it’s time for a good ole’ fashioned family meal at 50’s Prime Time Café. Step back in time with some of their new plates that bring TV dinner to a different level that feels just like home, beginning June 7. If you love a little kick to an adored dish, then you simply must try the Jalapeño Popper Deviled Eggs. On the other hand, if spice isn’t your thing, don’t worry, because there’s another classic starter for you – the Creamy Tomato Soup – yes, please! After you’ve enjoyed these tasty plates, get ready for a return that is here to make your taste buds very happy. Grandpa Jean’s Chicken Pot Pie has made its official return to 50’s Prime Time Café. This has a traditional pastry crust filled with chicken, potatoes, carrots, celery, onions, corn, and peas.
I hope you save room for dessert after these eats, because there are a few sweet treats making an appearance at this retro joint. The Pineapple Upside Down Cake features yellow cake soaked in pineapple juice topped with caramelized pineapples and maraschino cherries and garnished with whip cream and caramel sauce – wow! Also joining the menu is the Lemon Meringue Pie, a lemon curd in a flaky pie shell topped with a toasted meringue and garnished with a raspberry sauce. The sweets don’t stop there because there is also the Grasshopper Bar! This dessert is a mint white chocolate mousse with chocolate chips on a chocolate chip cookie and is topped with whip cream and chocolate chips. It is a mint chocolate chip lover’s dream.
And rounding out these exciting additions is the Stained Glass Dessert. This treat, made for the little ones, sees a whipped pineapple fluff studded with cubes of strawberry, lime, and orange gelatin to look like stained glass. How adorable?
Few things are more fitting in the summer than ice cream, and not many flavors are more Florida than Key lime. But do you want to know what’s even better? Combining both ice cream and Key lime into a milkshake, and that’s exactly what you’ll find at Hollywood Scoops. Starting tomorrow, they’ll be serving up the new Key Lime Milkshake, a Key lime vanilla cream shake topped with lemon lime doughnut garnished with a sweet graham cracker crumb.
Take a trip to another world when you step into Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge where you’ll discover two tasty beverages at Kat Saka’s Kettle. The Cold Brew Black Caf features Joffrey’s Cold Brew, sweet cream cheese, and cocoa puffs and is a delicious non-alcoholic treat! For a more adult version, the Spiked Cold Brew Black Caf has an extra ingredient – Godiva liqueur. Talk about galactic goodies!
When it comes to creating that magical Disney experience, there are few keys more important than Cast Members. Cast Members do everything from keeping the Parks clean and safe to helping Guests who may not be very experienced in Disney vacations, running your favorite attractions and rides, and more. Without the thousands of hard-working Cast Members, Walt Disney World would not be the top vacation destination it is.
While becoming a Disney Cast Member may be a dream job for many, it is still a job. There are still clock-ins and clock-outs, breaks, vacation time, and all of the other things that come with a regular job. Each Company has its own attendance policy that employees have to follow, and The Walt Disney Company is no different. However, according to a local union, Disney is trying to drastically alter its attendance policy for Walt Disney World Cast Members, and the Cast Members are anything but pleased.
We’ve met with Disney and reviewed the proposed attendance policy. While we wait for clarification to questions that were raised we wanted to provide members with the main takeaways. Understand, this is just the beginning of the conversation with Disney and we will negotiate with Disney over the impact and request changes be made. Meaning, this may not be the final policy.
-No more points system. Instead attendance infractions will be tracked as total amount of unexcused time of missed work.
Tardies tracked separately by number of occurrences
– Different amounts of unexcused time/tardies for Full Time, Casual Regular, and Casual Temporary will trigger discipline.
16 hours to trigger for FT, 12 hours for CR, 6 hours for CT
3 tardies to trigger for FT, 2 tardies for CR, 2 tardies for CT.
– Supplementing sick time to not receive an infraction will require equal amount of time be supplemented. For example a 6 hour shift requires 6 hours be supplement.
– FMLA and other applicable leave time will continue to excuse absences.
– No more continued absences only counting as one infraction.
We will post updates as they become available. Message us with any questions or call the office (714 502 0220).
In Solidarity,
Chris Duarte
Local 50 Vice President
Now, only those who work at Walt Disney World and the union are incredibly familiar with the attendance policy and how it works for the type of company Disney is. And, according to numerous Cast Members, the new proposed attendance policy is just insulting.
Twitter user Jess (@jesscantlead) said that Disney was messing up with the new attendance policy, especially because being a Cast Member is both physically and mentally exhausting.
Disney MESSED UP for thinking this is a good idea. Working in theme parks is a mentally and physically exhausting job.
Facebook user Amber T. posted that the hour-for-hour proposed system doesn’t make sense. If an employee calls out, and they were scheduled to work a double shift, that could really hurt their sick time.
So if I need to call out on a double then I’ve just used almost all of my 12 hours for the whole year…this is insane.
Caroline M. pointed out on Facebook that Disney encourages Cast Members to call out and not come into work if they are feeling sick, which is especially important during the pandemic. Every day, sick Guests visit the Parks knowing that they are sick and knowing that they could get others sick. With this new strict attendance policy, those signs may be ignored.
I hope when you guys sit down with Disney you will bring up the signs posted in all areas indicating that if we are sick we should not come to work and indicate to them that if they truly believe in this statement they need to reconsider everything they have put on the plate especially not being able to extend a call out. Disney might not believe it but we still are in the middle of a PANDEMIC with Covid cases on the rise, as I’m sure HR is currently witnessing. This is not a proper solution to the call out issue, and will only require them to hire more people when Covid once again comes around in winter because everyone will be fired. Truthfully if Disney cannot negotiate in good faith as they generally cannot do, Local 50 you should contact media. I’m sure Disney would love to have more bad publicity on their hands.
Some commented that the new attendance policy is similar to attendance policies in regular businesses. However, many people who claimed to be Cast Members said that regular attendance policies may work for “normal” jobs, but being a Cast Member is anything but a normal job. One of those people was Jess, the original poster, who pointed out that yes, the proposed attendance policy is normal, but doesn’t work for the demands of a Disney job.
but also since leaving Disney I haven’t needed to call out a bunch because I’m not worked to exhaustion, not burnt out, not getting sick from guests, I have PTO, I have 80 hours worth of PSL, I have a set schedule, time off requests are honored, etc.
At this time, the Local Union is still working with Disney to negotiate a new attendance policy. So, the current points system that Cast Members seem to really like is still in place. Hopefully, Disney and the Union are able to come to an agreement that everyone can be happy with.
This summer, Walt Disney World will debut its highly anticipated new MagicBand, called MagicBand+. These new MagicBands will be able to do things above and beyond the traditional MagicBand. Regular MagicBands — which have been at Walt Disney World for years — are able to hold Guests’ theme park tickets, Park reservations, Lightning Lane Reservations, open your hotel room door, and more. MagicBand+ will be able to do all that and more, a lot of which will be in conjunction with the 50th Anniversary.
As part of its 50th Anniversary celebration, Walt Disney World Imagineers created 50 beautiful gold statues of classic and newer Disney characters. These statues are called the Fab 50. The new MagicBand+ will be able to interact with these statues, creating a truly one-of-a-kind experience for Guests. Some Walt Disney World Resort Cast Members were given the chance to use MagicBand+ and had a great time.
We recently “banded” together with some Cast Members at Magic Kingdom for a special sneak peek of the new MagicBand+ Disney Fab 50 Quest! We had a blast bringing some of our favorite Disney characters to life and can’t wait to interact with the rest of the Disney Fab 50 Character Collection when MagicBand+ launches this summer. Which sculpt are you most excited to interact with? #DisneyCastLife #DisneyWorld50
In addition to using the MagicBand+ to interact with the Fab 50 statues, Guests will also see their Bands light up as they watch Disney Enchantment at magic Kingdom and Harmonious at EPCOT. Much like the Mickey ear hats that debuted at Disney years ago, MagicBand+ will light up in time to the music and change colors as the show progresses.
Guests who purchase MagicBand+ will also be able to become Bounty Hunters as they spend time in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The MagicBand+ will light up and vibrate as you get close to the hidden virtual bounties you are searching for. Then, in conjunction with the Play Disney Parks app, a thermal imager on your phone will reveal the hidden bounty. If Guests complete their missions, local guide masters will reward them with galactic credits.
Now, the Fab 50 statues, as well as Disney Enchantment and Harmonious, were created specifically for the Walt Disney World 50th Anniversary. The 50th is scheduled to run through March 2023, and it is unknown if the statues and shows will remain after that. Disney has not revealed what things the MagicBand+ will be able to interact with once the 50th is over.
Walt Disney World Resort has announced some special offerings just in time for summer.
As Disney Park Guests make their way to Magic Kingdom, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and EPCOT, the summer crowds will have a few extra options and new offerings as they look for food options.
At Magic Kingdom Park, Tony’s Town Square Restaurant will be serving up some new dishes for you to enjoy. Start off your bella notte with one of the new appetizers – Tony’s Garlic Bread or the Toy Box Tomato Salad. After tasting these items, there are some new entrées to try, including the Oven-roasted Shrimp Scampi, Butcher’s Steak, Orecchiette with Spicy Italian Sausage, and Penne with Chicken al Forno. And what better way to finish than with a dessert, like the new Tiramisù Cannoli, Italian Strawberry Shortcake, Tony’s Spumoni Tart, or the Mandarincello Custard – how delicious! But don’t worry, the Spaghetti and Meatballs is still there so you can have your Lady and the Tramp moment.
Sunshine Seasons at EPCOT has some new eats to try – pizza rolls! This quick-service location found in The Land now has both a Cheese Pizza Roll and Pepperoni Pizza Roll. These pizza rolls have reportedly replaced pizza at The Land.
If you’ve got a sweet tooth and want a cool treat on a warm summer day, take a trip over to Disney Springs for its newest addition – Salt & Straw! This ice cream spot has an array of unique flavors on the menu including fan favorites as well as a rotating monthly selection, so there’s always something new to try. Plus, sampling is highly encouraged.
This sweet spot isn’t the only thing new to Disney Springs. Marketplace Snacks is getting a bit of a foodie revamp with some delicious items being served. Starting today, Mickey and Friends Bubble Waffle Sundaes will be available. Choose between flavors like the Mickey Waffle Sundae featuring vanilla soft-serve, hot fudge, cookie crumbles, and white chocolate crisp pearls, the Minnie Waffle Sundae with vanilla soft-serve, strawberry topping, sliced strawberries, and white chocolate crisp pearls, or Donald’s Waffle Sundae made with vanilla soft-serve, lemon curd, and blueberries. If you want a bit of chocolate, Goofy’s Peanut Waffle Sundae has vanilla and chocolate soft-serve with hot fudge, peanuts, sliced bananas, sliced strawberries, M&M’s Minis, and a cherry on top while Pluto’s Waffle Sundae has chocolate soft-serve, chocolate-covered pretzels, peanut butter sauce, and milk chocolate crisp pearls.
Disney Resorts are also offering special dining options for Guests. Several resorts have new plant-based offerings to enjoy! Start your day off the right way with the Plant-based Mickey-shaped Frittata featuring tomato, spinach, onions, and “mozzarella” served with potatoes and mixed fruit – how adorable! The IMPOSSIBLE Burger serves up an IMPOSSIBLE patty topped with Carolina-style barbecued jackfruit, pickled slaw, and “cheddar” served with french fries.
These two items will be introduced to various menus now through June 7 at the Intermission Food Court at Disney’s All-Star Music Resort, World Premiere Food Court at Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort, End Zone Food Court at Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort, Everything POP Shopping & Dining at Disney’s Pop Century Resort, Landscape of Flavors at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, Centertown Market at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort, Riverside Mill Food Court at Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – Riverside, and Sassagoula Floatworks and Food Factory at Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – French Quarter.
