Wow, that is HORRIFIC. I am so sorry that all of that happened to you. Thank you for dredging that incident up, I'm sure it's very hard to think about and share :(
Interestingly, I was working there in 2011. It is possible that like sparkythegeek says, things have gotten better. I'd like to hope so. But if "Report it after the fact" is still the go-to, instead of prevention and security, it ain't better.
That said, let's be more fair. Security isn't psychic; they couldn't necessarily have prevented what happened to you I think. Someone can grab you like that at the airport too, and look how much security is THERE. But the difference is that there WILL be consequences for that person at the airport. At BGW your odds of getting away with stupid, violent, or molesty crap are a lot higher...so more people will try it. If there were REAL consequences, other than "IF you get caught you MIGHT get banned," fewer people might be attacking each other and such.
And of course all of this same stuff DOES happen at Disney. But the differences are
A) Disney has stricter limitations on alcohol, and therefore there are generally fewer inebriated adults PSF in the park at any given time, which I would imagine equates to SLIGHTLY less dangerous behavior.
B) Your odds of having real consequences if you fafo at Disney, from my personal experience, are much higher than at Universal or BGW. And I'm saying that having worked a full year at BGW and only a few months at the other two.
The way Disney seems to accomplish this is A) having a higher security presence in the actual park, B) enabling castmembers no matter what department they work in to take action to PREVENT an incident, and C) the possible use of biometrics to ensure consequences even if someone gets away with something in the moment.
That last one I have no proof is actually happening, but I have heard so many Disney castmembers making reference to it that I can't discount it. The rumor is that a few years ago Disney tested facial recognition tech to use for park entry (which is true), but that they also use that tech in security cameras throughout the park. I'm not sure how realistic it is, but I wouldn't put it past Disney to have spent the coin on something like this. And when I worked retail at Disney Springs we were always told that if someone shoplifted, Disney Security was highly likely to catch the person so not to worry. I don't know how that could be true without some sort of serious security infrastructure, and my boss was always incredibly confident that the merch would be returned, which made me think it usually WAS returned. You know?
Anyway, at both Universal and Disney I play the trombone directly on the street among the crowds. At both parks people do attempt to approach, at unpredictable times, while we are performing. Nobody expects security to prevent ALL incidents. But when a guest has suddenly entered my space without warning, at Disney a handler, security, or another castmember ALWAYS steps forward to help me. ALWAYS. Never once have I felt like I was dealing with an unexpected situation ALONE. There has ALWAYS been someone else actively involved, and that makes me feel WAY more safe.
Meanwhile at Universal (and previously at BGW), I was VERY much on my own if anything began to happen. At BGW, VERY alone to the point where people could essentially touch me however they liked, and I could only take action after they'd done it. As you can imagine lots of haunted house workers get punched or hit; some people naturally react to scares that way. And there was NOTHING to protect us from that. Every year someone got a black eye or broken nose. And I reported the person who outright molested me, but to my knowledge nothing was ever done and I was never invited to fill out a report or investigation.
Or like your experience at the tram. NO ONE moved to help you. Did anyone even help you up? Did security file an incident report? I'm guessing not.
It's unfair of me to judge Epic just yet, they're training hundreds of new employees, and I also haven't seen how their TRUE incidents and incident reporting is handled. From my limited experience, though, it is NOT very safe to be a street performer there yet if big drunk men can come yelling into my face, mid-performance, while my handler cowers and security is nowhere to be seen.
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Date: 2025-05-06 11:55 am (UTC)Interestingly, I was working there in 2011. It is possible that like sparkythegeek says, things have gotten better. I'd like to hope so. But if "Report it after the fact" is still the go-to, instead of prevention and security, it ain't better.
That said, let's be more fair. Security isn't psychic; they couldn't necessarily have prevented what happened to you I think. Someone can grab you like that at the airport too, and look how much security is THERE. But the difference is that there WILL be consequences for that person at the airport. At BGW your odds of getting away with stupid, violent, or molesty crap are a lot higher...so more people will try it. If there were REAL consequences, other than "IF you get caught you MIGHT get banned," fewer people might be attacking each other and such.
And of course all of this same stuff DOES happen at Disney. But the differences are
A) Disney has stricter limitations on alcohol, and therefore there are generally fewer inebriated adults PSF in the park at any given time, which I would imagine equates to SLIGHTLY less dangerous behavior.
B) Your odds of having real consequences if you fafo at Disney, from my personal experience, are much higher than at Universal or BGW. And I'm saying that having worked a full year at BGW and only a few months at the other two.
The way Disney seems to accomplish this is A) having a higher security presence in the actual park, B) enabling castmembers no matter what department they work in to take action to PREVENT an incident, and C) the possible use of biometrics to ensure consequences even if someone gets away with something in the moment.
That last one I have no proof is actually happening, but I have heard so many Disney castmembers making reference to it that I can't discount it. The rumor is that a few years ago Disney tested facial recognition tech to use for park entry (which is true), but that they also use that tech in security cameras throughout the park. I'm not sure how realistic it is, but I wouldn't put it past Disney to have spent the coin on something like this. And when I worked retail at Disney Springs we were always told that if someone shoplifted, Disney Security was highly likely to catch the person so not to worry. I don't know how that could be true without some sort of serious security infrastructure, and my boss was always incredibly confident that the merch would be returned, which made me think it usually WAS returned. You know?
Anyway, at both Universal and Disney I play the trombone directly on the street among the crowds. At both parks people do attempt to approach, at unpredictable times, while we are performing. Nobody expects security to prevent ALL incidents. But when a guest has suddenly entered my space without warning, at Disney a handler, security, or another castmember ALWAYS steps forward to help me. ALWAYS. Never once have I felt like I was dealing with an unexpected situation ALONE. There has ALWAYS been someone else actively involved, and that makes me feel WAY more safe.
Meanwhile at Universal (and previously at BGW), I was VERY much on my own if anything began to happen. At BGW, VERY alone to the point where people could essentially touch me however they liked, and I could only take action after they'd done it. As you can imagine lots of haunted house workers get punched or hit; some people naturally react to scares that way. And there was NOTHING to protect us from that. Every year someone got a black eye or broken nose. And I reported the person who outright molested me, but to my knowledge nothing was ever done and I was never invited to fill out a report or investigation.
Or like your experience at the tram. NO ONE moved to help you. Did anyone even help you up? Did security file an incident report? I'm guessing not.
It's unfair of me to judge Epic just yet, they're training hundreds of new employees, and I also haven't seen how their TRUE incidents and incident reporting is handled. From my limited experience, though, it is NOT very safe to be a street performer there yet if big drunk men can come yelling into my face, mid-performance, while my handler cowers and security is nowhere to be seen.