Disney World Tells Santa Lookalike to Hit the Road

[The Straight Story]

Disney World Tells Santa Lookalike to Hit the Road

The happiest place on Earth just said "no" to the jolliest man on Earth: Santa Claus.

Walt Disney World resort gave an ultimatum to a Santa lookalike who was visiting the park Sunday, warning him to ditch his festive gear or get out.

J.D. Worley, 60, is used to being mistaken for Santa Claus. But it had always been something that brought him joy, until a recent visit to Disney World.

....

"J.D. has been playing Santa for a long time," says his wife, Darlene. "He plays Santa and I play Mrs. Claus. We do it for charity, and we march in parades. We’ve done it for the troops in our local National Guard, and for disabled vets at the local VA hospital."

Disney, however, would prefer that the park's official Santa Claus remain the one and only.

"They told me I either needed to alter my appearance or I needed to leave the park because I was impersonating Santa Claus. They told us that Santa was considered a Disney character,' said Worley.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,236796,00.html

[chelsea0011]

1. Man, if we could just get rid of the pretender in the WH that easily.

[gollygee]

2. Since when is Santa a Disney characyter?

I guess if they nicely asked him to change his clothes so that kids didn't see two Santas running around and get confused, it would have been nice if he'd changed.

[Montauk6]

3. So when did Disney buy the rights to Santa Claus???

[babylonsister]

4. Santa's considered a Disney character? That's news to me; do ya

think Disney has an inflated opinion of itself?

[spanone]

5. Disney OWNS Santa. Bullshit. Santa was around long before Walt.

[LibDemAlways]

6. "Santa was considered a Disney character"

No he isn't. The Disney organization is just horrible. Throwing out a guy because he looks like Santa Claus...Please.

Beneath that glossy, family friendly exterior Disney is ruthless, nasty, and cold-hearted. I recently got a taste of it when I treated my daughter and a friend to a day at Disneyland (at $63.00 a pop), and got into it big time with a snotty "Cast Member" who repeatedly threatened to throw me out of the park. My crime? Sitting quietly on a bench minding my own business waiting for the fireworks to start. After being told by one employee that the bench in question was an excellent place for fireworks viewing, another decided no one could sit there. No explanation given, just "Move now or I'm personally throwing you out."


Fired off a nasty letter to no avail. They don't give a shit about their "guests." Once they've got your money, it's all about power and control - theirs. Unless it's written somewhere that a "guest" may not look like Santa Claus, Mr. Worley, as a paying cutomer, should have been left the hell alone. Of course, that's not the Disney way. Harrassment and threats is more typical, and Disney obviously didn't disappoint.

[SemperEadem]

8. and they care even less about their employees

Disney expects for you to give up your life to make their company the center of your universe. I never bought into Disney; I don't own anything by Disney and I never bought my child anything of Disney's. Disneyland sucks; Disneyword and that new theme park in Orange County is over priced and over-stupid.

[LibDemAlways]

10. Years ago Disneyland was actually not bad.

They had trams that took you from near your car to the front gate and returned you to the same spot at the end of the day. Admission was reasonable and prices inside the park palatable. On summer evenings they had big band concerts, and they frequently closed early for special nights in which local employers and their families could enjoy the park without huge crowds.

Now, forget it. If you park in the big multi-story structure, you have to walk the length of a football field or more to get to the tram pick up zone. At the end of the day when your feet are killing you, you may find yourself walking up a three-story non-operational escalator before proceeding on the hike to your vehicle. If you have the misfortune of finding yourself in one of the remote lots behind Harbor Blvd., there is no tram at all and the hike back to the car is at least a half mile. No one tells you this upon entering of course.

Admission is now outrageous. A child is only a child up through age 9. After that, it's full fare adult. The food sucks and there are only two places that are not cafeterias. One is the Blue Bayou near Pirates of the Caribbean which used to be a pleasant experience until they took most of the seats out of the waiting room.

I haven't heard about any decent summer evening entertainment recently, and they've completely abandoned those special company nights. Now it's all crowds all the time.

Disneyland no doubt has many personable employees who do their best under difficult circumstances, but the rotten corrupt management, which only cares about the bottom line and has completely lost sight of making the experience a pleasant one, has completely destroyed the place. As for the other park, it's crap, and no one goes so they've made it part of a "package deal" with Disneyland - hoping for some overflow when the Disneyland sardine can reaches the bursting point.

[Not Me]

9. The news here (in Orlando) reported that he was pretty much

dressed in a Santa outfit. All red, with a red stocking cap, etc. He was playing the part.
Rather than confuse customers, they asked him to change his clothing or leave.

I am with the park on this one.

[LibDemAlways]

11. In Southern California at Disneyland Santa actually

only appears in a sleigh in the twice daily Christmas parade. He doesn't mingle with park goers. I can see the Disney World point of view only if their Santa was out and about greeting "guests" and so was Mr. Worley. Then it might be confusing for little kids. However, the argument that Santa is a Disney character is still laughable.

[woodsprite]

12. That's what I thought. And I don't blame Disney for that.

Essentially, he was dressed in a costume. It would be like going to Walt Disney World dressed up as Mickey Mouse. I can see why it didn't fly and I knew there had to be more to the story. I've never been to Disneyland, but I can say that I've never been poorly treated by a Disney World employee or cast member as many times as I've gone down there. Now, poor treatment by rude guests --- well, that would be a totally different story.

[SemperEadem]

7. Is there a rule at the park that says

Older, portly men with white hair, beards and mustaches must alter their appearance just because Disney employs someone who puts on one of their costumes and parades around the park in a wig, fake beard and mustache?

Disney is the most rapacious corporation.