Disney Hates Santa Because They Don't Own Him
Thomas Tolbert makes his living as Santa Claus. He loves being Santa and says he never really considers himself off duty. How can you be when you have to keep the hair and beard all the time. Well, Thomas was at Disney World last week and even though he was just wearing a t-shirt with Santa Claus heads and red high top sneakers with green laces, kids flocked to him. I mean they were all over the guy and wanted photos with the person they thought was Santa on vacation. Of course Thomas took photos with them, but this made Disney ticked off. An employee told him he needed to look less Santa-ish and to change his t-shirt. Disney confirmed the events and tried to give Thomas free passes and such, but he refused. he says and I agree that Disney is just upset because they don't own Santa, the world does.
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Nice move Disney.
ReplyDeleteThey said he was causing a disturbance. They're just pissed they couldn't charge $40 for pics with him.
ReplyDeleteFucking Disney is almost as evil as Dick Cheney.
Uh, no. Disney made him stop bc he is not affiliated with them and they don't want their guests thinking he is. He was offered free passes. It's perfectly reasonable.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I just booked my Disney World Honeymoon this morning! Can't wait for November!
now that's a PR mistake
ReplyDeleteIs it me or is the world getting more snarky everyday...lol Give us some good news ENTY:-)Maybe I could start a positive celebrity gossip site.....hmmmmm
ReplyDelete@Vicki, glad you are feeling better!:)
ReplyDeleteI love him!!!! If I saw him I would ask to Hug him!!!
ReplyDeleteDisney. Sigh
@ lolaluvs2snack , not a bad idea.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Disney. He may well be a very nice man, but how do they know that? The people complaining about Disney would also probably be the first to blame and sue them if something happened with this guy.
ReplyDeleteTheir park. Their rules. They need to control what happens there. I agree with their decision.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand why they offered him free passes. If he lookslike Santa all the time how is he NOT going to attract the attention of little kids? And how can you tell a 4 year old to leave you alone, you're not who they think you are? That's downright cruel!
ReplyDeleteThis makes me want to dress up as the tooth fairy and flitter around their park.
ReplyDeleteBest be careful.
DeleteThe army of tinkerbells will take you out! :)
And why would the parents let these children run up to another tourist, regardless of who he looked like?
ReplyDeleteFuck Disney.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.anomalies-unlimited.com/Disney.html
The page is old, but the links are worth reading.
Actually, Disney doesn't allow anyone - ANYONE - to come in dressed as a costumed character. This goes for Santa, Tink, Cinderella, you name it.
ReplyDeleteI would assume it is for legal reasons - if a civilian in costume does something untoward to a child, Disney can be sued.
I mean, not all Santa's are trustworthy.
This situation happened not to long ago with a couple who dressed as tinkerbell and peter pan, Disney offered them free clothing because they didn't want children flocking to them thinking it was "their" people.
ReplyDeleteThey offered he passes for free as a sign of good faith. They do not owe him that. I agree with Disney.
We have a guy in our town that looks just like Santa Claus - he's the coolest guy ever. He wears red Adidas tracksuits, a red Kangol hat, and drives a red SUV-type thing with a 'Santa Claus's Sleigh' decal on the front windshield. His wife usually wears red, too. The coolest part is that he carries around a list with a ton of kids names in it, and he likes to show the kids who come up to him that they've been added to the 'nice' list. He's fucking awesome.
ReplyDeleteUgh, you pay enough just to get in to the parks ($500 for 2 adults and 1 child for 2 day passes)you should be able to do just about anything within reason, greedy ass Disney.
ReplyDeleteI agree with those who said it violates their "no adults in costume" policy, which I assume is in place to keep weirdos and pervs in check.
ReplyDeleteTotally OT, but can we talk about Disney Channel actresses and how they all have hair extensions? It's kinda freaking me out, as I'm sick and watching tv with the 10 year old. I mean, they must have a whole hair extension maintenance division or something! ALL the girls have super-long hair!
Also he was diddling the kids.
ReplyDeleteNo, they don't want him getting handsy with a kid. Fine by me.
ReplyDeleteSShhh. I am in SE FL and have NEVER been to Disney World in Orlando. I have gotten out of "the trip" each and every time. In fact, when people we know bring up the idea of a trip my husband asks them outright if they are aliens:)
ReplyDelete@lola - That does sounds like a good idea. I would visit. Maybe you could throw in some food porn. That would seal the deal for me. I love a good cheeseburger (in real life and in picture form).
ReplyDelete@popcorn and @lola
ReplyDeleteand space porn..those are photos worth looking at ..
Agree with Disney. If the guy was wearing a t-shirt with Santa heads, that tells me he was trying to pass himself off as Santa. Better safe than sorry. At Christmas there's a parade with Santa at Disneyland (I assume at the other parks as well), and I believe you can even have your photo taken with Santa. So it's not like they hate Santa or don't own him, they want to insure that Santa is one of their people.
ReplyDelete@Vicki: That website is pretty eye-opening. Some of the stuff I knew, some I didn't...wow.
ReplyDeleteHaha...at Agent**It and Popcorn, I was like, I didn't post any porn. Then I saw it's a different "Lola".
ReplyDeleteI have a friend who's a permanent, professional Santa and he goes to Disneyland all of the time with no problem. He often meets friends w/kids there so they can experience DL with Santa (although he is never dressed in traditional gear, instead is always dressed in casual, "Santa" clothes). Maybe because it's California they are more accepting of people who are "characters"/actors (as long as they aren't Disney characters and in full blown costume). Or maybe it's because he does several unofficial on property events (conventions and such) and they know him?
Anywho...as a general policy, I can see why they don't want unofficial characters roaming the parks. It sounds like they tried to make it up to him (which if you get free passes and such because they make you change, maybe I'll dress up next time...hmmmm).
Exactly Lola..Now everyone will try to dress up for free passes.
ReplyDelete@Vicki I think Disney's record is pretty good considering how large they are and how long they've been around. That site links mostly to old offenses and things that have been disproved. Snopes is your friend. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm not saying that Disney is all lightness and laughter, but that website is clearly promoting the right-wing idea that Disney is family-hating, gay-loving institution. (How dare they have policies promoting equal treatment of teh gays!)
ReplyDeleteEm, I love that! We know a guy that used to work in my husbands shoe store who did something similar-always wore red tee shirts, drove a red convertible, the whole nine. He told kids that recognized him thatas an elf, he loved to work with shoes in his off time. My son was convinced he knew Santa personally for a long time!
ReplyDeleteAnderson Cooper had this guy featured on the RidicuList the other day, (AC was defending his actions). The story I heard was that the man was NOT in any kind of costume & the kids were coming up to him, not the other way around. It definitely seems over the top and greedy, but at the same time I am sure they are taking precautions from possible liability, since they don't know who he is.
ReplyDeleteWhile I think Disney is pretty evil I have to agree with them here.
ReplyDeleteBesides, the best theme park in Orlando is Universal Studios "Islands of Adventure". I had a BLAST there all three times that I went.
Team Fuck Disney
ReplyDeleteHahaha Beta! Disney creeps me out too. Years ago my cousin told me she went to the hall of the Presidents (or something like that) when she was there. They were animatronic statues and people were shushed because they should "show respect" for the Presidents. Aliens, indeed. Confession: I will watch "Bambi meets Godzilla" over "Bambi" any day.
ReplyDelete@trashaddict yeah, that was a nice themed way to tell those people to pipe the eff down and not ruin the ride.
ReplyDelete