Disney’s best-selling Cars toys are being made in a factory in China that uses child labour and forces staff to do three times the amount of overtime allowed by law, according to an investigation.

One worker reportedly killed herself after being repeatedly shouted at by bosses. Others cited worries over poisonous chemicals. Disney has now launched its own investigation.

It is claimed some of the 6,000 employees have to work an extra 120 hours every month to meet demand from western shops for the latest toys.

The factory, called Sturdy Products, makes toys for the giant Mattel company, which last month announced quarterly profits of £48m on the back of strong sales of Barbie dolls and Cars 2 toys. Sturdy Products, in the city of Shenzhen, also makes toys for US superstore chain Walmart. Among the brands produced are the Thomas the Tank Engine range, Matchbox cars, Cars, Toy Story, Barbie and Fisher Price products, Scrabble and the Hot Wheels sets.

The undercover investigation was carried out with the help of human rights group Sacom (Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour), which helped to expose abuses in Apple’s Foxconn plant in China this year.

Workers were interviewed away from the factory, and an investigator then spent a month working inside it to gather more information. He found evidence of the use of child labour and illegal working hours, along with concerns over the use of poisonous chemicals.

Read the Full Article here

http://www.theguardian.com/law/2011/aug/27/disney-factory-sweatshop-suicide-claims

It is billed as the ‘happiest place on Earth’ where workers are known as cast members rather than employees.

But life in Disney’s Magical Kingdom is not so magical, according to a survey of the best U.S. companies to work for.

Disney ranked 41st in the list, dozens of places below the army, where soldiers on deployment to Afghan istan face the daily threat of death from roadside bombs and extremists.

All four branches of the military ranked higher than Disney, which employs more than 100,000 worldwide in theme parks including those in Florida, California and Paris.

Disgruntled Disney workers have dubbed the parks ‘Mousewitz’ because they were so unhappy with working conditions.

And ‘cast members’ at Disneyland Paris earlier this year started referring to it as the ‘unhappiest place on Earth’ following the suicide of three workers.

Union leader Guy-Bruno Mboe called work conditions ‘brutal’ and complained: ‘It’s all about profit, profit, profit.’

The Florida theme parks have been accused of paying minimum wages and firing workers for minor transgressions.

Read more at ONTD: http://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/52567069.html#ixzz3eUuyweXv

Walt Disney World is banning selfie-sticks from its theme parks, citing safety concerns, a company spokeswoman said Friday morning.

Under a new policy, which takes effect Tuesday, the poles won’t make it past the bag check at any Disney World theme park. The sticks also won’t be allowed in Disney World water parks or DisneyQuest, a gaming attraction at Downtown Disney.

Magic Kingdom: Cinderella Castle
A Brazilian couple get the angle just right to take their picture with Cinderella Castle at Magic Kingdom. Selfie sticks have become popular at Central Florida theme parks. (Dewayne Bevil, Orlando Sentinel)
“We strive to provide a great experience for the entire family, and unfortunately selfie-sticks have become a growing safety concern for both our guests and cast,” Disney World spokeswoman Kim Prunty said.

Selfie-sticks will also become forbidden at Disneyland Resort in California on June 30. The prohibition kicks in at Disney’s parks in Paris and Hong Kong on July 1.
Guests will be checked for the equipment during the routine bag check that happens near the parks’ entrances. They will have an option of turning in their selfie-sticks for pick-up later or to go back to their cars or hotel rooms to stow them.
Visitors will be told of the policy in locations such as the parking lots and at the resort’s hotels. The prohibition will be added to the park rules post on Disney World’s website.

The issue has been building at Disney. Previously, the sticks were prohibited from its rides, and “no selfie-sticks” signs were at select rides, such as Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Magic Kingdom. Cast members have given verbal warnings to rule breakers.
Several incidents preceded the change, but officials have been discussing the rules for some time, Disney said. This week at Disney California Adventure park, a roller coaster was halted after a passenger pulled out a selfie-stick. The ride was closed for an hour.

Selfie-stick users put smartphones and cameras on the ends of poles to extend their reach, frequently capturing theme-park moments through self-portraits. The tools have been banned in public places – including some museums and stadiums – worldwide for obstructing views or causing safety issues.

Disney World already prohibits items such as skateboards, inline skates, wagon, folding chairs and glass containers, according to its official website, which also lists “other items that we determine may be harmful or disruptive.”
Universal Orlando has prohibited banned selfie-sticks and other loose items from certain thrill rides at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure theme parks, but it has not instituted parkwide bans. SeaWorld Orlando also does not keep the sticks from entering the parks.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/travel/attractions/theme-park-rangers-blog/os-disney-world-ban-selfie-sticks-from-parks-2015-post.html

Found this Article. Very good read.

How theme parks like Disney World left the middle class behind

When Walt Disney World opened in an Orlando swamp in 1971, with its penny arcade and marching-band parade down Main Street U.S.A., admission for an adult cost $3.50, about as much then as three gallons of milk.

Disney has raised the gate price for the Magic Kingdom 41 times since, nearly doubling it over the past decade. This year, a ticket inside the “most magical place on Earth” rocketed past $100 for the first time in history.

Ballooning costs have not slowed the mouse-eared masses flooding into the world’s busiest theme park. Disney’s main attraction hosted a record 19 million visitors last year, a number nearly as large as the population of New York state.

But rising prices have changed the character of Big Mouse’s family-friendly empire in unavoidably glitzy ways. A visitor to Disney’s central Florida fantasy-land can now dine on a $115 steak, enjoy a $53-per-plate dessert party and sleep in a bungalow overlooking the Seven Seas Lagoon starting at $2,100 a night.

For America’s middle-income vacationers, the Mickey Mouse club, long promoted as “made for you and me,” seems increasingly made for someone else. But far from easing back, the theme-park giant’s prices are expected to climb even more through a surge-pricing system that could value a summer’s day of rides and lines at $125.

“If Walt [Disney] were alive today, he would probably be uncomfortable with the prices they’re charging right now,” said Scott Smith, an assistant professor of hospitality at the University of South Carolina whose first job was as a cast member in Disney’s Haunted Mansion. “They’ve priced middle-class families out.”

Read the rest @
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2015/06/12/how-theme-parks-like-disney-world-left-the-middle-class-behind/

I came across this very cool website that show what is the best days/time to visit the parks.

https://www.undercovertourist.com/orlando/crowd-calendar/?AID=11556282&PID=7802846

Just days after getting arrested in a child sex sting, Robert Kingsolver is a long way from his beloved job at Walt Disney World.

Inside his rented house in a suburban Orlando neighborhood filled with children, he sits in a folding chair in a nearly empty room, wires dangling in the corner where his computer used to be connected.

Now, he can’t be online or near children.

“My life is ruined,” he told CNN in an interview at his home. “My family’s life is ruined. My kids’ life is ruined. I’ve devastated my parents because of bad judgment.”

Kingsolver, 49, is one of at least 35 Disney employees arrested since 2006 and accused of sex crimes involving children, trying to meet a minor for sex, or for possession of child pornography, according to a six-month CNN investigation that examined police and court records, and interviewed law enforcement officials and some of the men who have been arrested.

ive Universal Studios employees and two employees from SeaWorld have also been arrested.

So far, a total of 32 have been convicted, with the remaining cases pending.

Two cases, which were for possession of child pornography, occurred on Disney property, according to police reports.

None of the cases involved children or teenagers visiting the parks.

Read More: http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/14/us/theme-park-employees-child-sex-stings/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

Dad Robs Bank To Pay For Disney Cruise

Satellite Beach, FL. (CNN) – A North Carolina man is jailed in Florida on bank robbery charges.

He’s accused of robbing a credit union.

Reporter Melonie Holt explains the amazing excuse the accused thief gave police when he was caught.

“My God, we’re so upset about what happened.”

Navy Federal Credit Union members could barely believe this satellite beach branch was targeted by a bank robber.

But the bank robbery suspect is even more unbelievable.

Police have identified this man as 37-year-old Cedrick Swinson.

He’s a tourist from North Carolina and he was traveling with his girlfriend and her two young children.

Commander Brad Hodge, Satellite Beach Police Dept.: “They were actually in Brevard County to get on a Disney Cruise and this man indicated as he talked with investigators that he couldn’t get his money out of the bank account that he was trying to access.”

Investigators tell me when Swinson realized he didn’t have access to his own funds, he decided to steal the money to get his girlfriend’s children on this Disney cruise.

So he made a split second decision to walk in the bank and hand the teller a note demanding money to pay for that Disney cruise for the family.

But police had a description of the suspect and his vehicle.

Within five to six minutes of the robbery police pulled over this SUV on the Pineda causeway where they arrested Swinson and recovered the credit union’s cash.

Police say the suspect left his girlfriend and their two children in the car during the robbery.

http://fox2now.com/2013/05/03/dad-robs-bank-to-pay-for-disney-cruise/

Last week WikiLeaks published internal emails from the U.S. private security firm Stratfor that describe a widespread surveillance network called TrapWire that was created and is run by former members of the CIA.

RT first broke the story about the system’s staggering reach into the privacy of passersby and informative stories followed.

Then several news outlets claimed that the growing dismay was misguided, specifically the claim that cameras linked to TrapWire utilizes facial recognition software.

Ryan Gallagher of Slate said the reports are “rooted in hyperbole and misinformation” and Scott Shane of the New York Times called them “wildly exaggerated.”

But one thing – besides the fact that the founder of TrapWire’s parent company said the software “can collect information about people and vehicles that is more accurate than facial recognition” – proves to us that the reporting on TrapWire is rooted in reality: Mickey Mouse does it.

A Naomi Wolf article in the Guardian about the rise of security cameras at Occupy hangouts and the multi-billion dollar biometric technologies industry includes this story:

A software engineer … visited Disneyland, and … the theme park offered him the photo of himself and his girlfriend to buy – with his credit card information already linked to it. He noted that he had never entered his name or information into anything at the theme park, or indicated that he wanted a photo, or alerted the humans at the ride to who he and his girlfriend were – so, he said, based on his professional experience, the system had to be using facial recognition technology. He had never signed an agreement allowing them to do so, and he declared that this use was illegal. He also claimed that Disney had recently shared data from facial-recognition technology with the United States military.

It turns out that Disney applies biometrics – that is, the statistical analysis of biological data – in the form of scanning visitor fingerprint information and identifying people with facial recognition software.

In fact, “Walt Disney World is responsible for the nation’s largest single commercial application of biometrics” and after 9/11 the government sought “Disney’s advice in intelligence, security and biometrics,” as reported in 2006 by Karen Hamel of News 21.

Hamel listed several former Disneyland employees that have gone on to fill “some of the most sensitive positions in the U.S. intelligence and security communities,” including:

• Disney executive Gordon Levin, who was part of a group convened by the Federal Aviation Administration and other federal agencies to help develop a plan for “Passenger Protection and Identity Verification” at airports by using biometrics.

• Eric Haseltine, who left his post as executive vice president of research and development at Walt Disney Imagineering in 2002 to become associate director for research at the NSA and then became National Intelligence Director John Negroponte’s assistant director for science and technology.

• Bran Ferren, who served on advisory boards for the Senate Intelligence Committee and offered his technological expertise to the NSA and the DHS.

So if Mickey does it at “the most wonderful place on Earth” – and willingly shares his biometrics secrets with the government – then it’s no stretch that TrapWire actively spies on people all over the world.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/this-is-how-we-know-that-the-shocking-revelations-about-trapwire-spying-are-true-2012-8#ixzz3e7V3jH00

• 100 – Delayed opening
• 101 – Attraction is Down – Routine
• 101G – Attraction is Down due to Guest Activities
• 102 – Attraction is up – Routine
• 103 –
• 104 – Attraction is operating at reduced capacity (running fewer units, trains, cars etc.)
• 105 – Attraction is operating at full capacity
• 514 – ‘Look out for’ or ‘Check it out’
• 902 – Traffic Accident
• 904 Fire
• 90 – Temperature has reached 90°, loosen clothing
• PXXXXX – VIP importance where P stands for Priority… and the x’s indicate importance.
• “V” is called when a certain ride does not agree with one’s stomach.
• “P” is called when….well, use your noodle on that one.
• “U” is an alternate for “P”
• Code “H” means one of the Main Street horses left some recycled hay on the street.

Thanks to hiddenmickeys.org
http://www.hiddenmickeys.org/wdw/wdw_freqs.html

Thousands of people visit Disneyland/World, the happiest place on earth every day. They come to shop, ride, eat, and enjoy that special magic that only Disney seems to bring. However, as each person steps their way into the park, many of them are unaware of the ways that Disneyland is using psychology to control them. Here are the top 5 sneaky Disney Mind Control facts revealed

Read more at Disneydose.com,
http://disneydose.com/disneyland-psychology/#ixzz3dFautvsc