News Brief: Disneyland Shuts Down Author's Tour
Published March 21, 2005
By obe-mediaone.com staff
Sunday, Disneyland security personnel interrupted and
closed down a tour of the Anaheim Magic Kingdom being given by author
and webmaster Jim Hill. Following a brief conversation that involved Disneyland
security and at least one Anaheim police officer, Hill agreed to leave
the Happiest Place on Earth.
ANAHEIM, Ca.—Approximately twenty minutes into a specialized
walking tour of the Disneyland park, tour guide and author Jim Hill was
stopped by park security personnel and questioned about the content and
nature of his tours. The security officers stopped Hill to question him
about his tours after three park guests who had taken one of his Saturday
tours complained to Disneyland management that Hill's tour was "negative,"
somehow disrespectful of Disneyland, and that it was undercutting the
value of Disneyland's official tours.
Hill, who offers his tours on his own JimHillMedia.com website, is not
a Disneyland employee (or Cast Member as Disneyland Resort workers are
known). Hill's tours of the Disneyland Resort's two theme parks are unofficial
events not sponsored by or affiliated with the resort or the Walt Disney
Company.
[Read Jim Hill's own account of the event by clicking here.]
 Not
That Unusual
"I was shocked when I first heard about it," said o-meon.com
editor C. W. Oberleitner. "Jim's been giving these Disneyland tours
for two years. I was working for him when he conducted his first tour
in March of 2003. These things just aren't that big a deal."
Oberleitner went on to say that Hill's twice a year walking tours of
Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure are just one example of "dozens
of unofficial third-party events" that take place within the boundaries
of the Disneyland Resort each year.
"There are all kinds of independent tour groups that are taken through
the parks that have nothing at all to do with Disneyland," he said.
"The most common groups are overseas travelers and school and church
groups. Most people tend to think of these as just big groups of people
visiting Disneyland on the same day, but many of them are quite organized,
have preplanned itineraries, and provide very knowledgeable guides of
their own."
According to Oberleitner, Disneyland does not, as a general rule, do
anything to discourage private businesses or other organizations from
charging or collecting fees for bringing groups of guests to the parks.
Participants must still purchase valid admission to the parks either at
the gate or through group sales.
"When Jim first set up his tours," Oberleitner continued, "he
was told that the rule of thumb was that you could bring whomever you
wanted to Disneyland as part of your group. You just couldn't collect
money from people or sell them anything on the property, and if you weren't
an authorized (ticket) agent you couldn't sell them passports into the
parks either."
Hill does charge for his tours, however, and on his website people wishing
to take one of his tours are referred to a travel agent who collects the
fee for the tours prior to arrival at Disneyland. Potential tour participants
are also told that the cost of the tour does not include admission to
the park(s) or the cost of meals or refreshments.
Overlapping Tours
Disneyland offers several of its own official tours of the Magic Kingdom,
the most popular being the A
Walk In Walt's Footsteps tour. During the $49, three and a half-hour
tour, Disneyland guests are guided throughout the Magic Kingdom by a smartly
dressed Disneyland tour guide who fills them in on park "fun facts
and trivia."
The Disney tour includes a trip on the Disneyland Railroad, a "unique"
look at Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room, a peek in the lobby of Disneyland's
exclusive Club 33, and a private lunch on the patio of the Disney Gallery
above the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.
According to people who have been on both the official Disneyland tour
and a Jim Hill Media tour, the two have little to nothing in common.
"First off," said one tour guest who asked not to be named,
"Jim doesn't dress a thing like a Disneyland CM (cast member). He
dresses casual, like everybody else going to the park that day."
"The official Disneyland tours are wonderful," said C. W. Oberleitner.
"They're pure Disney and pure Disney Magic. Which is both what's
best about them and what could be considered by some as a problem as well."
Oberleitner went on to say that the Disneyland tours, "while truly
fun and informative," are still part of a much larger corporate media
message that tends to shy away from "what I like to call the all
too human moments in Disney history."
When told that Disneyland guests had complained that Hill's tours were
"negative," Oberleitner said, "Jim does a great job of
telling the warts-and-all version of Disneyland's history. I used
to call it The E! True Hollywood Story of Disneyland."
Oberleitner went on to say:
For all its magic and joy, Disneyland is still
a real place built in record time by real people with real day-to-day
issues, just like you and me. Some of the stories about what went on behind
the scenes during the building of the park are every bit as entertaining
as the stories the Disney Company likes to tell.
Some folks love the Disneyland TV show version
of events and others enjoy the behind the scenes story.
Based on what I've been told and read, it appears
that three people who had paid for an official Disneyland tour somehow
got mixed in with Jim's group. If that's true, I can understand how his
tour might have come as something of a surprise to them, especially since
Jim doesn't serve lunch on his tour.
A quick check of the Internet and a Disneyland park map shows how it
might be possible for park guests to confuse the two tours. Disneyland
tours begin at a decorative street cart located just outside Disneyland's
City Hall building, a few feet to the North of a patio seating area that
what was once known as "The Tour Garden." This area now houses
the AAA Travel information booth.
Participants in Jim Hill Media tours are instructed to gather and wait
for Hill in the old Tour Garden.
Many Disneyland tour guests purchase their tours well in advance of their
visit and often arrive at the park completely unaware of the location
of the Disneyland Tours cart. These guests often enter the park and are
inadvertently directed to the old Tour Garden to await the start of their
Footsteps tour.
This appears to be what happened to Hill during the second of his two
Saturday tours. Hill arrived at the old Tour Garden patio just before
2:00 p.m. to begin his second tour. By 2:15, his tour group was still
three guests short.
"Foot traffic at the main gates (to enter Disneyland) was very heavy
that day," Hill said. "I was waiting for three people and in
the meantime was just vamping like crazy telling stories to the people
who were already there when these three women show up and ask, 'Are you
the tour?'"
Eager to get his now delayed tour underway and completed in time to make
an early evening dinner engagement, the affable Hill said yes and welcomed
the three women into his group without checking their names against his
list of registered guests.
"I suppose this was my fault," Hill said. "If I'd just
checked them off my list, I would have seen they weren't there for my
tour. But I was waiting on three people and these three people asked if
we were the tour. It just seemed to fit."
The three women apparently found his colorful tales of some of Disneyland's
trials and tribulations less than entertaining, and at least one of them
had questioned Hill during the tour as to the time a place they were going
to have lunch.
"That should have been my first clue," Hill said. "We
don't include meals with our tours. We can't, Disneyland doesn't allow
it. I just thought she was confused and said if folks were hungry at the
end of the tour, we could stop someplace and they could get a bite to
eat."
Even so, it wasn't until the following day that Hill was made aware that
there had been a problem during one of his previous tours. Unknown to
Hill, the women had expressed to Disneyland's management their deep dissatisfaction
with the quality of what they still perceived to be an official Disneyland
tour of the park.
Changing Times
It has been two years since Jim Hill Media researched guidelines for
conducting tours at Disneyland. In that time, the Disneyland Resort has
virtually replaced its entire Team Disney Anaheim (TDA) management group.
It is possible that policies have changed. This may be especially true
as TDA prepares for the launch of the 18th month-long Happiest
Homecoming on Earth celebration of Disneyland's 50th Anniversary.
[At press time, calls to the Disneyland Resorts public relations department
had not been returned. If and when we learn more about any possible change
in resort policy, we will update this story.—Editor]
"If it had just been a complaint about a mix up with three confused
park guests, that would have been one thing," said Jim Hill. "What
caught me completely off guard was what the more senior of the two Disney
security people said to me, 'We have concerns that you're telling unflattering
stories about the park.'"
"That sort of statement would concern me too," said o-meon.com
editor C. W. Oberleitner. "I've never known Disney to do anything
like this before. It could have far reaching effects for a whole lot of
people."
David Koenig, author of the popular series of Mouse Tales books
and featured columnist at MousePlanet.com,
will be conducting a tour of Disneyland in conjunction with the release
of his latest book Mouse Tales: Golden Anniversary Special Edition.
When asked if he thought the events surrounding the suspension of Jim
Hill's tours by Disneyland management would affect his plans, Koenig had
this to say,
I certainly hope not, but Disneyland is Disney's
property and they make the rules. My hope is that Disney will welcome
us with open arms.
First, the content (of his tour) is entirely positive.
Second, I'm not charging for my tour (it's free…
I'm limiting it to anyone who's bought a copy of my new book, Mouse Tales:
Golden Anniversary Special Edition).
Third, it's not a recurring event (I'm just doing
it the one day, April 17 at 1:00 and again at 2:30), and loosely organized
at that.
When asked if he believed the action taken against Jim Hill Media tours
by Disney might signal an era of closer scrutiny by the company on third-party
events, Koenig said,
Well, here's the better question: what was Disney's
real motivation in shutting Jim down? Competition with its own tours?
Desire to silence salacious stories being told within its own gates? Bullying?
Spite? Answer this question and you should know if Jim's was an isolated
incident or just the beginning.
In addition to Koenig's April 17 tour, other upcoming unofficial third-party
events at Disneyland include the annual National Fantasy Fan Club (NFFC)
convention that takes place outside the Disneyland Resort and brings hundreds
of avid Disney memorabilia collectors to the parks, and GayDays2, The
Unofficial Gay Days at Disneyland. The NFFC convention takes place
between July 9 and 13. There will be a Mini Gay Day at Disneyland
on April 2, and the main Gay Days at Disneyland September 30 thru October 2.
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