Beware the Mouse Ear Censors

Hey all,

I just got back from a weekend at Disney World, and had a fantastic time -- stayed at All Star Movies, went to Epcot and Magic Kingdom, saw the Polynesian Luau, went to Pleasure Island, and had spa treatments at the Grand Floridian, all in 48 hours!

BUT, I wanted to warn you...Disney goes to ridiculous lengths to censor the name you can get sewn on your Mickey ears. I was there with my two roommates, and we all have nicknames. They are affectionate nicknames dubbed by our friends. Mine actually came from a computer which gave me a random username for a job search service: ';Lisabun.'; The username assignment made me giggle, I told my friends about it, and it stuck. It%26#39;s not meant to be offensive, or refer to the posterior, or anything. It%26#39;s like when I call my cat ';Maggie-boo'; instead of plain old Maggie.

Disney wouldn%26#39;t put Lisabun on the hat, because ';we don%26#39;t want to offend our foreign visitors.';

That makes little sense to me...because first of all, the ';bun'; is part of the name. It%26#39;s not ';Lisa Bun'; or ';Lisa%26#39;s Buns.'; And besides, that%26#39;s not what it refers to, it%26#39;s not meant to be derogatory toward me or anyone else, and even if it were a euphemism it%26#39;s the MOST friendly euphemism we%26#39;ve got. AND, it%26#39;s also bread! Somewhere on one of their menus they *must* have buns listed. AND, isn%26#39;t it English? Why is that going to offend, specifically, ';our foreign visitors?';

Don%26#39;t even get me started on the number of names that would have to be excluded because they included within them something that might be interpreted to refer to something that someone might find offensive.

She wouldn%26#39;t even put ';Lisabu.'; She told me I had to show her a birth certificate. Who carries a birth certificate to the Magic Kingdom?

It annoyed me and I%26#39;m not letting it go. I believe I%26#39;m going to sew it on myself, in big thick capital letters. And tell everyone I know.

Otherwise, a great trip :)

Beware the Mouse Ear Censors

I have a feeling that the ';bun'; part wasn%26#39;t a problem, rather the sexual orientation it might refer to. Which is still funny because Disney hosts ';gay days'; in June.

Beware the Mouse Ear Censors

Actually, I asked what it meant that would offend foreign visitors, and she pointed to her posterior. Ludicrous.

kpcloud9

You are misinformed and need to be clear that WDW does NOT host Gay Days.

It started out unoffical, but 2 years ago Disney started having coorporate sponsors for the event. Have you not heard all the controversy surrounding a ';family'; theme park supporting Gay Days? You must be out of the loop then.

kpcloud9

You are still misinformed and I am not out of the loop - as I am a WDW CM.

joanarc4, Disney has had the policy for close to 2 decades that I can remember and probably further back then that, nothing but a proper name may be monogrammed upon the hats. Why she told you if was because of possible offense given to foreign nationals? I don%26#39;t know perhaps that is what they are now saying or perhaps the CM adlibed because you wouldn%26#39;t let it go when told that your choice of personalization was not allowed.

Saffys-Mum, I believe you that there is/was such a policy, but it isn%26#39;t adhered to.

I%26#39;m not mistaken here. We were buying three. She said, ';What goes on the hats?'; I said, ';The first on is Lisabun, L-i-s-a-b-u-n.'; She said, ';I can%26#39;t put %26#39;bun%26#39; on the hat.'; I said, ';Why not?'; She said, ';Because we don%26#39;t want to offend our foreign visitors.'; I said, ';What does %26#39;bun%26#39; mean in another language that%26#39;s offensive?'; She pointed to her posterior.

Then, she proceeded to put ';Melga'; and ';Jenyon'; (the other nicknames) on the other hats. This was not about proper names vs. nicknames.

In addition, 2 years ago my roommate got ';Melga'; on another hat.

Like I said, my trip was great, but I intend to let the powers that be in the Disneyverse (and anyone else) know what occured and how ridiculous it is. If they do have such a policy, they don%26#39;t keep to it, thus inviting issues such as this one.

Endavour seems to be correct on the Gay Day deal. From http://www.gayday.com/faq/default.asp

Does Disney sponsor Gay Day?

No. Disney is an ';innocent victim'; of circumstance. They managed to create an excellent vacation resort that appeals to almost everybody in the world, and gay and lesbian folks are no different. Because they get so much attention from all factions over Gay Day, Disney actually goes out of their way not to do things that are perceived as catering towards Gay Day. This is unlike any other time of the year when Disney will actively market towards specific, targeted groups to increase their attendance at Disney properties. If Disney really didn%26#39;t do anything different during Gay Day than they do any other time of the year, they would advertise to the Gay and Lesbian market and they would actively seek to book entertainment appealing to the gay and lesbian crowds. Gay Day is now the busiest time of year at Disney, and the highest revenue producing time of year as well for Disney%26#39;s parks and attractions...';

I mean Endeavour, sorry for the typo.

Update:

I sent an email to WDW, explaining what had happened, expressing my disappointment, and in a Jonathan Swift-esque satire pointed to all of the ';bun'; menu items in the parks, the habit of the cast members to wear their hair in ';buns'; and a sampling of common names that could be considered offensive. I also requested to see the policy involved.

I received a message today apologizing for the cast member%26#39;s error and informing me that a new set of mouse ears will be sent immediately with the name ';Lisabun'; embroidered on.

Reconfirming my devotion to Disney...