I saw the original footage several days ago, and casually asked my husband if he had seen it, no. I won’t disclose his specific career, and he is in no way associated with the Disney company, so I want to make that clear.
One thing that bothered me was how long it took for security to show up- but after viewing the video more than once, I feel like they were there way sooner than people recognized.
First- the uniformed security officers you see at bag check- they check your bags, they stop you from entering, it’s security theater, in the parks, I think they are at best crowd control in this situation =they probably did their job.
Second- undercover security- I know this is a big urban legend, and probably facing a lot of doubt now. I didn’t see it the first viewing- or second, I watched a video suggesting certain guests that got involved were possibly security... then I got my husband to watch it. *He did not want to for a couple of days- I drag him to Disney enough- why would he have to watch THIS happen there?- the point of Disney is getting away, not facing work/normal life.
So, I just showed it to him with the question, if you saw this, at what point would you take us away? Meaning me and our kids. As soon as the video started, he said “now, we’d leave, all of us. This is going to be bad.”
Granted, I realize his specific job, he usually has a warning. I knew he’d see the video and have the instant reaction that this had already evolved beyond de escalation, this is SO beyond that. So anyone suggesting that a security guard, or an ill advised park guest, should have run in by themselves to stop it, that is wrong, it’s the wrong choice, it’s the wrong tactic, I have enough training as a nurse to know that man is dangerous, and everyone just does crowd control until the PD shows up, then it’s all on them.
So I’m glad that was my husband’s response. Because on first viewing, I thought, oh gosh, he’d probably run in to help and get injured, or worse, banned from Disneyland forever.
Due to his training though, his legitimate first reaction was “we’d leave”, I suspect he would have left earlier, and we wouldn’t have witnessed much of anything. His training is more in predicting this stuff.
So- to return to #2- my husband immediately pointed out two guys that came in in T-shirt’s and shorts as being undercover security. I agreed with him, they definitely could be, but he insisted they have to be.
He’s just going off personal experience- for all he knows they are just guys like him on vacation- but he said they acted like they were working, so take that for whatever it’s worth
♀
3- are there “Disney police”? Or is it just Anaheim PD? There were obvious security in the video, what looked like EMS, someone with a badge on their belt? I can see all the official Disneyland security being very limited by states laws, etc, as far as what they can do due to training, so I’m genuinely curious now.