Disappointed

[Pyotr]

I believe the comments from Sean were more about how ridiculously demanding his boss made the job and how controlling he was (unless I missed something). It was Dustin who recently started commenting came out about the allegations of SA.

So did they know their boss was controlling? Yes. I think many of us assumed that was the case anyways. It's the claims of SA they are more than likely what is new to them (even Dustin said they did not know). Add in top of that the law suit and it is messy.

It’s a bit more complex than that.

 

[VandVsmama]

I've been a Disboards user for many years now. Have loved listening to/watching the weekly Tuesday podcast that entire time. It's been a really fun way for me for a very long time to keep the Disney fun/magic alive in between trips to Disneyland or WDW. I loved the Disneyland show. Loved the WDW show. REALLY love the Connecting With Walt show.

Back a couple of months ago (was it April?) when there was that totally off the rails mega-political Disunplugged podcast episode, though, that's when I thought, "Huh, something's off." An entire hour of people complaining about how much WDW sucks, how much Florida sucks, how much they all hate living in FL. Didn't understand why a travel agency that specializes in selling Disney travel packages would be bashing their market so much. Also didn't understand why they'd be doing so much political bashing of people who don't agree with them.

It was bad enough that I considered for awhile to switch to a totally different travel agency for whenever our next WDW trip is.

Around that same time, Pete was in rehab, I think? Or had just gotten back from rehab? I don't remember the timeline. Everybody on the show seemed mad, grumpy, not happy. The vibe was pretty much one of "I hate being here right now."

I have a dear friend who died from alcoholism. It was horrible. Addiction is a very real and serious disease and it can sometimes make you do some really insane stuff. Sometimes, addicts also will switch from 1 addiction to another, thus sort of perpetuating the problem, but it manifests itself in a different way. The end result is a long trail of pain, hurt, and heartache for both the friends, family, loved ones, coworkers of the addict, AND the addict him/herself. I'm not excusing any of the behavior and wrongs that Pete is alleged to have done against his former employees. If the allegations are true, it is gut wrenching and horrible. The victims need counseling, if they haven't gotten any yet. The alleged aggressor also needs treatment and therapy in order to deal with his issues, heal whatever is going on in side, prevent this from happening again to others, etc.

I don't think that we should automatically assume that all employees knew what was going on. We are all looking at this from our own individual points of view and making assumptions.

I am certain that some or all of what I'm saying will be perceived by some as defending the aggressor. That is not my intent.

I have been in work situations in the past which would be considered a hostile work environment...in which my boss kind of had it out for me and would change his mind on a whim multiple times a day...being praised one minute, and then horribly scolded in front of everyone an hour later. I really needed that job at the time, WAS looking for other employment, but sometimes it takes awhile to find a different job. AND I had to pay my bills, had kids to feed, etc., so I had to suck it up and do my best with a lousy situation.

Before anyone passes judgement on the DIS employees, consider maybe that some of them might have been in a similar situation.

It's easy to be an armchair quarterback from your living room, behind your computer screen. But if you've got rent to pay, then sometimes you don't really have a choice but to keep on going until you can figure out another employment solution.

I ALSO know that when I've worked with a hostile boss, the vibe in our entire team was "off," but many people couldn't really put their finger on it as to why. We were all afraid of saying ANYTHING to each other out of fear of retribution from the boss. But when the boss left the company, people started comparing notes and the facts started coming out. Maybe that's what's in the process of happening here, maybe not.

Like it or not, in the US courts' system, one is innocent until proven guilty. Pete & Dreams Unlimited Travel will need to defend themselves in the court system in the lawsuit against them by American Express. I will say that holy mother of God, $860,000 is a LOT of money to plow through.

I'm looking forward to seeing what the new Disunplugged studio looks like. I'll start watching the show again to try it out. I hope that they can try to return back to some of the fun & useful information that the show/podcast has been so great about all of these years.

IF the allegations against Pete by the former employees are all true, then it's a truly horrible abuse of power. And in some cases, it's criminal activity. Some of the worst examples of workplace sexual harassment I've heard about in a long time.

That's why you shouldn't poop where you eat. Don't date people at work. Don't date people who report to you.

I truly hope that all of the employees...both current and former...are able to heal from all of this.

 

[ainswokp]

Yeah….he also referred to Ryno as something else that I don’t even want to put out here. It made Ryno incredibly uncomfortable and I honestly wish I had commented something back then. And these are only the things we saw on camera

If you had commented you would have been banned.

 

[take36]

I just can't fathom why folks aren't talking about $866k charges in one month that have gone unpaid lol. ... on a card apparently opened on Dream's credit line not reported to the rest of the C suite.
And here we were all lectured about how when you work hard you get to flaunt nice things.

There has to be more to the story. Did Pete really think he could rack up a million in charges and the rest of his partners won't know about it? Did Pete run into money problems or had a breakdown that caused him to act irrationally? Or is his spending/stipend on the company dime (which could be explain his cruises, dining, etc being a business expense given his profession) too much even for his other partners? Pete always said John kept it all together and ran the finances so did Pete go behind John's back (which makes sense given the DU claim that Pete did not have the authority to have that card) but what caused him to do so? And why just the DU card, does the The DIS or his other companies have terrible credit too that they cannot get their own business cards?

Sean mentioned in a post (which we can believe or not) that Pete makes almost 1 million a year last time Sean checked and that seems like a reasonable number. What caused Pete to "lose it" and start spending on the company dime and just what was he buying? Disney while expensive, isn't 1 million dollars in 6 months expensive. How many cruises is that? Jewelry? People more in the know then me can kind of look at the stuff he wears and see if that makes sense.

 

[wiihoo888]

If you had commented you would have been banned.

Dang, there’s a lot of truth there. Think we all may been holding back some things for the same reason they did

 

[nfreeman]

Does anyone remember when Pete announced he was stepping away from the show & said it was because he was tired of the parks?

 

[TraderStitch]

There has to be more to the story. Did Pete really think he could rack up a million in charges and the rest of his partners won't know about it? Did Pete run into money problems or had a breakdown that caused him to act irrationally? Or is his spending/stipend on the company dime (which could be explain his cruises, dining, etc being a business expense given his profession) too much even for his other partners? Pete always said John kept it all together and ran the finances so did Pete go behind John's back (which makes sense given the DU claim that Pete did not have the authority to have that card) but what caused him to do so? And why just the DU card, does the The DIS or his other companies have terrible credit too that they cannot get their own business cards?

Sean mentioned in a post (which we can believe or not) that Pete makes almost 1 million a year last time Sean checked and that seems like a reasonable number. What caused Pete to "lose it" and start spending on the company dime and just what was he buying? Disney while expensive, isn't 1 million dollars in 6 months expensive. How many cruises is that? Jewelry? People more in the know then me can kind of look at the stuff he wears and see if that makes sense.

Look through the court info, John is going after Pete for getting the line of credit without him knowing.

 

[ainswokp]

Does anyone remember when Pete announced he was stepping away from the show & said it was because he was tired of the parks?

The court filing was underway when that occurred.

 

[JPKanks]

how much are they making, like $50k? The job market has been very hot and they could easily get a job paying that. Not like they're giving up six figures to leave. They like the AP and Disney benefits too much and that has allowed them to apparently enable this. Sad.

I think that a lot of time, if you want to keep your job, there’s not much that you can do. If they quit their jobs it wouldn’t have changed anything. I can understand thinking “I’m going to stay out of it. I’ve seen my boss be rude to co workers but that’s all that I have seen with my own eyes and it’s all that I ”know” I don’t like my bosses behavior but I like the job and I can’t replace it.“

 

[0FF TO NEVERLAND]

A lot of assumptions in this thread huh

 

[ainswokp]

Look through the court info, John is going after Pete for getting the line of credit without him knowing.

This is actually typical because the other owners need to protect the business. It’s unlikely to work because he likely had the authority to open it in his capacity as owner. More likely DUT has to recover from Pete after the Amex suit reaches conclusion.

 

[nfreeman]

The court filing was underway when that occurred.

Yes I thought so. How convenient for him to exit the show at that time.

 

[JPKanks]

It's good to see Craig coming forward and acknowledging what's going on, he's in a very complicated position not the least of which is that Pete is his boss. My impression of Craig insofar as my extremely limited view as a viewer of his shows is that he's an honest and forthright person. He has a great deal of talent in producing videos and I wish him all the best as they move through this situation.

I actually think Craig comes out looking terrible in this. How long has he been there? That statement is a cop out. He may have not known every detail of what was happening but when you work this closely and spend as much time with people as he has, him claiming to be shocked is a complete lie and insult to people who have listened to the show. Seeing all this, I am done with the show, their articles etc. Really sad for the victims. Sad because the DIS was a decent Disney outlet for me and while I could tell Pete had issues, I didnt know it was to this extent.

 

[take36]

This is actually typical because the other owners need to protect the business. It’s unlikely to work because he likely had the authority to open it in his capacity as owner. More likely DUT has to recover from Pete after the Amex suit reaches conclusion.

To play devil's advocate or even go further down the conspiracy hole. Maybe the charges are legit and DU is unable to pay so Pete is taking the fall, given his already poor credit, he is the best out of the three to take yet another credit hit. It bothers me that it is a gold card (and it comes free with a platinum card and has good rewards for dining) but I just don't see Pete using a gold card, he is a flashy guy, he would want to be seen with a Platty.

 

[petermac]

I haven't seen anyone bashing the team, or even stating they knew the extent of what was happening. I think all that's been suggested is that making statements to the effect of "this news is a shock, unforeseen, etc.," is probably not 100% honest given that the information that is out there suggests the cultural environment at the company is/was extremely toxic and inappropriate by accepted professional standards. That's totally fair discussion. The business is to connect with viewers and get them to invest personally in your brand and stories on YT. It's completely appropriate to question what kind of core values you as the viewer are investing your time in.

I will say after a history of people being vaporized from these boards and staff members at the company being axed seemingly overnight, it's pretty wild this discussion is going on here without filter (so far). I appreciate it as a former viewer, I think it's a good step towards finding a path forward.

I agree. I think it's a healthy step to allow a reasonable discourse, while giving the team and company leadership an opportunity to get their bearings.

 

[wiihoo888]

I actually think Craig comes out looking terrible in this. How long has he been there? That statement is a cop out. He may have not known every detail of what was happening but when you work this closely and spend as much time with people as he has, him claiming to be shocked is a complete lie and insult to people who have listened to the show. Seeing all this, I am done with the show, their articles etc. Really sad for the victims. Sad because the DIS was a decent Disney outlet for me and while I could tell Pete had issues, I didnt know it was to this extent.

That last sentence right there? I think it applies to the team as well. I don’t think any of them were spared trauma, but I’m pretty certain these allegations have then feeling as ill as we do

 

[ainswokp]

I know several people on here and on TL personally and we will be at the DL meetup. I can’t imagine it happens now, but if it does will be interesting to ask these things in person.

 

[Michele&Jessica]

View attachment 781095

We are rooting for you all that are left standing. The Dis is a great community and hope to see it continue.

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

Agree - Yesterday when I learned about all of what was going down, I really wanted to reach out some of my Dis friends and talk about it. But I also didn't want to drop a bomb on them and message them out of the blue.

So this is a good forum to discuss. And registrations are closed on Tattle, so can't express my thoughts there either.

Yes that’s why I turned to the other site. I had no idea registrations were closed right now. I’m glad the DIS is allowing discussion of this topic though.

Where was this posted

Patreon

It’s not a single month. I qualify for one of these cards, and I used it for construction on my house. There’s no limit, but there’s a pay over time limit, and a pay now limit. So you can charge whatever you want, but any amount over your pay over time limit is due immediately. What likely happened is he wracked up charges above the pay over time limit, didn’t pay, Amex kept penalizing him and adding the amount due, then finally called the balance.

From what Sean explained this probably would have been one month because his pay overtime limit was $40k or something. There is a statement in the court filings he was looking at. He used to help Pete with his other Amex card.

 

[JPKanks]

Hey all. Obviously I’m me. I’ve been reading up on all the allegations that’s been coming out and it’s made me sick for a number of reasons. I’m still running through the events I personally experienced and trying to make sense of them in the context of everything that’s come out. I applaud people’s bravery and courage for sharing such personal aspects of their life in the hope that others don’t suffer the same. These people will always have an ear to vent to in me if they ever need it and I hope I’d have one too.

With that being said, you shouldn’t be assuming people on the team knew what happened and bashing them. Everyone is and was dealing with stuff of their own and it’s up to them to share that as they are ready too. For all you know other people have their own traumatic experiences and you are just assuming something else based on video from a show where people talk about theme parks. You really have no idea what people have been through except what information they have voluntarily provided. Just because someone works in a field that puts them in the public eye, doesn’t mean that they are not people who could be going through their own traumas, pressures, fears, etc.

Be kind to eachother, do right by one another, and support people who have been hurt.

Good to hear from you. Always liked your input and always got so annoyed when Pete would make fun of you or be critical. I listened at 1.5x speed so I can only imagine what his rude responses sounded like in regular speed.