Trans couple too afraid to go to Florida - how accepting is Disneyland?

[IslaLila]

Disneyland is so much fun. It's very diverse and accepting of others, and in a safe state. You could go during Anaheim Gay Days (looks like it's sept 22-24 this year) or Pride Nite (June 13 and 15, not sure if it's sold out though) and enjoy rainbow merch and food, and know that you'll be around a lot of other like-minded people.

 

[DLgal]

they may not be allowed in

Who won't be allowed in where?

 

[CamillaF]

Florida gets quite a bit of it's budget from Taxes on DW. Even if the DW bubble is safe, even if you don't have any medical issues etc.... Do you really want to voluntarily give Florida your money.

 

[starlite_]

Come to Disneyland! I personally wouldn't vacation somewhere I felt unsafe. Why be worried at Florida when you can be relaxed?

It's truly horrible that it even has to be a consideration tbh.

 

[cmb5002]

We're in Delaware so WDW is significantly closer to us, but we're both way too afraid to set foot in Florida. My wife brought up the idea of going to Disneyland in California. How accepting are they? I just assume we'd be safer there than in Florida.

Sorry, no comment on DL, though I'm sure they're plenty accepting. Just wanted to say hi to fellow trans Disney fans from Delaware!

 

[Dug720]

Florida gets quite a bit of it's budget from Taxes on DW. Even if the DW bubble is safe, even if you don't have any medical issues etc.... Do you really want to voluntarily give Florida your money.

This is my issue I’m struggling with right now. (Cis Lesbian but still not sure how much tax $$ I want to give FL.)

I have a land/sea/land trip booked for the latter part of August. The cruise is past final payment so unless I moved it (moving it to Alaska next year is a possibility) I would lose money if I cancelled. Park tickets and resorts are refundable - other than the $129+ tax I paid for Epcot After Hours. Airfare while not refundable would give me credit that I could use to go to DL over the same time frame if I chose.

I hate that I have to think about this - Animal Kingdom is 100% my favorite park and the thought of missing that makes me so sad (as well as not seeing friends who live in Florida and are fighting the good fight). But the thought of giving this regime my tax dollars makes me as sick as the thought of putting money in JKR’s pockets by going to Universal.

I’ll need to decide about this summer soon. Ugh.

 

[CamillaF]

This is my issue I’m struggling with right now. (Cis Lesbian but still not sure how much tax $$ I want to give FL.)

I have a land/sea/land trip booked for the latter part of August. The cruise is past final payment so unless I moved it (moving it to Alaska next year is a possibility) I would lose money if I cancelled. Park tickets and resorts are refundable - other than the $129+ tax I paid for Epcot After Hours. Airfare while not refundable would give me credit that I could use to go to DL over the same time frame if I chose.

I hate that I have to think about this - Animal Kingdom is 100% my favorite park and the thought of missing that makes me so sad (as well as not seeing friends who live in Florida and are fighting the good fight). But the thought of giving this regime my tax dollars makes me as sick as the thought of putting money in JKR’s pockets by going to Universal.

I’ll need to decide about this summer soon. Ugh.

I have the same issue..... however I am going this summer for the last time. My husbands side of the family is having a reunion in Orlando. There are 14 of us and we picked Orlando because it's the only place with cheep housing for that many people. Furthermore this will be some of the kids first and only time in Disney World and the parents are very excited that they can take them for one day. It was a childhood dream and their single mother did not have the $. It's a coming of age and I am happy to support them.

 

[mz-s]

This whole post breaks my heart. No one should have to live in fear and question going on vacation because of who they are. I’m sorry this is your reality.
I think you will be ok at WDW and inside the bubble, but I’m not sure about the rest of Florida. Look at who is running the state. DL and California are definitely the safer option.

The simple truth is people who live in fear do so of their own doing, there is nothing in Florida that doesn't exist anywhere else in the country and tenfold abroad. So if you're afraid of traveling to Florida you might as well just stay at home for the rest of your life and never go beyond your mailbox because the same thing exists on your street.

Life is for living.

 

[RoseGold]

I was going to bust in this thread with something about Orlando being a blue city, but who cares? Does it help that the city council is blue if some bigoted doctor won't treat you? This thread has me second-guessing my choices. By going, am I am supporting all of this -- or standing up to all of this like Disney? Challenging questions, for sure.

 

[mz-s]

I was going to bust in this thread with something about Orlando being a blue city, but who cares? Does it help that the city council is blue if some bigoted doctor won't treat you? This thread has me second-guessing my choices. By going, am I am supporting all of this -- or standing up to all of this like Disney? Challenging questions, for sure.

Where will you be able to live or travel where you agree with every decision the local and state elected officials make? Would you even be able to live in your hometown anymore?

 

[RoseGold]

Where will you be able to live or travel where you agree with every decision the local and state elected officials make? Would you even be able to live in your hometown anymore?

I guess the best comparison I have in my life is traveling in certain Middle Eastern countries as a young woman. Even then, it wasn't even on my radar that medical professionals would not help me. This thread is really sad.

 

[DLgal]

The simple truth is people who live in fear do so of their own doing, there is nothing in Florida that doesn't exist anywhere else in the country and tenfold abroad. So if you're afraid of traveling to Florida you might as well just stay at home for the rest of your life and never go beyond your mailbox because the same thing exists on your street.

Life is for living.

What are you talking about here?

Are you completely unaware of the several RECENTLY passed laws in FL that literally don't exist in most other states or countries?

No one here is talking about petty crime or just basic personal safety.

 

[chuff88]

Now, some caveats. First, my college-age adult son brought a non-binary friend on our last WDW trip, and they reported one incident of rudeness—basically a stink-eye situation. They didn’t seem terribly troubled by it but it made me sad and angry. You could definitely have an experience like that, and it’s more likely in Florida than California, but I wouldn’t let the turkeys get you down and keep you away from WDW.

So I am not a visibly queer person (though I am queer-identifying), but I have a lot of tattoos (nearly a full sleeve on one arm, basically a half sleeve on the other, tattoos on both legs, etc.) and brightly colored hair and even I felt like I got a fair share of stink-eye last time I was at WDW. I'm fairly used to it, so it didn't ruin my vacation, but it did stick out as something I'm not used to experiencing in my hometown of Eugene, Oregon. I have never experienced something like this at Disneyland, and in fact it's quite the opposite - I frequently get compliments on my hair and tattoos in and around the parks.

I'll echo what many have said here. While I'd expect you'd be safe inside the bubble of WDW, I also expect you'd likely have a more comfortable experience in Disneyland. I also am sorry this is even a question you feel needs to be asked, but I totally understand wanting to vacation somewhere that you'll feel safe and accepted.

 

[mz-s]

What are you talking about here?

Are you completely unaware of the several RECENTLY passed laws in FL that literally don't exist in most other states or countries?

No one here is talking about petty crime or just basic personal safety.

Be specific please.

 

[CamillaF]

Be specific please.

https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bi...e; Providing,notice and documentation of such

 

[CamillaF]

https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/1580#:~:text=Protections of Medical Conscience; Providing,notice and documentation of such

This is the bill that is the most concerning to me. I don't think it will pass the courts but the idea that a state is passing bills that make discrimination legal does not sit right.

 

[VandVsmama]

If you've never been to Disneyland, you're truly missing out because it's a pretty special place. My favorite ever Disneyland trip was one where we got a 5-day park hopper ticket and stayed right across the street at 1 of the hotels on Harbor Blvd, so we could easily walk back & forth every day (closer walk than the Contemporary Resort to MK!).

Going during Gay Days is super fun. But even if you go NOT during Gay Days, nobody at DL is going to give a rip if you're gay, straight, trans, CIS-gendered, pansexual, or any other flavor of the rainbow.

Closest airport to fly into would be the Santa Ana airport...~20 min Uber or taxi ride to hotels right near DL. There's always LAX, of course, Long Beach airport, Ontario airport as well.

DL does NOT have Magical Express (but WDW doesn't either, for that matter). You have to arrange for airport transfers on your own. Stay at a hotel with free breakfast and it can save you some $$ to pay for some extra churros. The Candy Cane Inn is really popular amongst Disneyland-ers on the DL board.

 

[DLgal]

Be specific please.

I'm not here to feed you.

 

[kylenne]

This is my issue I’m struggling with right now. (Cis Lesbian but still not sure how much tax $$ I want to give FL.)

I have a land/sea/land trip booked for the latter part of August. The cruise is past final payment so unless I moved it (moving it to Alaska next year is a possibility) I would lose money if I cancelled. Park tickets and resorts are refundable - other than the $129+ tax I paid for Epcot After Hours. Airfare while not refundable would give me credit that I could use to go to DL over the same time frame if I chose.

I hate that I have to think about this - Animal Kingdom is 100% my favorite park and the thought of missing that makes me so sad (as well as not seeing friends who live in Florida and are fighting the good fight). But the thought of giving this regime my tax dollars makes me as sick as the thought of putting money in JKR’s pockets by going to Universal.

I’ll need to decide about this summer soon. Ugh.

I’m a nonbinary femme and bi, my partner is bi and while cis she is butch and gnc and we are in the same boat, literally and figuratively. We have money tied up in park tickets from having to cancel so many trips due to covid so we were thinking about land/sea next year. We never took a Disney cruise before. But all of this is making me ill. And tbh our alternative cruise options in Europe are really no better than FL. Leave out of Southampton when the UK is basically Terf Island at this point? Go to Spain where entire football stadiums racially abuse Black players? Italy where I previously experienced the worst overt racism in my life? Trust, as a Black femme I have done this “is it safe for me to go there/do I want to spend my money there” math my whole adult life even setting aside the gender/sexuality stuff. I think the added racial element gives me a different perspective on it esp. considering we’re an interracial s/s couple. Literally nowhere is really safe for me, even staying home considering NYPD. Risk assessment and safety calculus is just my reality.

NAACP putting out that statement days before our trip is not making me feel any better about it either, ngl. But at this point we are feeling like being visibly (even defiantly) queer at WDW during Gay Days is probably the best possible thing we can do. For safety we’re avoiding standard rideshare and sticking to Minnie Vans when we need private transportation (we already booked a towncar to/from the airport). And I guess I can keep in mind our money on a local level is mostly going to people who don’t support the regime. But I agree it sucks we have to think about these things in the first place. And hope neither of us need medical treatment while there.

(Universal is a whole other can o worms. They will never see a dime from me as long as they’re in bed with the world’s most evil and dangerous unelected terf. Thank you for saying that because that is a very lonely position to have in this space, depressingly so.)

 

[nancipants]

@kylenne, just wanted to say that I'm so sorry you have to make those calculations when deciding where to travel. "Terf Island" made me do a spittake. I'm going to steal that from you.

(My husband and I used to have Universal APs but refuse to go there now because of JKR as well. I always dreamed of reading Harry Potter to our kid; we'll read him Percy Jackson now, instead.)