Jim Hill gets banned from Disney

Intresting story about Jim Hill from http://www.jimhillmedia.com has been banned from Disneyland for giving unauthorized insider's tours of the park.

http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/politics/11231705.htm

Interesting, no? I sometimes enjoy his DIsney stuff, but I take it all with a grain of salt. As much as he hates/loves Disney, I'm not surprised this happened.

Who is Jim Hill?

Was he charging people for these tours?

$25 for a personal tour of Disneyland? Who is stupid enough to pay that?

$25 a pop, according to the article.

And apparently you get to hear all the dirt and gossip that the "official" tours do not provide!

Never heard of the guy. lol.

-Tina

If you don't know him, he has a large Disney site that's article based. He's been around for ever and writes LOTS of interesting stuff....not all flattering about Disney. But some AMAZING stuff....large articles on things that never were (like the famed Western River Expedition, etc) with pictures, etc. He has more access to Disney knowledge than anyone, sadly some of his stuff about the future is about as reliable as Screamscape.

It's funny how people think that simply paying admission to a theme park gives them the right to do whatever they want to do inside.

Jim got what he deserved.

Had Jim been praising Disney in his tours would he have gotten the same reaciton?

Personally, I think this is crap unless they start kicking out all the other tour groups, too. Ever been to Disney World during Brazillian tourist season? Large groups of people that follow a guy with a flag- it's quite obvious and it's a pain in the ass to other guests.

Ask these questions:
1.) Was Jim Hill negatively impacting the visits of guests not on his tour?
2.) Is it wrong to talk about Disney's dirty laundry at the park? Do you ever do it at Cedar Point, SFMM, PKI, or others?

If Jim's tours weren't hurting other guests and other tour groups are permitted to continue in Disney parks why the heck isn't Jim's tour okay?

Disney had the right to ask him to leave, and to insist that he not give tours of the park. That doesn't make it right, and I wish they hadn't, but there you go. I can certainly understand the company not wanted someone telling tales they don't want told, in comptetition with their own tours.

Apparently he's going to record a CD of the tour -- love the idea. I'm imagining hordes of people taking the tour by CD, and there's nothing Disney can do about people listening...

MIchael Darling - I know what you mean.... I went to WDW in 98 and the place was overrun with tour groups of brazilian kids and they were SO RUDE! You could tell the parks were full of people ready to snap at them. I did on more than one occasion when large groups would try to line jump. I never let them, so they hated me!

The only pleasant day was the morning after they lost the World Cup. They were VERY subdued that day! (And therefore much less rude)

I have mixed feelings on Jim's tours. He collected no money on Disney property. There are MANY other unauthorized tours of disney going on all the time. A large one, "mouseadventure" happened jsut last week! *** Edited 3/26/2005 5:36:12 PM UTC by Peabody***

I would agree that disney was within there rights to stop the tour.
But having the right to do it, and it being the right thing to do are two separate things.
I visit his site often and find many interesting things on the history of disney and would pay $25.00 to hear him tell some stories about disney you are not likely to find elsewhere. When i go to WDW or DL the vacations cost thousands of dollars so $25.00 is very little money in the scheme of things.
As for tour groups, be it the ignorant idiots from Brazil or cheerleading groups they are very annoying and do alot to ruin ones enjoyment of a ride or show while a person talking to several people will unlikely cause much problems and may help those who listen in and will learn something.

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Michael Darling said:Ask these questions:
1.) Was Jim Hill negatively impacting the visits of guests not on his tour?
2.) Is it wrong to talk about Disney's dirty laundry at the park? Do you ever do it at Cedar Point, SFMM, PKI, or others?

If Jim's tours weren't hurting other guests and other tour groups are permitted to continue in Disney parks why the heck isn't Jim's tour okay?

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It's private property, Disney can do whatever they like, make whatever rules they want, and enforce them as much as wish.

if you had a petting farm and you charged admission, and for an extra fee guests could have a guided tour. Then someone shows up out of the blue with 25 people in tow, and they paid your admission, but, they paid the leader of the group for the tour.

What would you do?

Apparently he's going to record a CD of the tour -- love the idea. I'm imagining hordes of people taking the tour by CD, and there's nothing Disney can do about people listening...

Don't be so sure about that! Most theme park admission ticket stubbs include a statement similar to the following: It is not permissable to use pictures and/or video taken on park property for commercial purposes.

Pictures/and or video are not audio CDs ;)

True...I read that wrong. Thanks for catching that ;)

I sent this to Jim, (I am a regular reader), but will repeat it here, as it is one of my pet peeves.

The first amendment only limits the ways in which the government can shut you up. If a private business doesn't like what you are saying on their private property, they can ask you to stop. If you don't stop, they can ask you to leave. If you don't leave, they can have you arrested for trespass.

Summary: you have no "right" of "free speech" on private property.

*** Edited 3/26/2005 9:53:48 PM UTC by Brian Noble***

^ Wow. You are quite the ass.

Anyway... if you check his website again, you can see a few more stories about what happened. Including WHY he got told to stop, and how "bad" the stories were. Even more interesting is the story by someone on his tour.

viper432, at least Brian Noble isn't the one talking out of his...

Private property is just that, private. I cannot fault Disney for putting an end to Jim's tours, but I also cannot fault Jim for hosting them in the first place. It was just dumb luck that he even got caught.

Reading some of his page, he is taking it all in stride, especially since his tours are now more famous than ever now that he has been put to a stop.