cavamom
VIP Member
Off the Rails was one of the best things they’ve done in a while and it started as a zoom show.
- Notice
countesslu
Active member
I get the no sense of ownership under John and I may get roasted for this but…. If they are getting paid a salary and they WANT to go run and enjoy Disneyland (especially Craig who took his family), I have no problem with them doing just that. If John isn’t giving them freedom, trust, flexibility, whatever - why should they feel obligated to film? Let them Vacation and enjoy the return of the race there.
Until someone posted the picture, I always imagined the Welcome Center as so much more! I thought it was more of an upscale lounge for clients arriving to Port early and somewhere to chill in comfort. I feel like I was watching one of those FB Reels or Tik Tok videos of Social Media vs. Reality of different tourists spots!
invisobelt
Active member
Non competes are so hard to enforce. Courts usually frown upon them. At the end of the day, though, the clock doesn't start ticking on them until you leave their employ. Honestly, I'd run a campaign to try to get out of the non-compete and then launch some other parallel business, talking about other nerd stuff until that whole thing is resolved. Dreams Unlimited certainly won't want the continued negative publicity and might let them out of it in exchange for a promise not to publicly disparage or some other consideration. I'd just make it limited to DUT and John and insist that I could talk about Pete. The workers do have some semblance of power if they have the balls to use it and there's even more power in numbers.
And here's the other thing to consider. To enforce the non-compete, you'd have to sue and that opens the company up to discovery. So things could come out that this company, which needs to protect its secrets lest even more horribleness ooze out, almost certainly doesn't want out there.
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glitteringgrogu
Chatty Member
Unfortunately Pete the creepy criminal was the channel. He’s who people watched for. These corpses on a string are not it.
imjenilynn
Member
There is no doubt in my mind that he is sick and twisted enough to do it, and I basically had a meltdown when Charles came forward with this information. It isn't clear which bathrooms Charles was referring to when he said this, but if it was the one in the hallway across from our studio, all of us used that bathroom (including my children).
I never saw anyone challenge Pete to his face or go to battle with him, but I am aware that Corey did this regularly behind closed doors. I don't recall hearing of anyone else doing this...maybe Kevin? I would guess Corey had more losses than wins, but he was able to influence or persuade Pete sometimes. Protecting Jackie when Pete started to turn on her would be an example of this.
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There was no 401k or retirement plans offered when I was there.
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Teresa is probably one of the more abused people on the team because of her familial tie to Pete. During my time there, he was particularly manipulative when it came to her. He knew exactly which buttons he needed to push with her to reduce her to tears whenever it served his interests.
The awful truth is that the closer you were to Pete, the more cemented you were in his inner circle, the more abuse you suffered. So aside from the sexual abuse victims, my opinion is that Corey and Teresa are the most abused individuals at The Dis. And when you look at it this way, I got off easy in comparison.
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glitteringgrogu
Chatty Member
Seriously. Rent a hotel room or an Air BNB once a week. It‘s Orlando. Stop acting like there are zero spaces available to you.
MichaelsAchilles
Active member
Here's an idea -
Do it from a different Disney hotel or DVC propery each week. That way you can also comment on what you think of the room and amenties. Or does that mean John and Kevin would actually have to visit Disney every couple of weeks and kill it right there.
Because, you know, outside of Craig, Ryno and sometimes Erica the rest actually despise going on property. they are a bunch of people that get paid to promote Disney that really could care less about it.
Ghost of Bob Varley
Active member
Tom always seemed nervous in general.
I am not touching Tom's recent personal journey, but I will say the following about the Disneyland show, because I feel it shows Pete's good business instincts and bad business instincts.
The original Disneyland team was good at what they did. But they did a very niche show. It was for an older crowd who were locals. I think Pete was right in believing that the show had reached its potential and was not going to go any further. This was especially true since it was at a time when you were really starting to see "influencers" and "vloggers" grow in popularity.
Pete went out and hired younger people who definitely better fit the mold of "vloggers" and should have appealed to a broader crowd. To me, all good moves.
Pete then also decided that he needed to be the star of the show, a classic Pete mistake. That show was never going to work long term with Pete being the center of the show and hosting it from Florida. Was it a travel show, was it for locals, was it for tourists, was it a tax write off for more Pete Disneyland trips? It just made no sense. And when Pete got tired of it, it disappeared.
This is a guy that went from Pete to Kevin. Those are some low, low standards.
ProfessorFate
VIP Member
He was in a personal relationship with Pete for some time, and a business partnership with him for years. He knew. He knew all of it.
I'll keep saying until I'm blue in the face: DUT was and continues to be a cash cow for those three. Through whatever "legitimate" salaries they draw, whatever fabricated commissions they earn, and however they are cooking the expense books, that company exists solely for their personal enrichment (which in and of itself is perfectly fine if done legally and ethically) through whatever means and however they can squeeze money from it. How employees are treated (and mistreated) on the way to achieving that goal is immaterial, and benefits all three of them.
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ProfessorFate
VIP Member
First, thank you very much for taking the time to carefully and considerately answer so many questions. I hope you're feeling better soon. While I'm sure (or at least I hope) that your presence here is driven primarily by your own self-healing journey (which is all that really matters), it is also welcomed by those of us who'd like to learn more and understand how things ended up where they did.
I have maintained, purely through speculation of course and a passing understanding of human nature, that there likely is a significant amount of financial shadiness going on in and around DUT. Cash gifts, payments under the table, timeshare memberships, etc. along with the usual questionable practices that always surround commissioned sales and commissioned sales incentivization, certainly raises red flags for me. That, and the whole AmEx situation just reeks of finger pointing, blame passing, and feigned ignorance.
I find it very difficult to believe that John, as Pete's former romantic partner and long time business partner, had no idea not only what was going on abuse-wise, but likely had a pretty good idea of, if not fully endorsed Pete's spending extravagances, including opening the credit cards. I'm also guessing that Kevin, who besides traveling non-stop, doesn't really seem to do much of anything that someone else in a purely support position could do, solely maintains his TL license as a cover to justify much if not all of his lavish travel expenses and his love of Louis Vuitton. Keep the license active, perform a modicum of work that at least smells legitimate, and then either expense everything or put everything on a business account. Pretty good for a kindergarten teacher.
Anyway, thanks again for joining this mad house and again I hope you feel better soon. I think you'll find that the toxicity that people attribute to this place is about 90% just a reflection back, or refocusing of, whatever toxicity is throw out by the subjects of the threads themselves, and it just happens to all be happening in a relatively confined space. Justin and Sean found out it's a perfectly safe place.
MichaelsAchilles
Active member
I think this is exactly it. Except I would also add, they were banking on selling the company in the next couple of years and cashing out. Now, at least in the short term, no one would consider purchasing them with pending litagation and the brand no longer seen as "pristine". They are on the shows to try and save the brand so they can sell. They have no interest at all in the parks and it shows.
Viewers pickup on how disinterested they really are. Pete is a POS, however, as a public figure he was engaging and came across as passionate. This show is anything but that.
So, maybe they will continue to get a combined 30k podcast downloads and YouTube views a week and say they are happy with that. Their aging clients will continue to purchase trips through them, but at some point that well is going to run dry. They are not bringing in new and younger viewers and they have no appeal to young families that are getting into the prime years of visiting the parks. Instead, they court retirees onto lavish ABD tours. It is a niche they are filling, but I don't think it is sustainable and will not appeal to a potential investor as there is no growth there.
Have you answered it or are you taking advantage of the fact that your cheerleaders either haven’t figured it out yet or want to back anything you say to be anti-Pete.
hugely unpopular opinion here I know but I am having a really hard time placing you in the “victim” category along with Dustin and Sean based simply on working in a toxic environment.
how your “work trauma” has risen to such a high level when in reality you accepted a payment, which you knew was incorrect, kept that payment rather than checking the validity of the overpayment, got found out, got fired, and jumped on the victim bandwagon.
in what work world does somebody NOT get fired for that? Then acting like you got fired so Pete could hire a love interest, like he wouldn’t just hire whoever he wanted to hire regardless of who was in what position.
Now throwing all kinds of other SA stories real or otherwise, for what? How many extensions are you going to take on your 15 minutes of fame?
MichaelsAchilles
Active member
Sean has said that Pete and John were starting to look for an exit strategy and a larger travel agency was looking to absorb them in a buyout. Any buyout will have a due dilligence process where the investors poke around and make sure it is a safe investment.
Having moutains of horrid Google Search results would most likely make most potential buyers walk away.
John wants to vacation for the rest of his life, while the annual income from DREAMS UNLIMITED TRAVEL is nice, it is nowhere near the potential payday that would come from a buyout.
This jepordizes all that, or at the least makes him take a heavily discounted price.
Having moutains of horrid Google Search results would most likely make most potential buyers walk away.
John wants to vacation for the rest of his life, while the annual income from DREAMS UNLIMITED TRAVEL is nice, it is nowhere near the potential payday that would come from a buyout.
This jepordizes all that, or at the least makes him take a heavily discounted price.
(JL makes point to keep receipts, inadvertently rivals CVS doing so)Lol. I believe I said we would know by noon, and….
Good lord, the company just sounds worse and worse and I didn't think that was possible. A policy of requiring employees to float the company money by putting business expenses on their personal cards and then having a very loose reimbursement process is awful (and they obviously did use company cards for some situations.). Definitely makes one wonder what an audit might reveal.
More evidence that John was not in fact entirely separate from the operations of the DIS. I had hoped that Pete was the sole source of all the dysfunction and issues but clearly that hasn't proven to be true.
Corey and Craig seem like decent people. I don't want to discount the trauma and complicated responses to it, but I cannot understand why they've stayed all this time. And is John stifling all their creativity? Or was it all just talk? Could they still be holding out hope to buy it once the other financial issues are settled?
@imjenilynn I think you were able to 'say goodbye' on an episode of the Universal show. How did that come about? Did you ask to do it or did they ask you to do it to try to avoid the criticism of another person leaving without any explanation? Did you see or speak to Pete again after that meeting? If he had to find out from his lawyer that you didn't have a non-compete clause, I'm guessing he threatened to sue you and/or ITM?
). Definitely makes one wonder what an audit might reveal.More evidence that John was not in fact entirely separate from the operations of the DIS. I had hoped that Pete was the sole source of all the dysfunction and issues but clearly that hasn't proven to be true.
Corey and Craig seem like decent people. I don't want to discount the trauma and complicated responses to it, but I cannot understand why they've stayed all this time. And is John stifling all their creativity? Or was it all just talk? Could they still be holding out hope to buy it once the other financial issues are settled?
@imjenilynn I think you were able to 'say goodbye' on an episode of the Universal show. How did that come about? Did you ask to do it or did they ask you to do it to try to avoid the criticism of another person leaving without any explanation? Did you see or speak to Pete again after that meeting? If he had to find out from his lawyer that you didn't have a non-compete clause, I'm guessing he threatened to sue you and/or ITM?
glitteringgrogu
Chatty Member
Boredom and misery don’t work on any platform. Not just YouTube.
minimax
Chatty Member
minniebby2
Member
do we think if craig leaves, the dis is officially done?