This drama between Disneyland social clubs is about as bizarre as it sounds

Sleeping Beauty's Castle at Disneyland.
(Image credit: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

Lurking in the shadow of Sleeping Beauty's Castle, they face off, West Side Story–style, the Furious Flounders against the Marvelous Maleficents, knowing that only one Disneyland social club can come out on top.

Okay, it's not quite that sinister, but a lawsuit filed in Orange County Superior Court does allege that the leader of one Disneyland social club threatened another if he didn't pay up $500 as a "protection" fee. Social clubs started popping up at Disneyland in 2013, and now there are about 100 of them, with some boasting more than 100 members, the Los Angeles Times reports. Members wear vests with patches featuring the characters their clubs are named after, and in an ode to motorcycle gangs, instead of putting "MC" on their vests, they add "SC."

Typically, there's no beef between the clubs, and members say they wave when they pass each other. That's not the case between Main Street Fire Station 55 Social Club and the White Rabbits Social Club, though. In a lawsuit filed by Main Street Fire Station 55 founders John and Leslee Sarno, they claim that while they were planning a memorial walk at Disneyland in 2016 to raise money for the families of firefighters who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, White Rabbits leader Jakob Fite approached John Sarno, telling him if he didn't pony up $500 for "protection" during the event, he would ensure Sarno never got into Disneyland again.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Fite told the Times that in his podcast about Disney subcultures, he did question John Sarno's character and suggested he may be misleading his club members about the money they raise, but that's it. The lawsuit doesn't describe who or what Fite would protect the Sarnos from — the Seven Dwarves? Roving bands of 10-year-olds hyped-up on turkey legs and churro dust? — or how he could possibly bar their entrance to the Happiest Place on Earth, but it does ask for compensatory and punitive damages.

To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.