This drama between Disneyland social clubs is about as bizarre as it sounds
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.
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.
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.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
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.
-
Are 'judge shopping' rules a blow to Republicans?
Today's Big Question How the abortion pill case got to the Supreme Court
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
Climate change is driving Indian women to choose sterilization
under the radar Faced with losing their jobs, they are making a life-altering decision
By Theara Coleman, The Week US Published
-
'A great culture will be lost if the EV brigade gets its way'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
Puffed rice and yoga: inside the collapsed tunnel where Indian workers await rescue
Speed Read Workers trapped in collapsed tunnel are suffering from dysentery and anxiety over their rescue
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
More than 2,000 dead following massive earthquake in Morocco
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Mexico's next president will almost certainly be its 1st female president
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
North Korea's Kim to visit Putin in eastern Russia to discuss arms sales for Ukraine war, U.S. says
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Gabon's military leader sworn in following coup in latest African uprising
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstances
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governor
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published