A Florida man says he has been banned from Walt Disney World after making a poorly timed and bad joke about a meth lab. David Swindler says he is no longer allowed at the family theme park because his joke simply backfired and actually almost got him arrested.
First Coast News reports that the family from St. Augustine was recently on a trip to the Walt Disney World Resort when things got scary. They were in their resort hotel room at Disney’s Pop Century when the location was raided in the middle of the night by Orange County Police.
At that point, the Swindler family was not only removed from the hotel but banned from Disney for life. David Swindler is extremely upset by this and wants to fix it.
“My first and foremost love is Jesus Christ, then my family, and then Disney.”
Over Labor Day weekend, the family was at the Disney resort for just a short two-night stay. Swindler went to the front desk to see about extending the family trip, and he became frustrated with the Disney Cast Member who was helping him.
At that point, Swindler sarcastically joked that by the time he got faster service, he could have already built a meth lab. No one from Disney or in the area found it to be funny.
“I accept responsibility for saying that, don’t know where it came from. Don’t know why I said meth lab, I should have said, ‘I was going to build an atomic bomb,’ or something else. I didn’t think anyone would take me seriously.”
Obviously, someone did take his “figure of speech” seriously. The Orange County Sheriff’s deputies and Disney security went into the family’s hotel room at night and searched for the meth lab he threatened to build.
When authorities found nothing, he was given a “trespass warning” for all of Disney’s properties and banned for life.
As reported by USA Today , Swindler and his family absolutely love Disney and it shows all over their family vehicle. Stickers on the back windows show “Disney Family” and are pictures of Grumpy, Tinker Bell, and the iconic silhouette head of Mickey Mouse.
Swindler says his nickname is “Grumpy” and “Tinker Bell” is the nickname for his wife.
David Swindler’s wife, Shelley, and his children can still visit the resorts and Disney Parks, but not him. His wife says that “David has been beating himself up” about the whole situation.
Swindler is going to file an appeal with Disney security, which will be reviewed by the company and they will respond to the family. It’s taken an emotional toll on their family and they hope a reversal can come about.
David Swindler loves Walt Disney World and has said this incident won’t take away from his attraction to the company. His joke about building a meth lab was a bad choice and he realizes that, but he still hopes his lifetime ban from Disney can be taken away.
[Image via Danny Cox/Ken Amaro]