WARNING: We’ll be diving into the very difficult topics of human rights issues regarding HHN, the haunt, and theme park industries.
If you think a haunted attraction is more important than human life—that’s a problem.
If you think animatronics in a theme park hold more value than someone’s human experience—that’s a problem.
So, let’s try our best in our corner of the theme park fandom to work on that.
The conversation started to take place last year regarding some of the deep seeded issues in the HHN community. It started to crop up with the Billie Eilish rumors, then really began to unravel when we became aware of the serious issues regarding the Academy of Villains. Regarding HHN, we received a lot of interesting comments on the subjects of sexism, misogyny and human rights, and, we also heard some of the stories about SA’s and the affect working HHN has had on their mental and overall well being. However, these problems are not exclusive to the HHN fandom. In the theme park area of the fandom, these comments started to roll in when the decision to take out a scene depicting sex slavery in the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction was announced, and they continue with the changes to Jungle Cruise and Splash Mountain. As we see theme parks evolve with the times, by removing offensive elements from rides and attractions, we’re hearing an uproar from some people that are against those “woke” changes—with some deeming it “cancel culture”. Theme parks taking the necessary and appropriate steps to grow with the times and their clientele is not “cancel culture”. It’s accountability culture, and it’s something we all can and will benefit from.
We know this conversation is much, much bigger than what can take place in a theme park forum, but, our hope is that if we can change some minds here, in our space of the internet, then we should take the opportunity to do so. Personally speaking, while I may be part of the minority of the community, I do exist. Women, LGBTQ+, black people, BIPOC, Latinx, AAPI, young people all exist here, and, we should all be open to learning ways to make it a more welcoming environment for everyone involved. For HHN: the SA’s, TM’s, future guests, and fans of all ages, genders, and backgrounds. For theme parks: the TM’s, CM’s, current guests, and future guests of all ages, genders, and backgrounds.
So, in this thread we’ll constructively discuss the ramifications of, and, hopefully, some solutions to, misogyny, LGBTQ+ hate, racism, and bigotry in the HHN, haunt, and theme park community. I’m hopeful that we can all learn what we can do to be more accepting of the new ideas our beloved event and parks need in order to survive and thrive. In life, we always have learning and growing to do, and we hope that we can do some of that here together. If anyone feels comfortable coming forward to share what we can all do to make our community a better place for you, please do so as it would be greatly appreciated.
To answer the biggest question, as it pertains to the rules of Inside Universal...
“Is this a political topic?”
No, it is not. The simplest, most basic human rights issues are not a bipartisan political topic. Being considerate, accepting, and respectful of others is not a bipartisan political topic.
We kindly ask that everyone be respectful on what will surely be a diverse range of opinions and thoughts. This thread will also be under a "zero tolerance" policy, so keep that in mind when you post.