Here’s a too-common story about how some citizens are responding to the pandemic by shirking their responsibilities.
Kelly Sills paid a small fortune for an enchanting trip to “the most magical place on Earth.”
Instead, the Baton Rouge resident — like several other Disney World guests who have defied coronavirus restrictions — visited the Orange County jail.
Amid heightened precautions for the virus at the major Florida tourist attraction, Sills, 47, skipped the temperature screening required of guests, authorities said. He was confronted by security about it at a Disney Springs restaurant, the Boathouse, when he yelled and refused to leave, according to an Orange County Sheriff’s Office arrest report from Feb. 13. When deputies insisted he would be charged with trespassing, he pointed to how much he spent on his vacation, according to body-camera footage released this week.
My first reaction: people spend $15,000 on a vacation? What? How?
My second reaction: you booked a trip to DisneyWorld during a pandemic? That’s nuts.
My third reaction: and then you’re so petty and obnoxious that you skip past basic health checks? That’s how plagues spread, ya bozo.
My fourth reaction: my two-year old granddaughter is more mature and responsible than Mr Sills.
Smarter, too.
Good point about the word “childish.” I’ve rarely seen children act the way this guy did. Or the way a lot of Trump supporters act, for another example. Or several…
Proof or it didn’t happen.
I suspect you could drop a few zeroes from that number and it would be closer to the truth.
@2
$15,000 isn’t out of the question for what is stated in the article to have been a 5-day vacation for 8 people attending both Disney and Universal.
I’ve never been to Disney Land. My family was always too poor to afford something like that. And now I’m to old to be impressed by such kitschy BS. Except there is one special day just for people like me. Every year there is “Bat’s Day at the Fun Park”. All the local goths, punks and metal heads swarm Disney Land for one special day and scare the hell out of everyone else. It’s on my bucket list.
I googled this guy just because I was curious as to what he looked like. He’s a wealthy construction company owner who is also a large donor to the Republican Party. In other words, a guy with a massive sense of entitlement. I’m sure everyone else here will be just as shocked as I am.
$15,000 is not very implausible given (he claimed) that it includes air travel, lodging, all the admission tickets for 7-8 people x 5 days. Also, stiffing a lot of people (including his employees’ health insurance premiums) for a much larger amount of money (seven figures) while paying $15,000 for a vacation and bragging about it, is definitely well below a child’s moral level.
I can imagine spending 15000$ on a vacation, just not on that particular vacation (as described in the OP), albeit a (multi-day?) stay in a “luxury” hotel suite could definitely result in such a cost.
As an aside, I once stayed in such a suite — in Lisboa — not because I booked it, but because I was (at that time) a relatively frequent guest at that hotel group, and was basically “upgraded”. Totally different to any “bog-standard” hotel room, and very probably larger than my flat at the time (certainly with more rooms !). I have no idea now (nor then?) what the “usual” rate for that luxury suite was, I got at the rate I booked for a much Much less overwrought room.
Another aside, I admit to having once booked a vacation for a substantial fraction of the alleged total; however, the booking fell through so it never happened (at no cost to myself!). Without being specific, it was a science-oriented “expedition” (not a cruise!) with (well-)known experts, the “highlight” being a very unusual location for a certain celestial event.
Re: blf @ #7…
Just check the sign on the back of the door. That will show the “rack rate”, the maximum that the hotel will charge for that room. Keep in mind that they’ll rather rarely actually get that much, but that’s the rate.
I’m part of a group that runs a medium sized gaming convention (we get about 1800 members). In the hotel we used last, we got three or four of the biggest suites comp’d to the convention because we fill the entire hotel. I say “last used’ because that was in Feb. 2020. No con this year. We’d already planned to move hotels because we really need more space.
And, FYI, for everybody…the cost of function space to a convention depends on how many room-nights the convention books. Get enough rooms billed for enough nights, and that function space is free to the con. So it pays to contain your space requirements and get as many of your people (at the convention rate) as possible in the hotel.
whheydt@8, My incident in @7 was sooooo long ago I simply have no recollection. I presume the information was available at the time (either on a sign, or, since this wasn’t in the States, perhaps another location?), but again, have no recollection. (As yet another aside, this was not a convention, but my own holiday / vacation.)
I would not be surprised if the guy was also an anti-vaxxer and refused to wear a mask, too.
Wait until people want to start cruising again. Say you made a reservation online. The cruise line may require proof of vaccination and you don’t have it, for whatever reason. I can hear the Republicans bitching about discrimination now. We’re being treated like second class citizens, they’ll yell. But look at it from the cruise line’s point of view. They don’t want to have an outbreak aboard ship. If 3/4 of the customers have proof of vaccination and 1/4 don’t there could be an outbreak among that 1/4, while the others are all fine. Suddenly you’re on a plague ship and the local authorities will err on the side of caution and refuse anyone from disembarking, vaxxed and unvaxxed. If you paid many thousands for your dream Med vacation it might cause you to lose your cool if the Italians wouldn’t let you come ashore at Amalfi or Sorrento, even with your precious CDC card (which looks like it could be easily forged.)
The weird thing is, is that all they wanted to do was take his temperature. I wouldn’t be surprised if merely walking into the tent (which he apparently went around) would have gotten his temperature. They have something similar at the VA in Columbus, Ohio. You walk in the door, look in a certain direction and WaLa! Your temp is taken without even slowing down. i would expect Disney to have the same sort of thing.
So this guy is an incredibly big jerk.
OMG she’s adorable.
Leaving aside the fact he chose to spend $15000 to go to Disneyland if I spent $15000 on pretty much anything there’s no way I’d piss that away just because I don’t want my temperature taken. I guess I’m lacking in conservative principles.
@ 4 whheydt
Just check the sign on the back of the door. That will show the “rack rate”, the maximum that the hotel will charge for that room.
Ah, in what country? i am pretty sure I have seen this in 1 or 2 countries but may have missed it in a lot of others.
Re: comments on rack rate…
Fair enough…my experience is all in the US.
It’s not all bad news.
I was just watching a video from a virulently anti-mask and anti-vaccine couple who live in Dallas. He is so anti-mask that he hasn’t seen his mother in over a year because the nursing home she lives in nearby won’t let him visit without a negative Covid test and a mask. He’d rather let his own mom suffer a year in isolation than wear a mask and provide her with companionship.
He and his wife are were horrified by the fact that almost everyone they see in stores and other buildings are still masked up, even though they’re not required to after the mask mandate was lifted a few weeks ago.
Seems like most people are more sensible than the crazies and the Republican politicians, if there is any distinction.
When actual toddlers are showing more emotional maturity than a grown up, something is wrong.
bargearse@13
You need to buy an expensive set of golf clubs and a Keurig machine. Now smash the Keurig machine with the golf clubs. Repeat this process until you get into the right mindset.
As I was out walking today, I saw a very young girl with a mask on a caster board or similar contraption, clearly having fun. She didn’t seem to be bothered by the mask at all. There’s nothing special about this sight, except that it caused me to reflect on how life goes on with masks. You only need to be miserable about it if you choose to be–and attempt to make others miserable as well.
Obviously, I would like the pandemic to be over, but I really don’t get what the fuss is about when it comes to masks.
^^^ Or temperature screening.
I rather enjoy seeing when that white privilege isn’t doing the trick.
@dstatton #21
I’m right there with you. That quote “You can’t trespass me if I paid $15000” really sticks with me: this guy believes he can buy personal exemptions to the law, and up until now he’s been right. I love the expression on their faces when it ceases to work. Looks a lot like Tucker Carlson, actually.
My kids have demanded to be given N95 masks for school. And they are both in the thralls of puberty, which usually screams “bad decision making and risk assessment”. Don’t call it childish when you mean egoistic and sociopathic.
As for the 15k, holy shit, I thought we blew money on the holidays back when those things still existed.
@4 OMG I now need to go on that day!!! Thank you for the info!
I’ve brrn saying this for years, in personn and scoring, They worship the god-king 45.
In their faith, so does God.
Entirely circular non-reasoning. Next, they’ll speak in tongues, it’ll will require a “translator”.
Standard fodder for that cult.