Walt Disney World, The Place Where Dreams Come True...Unless Obama is in Town

President Barack Obama is visiting us here in Orlando today, to give a speech "unveiling a strategy that will significantly boost tourism and travel" and "aid job growth." Apparently the strategy includes a series of executive orders that will not require Congressional approval.

You can get this on a T-shirt. Heh.

So, let me get this straight: Obama is going to give yet another speech in which he makes yet another pile of vague promises about creating jobs? Awesome.


And - bonus points - we'll have yet  another chance for Obama to toss around a bunch of executive orders that aren't subject to any checks and balances from Congress. Oh, goody.

What really bugs me is the way that they're staging this little shindig today. According to Central Florida News 13, the Main Street USA section of the Magic Kingdom will be closed "for the duration of the president's visit." Which, considering the heavy security issues involved in public appearances by the president, will undoubtedly include several hours before the speech and some time afterwards. The entire park will be under heavier security, opening hours will be limited, and at least one of the parades has been rescheduled. 

You would think that the reward for putting up with all this extra hassle would be that you could actually watch the president's speech, but no. This is a completely closed event and the White House controlled all the tickets. No park guests will be able to attend.

This speech was announced with very little notice, and it is going to inconvenience thousands of families today. Families save for years to be able to afford a trip to Disney, and now a large portion of Disney World's main theme park is going to be closed for part of the day, and significantly more of a hassle to get around the rest of the day. I will be shocked if Obama remembers those families and apologizes to them for the massive inconvenience he is causing them today.

Of course, this is the same president who is willing to kill 20,000+ jobs on the Keystone XL Pipeline project, so it really shouldn't surprise anyone that he's willing to kill the dreams of some little kids at Disney World.

This also isn't the first time the Obama administration has pulled something like this, either. (Hat tip: @rjhornsby)