Christopher Sherman Orlando Sentinel Staff Writer
January 5, 2006
A Florida high-school marching band in Phoenix for a competition had a New Year's Eve experience strikingly similar to that of families staying at an Orlando hotel -- "a party of a very adult nature."
The Wesley Chapel High School Wildcat Band from Pasco County ended up sharing the Crowne Plaza Hotel Phoenix-Airport with a swingers party on New Year's Eve.
The same night, families in Orlando for a youth soccer tournament at Walt Disney World encountered a swingers party in the Crowne Plaza Hotel near Orlando International Airport. One participant said Wednesday that the Orlando party was not nearly as risque as alleged.
The Wesley Chapel band was on its way back to the hotel when calls began coming in from parents who had stayed behind, said Glen Nelson of Asheville, N.C., whose daughter attends Wesley Chapel High.
The White Party Swingers were partying at the Arizona hotel's lounge, and parents were trying to avoid bringing the children back into the hotel until they could find a "secure area," Nelson said.
They waited outside on three school buses for about an hour, then moved the students into a ballroom until they could make sure the lobby was clear and escort them up the elevators to their rooms. A parent posted guard on each of the three floors where band members were staying.
"The kids didn't see anything they shouldn't have, but some parents definitely did," Nelson said. "What kind of an idiot would schedule these two groups to be here at the same time?"
"The hotel had booked a party of a very adult nature and inappropriate for my students," Wesley Chapel band director Mary Harvey said. She said she had received apologies from Tostitos Fiesta Bowl organizers and International Travel, the Nashville, Tenn.-based agency that booked travel for all of the bands attending the event.
"The hotel management didn't think there was a problem," Harvey said. "They felt like I was overreacting."
A woman who identified herself as an assistant manager at the hotel would not comment. Spokeswomen for InterContinental Hotels Group, owner of the Crowne Plaza brand, could not be reached for comment.
InterContinental said Tuesday that it did not condone the alleged public nudity and other behavior at the Orlando hotel and was investigating.
But K. Thomas, a 34-year-old Central Florida woman who attended the Orlando party and asked that her full name not be used, said none of the nudity or inappropriate behavior alleged by angry parents occurred in public view.
"There is no way the kids could have seen into the smoking area, the bar area or the ballroom," Thomas said. The ballroom was dark, and people were not dancing naked, she said. Some men wore tuxedos, and she and other women were in formal evening gowns.
Thomas said she had seen skimpier outfits at Downtown Disney, and no signs indicated that it was a swingers party.
Attendees had to sign a form explaining what behavior was allowed and what was not. She recalled that nudity outside hospitality suites or private rooms was off-limits, as were sexual displays of affection.
Thomas said the swingers had to twice chase teens off the ninth floor, which had been reserved for the party guests, and heard the hotel's manager warn the kids.
Thomas blamed a lack of parental supervision. "These were no angels," she said.
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