Disney has another PR nightmare to worry about in the murder of a tourist who was fatally shot in a botched robbery attempt in Orlando

Wyndham Orlando Resort International Drive in Orlando's tourist district was the site
of a murder from a botched armed robbery targeting tourists to Florida's theme parks
Updated on 9/13/16:

Only days after a Turkish tourist on his honeymoon was murdered by an armed robber in a hotel parking lot on Orlando's I-Drive tourist district and after Orange County Sheriffs said they were stepping up patrols in response, a man reported being robbed at knife-point outside another hotel in the center of the tourist district.

The Coco Keys Hotel & Water Resort in the I-Drive tourist district in Orlando, FL
The 21-year-old victim said two men got away with his bag after confronting him at knife-point in the parking lot of the Coco Key Hotel & Water Resort around 2:30 a.m. on Sunday, which is only about a half-mile away from the Wyndom Orlando Resort where Turkish national Osman Darcan, 52, was killed last Thursday during a botched armed robbery attempt.

Deputies have also now confirmed that five vehicles were broken into at a parking lot of a nearby Senor Frogs on I-Drive on the same day that Darcan was murdered. Sheriff's deputies further went on to say that they got a call on Saturday claiming that a bomb was set to go off inside a McDonald's on I-Drive.

Crime statistics from the Orange County Sheriff's Crime Analysis Unit show that crime overall in the I-Drive corridor is up significantly by 83% from the same time last year with a significant increase in auto and commercial burglaries, as well as aggravated battery.


In Orlando's defense, city officials are still claiming that the City of Orlando is a very safe place to visit for families and tourists alike who may now be worried about their own security.


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A rough and slow summer of tourism just a lot tougher for Disney World Florida after a tourist on his honeymoon was shot to death outside an hotel parking lot in a botched armed robbery attempt in Orlando, Florida.

Cinderella Castle at Disney World's Magic Kingdom
It's a case that is sending shivers up many families' spines who are thinking of booking their next family destination vacation to a Central Florida theme park.

Osman Darcan, a 52-year-old computer engineering professor at Bogazici University in Istanbul, Turkey, was enjoying what was supposed to be one of the best and most cherished moments in his life on his honeymoon with his 44-year-old bride in Central Florida when he was approached by an armed robber in the hotel parking lot of the Wyndham Orlando Resort International Drive early Thursday morning.

Darcan and his wife drove up from Miami to Orlando on Wednesday and checked into the Wyndham off Sand Lake Road between International Drive and Universal Blvd.

The victim was shot and killed in the parking lot of the Wyndom Hotel on Thursday at about 1:42 a.m. as the newlyweds got out of their car and the robber approached them with a gun and tried to steal the wife's purse, according to Orange County deputies.


A struggle ensued, and the robber fatally shot the husband multiple times, before running off in a panic without the purse and jumping into a waiting car to escape. The killer is still at large at the time of this article going to press.

The victims of the shooting were a Turkish computer engineering professor, Osman
Darcan, and his newlywed wife who were on their honeymoon from Istanbul, Turkey
The suspect is described as a short, dark-skinned, heavy-set male with short hair and bushy eyebrows who may have had accomplices.

The getaway car is described as a reddish or orange car with a black stripe on the side with other occupants in that car who may have helped the killer get away.

Although the incident didn't happen on Disney property this time, it's still very problematic for The Walt Disney Company any way you look at it from a public relations and business points of view. The bad press of this tragic incident happening outside the Magic Kingdom is going to be no comfort to Disney officials.

There's no denying that a spate of negative press incidents over the summer—the June ISIS-inspired mass shootings and terrorist attack at the Pulse nightclub, a toddler being killed by an alligator on Disney World property, a pop singer being shot and killed after a concert in downtown Orlando, and this summer's Zika virus outbreak in Florida—already weighed heavily on lost tourism dollars from alarmed tourists who chose to either cancel their bookings or go elsewhere on their summer vacations this year.


It doesn't take much to dissuade vacationers to choose alternative vacation destination plans if they become spooked or alarmed by negative news about their own safety, traveling to Central Florida since there are so many wonderful other options these days for tourists to pick and choose from, on where they want to spend their holidays.

The entrance way for the Wyndham Orlando Resort on I-Drive
When tourists get robbed in Orlando, Florida, typically, they expect it to come from an unarmed, genial, black, 5 foot, 4 inch mouse in a black and red tuxedo with a big smile on his face. They don't expected to be shot and killed by random arm robbers in the streets over petty things like a purse or a wallet.

Thus, the optics of the City of Orlando being a dangerous place to be for tourists—or anyone else for that matter—is now a very real public perception problem, whether that be from random violent crimes on the streets, acts of terrorism, or from mosquito-borne diseases.

This very real public perception is not good for the image of the city or any of the tourism-related businesses in the area.

"We're certainly getting people's attention in the wrong way," said Michael "Doc" Terry, a professor at the UCF Rosen College of Hospitality Management. "It tarnishes the brand, no doubt."


Anything that can cause potential tourists to either cancel or change their minds on booking their next getaways from Walt Disney World to somewhere else is a bad thing from any business point of view.

Orlando's International Drive tourist district, or I-Drive as it is also known as in short,
is a magnet for both tourists and violent criminals alike
Sheriff's officials tried in vane to reassure visitors that Orlando's I-Drive tourist district is "one of the safest areas in our community," but the damage is already done.

During the early 1990s, a rash of 10 tourist homicides in Florida resulted in a 12% drop in foreign visitors to the state.

Three people—none of whom were tourists—were already murdered in Orlando's tourist district this past year. Joseph Villalobos, 22, and Jonathan Avila Rojas, 33, were shot and killed at the Glitz Ultra Lounge in February, while ten others were injured in the gang-related shooting. Police later arrested four people on murder charges.

Cedilien Forestal, 49, was shot and killed in the parking garage of the Hyatt Regency Orlando on I-Drive, where he worked. Orange County deputies arrested Mathnald Dareus, who was an acquaintance of Forestal.

Tourists who make the connection from these details alone can only conclude that Orlando is not a safe place to be, whether you are a visitor or a local. With this in mind, this week's random crime news of a dead tourist in Orlando couldn't have come at a worse time for Disney.

Disney World is already coming off of back-to-back financial quarters of declining attendance numbers and is entering the last fiscal quarter, which ends later this month, on some rather rocky prospects on more declining park attendance numbers.


Certainly the bad press on the shooting death of a foreign tourist in a botched armed robbery isn't going to help matters much for the House of Mouse. Bouncing back from a slow and tough summer just got that much harder.

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