Via DisDining.com
Just when we thought we had heard it all, we learn about a couple who visited the parks and endangered the life of their baby, and all in the name of . . . nostalgia?
Millions and millions of Guests make their way through the gates at the theme parks at the Walt Disney World Resort and the Disneyland Resort in California each and every day of the year. Some are old Guests, some are young Guests, some are in-between Guests. There are short Guests, tall Guests, and . . . the list goes on.
And because so many people visit the Disney Parks every year, it’s not uncommon to hear of some less-than-mature, less-than-appropriate behavior. Despite rules developed by the Walt Disney Company for Guests visiting a Disney property, there seems to be no shortage of Guests whose behaviors at Disney Parks would likely bring shame and embarrassment to their mothers.
We’ve even reported on some of the most dangerous Guest behavior at Disney. Some Guests have tried to bring toy guns into the parks. That may sound harmless to some, but to Disney Security, it’s a problem. There have been incidences of Guests fighting with other Guests, Guests wearing inappropriate clothing in the parks, and Guests arguing with Cast Members who touch their baby’s strollers.
A so-called “urban explorer” was caught by Disney Security and Orange County Sheriff’s Deputies as he was trespassing on the abandoned Discovery Island near Magic Kingdom. (Sadly, it didn’t stop him from continuing to breach the gates at the Walt Disney World Resort and enter backstage areas where no Disney Guest is permitted.)
We’ve even seen and heard reports of Guests base-jumping off of moving ride vehicles to retrieve cell phones near dangerous animals at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Guests inappropriately touching character Cast Members, and more.
A young Disney Guest once climbed out of the boat at the Splash Mountain attraction at Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort when the boat stopped mid-way through the ride and refused to get back into the boat for an extended period of time.
When it comes to the Disney Guest behavior, sometimes we think we’ve heard it all.
But this may be the first report we’ve heard–at least in a while–of Guests misbehaving and endangering the safety and well-being of their own child.
People Magazine published an article titled, “Disney World and Disneyland Employees Share the Craziest Things They’ve Ever Seen at Work,” and the Cast Member communal confessional of things they’ve witnessed while working at the U. S. Disney Parks is astounding. This particular story was terrifying.
A Cast Member working at the Dumbo the Flying Elephant Attraction shared the experience of witnessing a couple putting the life of their baby in danger. A group of Guests boarded the ride vehicles at the attraction, and it was obvious to Cast Members that they were inebriated. Two of the Guests who were drunk got into the ride vehicle with their infant and buckled their safety belts.
Soon, Dumbo took flight as Cast Members put the ride into operation. Once the couple with the baby was soaring 18 feet off the ground, they unbuckled the safety restraint and suspended the baby mid-air, as though they were re-enacting the first scene from Disney’s The Lion King in which Baby Simba is held up by Rafiki so all at Pride Rock could see him.
“While I was working on Dumbo,” the Cast Member explained, “these drunk people removed their infant from the seat belt and held the baby like Simba outside of the carriage while the ride was up 18 feet in the air, so their other drunk friends could take pictures of them doing it. We had to emergency stop the ride. They were escorted away and arrested once outside the park gates. It was very scary to witness.”
Thankfully, Cast Members were extremely attentive, saw the dangerous situation unfolding before them, and immediately stopped the ride before anyone was hurt.
The couple was escorted to the front of the park and arrested outside the gates. Thankfully, the baby was unharmed, but it’s truly terrifying to realize what might have happened had the less-than-aware, less-than-responsible Guests been any less aware and less responsible.
