No one likes waiting in line — especially a long one. Unfortunately, it’s something that is pretty much unavoidable when you visit a Disney theme park. Disney knows that you will have to wait, but they want to make your wait as enjoyable as possible. That’s why Disney has created some truly incredible queues for its rides. You can play games while waiting for Space Mountain and try to solve a murder while waiting for The Haunted Mansion. The ride queues are full of small details that can make any line more interesting.
While Guests may expect to see a lot of incredible pieces in all of the ride queues, they do not expect those pieces to crash around them. But that is exactly what happened to Guests who were waiting to ride Under the Sea – Journey of The Little Mermaid at Magic Kingdom Park. In that attraction queue, glass orbs hang from ropes above the Guests. One of those glass orbs came out of the rope and crashed to the ground, sending shards everywhere and injuring some of the Guests.
Twitter user Austin (@itsaustindoes) was in line at the time and took pictures of the glass all over the ground. He also shared a picture of the rope that the orb was in, and it appears as though the rope broke.
Just watched this glass orb in the Little Mermaid queue fall out the rope and shatter all across the ground. A good amount of people had minor cuts. Didn’t see if it just straight up broke or if someone was playing with it. Guests are walking around the glass waiting for a CM. pic.twitter.com/GVKJHztSeu
Sadly, this is not the first problem Journey of The Little Mermaid has experienced recently. Not too long ago, a fire — reportedly caused by fireworks going off at Magic Kingdom — broke out and Guests saw smoke and flames rising from the ride. Luckily, the fire was put out quickly. No major damage was done, and the ride was up and operating normally the next day.
While several Guests were injured by flying glass, it thankfully looks like none of the injuries were serious. If you ever find yourself in a potentially dangerous situation at a Disney theme park, be sure to alert a Cast Member. If you, like these Guests, are near an area full of broken glass, do not try to help clean up the mess yourself. Cast Members have the tools necessary to safely clean up such a mess, and they don’t want Guests to risk injuring themselves further.
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.
Internal casting has begun for the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, indicating a reopening of the beloved childrens’ salon across Walt Disney World. The boutique has locations in the Magic Kingdom, Disney Springs, and Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa.
Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique has been closed since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020. The locations allow children 12 and under to become a Disney princess or prince and is a favorite tradition for guests visiting with younger ones. Only the retail end is open at the Disneyland Resort, with all other locations in Florida, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Shanghai still closed due to the pandemic’s effects.
The Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutiques onboard the Disney Cruise Line ships have already resumed operations.
The Port Neches-Groves Independent School District represented themselves at Magic Kingdom last week, who, in their Native American-inspired uniforms, marched down Main Street, U.S.A. as they sang, chanted, and danced in front of Disney Guests.
However, the chant caught the attention of many as the drill team repeatedly shouted, “I-N-D-I-A-N-S, scalp ’em, Indians, scalp ’em!” while dancing.
Many shamed Disney for allowing this to happen inside a Walt Disney World theme park, leading the company to release a statement:
“We regret this performance took place, as it did not reflect the audition tape that was submitted. We have immediately put measures in place to ensure performances reflect the auditions.”
Now, fans are asking a seemingly important question — why, in the year 2022, does Peter Pan’s Flight, an attraction inside the Disney Parks, still feature the “painfully offensive and racist depiction of Native Americans intact”?
Josh Spiegel took to Twitter, asking his followers:
A good day to ask why the Peter Pan’s Flight attraction still, in the year 2022, has the painfully offensive and racist depiction of Native Americans intact.
There has never been a good defense for the presence of the racist depiction of Native Americans in the attraction. (In part because their appearance in the ride takes less time than it will take you to read this tweet.)
In case you weren’t aware, Peter Pan (1953) has been accused of being “outdated” and “depicting the mistreatment of people and cultures” in certain scenes, which also appear in the Disney Parks attraction, Peter Pan’s Flight.
Due to these scenes in question, Peter Pan is one of the various films that has recently been removed from children’s profiles on Disney+ for “breaching content advisories”. As for adult profiles, Peter Pan remains available but it does display a content warning before the movie plays.
Another Disney fan replied to Spiegel, writing:
I do have to say that besides the Black centaur that was cut from Fantasia, Tiger Lily remains the only named woman of color in all of Disney films until Jasmine. ☹️
A Facebook user shared in the Disney Campers group that a drill team known as the “Indianettes” was not allowed to wear the headdresses included in their uniform when performing at Magic Kingdom.
Terry and Pernell Spillers posted, “What is Disney doing not allowing a high school drill team, the Indianettes not wear a part of their uniform in the parades… Indians from years past have always worn headdresses. How is this offensive????”
Above is an example of one of the headdresses the dancers in the drill team — which is from Port Neches-Groves High School in Texas — wear, via Beaumont Enterprise.
Spillers indicated that members of the Indians Marching Band had worn headdresses at Disney Parks in the past, but that they were now barred from wearing them.
Headdresses, or war bonnets, are traditionally worn by Native American chiefs and warriors. It is generally considered offensive when anyone who hasn’t earned the honor of the war bonnet wears them.
Simon Moya-Smith, a journalist and citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation, told MTV in 2014, “The headdress is reserved for our revered elders who, through their selflessness and leadership, have earned the right to wear one. It’s a spiritual garb, not just cultural; it’s not merely an addition to one’s attire. Wearing one, even an imitation headdress, belittles what our elders have spent a lifetime to earn.”
