Disney World visitors and cast members clashed in tension-filled moments over rules about masks and parade route enforcement, according to law-enforcement reports that depict three incidents happening within less than three weeks at the Magic Kingdom.
Nobody appears to be arrested after the encounters although the sheriff’s deputies responded and three tourists — including one visitor who tried to fight an elderly cast member — were trespassed from the parks.
The reports reveal the challenges for Disney World cast members who sometimes deal with tourists who refuse to follow the rules and then lash out at employees for enforcing the protocols. During these latest altercations, guests manhandled cast members or made false accusations against them, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office incident reports showed. The sheriff’s office released the reports this week.
On Aug. 16, a 21-year-old New York woman said she was watching the Magic Kingdom parade floats with her family and she “unknowingly crossed the white line to attempt to get to the other side when a Disney cast member… approached (her) in what she says was an aggressive manner, and advised her to go behind the white line.”
According to the New York woman’s version of events, the tourist said she stuck her hand out in front of her to keep the cast member from walking toward her and pushed on the cast member’s chest. The cast member responded by pushing the tourist’s arm down and scratching her.
After that, the New York woman was ready to come to blows. The tourist “dropped her bags and admitted that she wanted to fight (the cast member), getting into an aggressive stance,” the report said.
The tourist had to be separated from the cast member.
But the sheriff’s office also interviewed the cast member, who is an elderly woman. The sheriff’s office redacted her age in the report.
The cast member said she was doing her job to keep people from jumping into the road in front of Disney World entertainment on the parade route. When she tried to direct the tourist, the tourist stuck her hand onto the cast member’s chest and pushed her back. “It created pressure on her chest, which in turn almost caused (the cast member) to lose her breath,” the report said. The tourist also swore at her. The cast member slapped the tourist’s hand away in self-defense because the cast member was scared the tourist would hurt her, especially since the cast member previously suffered health problems with her chest.
Another Disney employee witnessed the incident and said the elderly cast member had not been rude or aggressive to the tourist. He saw the tourist put her hand on the cast member’s chest and the cast member slap it away. Then the tourist threw her phone and purse on the ground, puffed up her chest and got into the cast member’s face, yelling at her, the employee said.
The elderly cast member decided not to press criminal charges against the tourist but wanted her removed from Disney World.
When the tourist was told to leave Disney, she “became verbally argumentative with Disney security as she demanded that she received a refund,” the report said, noting she did not get her money back.
On Aug. 30, a 46-year-old Californian, who was a former Disney employee in California, got into an altercation with a Disney World cast member because he wasn’t properly wearing his mask inside the Haunted Mansion.
The man told the sheriff’s office he was heading onto the ride when a cast member “punched him four times on his right shoulder using a close fist,” the report said.
The man said “he was treated at the First Aid Station within the park, because he had pain in his right shoulder,” the report said. He “said he has pain (in) his right shoulder and he’s having trouble rotating his right arm.”
For her side of the story, the 31-year-old cast member said the man wasn’t covering his nose with his mask so he was breaking Disney’s coronavirus pandemic rule inside the attractions. She didn’t punch him; she was just getting his attention, she told the sheriff’s office.
“She left her work area to walk over to tell (the man) to pull up his mask. (The cast member) said as she reached (the man), she told him verbally several times to pull up his mask,” the report said. “It appeared (the man) didn’t hear her, she then used two fingers on her left hand to tap (the man) two times on his right shoulder. (The cast member) said (the man) did not react and she tapped him again two more times on his right shoulder. (The man) did stop and she informed him he needed to pull up his mask per WDW Mask policy.”
That’s when the man started yelling, “She just hit me!”
But another Disney employee said she clearly saw what happened. The cast member ran toward him and placed her hand on his right shoulder, but never punched him or hit him, the employee said in the report.
A ride operations manager saw the cast member “waving her hands and yelling at the guest about the way he was wearing his mask” which concerned the manager because that’s not how cast members are supposed to treat guests, the report said. But the manager also reiterated to authorities that the cast member did not touch the man.
The sheriff’s office investigated and decided no crime had taken place, but forwarded the case to the state attorney’s office anyway because the tourist was adamant he was punched, the report said.
It does not appear the cast member has been charged with battery, according to online court records.
And in the third incident, a Disney World cast member was trying to stop a 17-year-old, who is autistic, from going into the street during the parade route at the Magic Kingdom.
The 29-year-old cast member outstretched her arms to keep anyone from entering the street, and that’s when the boy’s mother pushed past the cast member and bumped into her, the report said. The cast member said she felt sore.
The mother, who is a 37-year-old from Pennsylvania, said she had been separated from her son in the crowd. Her son doesn’t like to be touched, and the mother claimed when she looked back and saw him, the cast member was holding onto him by his arms.
Two other Disney employees witnessed the scene and said the boy’s mother started yelling to let go of her child. Then the mother used her chest and shoulder to run into the cast member.
Both the tourist and the cast member were willing to pursue criminal charges, so the sheriff’s office forwarded battery charges to the state attorney’s office. Again, nobody appears to have been arrested or charged with a crime, based on online records. The incident wasn’t captured on Disney security video, the report said. The state attorney’s office did not have any public information to release on the case.
Disney issued trespass warnings to the boy’s parents, the report said.
Lunatics and snowflakes all the way around. Taps on shoulder become “punches”. Masks down becoming a major incident. All of it’s insane. The guest behavior. Increasingly rude cast members I’ve noticed just not giving a *!$# any more and not even wanting to be there working. Crowds. Rules on everything changing daily.
Frankly, everything was probably better at the parks when only a few thousand a day were walking in the doors.
I blame guest for half and Disney for half.
A cast member should never even tap someone on the shoulder. What if the person was recovering from shoulder surgery and a slight tap was painful. You could even open a healing wound. I had surgery three weeks ago and I’m still sore, so I feel like touching a guest is over the line, especially over wearing a mask.
Not a witness to these specific occurrences, but I have noticed that crowd control Cast Members in Magic Kingdom have become meaner and more vocally aggressive in the past year. Two yelled at me last November and this past September, when it was not called for. Younger cast members, who need to be taught how not to be rude when just trying to keep people out of roped off areas. The one who yelled at me last November saw me in a scooter accidentally stuck in a roped off pathway between the extended Peter Pan outdoor line and the Tangled restroom. She didn’t know from afar that I got there from the Haunted Mandion by accident, but she still yelled “Sir, get out of there!” (I did the best I could but I told her on the way past that I’m a lady and not a sir), and then on a later day she and another guy were calling out rudely to people about the same thing. Not “please leave that area” in a polite way, but “get out if there” in an aggressive manner. I know we guests can be hard to manage, but the cast members need to be polite especially if we are not fighting them.
Truth. Disney needs to get a handle on this.
Let’s be realistic folks. I was a CM back in the 80s and 90 and, while people were crazy even back then, the cast was able to deescalate and prevent these situations.
I dealt with many overly agressive guests while working there, as did my coworkers, and we used certain facial and body language techniques to calm the situation down. But now, CMs sport the “rough and tough” look with their shaved heads, tattoos, earrings snd goatees which guests perceive as looking to pick a fight – its simple human psychology.
And quite frankly, from my experience as a guest, most CMs do not seem trained on how to enforce rules without being completely rude and aggressive – aka a lack of people skills! Maybe its a generational thing or because Disney is not as selective as they once were.
First let me say this….I am not saying any of these stories are false. But I will tell you that I highly doubt that the cast members are being totally honest. I have been stormed and rudely talked to by cast members about “the rules”. One time I had car trouble and walked toward the concierge desk in my resort to get some information. I did not have my mask because it had just broken. 3-4 cast members swarmed me and went on the offensive saying…sir, sir you need a mask.
Same thing has happened when I unwittingly did not have masks on. I never did it on purpose but they don’t care. They are aggressive and rude 80-90% of the time. First of all the rules are silly too. Mask on inside, mask off outside, mask on, mask off, over and over. Does the virus miraculously disappear outside the doorways?
Again, there is ZERO evidence that masks stop transmission of the China bioweapon virus. Its time to stop this foolishness. But the main thing here is that Disney has obviously directed their cast members to be authoritarian and have become far less kind or courteous as a result. And as far back as I can remember cast members are Always aggressive when it comes to “taped” lines and imaginary restricted standing areas.
This article says that its because people fail to follow the rules. No….they are tired of being treated like a Soviet or Chinese or Cuban citizen by their oppressive government and their liberal minions. Blaming this all on visitors is shortsighted and disgusting. The cast members, management and other workers are just as responsible. The cast members have lost that Happiest Place on Earth demeanor. They are mean, rude and disrespectful themselves way too often.
Most visitors and cast members are fine. But those who are not share in the mess created by tyrannical people who run things. We are victims of far more than a pandemic…we are victims of irrational, unfounded and Communist type directives. People pay overchaged prices and Disney rakes in enormous, insane profits….time to be more visitor friendly again. Currently, the company does not seem to give a damn.
Disney’s mask rules have been a cause of contention for a while. They have changed a couple of times. Currently, Disney World is situated in 2 Florida counties. Orange says no masks, live your life. Osceola says masks indoors. I think consistency would help. People have a tendency to lose patience with parades and want to cross the street. If the cast members didn’t protect them from an oncoming float, they would probably sue for that.
So my post last night was removed?
Why?
Thin-skinned people monitoring this site?
What I said was true….the truth is ugly but
eliminating my post does not change that!
Okay, as a CM back in the 80s and 90s, we dealt with our share of overly aggressive guests… but we knew how to deescalate through body language techniques and use of facial expressions.
Based on my recent experiences as a guest, many CMs simply lack people skills and bark orders in ways that are just rude. I am in no way saying the above altercations are justified, but when you relax your grooming standards to employ the very riff raff that you are trying to keep out of your parks, what do you expect.
Situation #1 above: CM was accused of being aggressive in how she told the guest to stay behind the line. I have worked parades and know there is a proper way to enforcing the rules.
Situation #2: The report stated that even the manager was concerned about how the CM was yelling and waving their arms at the guest. Enough said.
Situation #3: You NEVER physically touch a guest, plain and simple.
Back in the day, as a CM you portrayed the squeaky clean image of Disney and you acted the part. Now you have CMs who are encouraged to “be themselves” with their tough guy look… tattoos, piercings, shaved head, ZZ Top beards… females who need to express that they don’t need to be feminine… or whatever the agenda may be. And in return, you have a situation where tensions fly and things get out of control.
#ChapekandDAmarosDisney
GOkay, as a CM back in the 80s and 90s, we dealt with our share of overly aggressive guests… but we knew how to deescalate through body language techniques and use of facial expressions.
Based on my recent experiences as a guest, many CMs simply lack people skills and bark orders in ways that are just rude. I am in no way saying the above altercations are justified, but when you relax your grooming standards to employ the very riff raff that you are trying to keep out of your parks, what do you expect.
Situation #1 above: CM was accused of being aggressive in how she told the guest to stay behind the line. I have worked parades and know their is a proper way to do this.
Situation #2: The report stated that even the manager was concerned about how the CM was yelling and waving at the guest. Enough said.
Situation #3: You NEVER physically touch a guest, plain and simple.
Back in the day, as a CM you portrayed the squeaky clean image of Disney and you acted the part. Now you have CMs who are encouraged to “be themselves” with their tough guy look… tattoos, piercings, shaved head, ZZ Top beards… females who need to express that they don’t need to be feminine… or whatever the agenda may be. And in return, you have a situation where tensions fly and things get out of control.
#ChapekandDAmarosDisney
Under no circumstance should a CM be touching a Guest (and vice versa), especially for nonsense “mask compliance” reasons. That particular CM should receive disciplinary action.
Honestly, many Cast Members are serious douche-bags and can be rude. We avoid them whenever possible as they simply do not match up to Cast Members from just a few years ago. We saw a cast member yell at a small child no more than 4 or 5 over a mask and when her father spoke up and asked her not to yell at his child the Cast Member got more upset. It was an embarrassing display. The Cast Member stormed off and came back with a manager. A few of us spoke up and thankfully the manager was more human and polite. He apologized to both the father and the child.