Guest Relations at Walt Disney World hears lots of complaints and issues from visitors every day. This summer, they fielded one encounter that was undoubtedly more unorthodox than usual.
A 37-year-old Chicago man wanted a refund for his theme park tickets when he visited Guest Relations at Disney’s Hollywood Studios on August 14, according to a newly released Orange County Sheriff’s report.
The reason why?
Because he was on a special government mission, he explained.
He told Disney he was working for the federal government and he was in the middle of a special operation to review the security procedures at the theme parks, and anywhere else he travels to, the sheriff’s report said.
“The man had stated to several team members that he needed a full cash refund for his tickets because it was more secure, and he wanted passes to get to the front of the lines but was not allowed to tell them more for security reasons,” the sheriff’s report said.
The man said he was with his son, who was helping with this project.
An Orange County Sheriff’s deputy got involved.
The man kept up his claims to law enforcement. He told the deputy that “he was working with an experimental government satellite to mentally feed security information from all locations to the federal government.”
The man didn’t have anything to back up his claims. He couldn’t provide any contact information for the federal agency he allegedly worked for, and he didn’t have employee identification to prove his story either.
Deputies, by now, believed the man had mental health issues.
They spoke to the man’s 6-year-old son, who said he felt safe with his father. The boy said his father “does things like this often but that he liked spending time with him,” according to the report. Authorities decided the man was not a threat to himself or to others.
The man was not arrested because authorities said he hadn’t committed a crime, but the Orange County Sheriff’s deputy wrote an incident report to document the man’s statements on record.
Walt Disney World issued a trespass, and the man and his son left the property.
We are not naming the man to protect his privacy since he was not arrested.
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This sounds like typical schizophrenia, grandiose and paranoid. Hoping he followed up with his psychiatrist.
Thus reminds me of a story I heard where someone barged into a fast food restaurant and wanted free food by claiming that he was an undercover FBI agent. But he had no evidence to his claim other then an empty gun holder. When the police arrived he continued to claim he was an FBI agent, so they checked with them and sure enough, he never worked with the FBI and just made it up to try and get free fast food. Why did he think that would work.
I used to live near DC, and remember seeing FBI agents at McDonald’s all the time in the mornings. They liked their breakfast. As a kid, I just assumed this was a normal everyday thing (it was). But if I were to ever see it again as a clueless adult even with this as a memory, I would automatically assume it was a raid, and not be comfortable being there.
Seriously….
So, Disney denied a child a very special experience with their father. Horrible story. Disney is the worst.
Where is the vhild’s mother? Surely the child wasn’t left alone with someone who doesn’t have a grip on reality. Would like to hear more about this situation.
Sadly, the little boy never got to see Disney World, he had to leave with dad. That’s the sadest part of this story.
Wait falsifying as a federal agent is a federal offense and was not charge 😳😐🤔
Isn’t it illegal to impersonate federal or government agents?
He didn’t say who he worked for.
Yeah, what gave away that he wasn’t a government agent is when he told them he was a “government agent”.
I would have insisted on contacting ADULT FAMILY MEMBERS since a 6 year old was involved. Especially a 6 yr old who can articulate his father “does stuff like this often”!!!!!
Careful ORLANDO PD