Terrible Mickey Interaction at Animal Kingdom

[Jacquie668]

Originally Posted by meuseman

I'm sorry. Maybe I'm a bad parent as all of you are making me out to be.

My two year old son took his autograph book to Mickey, just like he has done dozens of times, including at Epcot the previous day and at Magic Kingdom the day before. The handler asked everyone to have their books out for signatures. Mickey took the book, and when my son asked for his autograph, Mickey shook his head no and put the book behind his back.

That will make a 2 year old cry. I intervened within 10 seconds, but the damage was done.

All that needed to happen was a signature, just like every other character interaction. However, at that point, after I asked Mickey to sign his book, the handler said, Mickey only signs after pictures. By that time, my son is sobbing, asking for a signature. A picture is worthless.

I didn't set these expectations. They were set by the hundreds of character interactions that my kids experienced before this one. My kids don't cry when King Louie can't sign their book. They don't cry when the characters stop at a table next to us at Chef Mickey's then leave for the dancing. They get that. This was different. Maybe I did a bad job of explaining. Maybe it was something you had to experience. But it was jarring enough for me to post because it was so out of the ordinary and affected my trip.

You're not a bad parent and if anyone is implying that then just ignore them. It isn't worth the trouble. Some people just like to wallow in drama and use that drama to hurt and attack others.

As for what happened, I can see how the situation would be negative for you and your son. I do think that some of the actions of Mickey were misunderstood and not intentional to hurt your son, like hiding the book behind his back. I think that was an attempt to be "childlike teasing," but obviously it did not work. You could give feedback officially to Disney, you never know, every little bit of feedback helps.

I can understand and appreciate your point of view OP and yes the situation probably could have been handle better on both sides, but hey we all have bad moments happen. That doesn't make you a bad parent because you made a choice to comfort your child! It just was a bad situation, which I hope never happens for you again!

On a side note, don't feel the trolls! Ignore em!

I never lumped any group of people together, or called you specifically anything at all. You presuppose that this thread even called for "opposing views". The OP posted his experience, and asked if it had happened to anyone else. He didn't ask for an analysis of his or his wife's parenting abilities.

Exactly.