Any Children Abducted at Disneyworld?

[weeyore33]

i knew i would get flamed, and once again, i never said that the incident did or did not occur, but the mom had a convincing story and lots of answers, so it is not my story just one i passed on to the OP of this thread, idid not ask for personal attacks, and we most definately do not hear of every bad thing on Disney property. and i did say i agree that if a child was kidnapped we would hear about it.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

I work at one of the WDW parks. I have a couple of times seen a small child wandering toward the gate to exit the park alone. We will automatically stop any unescorted child and not let them leave. If the parents do not show up very quickly we will turn the child over to Security.

In the water parks there is a location (called the I-Greeter) in the shopping area. This is a clearing house for lost children/parents. All the lifeguards know to bring any lost children there. The I-Greeter will announce both any lost children or parents seeking children over the radios which all the lifeguards, operations and security have. If the parents don't claim a child after one hour we will then attempt to locate the parents by using the park's public address system.

 

[madalex]

i knew i would get flamed, and once again, i never said that the incident did or did not occur, but the mom had a convincing story and lots of answers, so it is not my story just one i passed on to the OP of this thread, idid not ask for personal attacks, and we most definately do not hear of every bad thing on Disney property. and i did say i agree that if a child was kidnapped we would hear about it.

This is neither intended as a personal attack or a flame, but if you don't believe the story, why do you keep posting with additional details of the story and insinuations that Disney is covering things up because they are a big and powerful corporation and that we do not hear of every bad thing that happens on property?

 

[weeyore33]

This is neither intended as a personal attack or a flame, but if you don't believe the story, why do you keep posting with additional details of the story and insinuations that Disney is covering things up because they are a big and powerful corporation and that we do not hear of every bad thing that happens on property?

i do not keep posting additional details, i posted my story, a question was asked i answered it, i am not attacking disney, and yes they are a big powerful corporation, and do you honestly think that we know of every mishap and incident on their property? ( ex: people fainting, falling, breaking bones, fighting) no one likes to think of disney as a bad place- and it isnt - i dont think there is anywhere else on this planet that my family and i love to spend time at more. it was not my child that was taken or drugged, and i said if she made it up and we believed her, who really cares? she has her daughter and we are arguing over a moot point. i think the moral of the whole story is, keep an eye on your children be it in your back yard, baseball game, dance class, or disney world. That is all

 

[CinRell]

Ok maybe a bit off topic here but i keep reading that "disney likes to keep things quiet"... I'm a PR professional so my job is to represent national clients to the media and relate info about my clients to the public ....

I can tell you this ALL companies.. corporations... organizations.. "like to keep negative things out of the news"... Disney is just fortunate enough to have SO MANY magical happy stories and SO MUCH constantly going on to keep the news' attention, it's much easier for them to keep "negative things" on the down low...

 

[Becky2005]

I haven't read through all of this but I will say the security seemed on top of everything when we went this summre and I had "obvious tourist that isn't thinking" stamped on my forehead.

I got seperated from my family at Downtown Disney and had to get the security guards involved. Now, I had researched this trip for 2 years, so you would have thought I would have thought of the obvious but I didn't. I KNEW what to do for seperation at all the parks but I was sitting there thinking "what the heck do they do at Downtown Disney?" after waiting for about 2 hours for my family that didn't quite catch up to me.

We had gotten seperated in a major storm that happened after I took off to get our La Nouba tickets -- We were going to La Nouba didn't realize they had 2 bus stops so we had gotten dropped off at the first one probably farthest away, I told DH I would go up ahead and get the tickets while he had all 4 kiddos and he was supposed to meet me there.

Anyway, I ended up asking the Security Guard for help and asking how to go about this. Besides the obvious of going to Guest Services and calling the hotel first, he did tell me that then they would basically do a methodical search of the area, etc... Basically he outlined each step they would go through for if step A doesn't work, go to Step B, etc... I wasn't too freaked because I knew the kids were with their dad (OK, so I was a little freaked out -- you can read all about it in my trip report. )

After that experience, I feel confident the security is good.

I'm sure something can happen anywhere, you can do as much as you can but you can't prevent everything (kids have been taken from their home, so that isn't even safe either).

 

[OKWAnneMarie]

in people are you referring to those of us who feel compassionate when someone is crying? whatever, what goes around comes around and if she keeps crying wolf then one day the wolf will be there. i don't consider mysefl naive, but i do consider myself to be a listener, a shoulder, a friend, i also feel a little defensive at the moment.

Don't feel defensive. I didn't mean you personally were naive. Just people in general who either believe stories that have been going around for years (which have been proven false) OR people who believe that nothing bad can happen at Disney. I do actually believe your friend is crying wolf, though.

Anything can happen any place and you should never let your guard down when it comes to your safety and the safety of your family. But, people should not make up stories, either.

 

[OKWAnneMarie]

in people are you referring to those of us who feel compassionate when someone is crying? whatever, what goes around comes around and if she keeps crying wolf then one day the wolf will be there. i don't consider mysefl naive, but i do consider myself to be a listener, a shoulder, a friend, i also feel a little defensive at the moment.

Don't feel defensive. I didn't mean you personally were naive. Just people in general who either believe stories that have been going around for years (which have been proven false) OR people who believe that nothing bad can happen at Disney. I do actually believe your friend is crying wolf, though.

Anything can happen any place and you should never let your guard down when it comes to your safety and the safety of your family. But, people should not make up stories, either.

 

[Disneynut25]

Absoultey an ATTENTION HOUND. Next time she is "crying" why don't you ask her what jail the kidnappers are in. People are so naive.

Some people are so naive - naive to think that bad things can't possibly happen at Disney World. The same sick people that they catch on Dateline trying to meet young girls from the internet can easily buy a ticket to Disney and walk through those "magical" gates just like anyone else can. Disney does not have a pervert detector.
Bad things happen all over the world no matter where you go. You just have to be careful and guard your children...Period!

 

[jtopp]

Having relatives who worked at WDW about 15 years ago, They warned us about child abductions and told us a horror story about the methods used and how to avoid it. The "story" was that they would drug a child in a rest room, put an oversized t-shirt (one size fits all) on and carry them out asleep on thier shoulder(a common occurance). To avoid it, we were told that it is difficult to size a childs shoes, thus , security's first question was what type of footwear the child had. To avoid this scenario, we were told to get distinctive shoelaces as identification(we never got around to it, as we had some difficulty believing this story). We have not heard any stories about abductions recently, and have seen firsthand many instances of covert survaillance used by WDW security to avoid any unpleasantness.

 

[sha_lyn]

once again, i did not say kidnapping, that is your word, i do have friends that work for Disney or "the ratt" as they call it, and whatever you want to believe is fine, but i did say "incidents" not kidnapping. But do we hear of shoplifting, or broken bones, or near drownings or fighting, or firworks mishaps, my comment was , we do not always hear everythig, i agree if there were a successful kidnapping i am sure we would all know.

Well excuse me... Here I thought the subject of this thread was child abductions. How stupid of me to think that "incidents happen every day" would be on subject instead of talking about shoplifting, broken bones etc.

Some people are so naive - naive to think that bad things can't possibly happen at Disney World.

Not one person here has said that bad things don't happen at WDW. We have debunked the myth that there is a rash of child drugging appearance changing kidnappers in WDW.

Having relatives who worked at WDW about 15 years ago, They warned us about child abductions and told us a horror story about the methods used and how to avoid it. The "story" was that they would drug a child in a rest room, put an oversized t-shirt (one size fits all) on and carry them out asleep on thier shoulder(a common occurance).

There in not one documented piece of evidence (court records, police reports etc) that shows that this has ever happened in WDW.

 

[noodleknitter]

Can anyone even imagine trying to dye a child's hair at WDW. There is no way to do so without a mess.

As far as cover-ups go...they must just kill the parents so it doesn't get out? Is that how they keep all of this under-wraps.

Pedophiles don't have to go to well lit, well-staffed WDW to assault your kids. It is much easier in the schools, at the sitters, or at the YMCA or Boys club afterschool program...or at "Uncle Fred's" house. Check the stats on where and when abuse occurs.

 

[jjarman]

I am not naive enough to think that bad things can’t and don’t happen at WDW but I am fairly certain that a kidnapping that is almost identical to an urban legend has never happened at WDW. There are just too many things that would have to happen to pull it off. I color my hair about every 6 weeks or so. It generally takes at minimum 20 minutes for the color. Then you have to rinse. In the meanwhile, you are in a bathroom at WDW. I have never been alone in a bathroom at WDW. There is always 2-3 others in stalls plus a cleaning person is almost always coming in to clean, in there cleaning or leaving after cleaning. Okay, say you get child in there without screaming. You have to drug them (that is primary in the urban legends) Unless you have access to an injectable anesthetic you are not going to be able to drug a child that fast. Benadryl takes at least 20-30 minutes to kick in even in a shot. I know my kid never would have stayed quiet for someone to give him a shot. Then you have to wait 20-30 minutes for the drug to kick in. What are you going to do in the bathroom in the meantime? The kid would be screaming bloody murder by this point. Okay. Say you somehow manage to keep a kid quiet to get to the bathroom. Then you somehow manage to keep the kid quiet while you give them a shot. Then you somehow manage to keep the kid quiet until the mediation kicks in. All this is while cleaning people are coming and going not to mention all the patrons using the bathroom. Say you somehow make it that far. Then you have to somehow hold a sleeping child for 20 or so minutes while you try to color their hair. Not an easy thing to do. Then you have to try to sneak the child out of the park while security is all over the place. It can’t happen. At least not like in the urban legends. Also, the part about looking for the kid’s shoes to ID them on security cameras...give me a break. Even if those cameras were clear how would you ever be able to identify one small child out of the thousands in the parks just by their shoes? I know someone said they had family that used to work at WDW but that alone does not make them an expert. Some people like to sound important and tell big tales. Sorry to rant but I just get a little irritated at people (including my own family members) who will believe just about anything. I can’t tell you how many times I have directed people to the Snopes website. I can be gullable too. We had a very well known mother in our community pull a scam (actually one of many scams) a few years ago. Seems she quietly told people that her cancer had returned. Big sob story about no insurance, lost her job, husband on disability, blah, blah, blah. I believed her as did a bunch of others. She got all kinds of money from churches and neighbors. Turns out she did not a recurrence of her cancer and never had cancer years ago to begin with.

 

[Disneynut25]

Well excuse me... Here I thought the subject of this thread was child abductions. How stupid of me to think that "incidents happen every day" would be on subject instead of talking about shoplifting, broken bones etc.


Not one person here has said that bad things don't happen at WDW. We have debunked the myth that there is a rash of child drugging appearance changing kidnappers in WDW.


There in not one documented piece of evidence (court records, police reports etc) that shows that this has ever happened in WDW.

Who said anything about a RASH of child drugging appearance changing kidnappers in WDW. Does everything have to be so extreme. Just because someone mentioned that someone attempted to abduct a child does not mean that there is a rash outbreak. It also does not mean that a child abduction has not ever been attempted at Disney World. No one really knows for sure.

 

[disneymom3]

Attmepted child abduction has GOT to have criminal charges associated with it. This is not something that can be hushed up. Big corporation or not, WDW does not have the power to seal public records. An attempted child abduction would have to involve charges, court proceedings etc.

I am with the group that says if it had happened it would be on Snopes as a correction or amendment or whatever.

I say this as a parent who has lost a child not at WDW but on DCL. He wasn't abducted, he was two and they can disappear in a matter of moments. So, yeah, be careful, be watchful, but don't be paranoid.

 

[Kay1]

I first heard a version of that story more than ten years ago. Think about it. With all the security, witnesses, and controled exits, could there be a worse place to kidnap someone than Disney World?

 

[sameyeyam]

As many of you know WDW actually owns its own municipality called the Reedy Creek Improvement District. It's quite a fascinating story, but actually quite unique in that it allows Disney to tax itself and it basically has its own little town that decides how to spend the money it taxes itself! They pay for their own emergency services, water district, have a small energy plant, roads, etc... That is part of the reason that WDW property looks so nice!

Reedy Creek has its own Fire & Emergency Services Department. So if something happens within WDW borders, they (Reedy Creek owned by WDW) can use their own discretion and make up their own rules about allowing certain newsworthy items to be released/not released.

That being said, they do not own their own police department. Instead they use mainly the Orange County Sheriff. But they do have their own security department that does have some powers not normally afforded to a security department.

It is not completely out of the realm of possibility that a lot of what happens on WDW property doesn't get released to the general public. Why, because when you own your own town you get to make up a lot of rules that favor your business! However, because the Orange County Sheriff does have the general law enforcement power within WDW boundaries and it would be highly unlikely that they would "hide" a child abduction.

The next time you are at WDW take a look around, notice the Reedy Creek fire stations & emergency vehicles, but also notice the Orange County Sheriff patrol cars (they are in great abundance in front of DTD in the evenings). If you are more interested in WDW's Reedy Creek "town" you can read about it on Wilkipedia or just do an internet search.

So I think a lot of the rumors that float around are caused in part by WDW owning its own town and making rules that favor WDW. But they can only go so far in that because of the Orange County Sheriff being involved!

 

[razamataz]

I'm not talking about alien abductions.

I know this is a silly question, but I'm trying to ease my SIL's mind.

She said that she heard a story that there was a child/children abducted at WDW. I told her that I've never heard this before and I would ask the members of the DIS. I informed her that Disney likes to keep things hush hush, but an abduction would require the notification of the police.

So, does anyone know if a child/children have been abducted at WDW?

I have not heard of anything, but as with anywhere else, it could definitely happen.

I would think that the Orlando Daily Paper (I think it is the Orlando Sentinal) would certainly include that kind of info in the paper. They have, in the past, had articles about WDW that show the "un-magic" part of Disney. I go out on their website and read through the headlines, just to keep informed before I go to Orlando.

Hope this helps.
razamataz

 

[OKWAnneMarie]

In some circles, it's very well known what Disney does to the people they find attempting to abduct children on their premises. There's a reason they never stand trial.

How's that for an urban legend?

 

[umbluegray]

I worked for Disney for 7 years and we were told that it was a urban legend and that they have a plan in place anything does happen but that most of the time it's parents being seperated from a wandering todler ect.
Think about how busy it is there, how long it takes to cut a child's hair and colour it. You cant tell me that no one would come into that washroom during that time.
Kids get lost all the time, there are plans in place in most larger retailers too.. Its called Code Adam. The stores go into lockdown if after 10 minutes the child isnt found. Gap Inc stores and Walmart use it all the time. I can tell you that 99% of the time the child wandered off to look at something and that's when we have had to use Code Adam.

I know this is off-topic, but your (SaraMc) sig is so cool! Congrats on your bundle-of-joy!