Can you believe this?

[DISNEYNUTS]

This is the correct response to Purseval, thanks.

If there were big signs everywhere "Not Responsible for Lost Children" , then this would not have even been reported.

Purseval is the dad of children, not the mom, and they think differently than women when children are involved.

It must be rough for you to have to deal with all us emotional idiots who don't have 3 year olds who would remain totally calm and proceed in an orderly fashion to the predesignated meeting place if separated.

By the way, I'm curious about this prearranged meeting point. Was there one for each park or several depending on what part of the park you were in? For instance, if you were in Magic Kingdom were you supposed to meet at the castle even if you got separted at Big Thunder Mountain? Or did you have a separate point for Frontierland, Fantasyland, Adventureland, etc.? Either way, it's a lot to expect for a child of three years old to navigate all through a crowded park to get to the meeting point or to expect them to remember several meeting points in several parks. It's good to have a plan, but you act as if yours was a foolproof way to avoid any moments of panic. Give me a break!

I totally agree with you. I did not see where this fool proof plan ever had to be tested to see if it worked. I don't think anyone know's where their emotion level may go until they are in the situation. I always say do not Judge you are not walking in their shoes.

 

[Purseval]

It must be rough for you to have to deal with all us emotional idiots who don't have 3 year olds who would remain totally calm and proceed in an orderly fashion to the predesignated meeting place if separated.

I should keep responding to your answers just to see what happens when you run out of pithy clipart and actually have to come up with an answer on your own But I have a feeling the mods would lock it before then, especially since we appear to be going in circles now.

It's good to have a plan, but you act as if yours was a foolproof way to avoid any moments of panic. Give me a break!

Nothing is foolproof, all you can do is try to increase the odds in your favor. This site is slap full of people who spend countless hours planning and poring over documents to find each and every hidden Mickey but you act as if taking a few minutes to go over what happens if you get separated is like reinventing the wheel

 

[Abra Cat]

I posted a couple pages ago about the scare my family had at Epcot this past September when my 5 year old disappeared for about 3 minutes. I just wanted to add what I'm going to do for our next trip, which is at the end of this month. I'm going to write my cell phone number on the inside of my son's arm (and possibly on my older kids' arms as well-- remembering phone numbers can be hard when you're lost and scared) with a magic marker, and I'm going to make sure he knows it's there so he can show it to a CM or a woman who looks like a mom if he gets lost. It's certainly not foolproof, but if I can get him to remember that the number's there, it'll go a long way towards getting him back to me safely.

 

[Mr. & Mrs. Smith]

Nothing is foolproof, all you can do is try to increase the odds in your favor. This site is slap full of people who spend countless hours planning and poring over documents to find each and every hidden Mickey but you act as if taking a few minutes to go over what happens if you get separated is like reinventing the wheel

I don't see anyone in this thread who is arguing with this point. So, who are you arguing with? Whether you have taken hours to prepare your family for a situation such as this or not is really irrelevant to the OP. The OP had a problem with the way the CM didn't do her job in this situation. A lot of what you and others are bickering about is irrelevant.

 

[ms.yt]

I should keep responding to your answers just to see what happens when you run out of pithy clipart and actually have to come up with an answer on your own

In addition to my "pithy clipart" I posted a lengthy question to you about your remarks, which you failed to answer. I just can't understand why you are so adamant that a parent shouldn't be upset when their child is missing. After the fact, a person may very well calmly realize that it was their fault, but that really doesn't matter in the minutes or even seconds that you can't find your child.

 

[goofy4tink]

It's really a hard thing to come up with a 'place to meet' in each park in WDW. As someone already said...if you get separated at BTMRR, do you expect your child to go the the front of the Castle? No, of course not. So, what I have told my dd, since we started going to WDW when she was 5 (10 years ago), that if she loses Mommy, she should go to a person who works at WDW...she knew what the 'costumes' look like. We made a point of pointing out various CMs. See, the thing is...a lot of kids don't realize they're lost for quite awhile. They just wander away, checking stuff out, Then they look around and realize they don't know anyone!! Pretty scary stuff when you're just 3-4' tall!!

 

[Tomh]

I think part of the problem is that the typically young CM's just don't have any perception of how bad a lost child can be, and that they may not just turn up. Five minutes with a child missing is like five hours for the parents.

I lost my son at a nearby outlet mall this past spring. He was only gone for perhaps five to ten minutes, but I can tell you that they were the worst five to ten minutes of my life. I've never been so scared. Just reading your story was enough to remind me of how horrible I felt when my son was missing, and indeed brought tears to my eyes.

This is something that every CM should take deadly seriously. Thankfully, when my son was missing, the first person my wife told immediately called security, and they did a great job. He had managed to make it quite some way from where we lost him. Amazingly enough, I made it to him within seconds of security finding him, by somehow just guessing which way he would go.

Happy endings are a great thing, and I am so happy to hear that your nephew was found safe and sound. While it is unlikely anything bad would happen, it is still possible, and it is human nature that we will fear the worst. Perhaps it is a good thing as well, if we fear the worst, and act accordingly, perhaps we'll stop it from happening, but if we assume it is no big deal, and react that way we had better be right.

It is true that men and women (in general) often react differently to these kinds of situations. I know when my son was missing, my wife pretty much just froze. It took me basically being the drill sergeant, and barking orders to her to get her into action. Once I was certain that she was getting someone to call security, I began searching first in the immediate area, and then moving farther away. However, even though I expected to find him safe and sound relatively quickly, I was aware that might not be the case, and so insisted on getting security involved as soon as we realized that he wasn't there. Staying calm is important, but it is also important to realize how bad the situation could be, and make sure you take the proper steps in case it is something more than a kid just following the wrong pair of red shorts.

 

[Tomh]

but you act as if taking a few minutes to go over what happens if you get separated is like reinventing the wheel

I think that it is a huge important aspect here that when dealing with young kids, they are completely unpredictable. You can tell them about a meeting place to go if you are separated, you can show it to them, you can tattoo a picture of it on their hand, and you can bet your retirement fund (might not be worth much now) on the fact that if they get separated from you, your prearranged meeting place will be the last place you will find them. Little kids invariably freak out when they can't find their parents, and they do very unpredictable things.

 

[numberonenole]

I had a mixed experience with a CM when we lost our 3 year old in the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground. He went into a tunnel but never came back out the other side. My husband watched him enter and thought he knew where he would exit but instead the tunnel branched out into several others. When my husband couldn't find our son he ran and told me what happened. I ran to the exit and told the CM...who seemed to be ignoring me. She also told me to step aside. I wouldn't let her ignore me though. I got in her face and demanded she pay attention. I blocked the entrance so no one could enter and demanded she do the same to the exit. She finally told me they were one and the same: an entrance AND exit. She then told me she had alerted other CMs who were already in the process of looking for my child and she just needed a good description. How/when she did this I don't know because I didn't see her on a radio up to this point. Maybe they have a hand signal? But sure but more CMs showed up and they found him within 10 minutes. We were lucky that the playground is self contained so he couldn't get out and get further away! Apparantly it happens a lot there which doesn't surprise me because of the layout. And I was actually the calmer one. My husband was freaking out. I of course apologized to the CM afterwards and thanked them all for their help.

So what I am trying to say is I thought the CM was ignoring me but she really wasn't. She just didn't let me know she was begining their lost child procedure.

One more tip...don't stop and emotionally scream your child's name in despair when you are in the line of fire of a water cannon.

 

[AJKMOM]

I had a mixed experience with a CM when we lost our 3 year old in the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground. He went into a tunnel but never came back out the other side. My husband watched him enter and thought he knew where he would exit but instead the tunnel branched out into several others. When my husband couldn't find our son he ran and told me what happened. I ran to the exit and told the CM...who seemed to be ignoring me. She also told me to step aside. I wouldn't let her ignore me though. I got in her face and demanded she pay attention. I blocked the entrance so no one could enter and demanded she do the same to the exit. She finally told me they were one and the same: an entrance AND exit. She then told me she had alerted other CMs who were already in the process of looking for my child and she just needed a good description. How/when she did this I don't know because I didn't see her on a radio up to this point. Maybe they have a hand signal? But sure but more CMs showed up and they found him within 10 minutes. We were lucky that the playground is self contained so he couldn't get out and get further away! Apparantly it happens a lot there which doesn't surprise me because of the layout. And I was actually the calmer one. My husband was freaking out. I of course apologized to the CM afterwards and thanked them all for their help.

So what I am trying to say is I thought the CM was ignoring me but she really wasn't. She just didn't let me know she was begining their lost child procedure.

One more tip...don't stop and emotionally scream your child's name in despair when you are in the line of fire of a water cannon.

This happened to us the one and ONLY time we ever went into this playground. I hate it and refused to let the kids in the rest of the times we went there. We mistakenly let 3 kids in there thinking it would be OK, but an adult can't follow them thru the obstacles. Lost our daughter until we screamed her name a few times and got a CM involved. Luckily, she's 23 now and doesn't remember a thing.

 

[Sk8Leigh]

This happened to us the one and ONLY time we ever went into this playground. I hate it and refused to let the kids in the rest of the times we went there. We mistakenly let 3 kids in there thinking it would be OK, but an adult can't follow them thru the obstacles. Lost our daughter until we screamed her name a few times and got a CM involved. Luckily, she's 23 now and doesn't remember a thing.

Well if there's only one exit, then it doesn't seem like they can really get lost? And I would think that was why it was designed that way.

 

[AJKMOM]

Well if there's only one exit, then it doesn't seem like they can really get lost? And I would think that was why it was designed that way.

We didn't know that until we lost her and asked for help. Then, DH stood with the other 2 kids at the entrance/exit while I looked for the lost one. There wasn't a sign or anything, at the time anyway, that said "This is the only exit". That would have been helpful.

It was about 15 years ago or so.

 

[tinkerbell_29]

Speaking from the lost child perspective it is terfying when you turn around and realize your parents are not there. Once when i was 6 I was seprated for about 20 min from my family while in the MK. It was our very first trip and I had no clue what to do. I remember sitting down on the ground next to IASW and just waiting hoping mom or dad would find me. The second time I was with my brother and it wasn't that we were lost but seprated due to a monorail driver. My mom uses a wheelchair and we were boarding the monorail from EPCOT heading to the MK. The CM had my brother and I board and then was going to put the ramp down and board my mom. Before he could do that the driver closed the doors and pulled off. We got all the way to the MK before a CM stopped us. None of the CM's seemed to notice we were without parents I was only 7 my brother was 5 so we were to young to be on our own. I even asked a cm if there was more than one monorial that went to EPCOT trying to find a way back to our parents. So yes children get lost all the time but CM's really need better training on how to deal not only with the parents but also with the kids.

Lissa

 

[Purseval]

I don't see anyone in this thread who is arguing with this point. So, who are you arguing with?

I could see how you would be confused, those things tend to happen when you jump into the middle of a thread without reading it for context. The original comment I made was about folks who overblow an already scary situation by pointing out all of the horrible things that can happen, when in fact those horrible things have never happened at WDW. We do tend to go off into tangents, you might want to start over.

 

[Purseval]

In addition to my "pithy clipart" I posted a lengthy question to you about your remarks, which you failed to answer.

Call it human nature (like panicking) but I generally don't feel obligated to give lengthy explanations to people who start off their questions with a gratuitous insult.

 

[bwilcox]

Call it human nature (like panicking) but I generally don't feel obligated to give lengthy explanations to people who start off their questions with a gratuitous insult.

It's possible to make a point without making an enemy.

 

[winnapooh]

I could see how you would be confused, those things tend to happen when you jump into the middle of a thread without reading it for context. The original comment I made was about folks who overblow an already scary situation by pointing out all of the horrible things that can happen, when in fact those horrible things have never happened at WDW. We do tend to go off into tangents, you might want to start over.

Wow, it's amazing how nice some people on the dis really are! (Or aren't!)

Just because things haven't happened before, doesn't mean they won't happen at some point in the future. You really should re-examine what you are arguing about!!! (And yes, I have read the whole thread...)

And I also have to add that when you get separated from family in a place as busy as WDW, it's easy to become disoriented. I can't imagine what a child that gets separated must feel...I know that as an adult, it's not a comfortable feeling. My husband and I got seprarated after Wishes this spring, at the start of EMH when we were trying to make our way upstream while everyone else was going out of the park. Neither of us had our cell phones on us. We spent almost 1/2 hour looking for each other, and managed to keep passing each other without noticing (there were just so many people).

Yes, as adults, we could have both gone back to the room and found each other. Or gone to City Hall...or, or, or...but the reality of it is that when you don't recognize a single face in the crowd, it's pretty unnerving. I can't imagine that feeling in a child. Or for the parent.

After that, we decided that on all future trips, if we got separated that we would make our way to wherever we had been planning to go to next and stay there until we found the rest of our group.

 

[Salukfan]

I hate to seem... defensive of my own, as it were, but I do work as a Camp Counselor at FoLK, and I'm quite certain I remember this exact situation. I wasn't one of the cast members you interacted with-- I spent most of that day inside the theater, but I do remember the lost child call from outside the theater. We were aware of the situation (we were told to look for a child matching a certain description inside of our theater) and were trying to remedy it as best we could.

Lost children do happen commonly immediately after a show lets out. It's chaotic out there and people get separated easily, and a lot of children do book it toward the Greeting Trails/one of the characters outside the trails. It happens so often that being told about it inside the theater was somewhat surprising, as the situations tend to be quickly resolved.

So I can understand (though not entirely justify) the CM's need to focus on the theater load itself. CMs in certain positions outside (especially the one you're mentioning) cannot leave those positions or there will be problems with the show load, blah blah blah. Sometimes operational needs do conflict with Guest needs and while I agree that the CM could have been more accommodating towards you, these things often slip by us when we're so used to them.

And, unfortunately, taking children to Baby Care (where we take lost children) from Camp Minnie-Mickey takes them pretty far from the location where they went missing in the first place. That makes it a lot more difficult to track them down, etc.

I'm definitely not trying to make you sound wrong or overly worried, but I'm just trying to inject a little CM perspective into the discussion to let you know that we're not apathetic or uncaring (not a wholly accurate statement of course, but that's the majority of our CMs, I assure you), just that sometimes our needs as cast do conflict with the needs of guests and it happens in unfortunate ways at times.

(If you really do want this brought to the attention of a manager within the area, you can PM me a name or description or just a desire for me to do that and I will bring it up at one of our meetings. We do what we can to promote positive Guest interactions and our team would be absolutely willing to hear feedback on our performances and try to make them better as needed).

 

[goofy4tink]

I hate to seem... defensive of my own, as it were, but I do work as a Camp Counselor at FoLK, and I'm quite certain I remember this exact situation. I wasn't one of the cast members you interacted with-- I spent most of that day inside the theater, but I do remember the lost child call from outside the theater. We were aware of the situation (we were told to look for a child matching a certain description inside of our theater) and were trying to remedy it as best we could.

Lost children do happen commonly immediately after a show lets out. It's chaotic out there and people get separated easily, and a lot of children do book it toward the Greeting Trails/one of the characters outside the trails. It happens so often that being told about it inside the theater was somewhat surprising, as the situations tend to be quickly resolved.

So I can understand (though not entirely justify) the CM's need to focus on the theater load itself. CMs in certain positions outside (especially the one you're mentioning) cannot leave those positions or there will be problems with the show load, blah blah blah. Sometimes operational needs do conflict with Guest needs and while I agree that the CM could have been more accommodating towards you, these things often slip by us when we're so used to them.

And, unfortunately, taking children to Baby Care (where we take lost children) from Camp Minnie-Mickey takes them pretty far from the location where they went missing in the first place. That makes it a lot more difficult to track them down, etc.

I'm definitely not trying to make you sound wrong or overly worried, but I'm just trying to inject a little CM perspective into the discussion to let you know that we're not apathetic or uncaring (not a wholly accurate statement of course, but that's the majority of our CMs, I assure you), just that sometimes our needs as cast do conflict with the needs of guests and it happens in unfortunate ways at times.

(If you really do want this brought to the attention of a manager within the area, you can PM me a name or description or just a desire for me to do that and I will bring it up at one of our meetings. We do what we can to promote positive Guest interactions and our team would be absolutely willing to hear feedback on our performances and try to make them better as needed).

Thanks for the post from a different perspective. I think we all realize how much the CMs to on a daily basis to make our time at WDW special. I think that the OP felt that she was more or less shunted aside, while the CM took care of business, getting guests into the show. She may have felt that little to nothing was being done to find her child. The saying that I always bring out at times like this is...'perception is reality'. The CM may have had some secret signal to others that relayed the info about a missing child, but the parent saw nothing to that effect. From her point of view, nothing was being done, while her most precious child was wandering around, possibly lost. I think we can all understand how that mother felt. And as I said, things may have been put in motion, without the mom realizing it. Perhaps the thing to bring to the attention of management, at the meetings, is that parents should be told that proceedures have already been started..her child is being searched for. Perhaps just that knowledge may have alleviated a lot of worry. I know that there is a lot that goes on that we, as guests, never see or are even aware of.

 

[Booyakasha]

Well, I am also less than impressed by the response of CMs at Animal Kingdom and I know first hand.

Last May my husband got sick after getting off Expedition Everest. My husband is 44. He almost NEVER throws up-EVER. So I was very concerned after we we in the EE exit gift shop that he was walking very oddly and telling me in a weak voice that he wasn't feeling well. He turned white as a sheet and as we were looking for a rest room, he stoped by a bush and began gagging and throwing up. He looked as if he would faint. It was very hot that day and I didn't know if he was just dehydrated or got woosie on the ride of was having a heart attack. I led my husband to a shaded corner and had him sit down while I looked for a CM who I thought could find us a cup of water or an ice pack or even some pepto bismal. The CM came over and did not know what to do. I asked for some water and she said "hold on" and left for about 10 minutes. She came back alone and said she was not allowed to give him water because if he is throwing up he "might choke on the water".
I asked her if she could sit with my husband while I went to find a kiosk and bought a $2.75 bottle of water for him. She looked as if she did not even want to sit with him. When I finally found a water bottle kiosk I practically tossed a $5 bill and told her to keep te change.
I came back and my husband said he was feeling better and he finished the water. I didn;t want to risk him getting sicker at AK so we hopped on a bus and spent the day in our room. I was worried about him the rest of the trip and I made shure he stayed about from the "big" rides for the rest of the trip.
I was really shocked that the CM did not help with getting us water. I was also surprised that there wasn't some other protocol they followed such as getting more than one cast member to assist a sick guest.

To wrap up this long story, my husband was okay after a few hours.

Your husband puked after getting off a ride that has warnings against motion sickness and it was a hot day. I think it is unreasonable for you to expect a CM let alone multiple CMs to take care of you like he was critically ill. If he had chest pains or some serious ailment than that is a different story. I think you way overreacted.

B.