Disney Abduction or Urban Myth?

[Eljay]

The hair dye part really stands out to me as unrealistic. I can't see applying, processing and removing hair dye in a public bathroom. Certainly not in 15 minutes!

Murders? Wow, I wonder if that really happened. I would imagine just about everything has happened in the hotels, but in the parks, wow, I don't want to think about that! I remember a few years ago, there was a hostage situation at the Boardwalk Inn. I think it was a parental abduction thing and everything was resolved safely. Scary.

 

[Nikisha421]

Not that I buy in to this one, but one of my regular customers has a daughter who has worked for Disney(Aurora, in the parks, etc.) and he always says that things happen at Disney that the public NEVER gets wind of. Murders, rapes, etc. I don't have much of an opinion on it because I grew in in NYC and if there's one thing I know is never take anything for granted. I watch my DD like hawk and am always aware of my surroundings.

Oh-I did hear this from a CM at the monorail. It's not uncommon for parents who live in FL to drop their kids off at WDW and leave them there! Like 6-7 years olds! THAT blew me away!

OMG...I KNEW IT WAS TO GOOD TO BE TRUE...SOMETHINGS HAVE TO HAPPEN IN THAT PLACE!!!

 

[simba20]

Not related, but when I worked at B&N, if a child was reported missing, we were told to make sure to ask what kind of shoes the child had on. Most kindnapers may think to change the kid's clothes, but have no idea what size shoes they will wear and thusly, the child will have on their own shoes.

Never thought about it, but I do always take a pic of my daughter on my cell phone when we enter the mall. So I have a *current* up to the minute pic of her. (yes I am weird like that).

 

[a_sailor's_wife]

Here's one my wife heard at work from someone who heard it from her hairdresser's daughter, yeah, I know, one never hears it from the person directly.

The mom and dad were pushing a baby carriage with their 4 month old baby inside through a crowd of people. The mom turned to talk to the dad and when she looked in the carriage the baby was gone. She started screaming and plain-clothed security people surrounded them asking them for information on their child. She said all the gates were locked and nobody could get in or out of the park until the child was found.
When the child was found she had different clothes on and her hair was dyed a different color. They were told that this has happened before and they recommend that children wear high top tied sneakers because they are harder to get off and that the parents are asked to identify their children through their shoes. To identify their child, parents need to recognize their shoes because they do not show the full picture of the child.

Any truth to this?

Thanks,
Bill From PA

My question is how much hair did this supposed 4 month have in order for it to be dyed? My DS at 4 months old was basically still bald.

 

[3boymthr]

OMG...I KNEW IT WAS TO GOOD TO BE TRUE...SOMETHINGS HAVE TO HAPPEN IN THAT PLACE!!!

Bad things happen in nice extremely popular vacation places all the time, it's just that the people in charge try to keep them quiet to keep people visiting. I've heard similar stories about all kinds of places. People go on vacation and they lose their "safe" practices because they assume that just because a place is a vacation spot it's safe. Plus sometimes people get into situations that they are unprepared for and bad things can happen. There is a reason WDW provides safes in all their hotel rooms - that should be your clue right there that WDW is as much the real world as any other location.

There are too many people at WDW and it's too close to a large city for these types of things to not happen. I'm sure people get arrested at WDW all the time for all types of unacceptable behavior. But I'm sure these people are pulled out of view of the general public before it happens. Just the other day I was reading about someone having their stroller stolen. I've also seen lots of posts about people wanting to have a beer or two with a friend/family member. How many of those one or two beers turn into one or two cases then into a arrest for drunk and disorderly? It would surprise me if WDW has not had to have more than one person arrested for becoming over the top violent with a cast member when something wasn't perfect or their kid didn't get to see Mickey because he had to take a break.

Just because WDW is a special place doesn't mean bad things don't happen. IMO as long as you are aware of this and keep up your "safe" practices you should be fine and WDW will be a happy place for you.

 

[teresajoy]

The hair dye part really stands out to me as unrealistic. I can't see applying, processing and removing hair dye in a public bathroom. Certainly not in 15 minutes!

Don't forget that they would probably dry their hair too!

 

[ilandrazdsw]

The public bathrooms are not so public anymore due to family restrooms. Male or femal can take a male or female child with them and others would think it is just mom/dad with their child. For some reason people seem to take their time when in them so it being closed off for awhile isn't so strange.

 

[fbb]

I find it improbable that Disney could sweep murders under the rug.

 

[Buzz Litebeer]

Any truth to this?

In a word: No. It is a classic Urban Legend, and one has been told about WDW, Disneyland, Wal*Mart, K-Mart, and Six Flags.

Not that I buy in to this one, but one of my regular customers has a daughter who has worked for Disney(Aurora, in the parks, etc.) and he always says that things happen at Disney that the public NEVER gets wind of. Murders, rapes, etc.

Nope. That's another Urban Legend.

(On a slightly related note, that particular Urban Legend inspired the character of the serial killer "Funland" in Neil Gaiman's award-winning graphic novel series "The Sandman". In the story, "Funland" preyed on children inside an unnamed (but transparently Disneyland-inspired) amusement park, because he knew that the park operators would pay handsomely to keep his activities out of the media for fear of decreased attendance.)

 

[lisadr]

In a word: No. It is a classic Urban Legend, and one has been told about WDW, Disneyland, Wal*Mart, K-Mart, and Six Flags.

Nope. That's another Urban Legend.

(On a slightly related note, that particular Urban Legend inspired the character of the serial killer "Funland" in Neil Gaiman's award-winning graphic novel series "The Sandman". In the story, "Funland" preyed on children inside an unnamed (but transparently Disneyland-inspired) amusement park, because he knew that the park operators would pay handsomely to keep his activities out of the media for fear of decreased attendance.)

What part do you think is a Urban Legend? There are cases all over the net if you look. Are you really saying nothing bad happens at Disney? Plus the girl in question told me about a rape while she worked there that happened to one of the girls in living on site. It does happen and people need to remember-they aren't really in fantasy land.

 

[hoffmann2828]

I don't buy the hair dye on a 4 mo. old, but I could buy it on an older child with longer hair. You can buy SPRAY ON hair dye. Imagine a person using black spray on hair to a little blonde kid. That could be done within minutes and no drying time necessary.

And, to a pp, awesome idea on having a child scream "this isn't my mommy/daddy". It would definitely make me take action as opposed to just a child kicking and screaming.

Jenny

 

[allyphoe]

That's why I thought my girls to scream, "This isn't my mommy/daddy!" instead of just screaming.

As an aside, a young relative of mine was abducted a few years ago from a very public place, in broad daylight. The child was kicking and screaming the whole time the kidnapper carried her away and shoved her in the car. It seems the other people there just thought she was a kid who didn't want to leave a fun place and no one batted an eye.

One of the TV newsmagazine shows (Dateline or 20/20 or similar) did a piece that ran a year or two ago. Kid on the street corner, minding their own business. Actor playing kidnapper comes up to the kid and drags them off. It didn't make a bit of difference what the kid screamed - bystanders almost always ignored them completely. "You aren't my daddy" is apparently generally interpreted as "stepdad trying to control tantrumming brat."

 

[dls881]

I can't believe this one is still going around. I first heard it in the 70's....
Remember: www.snopes.com is our friend.

 

[CanadianGuy]

Yeah.. moved this to the Rumors Board.. it's total myth.

 

[Allison]

I can't believe this one is still going around. I first heard it in the 70's....
Remember: www.snopes.com is our friend.

Crazy, isn't it? I can't believe how many people just buy into this stuff. Thank goodness for snopes so I can provide the link when I reply to the ridiculous emails about various subjects that come around.


IT'S PURE URBAN LEGEND

 

[Imagineer_Tech]

I was always told when little if being taken to yell "He/She stole something." as loud as possible which would draw attention from storeowners and security guards and normal people. And I was always told to never draw attention to my eyes. As much as they can change the rest of me everyone has different eyes and eye color can't be changed.

 

[Buzz Litebeer]

What part do you think is a Urban Legend? There are cases all over the net if you look. Are you really saying nothing bad happens at Disney? Plus the girl in question told me about a rape while she worked there that happened to one of the girls in living on site. It does happen and people need to remember-they aren't really in fantasy land.

Don't be ridiculous.

Of course bad things happen at WDW. The Urban Legend is that Disney is so powerful that they can keep any mention of these things out of the local media. They can't -- in fact, some of the local media outlets are rather anti-Disney-biased in their reporting (like the Orlando Sentinel, which is so biased some CMs call it the Slantinel).

 

[lisadr]

Don't be ridiculous.

Of course bad things happen at WDW. The Urban Legend is that Disney is so powerful that they can keep any mention of these things out of the local media. They can't -- in fact, some of the local media outlets are rather anti-Disney-biased in their reporting (like the Orlando Sentinel, which is so biased some CMs call it the Slantinel).

Ahh-OK I thought that you thought that-nevermind

 

[Flossbolna]

When we were on the Keys to the Kingdom Tour someone actually asked about abducted children at WDW. Our guide answered rather diplomatically that Disney is extremely vigilant and they have certain procedures to make these things very difficult. Obviously he did not say what these are. I think I have read once that the most cases of shild abduction are actually within the family, i.e. parents battling over a child after divorce.

He then mentioned that indeed things happen that you don't really expect to happen and that it even happens now and then that children are abandoned at the MK Parents just leave there kids there and don't ever come back!

 

[Geubux]

The part about parents leaving their children and never coming back is TRUE!

I know because it happened to ME! Disney was incredible, although I never enjoyed singing in IASW for all those years.