Disturbing incident at Epcot last Thursday . . .

[arielsleepingbeauty]

My daughter wandered off a few years ago at The World of Disney shop in DTD. I was at the register paying for my purchases and I looked in the stroller and she wasn't there. I freaked out. I didn't know what to do. A plain clothesed woman saw me in distress and asked what happened. She immediately brought me over the guest relations, they locked the doors and several people were ready and waiting to look for her. I was in such a panic i even forgot what she was wearing, then I picked up my youngest DD and held her up and told them that she was wearing the same exact thing. She was found almost immediately. They did so much and in such a short time. She was laying with all the stuffed plush. What a relief. From that point on I have dressed them the same whenever we go to WDW or an amusement park. I also have ID tag on their shoes. They know all their information, but just in case they get nervous and forget. I have taught them to stay where they realize they are not with us. They also know to look for an adult with small children and tell them that they are lost.

I do hope that the little boy was found safely. I can't see how they could have monitored better when people were exiting especially at closing time. It is a mad house, it gets mobbed. I do think that the could have stopped illuminations. I would think that most people would understand. I know that this sounds unreasonable to a big business, but when you find that your child is missing, well there are no words to describe the feeling in your stomach, the thoughts that are in your head. It really is traumatic for a parent and the child. It's not a matter of a parent controlling their child. Sometimes a child does wander off. Like mine did. She was supposed to stay in the stroller, but something caught her eye at the same time i was paying for something. I was right there. I am not neglectful, I pay attention to my kids, but my eye isn't on them 100% of the time because that would be impossible for any parent. Controlling children has nothing to do with it.

 

[goofie4goofy]

I am not a parent, but I was a wandering child. My parents used to keep me on a harness when going to amusement parks and crowded places. A child has no fear, they see something and they wander off. Since they are so small they cannot be seen in a crowd. it must be the most freightning thing a parent can go thru. My DH and I take our neice and nephew everywhere and the fear of them wandering off makes me so crazy. We hold on to them so tight. I know many people think the harnesses are a terrible thing, but honestly as a kid who had one, I didn't even realize it. I guess it gave my parents piece of mind that I could walk but not walk off. When I see parents with their kids in a harness in WDW I always laugh to my DH and say "I had one of those"....his response..."I'm not surprised, you still wander off". I think they are a great idea.

 

[JESW]

Oh my gosh - I was there that night!!!! I heard people yelling and then I saw his Mom and she was hysterical and screaming "Oh my God my little boy is gone!" She was in front of Morroco and I went over to her and had my hand on her shoulder trying to get some information out of her - she was shaking so bad!!! A CM from Morroco came over to help and the Mom said that she had spoken to many people but no-one as helping her! (I'm sure they were but to her they weren't) More cms gathered around her so I left with my kids - ds11 and dd7. I was very shaken up by the incident as I have always had that fear of losing my kids at EPCOT at night - as we are there almost every night of our trip. (Now that they are older they know (I hope!) to stay still and let us find them)

My kids were also very affected by that incident and several times afterwards they asked if the boy had been found. It was a good lesson for them to learn to not wander off.

Jill

 

[Brian Noble]

The theme parks do have a set of procedures for finding a child separated from parents, or parents separated from a child. They don't use the park-wide PA for this, ever.

If A CM finds a separated parent, the CM is supposed to call the lost children office in the park. If the child isn't already there, the CM is then to walk the immediate area with the parents unless it is unsafe for the CM to do so. For example, a CM on parade control probably can't walk with the parent unless another CM takes his/her place. This proceeds for some time (less than half an hour) after which the parents are escorted to the lost kids office.

A CM who finds a child will notify lost children, ask them where they last saw their parents, and walk them in that area for a few minutes, and then escort the child to the lost children office.

The lost children office radios out descriptions for others in the field. Ideally, they find one another in the walk; otherwise, they should be reunited in the lost children office.
In MK, the lost children office is near Baby Care and First Aid. I'm not sure where it is in Epcot.

 

[jlatina32]

A few weeks (months? I haven't been on in while ) I saw either here or in All Ears that some guests were concerned about showing their kids a CM Badge and telling them to go to someone wearing one if they get lost, because they sell badges for guests that look very similar.

Sorry if someone already mentioned this, but I got back on 8/14, and I noticed that all CMs now wear their CM ID Cards clipped to their costume somewhere (usually their pants pocket). I don't know if this is because of concerns like what I just mentioned, but it seems like that would be extra helpful to show your kids if they get separated from you.

That is a very good tip. Thanks!

 

[binky]

I didn't read Dolce's post as being defensive in ANY way; he/she appears to simply be explaining Disney's procedure for handling lost adults (see post # 7).

I don't think the OP was referring to Dolce's post but rather a post by Rayelias, which was a little earlier and a bit rude.

 

[Susiesnowflake]

I was in MouseGears in Epcot a few years ago when a child's parents turned around and couldn't find him. They were absolutely frantic, and I too was extremely shaken by the situation and their fear. Whatever Disney's system/plan is for missing children, it immediately went into effect. If I remember correctly, the store was locked down, and there was immediate communication and coordination between CM's and security. Radios appeared everywhere, information was shared, and a search began. The little boy was found shortly thereafter, and when they brought him to his mother, I thought she was going to kill him for wandering off and scaring her to death. The poor thing was an emotional wreck, as I too would have been. It took forever just for my heartbeat to slow down. I was so scared for them.

 

[JRawkSteady]

I don't think Rayelias was rude. It's the truth. In all the years that WDW has been open, not once has any kidnapper gotten away. Sure there are creeps everywhere in this world, but Disney does a GREAT job at security even thugh it is behind the scenes. Children go missing every day in malls and parks elsewhere....many times kids are never found again. This has never happened once in WDW history, so obviously they're doing something right. But why should they can't cause a total lockdown everytime a child gets away from their parents? It happens so many times a day, you wouldn't believe.

 

[bctripp]

Mousegears is so big that it'd be easy to get lost in. My DD8 has a firefly phone through our Cingular account so she can call me if she needs me. It's not that much more per month, and she shares my minutes. I like being able to find her immediately. Luckily she's never got lost. She carried it all around our last trip to WDW. It's definitely extreme, but it works!

 

[lillygator]

I don't think Rayelias was rude. It's the truth. In all the years that WDW has been open, not once has any kidnapper gotten away. Sure there are creeps everywhere in this world, but Disney does a GREAT job at security even thugh it is behind the scenes. Children go missing every day in malls and parks elsewhere....many times kids are never found again. This has never happened once in WDW history, so obviously they're doing something right. But why should they can't cause a total lockdown everytime a child gets away from their parents? It happens so many times a day, you wouldn't believe.

I agree!

 

[jlatina32]

Disney radios every other attraction, food & beverage cart/station, to be on the lookout for the child. There honestly is nothing more they can do. What do you think, they should shut down everything? I think they handle these situations perfectly.

I would never expect WDW to close down because of a lost child. But the majority of the time a lost child has nothing to do with how much "control" a parent has over them. You have to look at things from a 5,6,7,8 etc....year olds perspective. They see something....it can be Mickey, Minnie, or an adorable Goofy shirt, hat.....well, you get the point. Alot of the time, the child under estimates just how far they have walked away from their parents. For all the child knows, mommy and daddy are just an inch away and in a crowd of people in a big park, it just takes a split second.

So, if your put yourself in a little ones shoes and think how you would feel being WDW at the age. When you do.....let me know.

 

[faindrops27]

Ok this may sound heartless. And yes, they were in Disney. But, how do you lose a 5 year old? I would never let go of my children's hands in that type of enviroment. If I do, my eyes are always on them. I mean it only takes a second. I am traveling with a soon to be 13 year old, and I will not even allow him on rides alone, in fear of seperation. I say much is to blame for the parents. Me, as a mother. I just never let my guard down. Even in the happiest place on earth. All a predator, would have to do is buy a ticket.

 

[Fitswimmer]

We lost DNephew at River Country when he was 8 years old. We told the first CM we saw and were instructed to stay put and they would search. He radioed the info-what he looked like, what he was wearing and where we had last seen him. They found him almost instantly, playing with some other boys just out of view. The cool thing was that they were really calm with him and didn't make him feel like he did anything bad. It was all handled very low key, but efficiently and safely.
Think about it-if they announced a lost child it would inspire mass panic! Parents would go nuts, kids would get traumatized-and it would frustrate the efforts of the people trying to find the lost child!
Having seen them in action, they know what they're doing.

 

[mdhkitten]

I just wanted to say that I'm not sure how WDW works regarding lost children, but I was the guest services supervisor for what was until fairly recently, the largest mall in the Southeast. We had children lost all of the time, and we would call security who would get a description of the child, where they were last seen, and then radio this information to the many other guards that were working. We never had a child that wasn't found. They always asked the parents to wait at our desk in case the child came to find them, and so that the guards would know where they were in case they were to find the child or had any questions. They always asked people to remain calm and not cause a big scene, because obviously they would make other customers very uncomfortable. They would also never use the PA system (every parent wanted them to) unless it was a medical emergency. Just remember, this doesn't just happen to children. We had many adults get lost, and another scary scenario that I've seen are people with alzheimers being lost. I'm sure that happens at WDW, too.

 

[jlatina32]

Ok this may sound heartless. And yes, they were in Disney. But, how do you lose a 5 year old? I would never let go of my children's hands in that type of enviroment. If I do, my eyes are always on them. I mean it only takes a second. I am traveling with a soon to be 13 year old, and I will not even allow him on rides alone, in fear of seperation. I say much is to blame for the parents. Me, as a mother. I just never let my guard down. Even in the happiest place on earth. All a predator, would have to do is buy a ticket.

It doesn't sound heartless in the least. I am too one of the moms that does not let her guard down either. I am very on top of my kids. But it I am going to admit that it happened to me. My son got away from me as I was washing my hands in the bathroom. Read my earlier post #44.

You ask anyone of my family members and they will say that I look like I go through withdrawal when I am without my children.

 

[Evil Queen]

Regarding confusion between CMs and Guests. I believe it was Oprah (or similar show) where the "expert" they had on said to teach your kids to find a woman. It doesn't matter who they are, just find a woman (preferably a mother with kids but definitely a woman).

The rationale was that the number of women who are pedophiles or would take a child is so extremely low that this is the safest thing to do. Sometimes kids get confused about who is an "official" (i.e. CM, Police, etc.). Therefore, telling them to find a woman, no matter who it is, is the best course of action.

Don't know how true it is but it makes sense.

That does seem to make sense. I think I will be telling this to DS10, if he can't find a Disney Cart, Disney store or Disney Rest. right there, find a Mommy.

I'm also thinking I will let him carry the cell phone next trip, just in case. He can call one of my older boys, should we get separated.

 

[Eeyore2003]

Ok this may sound heartless. And yes, they were in Disney. But, how do you lose a 5 year old? I would never let go of my children's hands in that type of enviroment. If I do, my eyes are always on them. I mean it only takes a second. I am traveling with a soon to be 13 year old, and I will not even allow him on rides alone, in fear of seperation. I say much is to blame for the parents. Me, as a mother. I just never let my guard down. Even in the happiest place on earth. All a predator, would have to do is buy a ticket.

Not heartless, just naive that you think it could never happen to you.

 

[starrock77]

Does anyone know what is the official procedure for finding lost children? and also I know there are alot of cameras around the parks, but I have yet to see one. Does anyone know where some of these are located? They have to be hidden really well, but I sure would like to see a couple of them. Anyone seen them?

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) The incident you mentioned is VERY serious.
2) Disney DOES NOT take this lightly!
3) You probably did not see all the things Disney people were doing.
4) Trust me, they were not just standing around.

5) I have been involved in "lost parent" events many times.
6) This has been in parks and in resorts.
7) When a child is lost
. . . several CM's are notified and join the hunt
. . . several managers are notified and join the hunt
. . . security is notified, and they usually coordinate
. . . there are NO loud speaker announcements
. . . there is no constant yelling of the child's name *
. . . but there is MAJOR activity
. . . we look in the usual public places
. . . we even look in places that you didn't know we had places
8) Never have we left a child "unfound".

* We don't yell the name unless we see someone that fits the description, as we don't want to alarm others. Plus,there are so many people involved, that yelling would not help.

 

[zuzu310]

I just wanted to say that last year when I was with my mom, we saw a little girl crying near the Snow White ride and she looked panicked. I waited a few seconds keeping my eye on her and then after she seemed to be with nobody, I approached her. She said that she couldn't find her family so I took her to a CM at the store right outside of the ride and the CM started off by asking her all the right questions. What was mommy wearing? What's mommy's name? Where were you last with her? I was glad to see that she was going to help find the little girl's family and was being proactive about the situation.