Rescued Duck in Small World

[LvTinkerbell]

Well I have been to Disneyland many times but I have never had an experience quite like I did this trip. My Prince Charming and I decided to take a couple of days to relax and visit the Magic Kingdom. Our trip was on Sunday and Monday 5/7/06 & 5/8/06. Sunday was awesome and we had a blast but Monday started out somewhat strange. After a nice relaxing breakfast we headed over to some rides in Fantasyland that we had missed on Sunday. One of our first stops was It's a Small World. As we were entering the ride we could hear people who were in line waiting yelling at us about something in the water. All of us in the boat turned to see a mother duck and her baby in the water trying to out swim the boats. We all were pushing the boats away from the side so that they were safe. As the ride progressed the ducks still weren't able to get out. Eventually the mother got out of the water but the baby was stuck. All the people in the boats were more concerned about the baby duck than the ride as we lost sight of it the darker it became. The woman in the back of our boat vowed to save the baby and after much effort she was able to scoop him out of the water. He rode the rest of the ride in our boat until we could alert a castmember. Upon departing the boat we immediately went to the tower. We were all told by the castmember that we should put the baby duck into a trashcan. I could not believe my ears....a trashcan!!!! She said yeah we will stick some water in there. I thought to myself what kind of person is this woman telling us to put a living creature in a trashcan. The mother duck was flying around searching for her baby and we said can we just place him over with him mom and she said no she won't take him back which is completely false. Then a worker from the garbage dept. or maintenance showed up not knowing what to do either. They said that they couldn't find a box or anything to put it in and that they had already found two others ducks dead so there wasn't much they could do. After about another 10 minutes of debate while this woman held the duck she was told that there was a special place that took care of the animals. They told her it was behind somewhere but wouldn't tell her where. I told her it might be behind the petting zoo and to start there. Finally we all walked away from the very unhelpful and uncaring castmembers deciding to take the duck somewhere ourselves. I told the woman to just take the duck to the petting zoo and I was sure they would help her. I said tell them nothing about the fact that they wouldn't help you at the ride and see where you get. The petting zoo was nice enough to tell her to go to City Hall as the special area for the animals is located behind there. About 30 minutes later we ran into her on our way over to California Adventure and she let us know that she gave the duck to a castmember in City Hall and they promised to take care of it.
As we left that night my boyfriend and I couldn't help but stop in at City Hall to ask about the tiny little creature that was on our mind all day. We both felt we could have done more and were so sad that the mother duck never was able to be reunited with her baby especially if she had already lost two others. My feelings toward this castmember of It's a Small World will never be the same. Sadly Disneyland that day was not the Happiest Place on Earth.

 

[Alex2kMommy]

Oh, what a sad story.

I'm so glad you all took such an interest in the duckling, and I hope it is well cared for until it can be released.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

Wow - that is sad that someone could act that way. I wonder what would have happened if the duckling had been put near its mother.