Terrifying Experince at Epcot

[Amy&Dan]

OMG I was hyperventilating reading about your experience! I am glad you got out okay (and all the other thousands of people in that jam of people) but it must have been terrifying.

And to the suggestion of "push back" I think that's what happened at a Who concert many years ago. Pushing back is not a good idea. At all.

 

[lbklyn]

I also felt a panic attack coming on reading this story. I have been in human gridlock before and I would say it is one of the most frightening things there is. You TRY to stay calm but thinking that all it takes is a few people to set a stampede in motion is more than I can bear!
And when you are with a young child as the op was it is true terror. I am soooo sorry this happened to you.

 

[Bella O]

I just wanted to point out that the rest of our stay was great - even that night in Epcot - we were there four hours and we only experienced this one out-of-control event....but it only takes one, doesn't it.

To the poster who said to push back, I hope that was a joke. Just because somebody is pushing my child to the ground does not mean I should do the same thing to others. I was so afraid of the issue escalating to the point of a trampling. Jostling and a little pressure from behind is understandable. Pushing like a linebacker because "I'm the only one who counts here" is incredibly rude, boorish behavior.

(oh, about the omission of paragraphs - was kind of going for the "crowded, can't breathe" effect to mimic my emotions - sorry it just made the whole thing barely readable. I've edited to hopefully make it easier to read).

 

[KirstenB]

This truly makes me wonder what the attendance is for closing each park. I worked all through high school and college at Kings Dominion, and they would close the park about once or twice a summer because the attendance was too high. Since 40000 was a pretty busy day, I'd guess they closed somewhere between 45-50k guests.

WDW definitely has unique challenges, with pre-sales of tix, on-site guests, etc. I'd imagine they use years of data, but there has to be a certain guesstimate factor there too. They need to close them before it gets to this situation. OP, glad you're safe.

 

[MrsJ Henry]

AUGHHHHH I could feel your fear in your post. Having a child myself that would terrify me!!!
So glad you are all ok.

 

[edwardsfire]

Yea because one big mass of people pushing each other and children getting trampled on is an ideal situation, right? The Walmart employee who was killed from being trampled to death on Black Friday was big news here. I would definitely not suggest getting into a pushing match in a crowd full of children.

Dont take things so serious. But really, are you going to let someone push you?
Im not.

 

[jmskinner]

Sorry you went through this and glad to see you have gotten the information to file a complaint. We hit a couple of spots at AK that were gridlocked the Sunday before New Years. My poor parents were visiting us and I had talked them into going to the parks. Never again will I go during that week. I had planned on NYE at the parks, but realized it wouldn't be a good idea and stayed home.

I kind of like the idea of raising the prices for nights like that. Maybe have NYE parties at the parks where it requires a different ticket, or else they just need to cut the number down of those allowed in. There are several areas where poles set up to divide the pathways for traffic would be a good idea.

Oh, to the person that mentioned everyone buying package tickets, I was amazed when we went to AK that day how many people were buying tickets there at the gate. There were actual lines with all windows open. I have never seen more than one or two people purchasing tickets at the gate before.

 

[pixiefairy]

Wow...I was nearly in tears reading your post! I can only imagine how scary that had to be. We've experienced gridlock after parades, but nothing like you were describing. I did have a woman behind me using her rental stroller as a battering ram, but we were at least able to breathe. I'm glad you got some contact info to write to...and I'm really glad everyone was ok!

 

[lbklyn]

Dont take things so serious. But really, are you going to let someone push you?
Im not.

It actually IS a very serious subject. I am sure the parents of the young man
who worked in Walmart would agree. And the whole if you push me I am going to push you is how these tragedies start. If it is a one on one situation then yes I am going to push back, but certainly not in a crowd of hundreds or thousands. And NOT with small children or the elderly all around me.

 

[kmk1180]

Dont take things so serious. But really, are you going to let someone push you?
Im not.

That's exactly the reaction that causes the stampede.
I've been in simular situation and if someone pushed and another person
to push back and you would have had the results the the OP feared.
And until your in a situation like that you don't realize how helpless and what kind of fragile situtation your in.

 

[Amy&Dan]

Disney does need to get a handle on this. At Disneyland, they are thinking of making after 8:00 p.m. at Disneyland itself a hard ticket event that goes until 2:00 a.m. on New Years Eve because of the crowds which were worse this year than ever. It always sees horrid crowds on NYE as well, even with California Adventure right next door to it. Maybe WDW will follow suit by making NYE more expensive. Its a shame but for safety's sake, they need to do something. We were at Epcot three years ago on NYE and it was horribly crowded. We just got a spot on the ground at the lake about 9:00 and people watched. I didn't even want to attempt to navigate my way thorugh those crowds.

That area the OP is talking about is always a mess with people coming to and from the two sections of Epcot.

 

[Amy&Dan]

And until your in a situation like that you don't realize how helpless and what kind of fragile situtation your in.

Especially when you have a small child or children with you. Knowing they can get separated from you and not feeling like you are able to protect your child is a horrible feeling.

I'll add that at Fantasmic during the timeframe between Christmas and New Year's three years ago, we were in a huge crowd getting into the amphitheater. They did a great job with crowd control, only letting in blocks of people at a time. But I remember feeling almost panicky thinking if somebody started pushing, it would be deadly. I love that time of year at WDW, but its definitely an experience as far as the sheer volume of humanity!

 

[lbklyn]

My experience with crowds and pushing and being with a small child was not at the parks but at a hotel on a trip to WDW many years ago. In the middle of the night they sounded the fire alarm and swarms of people left their rooms with no direction (we all were on our own). You could smell smoke so everybody figured this was the real deal. In the crowd going both ways I was holding my young son and went into the staircase.
Complete gridlock, pushing and shoving! Terrifying.

 

[LMO429]

I think this is a great idea, but I doubt they would ever do it. You would then have people complaining about them jacking up the prices to attend on holidays.

I think it's in Disney best interst to make major holidays especially Christmas, NYE and 4th of July a Hard Ticket Event after possibly 8 p.m. Having crowds to capacity that cause people to be jammed together like that is a serious violation. its sad to say but its only a matter of time before Disney has a huge law suit on there hands for something god forbid happening during these huge crowds... I don't understand why there are laws in place to enforce it. For example you go to a restaurant or club there is a sign that says Maximum Capacity. Wouldnt it be enjoyable for everybody (Cast members included) if they put a limit on who gets in.

 

[ADP]

Navigating the parks on NYE is difficult. I did it once and I'll never do it again. It's just not worth it. The best choice is to stay back at your resort and enjoy their NYE activities and festivities. The parks are just too overrun with guests.

 

[bytheblood]

I think it's in Disney best interst to make major holidays especially Christmas, NYE and 4th of July a Hard Ticket Event after possibly 8 p.m. Having crowds to capacity that cause people to be jammed together like that is a serious violation. its sad to say but its only a matter of time before Disney has a huge law suit on there hands for ...

Excellent post and I agree.

 

[Charleyann]

We're just back from what was an amazing New Year's trip - except for our horrifying experince at Epcot on NYE. We were prepared for rudeness. We were prepared for incredible crowds. We were not prepared for Disney's inexplicable lack of crowd control on what is labeled by Disney's own employees "the busiest day of the year". We had entered through the international gateway after the earlier illuminations finished. We needed to get over to Norway for the princess dinner at 8:40pm. Our big mistake - going the "shorter" way on the map - through Canada, future world direction. When we had walked through England and Canada ropes had been set up with CM's on hand - having all folks going the same direction to the right of the walkway - worked great. While crowds were thick, walkways were, well, walkable, and manageable.

As we left Canada & got closer to FW, crowds slowly got thicker then thicker, then before we realized what happened we were stuck in the largest human gridlock situation I have ever been in. I was holding my 5 yr dd's hand, trying to squeeze forward with the crowd. I got separated from my dh, and two other (older) dds. We were "stuck" not moving at all except perhaps a few inches. The crowd was getting more and more panicked - including me, the longer we were not moving - at least 10 minutes. At no time did I see any CM's to aid in this logjam.

Suddenly a woman from behind me starts pushing on me. I turned and said "please stop pushing, we'll all going the same direction". She then, proceeded to push on us hard enough that my dd fell forward - she didn't hit the ground, as we were crushed together, but she was pushed hard enough that she fell forward onto the man's legs in front of us. I yelled at the woman that I have a little girl here, and you almost knocked her over. She kept pointing to her 10yr old-ish dd and said "Mother" "mother" while pushing me out of the way. I went ballistic, "what am I, if not a mother? My little girls was PUSHED over by you" She just shoved her way onto the man in front of me, till he gave her a few inches and she continued to push ahead, saying something to me in what sounded like a Russian or Slavic dialect. I switched to Spanish, which I can also speak, but of course, she couldn't understand me, or care to understand me. Anyway, now I was close to tears in this sea of humans, holding my dd tightly, and praying we'd make it out alive (seriously, I was that scared).
After five more minutes I finally saw 2 CM's enter the fray. Shortly after this, I saw a quarterback type kid pushing himself and his friends through - I literally held onto his friend and we were finally pushed through.

Meanwhile, my dh was back further, and because he had a stroller, became separated from my other two dds. My one dd, who has claustrophobia, started having a panic attack, and began hyerventalating. My dh found the girls, struggled to keep the 3 of them together - he tried to go back, or to the sides but was unable to move at all. People in front of him began turning around, saying the CM's say to go back. Of course, the people behind, refused to budge. My dh could now see if he stood on tiptoes, that there was now an empty space being created by the cm's (don't know if this was a too late crowd control measure, or if someone got hurt). He was finally able to push a path to the side and he and my dds stayed there, till he was able to get my dd to breathe normally again. During all this time, he did not see one single CM. After another 10 minutes or so, he and dds walked the long way all around the ws to meet me and dd who were now safely in Norway (though 20 minutes late for adr)

Crowds cannot be helped at Epcot on NYE. This situation however was completely avoidable, and could have completely been adverted with proper man power and crowd control. It is completely unacceptable, and easily could have ended in tragedy (it may have for someone unbeknowst to me). This is a comon bottleneck - all the more reason for crowd precautions to be put in place as they were elsewhere in WS that night. This is the most anti-disney thing I have ever experienced at DW, or for that matter anywhere (the Great Wall of China and NYE in Times Square NYC! pale in comparison!) I did complain (very emotionally) that evening to the manager of Akershus, as he was the only manager type person I could find that night - he was very nice, but really, what could he do?

I intend to write a formal letter of complaint, once I find the name of the person who heads operations at Epcot. I just don't want this situation to repeat itself and end in major tragedy. We were shaken all through the princess dinner (thankfully my youngest dd was so enthralled w/the princesses that she was ok). We decided not to let this horrific event spoil our evening. We did stay till midnight, illuminations was great, and we left w/no issues right afterwards thru the I.G. The only positive thing to come from this was that the crowds seemed easy after this - even Main Street USA right after Wishes on a Saturday night! If anyone knows a name I can write to, pleas pm me - thanks.

I hear ya! Last year my 11 year old son and I were in MK NY's. He is in a wheelchair. Crowds were similiar. People were falling into my son's lap in his wheelchair. He was hurt and crying! He was scared and I couldn't get him out. fast enough. Every few feet someone else landed in his lap or legs or knees.

I finally found security. Two security officers escorted us out. He literally pushed people out of the way and stated there were too many people! He proceeded to tell us that the police were trying to get through the crowds a short time earlier and people wouldn't move for them either
With that many people, and people getting hurt, Disney should really cut back the crowds before someone is killed!!!!! I will never, ever go to Disney at NY's again. It is dangerous and especially if you are in a wheelchair or if you are a child......

Charleyann

 

[savvy?71]

I think it's in Disney best interst to make major holidays especially Christmas, NYE and 4th of July a Hard Ticket Event after possibly 8 p.m. Having crowds to capacity that cause people to be jammed together like that is a serious violation. its sad to say but its only a matter of time before Disney has a huge law suit on there hands for something god forbid happening during these huge crowds... I don't understand why there are laws in place to enforce it. For example you go to a restaurant or club there is a sign that says Maximum Capacity. Wouldnt it be enjoyable for everybody (Cast members included) if they put a limit on who gets in.

I was just going to ask, what can Disney do about this level of crowd danger? *IS* there anything? When you have these events, these notoriously crowded-wall-to-wall people events, (as described every year), I can't imagine going, let alone going and being surprised about what happens. You throw thousands upon thousands of people into a mix and you have chaos, unpredictable chaos.

I don't see the enjoyment in tackling these kinds of events. Some people love crowds but with little ones, especially

What could have worked in the OP's situation? I love the hard ticket idea quoted above, but what in the OP's specific horror story could have been planned by Disney/CMs to avoid it?

Limit number of guests in (how is 'capacity' determined anyway? Sounds like Epcot was), hard ticket event for NYE, more CMs, and even security on hand with strictly guided paths?

Ugh, how awful. I sympathize with you, OP; I do not mean to sound challenging, cavalier, or 'that's what happens' about it.

I've said it before; you couldn't pay me to be in those crowds. I am a homebody for NYE anyway (and Christmas), so at baseline I prefer not to be in a theme park for those times. But add those conditions?

 

[Sher]

I had a similar experience in the Magic Kingdom on Christmas day in 2006. It was pouring rain and were trying to go both in and out of those walkways under the railroad. My girls were older so I knew they could find their way to the resort if we got separated, but some people around me were freaking out.

Finally, a cast member climbed up onto a trash can and directed people to move to the left if they were trying to exit so that people trying to get in could start moving too.

I wondered at the time why Disney--usually the example of efficiency when it comes to moving people (please move all the way to the right leaving no empty seats) didn't seem to have a plan in place. Being stuck shoulder to shoulder without moving can be frightening.

Sher

 

[iheartdisney]

Apparently, you never went to disneyland the summer of 05 to watch the fireworks! That "human logjam" you reer to was a nightly occurance when you had the fireworks crowd meet the Fantsamic! crowd.