What is Disney policy on intervening when children panic?

[GBBTomorrow]

Just back from a fantastic trip to the world, but still troubled over an awful incident we witnessed. The family in front of us in line at Dinosaur had two small boys, one of whom went into a full-on panic attack over going on the ride. The parents were, honestly, hateful, telling the boy he was ruining their vacation, squeezing and jerking his arms, and bodily forcing him into the seat and restraining him. The poor child was beyond tears, screaming, flailing, kicking. It broke my heart. If you could have seen the truly ugly looks on these parents faces....it was astonishing.

At one point, as quietly and politely as I could, I offered to have my son (12 years old, and doesn't like the ride but goes through the queue with us) sit with her son so the rest of her family could go on the ride. She barked at me that I "Have no idea what we're going through" and refused my offer and continued to manhandle the child.

We got on the ride, only to have it stop right after the loading area. The lights came on and this poor child continued to scream and kick and fight, while everyone looked on, not knowing what to do.

My question is this: doesn't Disney have a policy for situations like this? Shouldn't some Cast Member have intervened? I'm curious how this should have been handled and if the Cast Members were correct to just let the child suffer. (Not to mention the suffering of all the guests in the area.)

 

[RachaelA]

I have no idea what the policy is, but that is absolutely terrible that someone would force their child to do that!

 

[Suellen]

I'd say no policy. I mean you tried to intervene and how did that go?

Unless it was on the child abuse side.... (which unless completely physical winds up being in the eye of the beholder) I doubt that Disney would get involved with parents and children.

FWIW I think what you are describing would be abuse in my eyes. As you describe it... since I didn't see it I can't say for sure.

 

[Cherinva]

No parent should ever FORCE a child on a ride....it's cruel...I can understand if a child is mildly apprehensive and needs a little nudge...but if the child is screaming and in full on panic mode, then 1 parent should get off and stay with the child. Just MHO

 

[GBBTomorrow]

I'd say no policy. I mean you tried to intervene and how did that go?

Unless it was on the child abuse side.... (which unless completely physical winds up being in the eye of the beholder) I doubt that Disney would get involved with parents and children.

FWIW I think what you are describing would be abuse in my eyes. As you describe it... since I didn't see it I can't say for sure.

I see your point about my attempt to intervene, but then I'm just a guest, not a person in a position of authority. I guess I'm wondering if CMs have authority to deny someone admittance to an attraction.

Also, yes, I would certainly call this abuse. I am sensitive on this topic, but there was verbal abuse and intimidation, as well as the bodily force they used on him, jerking him forcefully enough to leave red marks on his arms.

Sad, sad, horrible scene. I am sick imagining how much worse it must be for this child in private if they will act like this in public.

But back to the question, it seems like Disney should be able to bar people from forcing the child on the ride, both for the child's sake and for other guests'.

 

[Jennasis]

EVERY trip I've ever been on I've witnessed some half-wit parents dragging their terrified child through the line and onto the ride (usually HM, Space Mountain, Splash and a few others). We're not talking about nervous or apprehensive kids. I'm talking like the OP. I've sat through many a trip on the HM while a child wailed bloody murder from start to finish.

I wish Disney had a policy that if a child or adult is that visibly upset they won't be allowed to board.

 

[J3nn78]

Not Disneys place to have a policy.

FWIW, I have forced my child on a ride before. I never used such language and said he was ruining anything, but DH and I picked him up and got him secured. I got lots of dirty looks, but wish those people could have seen my child's face when he got off the ride. I o ly did it because I knew he would like it...and I was right. I would never do it if I had any doubt.

 

[thornton0511]

My DD(6) panicked as we were putting our seatbelts on and did not want to ride Dinosaur and we had absolutely no problem telling the cast member that we were getting off at that point. I could not have even imagined at that point even hesitating or even talking her out of getting off the ride. I don't care what you are going through that is crazy! BTW she braved up later on in the week and rode the ride no problem. I don't know if a cast member could have done anything (everyone has to be so careful in what they do and say now days to keep from being sued) but that is just a sad sad situation.

 

[luvmy2babies]

I’m surprised no one said anything, even if just to ask what was wrong. Every time we were near a CM and my son cried (usually because he wanted me to pick him up) someone swooped in to ask what was bothering him.

I feel their pain, but it isn’t worth making the child ride and certainly not worth all the other things they were doing to him. I gave up 3 of my favorite rides during our trip because my daughter refused to go on them due to some darkness. It was annoying, especially one instance when she said she would, but got half way through the queue, turned and ran out. Thankfully we were last in line. But unless the place was on fire and the ride was the only way out, IMHO, there is no point in forcing a screaming child on to a ride.

 

[minnie mum]

One would wish that the CMs could remove families in similar situations. Stopping short of accusing the parents of child abuse (unless they witnessed overt acts of physical violence) you would think they could ask them to leave because they were disrupting the ride for everyone else present. The parents obviously don't care that they are making a public spectacle of themselves, but surely the CMs could remove them for 'disturbing the peace' or something like that.

 

[Jennasis]

Not Disneys place to have a policy.

FWIW, I have forced my child on a ride before. I never used such language and said he was ruining anything, but DH and I picked him up and got him secured. I got lots of dirty looks, but wish those people could have seen my child's face when he got off the ride. I o ly did it because I knew he would like it...and I was right. I would never do it if I had any doubt.

Sure it is. Why do the other guests in your car or in nearby cars have to be subjected to your child's screaming (or tantrum et al)?

 

[#1DopeyFan]

We got on the ride, only to have it stop right after the loading area. The lights came on and this poor child continued to scream and kick and fight, while everyone looked on, not knowing what to do.

I'm curious, why this happened? I guess not to remove the child from the ride?

I'm asking because when my oldest Ds was about 4yo, which was 10 years ago, we were trying to make him go on Space Mountain, as a PP said KNOWING he would love it. He whined all the way up, then the closer we got he started crying, not throwing a huge fit, just crying and begging not to go on it. I tried to load him on the ride when it was time, but the CM stopped us and said they wouldn't allow anyone that upset to ride a ride, mostly for safety's sake, trying to climb out, etc. So as frusterated as I was, off the ride we went. 6 months later, I was able to get him on it...guess what?? Suprise, suprise, he LOVED it!!

 

[photo_chick]

My DS has some... well, we will just call them special issues. When he was a toddler I had to literally fold him in half as he kicked and screamed just to get him in the car seat and I have been approached by police more than once in those situations because some well meaning person calls it in. And he has started to meltdown getting onto rides. I have never been belligerent toward him, and would never physically force him onto a theme park ride, but I do get firm. I can tell though when it's him trying to be difficult, which he excels at, and when he's genuinely scared. I get him on the rides because I know he will like it and if I don't then as soon as his dad and sister come off he will be very upset that he didn't ride.

My point is that a situation isn't always what it appears to be. Sometimes it is parents going over the line and forcing kids to ride something that genuinely terrifies the snot out of them. And sometimes it's not. Which is why it's hard to intervene when it's not your kid.

 

[chartle]

I have read that Disney does have a policy, one that I have seen used, but not applied here.

The Policy is to ask the child if he or she wants to ride, if they say no they are let off the ride usually with the parents screaming bloody murder behind them.

Maybe they have pulled back due to to many complaints from parents who force their kids on a rides.

Disney is not trying to be a parent here, they just want to make sure the kid doesn't make even a bigger scene while on the ride or worse try to escape the car and cause a bigger problem. Soaring

The last time I saw this was on Ellen's UoE. The kid was obviously fidgeting in her seat and the CM over heard the kid say I don't want to ride this in a scared way. They asked the kid and she said no. No matter how much the parents said she will be OK it didn't matter.

Again Disney doesn't want an incident, on UoE if the kid jumps out the car. It shuts down and it takes like an hour to reset.

 

[GillianP1301]

I don't think it's the responsibility of WDW to parent the kids who are there. If what was happening was causing or potentially causing harm to the individual or others, then I would expect them to step in. But, at any given time, there are tons of kids having meltdowns and tantrums in WDW, you can't expect a CM to step in for that and in the scenario you're describing (although sounds horrible), that's likely how it was being viewed. The parents are resonsible for their kids, bottom line.

 

[cyndik1111]

wow! what a sad situation. On one hand, you hope the parent knows what is best for the child, and there might have been some other things going on that you don't know about. And that this isn't really abuse.

But on the other hand, it sure looks like abuse to an outsider. And if someone interfers, and the parents get even more mad, then in private the child is abused even more.

I think the OP did the best she could under the circumstances. That is such a tough situation to be in. And now I am thinking about that poor boy's life outside of WDW. I just don't understand child abuse of ANY kind. sad, sad sad!

 

[Verstehen]

Not Disneys place to have a policy.

FWIW, I have forced my child on a ride before. I never used such language and said he was ruining anything, but DH and I picked him up and got him secured. I got lots of dirty looks, but wish those people could have seen my child's face when he got off the ride. I o ly did it because I knew he would like it...and I was right. I would never do it if I had any doubt.

There are a couple of rides I would "force" (read: gently but firmly encourage) my kids to ride at least once, including HM. I once saw a boy in line just absolutely sobbing the whole time. The mother was very sweet and patient, trying to assure him it wasn't scary. Other guests were trying to help out by saying the same thing. At one point she looks at me, exasperated, and says, "You'd think it was child abuse!" It didn't bother me because I knew that once he was on it, he'd love it. And I was right! I was on right before them, so I lingered a bit at the end to try and catch his response. Oh, he was skipping, talking about the scenes he loved best, have a ball.

That said, HM is NOTHING compared to Dinosaur (heck, I'm a grown woman and I'm terrified of that ride), and no matter how mild the ride is, there's no excuse for talking to your child that way. It's certainly not going to convince them to like it!

 

[ssleblanc]

I'm a little afraid of this with my daughter. I think she may be apprehensive but in the end, she is a total daredevil. I'm hoping she'll love everything she is tall enough to ride. If she is apprehensive I will try to coax, but I will not force. Certainly not to that level.

The only time I will ever be caught forcing a child of mine to do something as they kick and scream is A) fastening in car seats (thankfully this has never been a fight for me), and B) at least trying any and all new vegetables presented on a plate (this, I deal with regularly - I will force two bites no matter how much kicking and screaming they do ).

I feel awful for the child.

I can also see why this situation is one where Disney could/should have a policy. A) the safety reasons mentioned. A fighting child who desperately wants off a ride may try to circumvent the safety restraints - a danger to self and others. B) the screaming commotion certainly detracts from the ride experience for others (is that very different from flash photography during a dark show? - there are policies against that)

 

[chartle]

I don't think it's the responsibility of WDW to parent the kids who are there. If what was happening was causing or potentially causing harm to the individual or others, then I would expect them to step in. But, at any given time, there are tons of kids having meltdowns and tantrums in WDW, you can't expect a CM to step in for that and in the scenario you're describing (although sounds horrible), that's likely how it was being viewed. The parents are resonsible for their kids, bottom line.

But they have to here since it can directly effect the safety of the child. They don't care if a kid has a meltdown not getting a Mickey Bar, they do care if the kid tries to escape a moving ride vehicle. Not all the ride restraints lock you into a ride.

 

[Disneybuckeye]

When my middle DS was 7 we pretty much drug him on RNRC. Yes, he acted upset and was saying no, no. He had been on plenty of much bigger coasters by that time and we knew he would love it. He rode it and afterward said it was the greatest ride ever and we rode it 8 times that day. We also went on TOT where he did the exact same thing and we ended riding that 7 times that day.

Years later I was laughing about it with him and said I still can't believe you did that. He replied oh, I wasn't scared. I just wanted to make it more fun.

Yes, you never know with kids. I would stay out of their business.