What is Disney policy on intervening when children panic?

[Embel]

I have brought my children on rides when they were nervous, hesitant, etc. I don't have a problem with that, nor do I think that is what the OP has described.

But screaming, flailing and kicking? Come on! No one whose agitation level has reached that point should get on a ride in that condition, regardless of how or why they got to that condition.

If it were my child and they were simply overreacting, I would remove them from the situation. Try again later.

If it were my child and they were responding this way because they had special needs, I would remove them from the situation. Try again later.

In both of these scenarios I would consider talking to a CM and asking if perhaps I could have a child pass, or FP or something similar (assuming I had made it thru the line already)

If I were the CM, and I witnessed this, hopefully I would have the power to come forward and offer passes to attempt the ride at a calmer time.

 

[Celine]

You know.. funny enough.. and this really isn't related to this thread except for the screaming on the ride part. I know it's part of the fun to scream your lungs out. Especially on rides like BTMRR, EE, SM (both of them), etc.. but it is dreadful for those kids that are sensitive to screaming like that. My son is profoundly autistic and he panics when people scream like that.. he doesn't understand that they are just having fun. He honestly believes they are hurt or scared and he doesn't have the cognitive ability to understand.. "just having fun as I scream my head off." Certainly that's no one's problem but our own.. and we have worked with trying to use ear plugs (they don't muffle the sound enough and head phones are too risky), but I just thought it was funny (not in the ha ha way) that everyone was talking about the screaming and crying disturbing others.. I'll add that ANY screaming is disturbing to some folks. But, we still love Disney like it's our second home!!

Oh, and as a side note.. about CMs stepping in or not.. I can't help but wonder what makes them do it sometimes and not others. When we were there in 2008 my son was about 9 yrs old and was going through a weird phobic phase and while on our trip, suddenly became PETRIFIED of birds (didn't help the seagulls love to get all up in your business and will almost seem to "attack" you), so here we are at AK and a seagull swooped down in front of the stroller and he lost it.. just lost it and starts screaming "Help me!!" "Someone help me!!" as I'm pushing the stroller as fast as I can to the nearest store to get him away from the outdoors in the hopes he's feel safer inside. He just kept screaming that no matter what I said to him to try and calm him. Well, we finally made it to the store and he did calm down.. but I always wondered why no one approached us to make sure I wasn't kidnapping this kid!

 

[shalom]

but I always wondered why no one approached us to make sure I wasn't kidnapping this kid!

It may have been that he was so clearly scared out something outside the stroller and that he wasn't scared of you or of the fact that you were moving him.

 

[ttintagel]

You know.. funny enough.. and this really isn't related to this thread except for the screaming on the ride part. I know it's part of the fun to scream your lungs out. Especially on rides like BTMRR, EE, SM (both of them), etc.. but it is dreadful for those kids that are sensitive to screaming like that. My son is profoundly autistic and he panics when people scream like that.. he doesn't understand that they are just having fun. He honestly believes they are hurt or scared and he doesn't have the cognitive ability to understand.. "just having fun as I scream my head off." Certainly that's no one's problem but our own.. and we have worked with trying to use ear plugs (they don't muffle the sound enough and head phones are too risky), but I just thought it was funny (not in the ha ha way) that everyone was talking about the screaming and crying disturbing others.. I'll add that ANY screaming is disturbing to some folks. But, we still love Disney like it's our second home!!

For me, the scream's involuntary. The force of the ride pushes my diaphragm up and there's nothing I can do to stop it. Again, maybe this is just a quirk of my personal anatomy.

 

[YO's Mom]

When we were riding ToT for the second time, there was a boy about 5 or 6 who was crying as the ride was loading and really did not want to do it. As we were walking to our seats the father said, “Look at that little girl – she’s a lot younger than you and she’s not afraid, you big baby.” I turned around and smiled at the boy and said, “Well, to be fair, she is 6 years old and she’s not scared because she’s ridden this before and she knows how much fun it really is, right honey?” My daughter turned around and nodded her head yes at the boy, who was trying to stop crying. I just shot the father a dirty look for being such a jerk. And no, the kid did not look like he enjoyed the ride when it was over. Don’t know if it was the ride, or the fact that dad forced him to ride it.

 

[LazyDaisy]

I have a friend whose son has oppositional defiant disorder. He kicks and screams and throws a tantrum over things. To the point where he could hurt himself. The doctors and therapists have shown her a way to physically restrain him so that he doesn't get hurt. To me it looks like she is sitting on him and being abusive. But she's not. She's acting in the best interest of her child, even when she feels awful for doing it. So you never know what another family is going through or why a parent may say or do something. Some are abusive. But some aren't. But its hard to tell the real story if you're an outside third party.

When my son was younger, he had several therapists as well. He would wander at any moment when my back was turned, even to the point of using the restroom, or at night when we were asleep, and get into trouble not only in the house but sometimes would try to venture outside as well. (He was, what, 2??) We ended up locking him in his room when he needed to be restrained. His therapists agreed wholeheartedly, and we just had to make sure that it wasn't a fire issue. I'm sure if some outsider came in to find us locking our child in his room they would be horrified. But it was for his own safety. So, I mean...

 

[Missytara]

When we were riding ToT for the second time, there was a boy about 5 or 6 who was crying as the ride was loading and really did not want to do it. As we were walking to our seats the father said, “Look at that little girl – she’s a lot younger than you and she’s not afraid, you big baby.” I turned around and smiled at the boy and said, “Well, to be fair, she is 6 years old and she’s not scared because she’s ridden this before and she knows how much fun it really is, right honey?” My daughter turned around and nodded her head yes at the boy, who was trying to stop crying. I just shot the father a dirty look for being such a jerk. And no, the kid did not look like he enjoyed the ride when it was over. Don’t know if it was the ride, or the fact that dad forced him to ride it.

I would like to applaud you for going out of your way to try to ease the boy fears. I have never been a parent, so I cannot know the instinctive feelings to do so. It was most likely the father' s instinct to push his child and your instinct to try to diffuse the situation.

It reminds me a few years ago, I took two girl friends. We were at AK and it was about 60 minutes before the afternoon parade. I offered to snag the premium spot where the parade starts and ends while they went up to Rafiki's for a quick spin. They got back about 30 minutes before and we sat down holding our front row spots. I noticed a mother alone, with three children in tow, say 8, 5, and 3 year old in a stroller lingering near us. The crowd was beginning to fill in. They began to close off the parade route and we stood up to get our prime spot. I noted the mother beginning to move forward. While we were distracted by the CM's, we suddenly heard three young children sobbing, being pushed through the crowd and right in front of us. The poor oldest one was inconsolable and kept telling her mom it wasn't right, that lady's been here a long time.

I was 50 and childless; and hadn't dated anyone with children for awhile, so of course I was fuming. My first instinct was to push them back to her. My friends were more used to children jumped into action and reminded me it was not about us, it was about the kids. We got them calmed down just in time and I even let the oldest, who I felt more comfortable around, take some pics on my camera. We had a blast.

When the parade came back around, I swear we made them think they did it just for them. They giggled with delight. When it was finally over, those kids all hugged us and went back to their mother, but not before the oldest told me I was a very nice lady. My heart swelled twice its normal size.

They returned to their mother, and I had to chuckle because she told her mother what we did was very nice, but what she did was not nice at all. Out of the mouths of babes....