In a summer filled with viral Walt Disney World fights and meltdowns, we uncovered another tense situation between guests at the parks.
This time, a 17-year-old girl said a stranger grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her over an argument over a viewing spot to watch the fireworks show at Disney’s Hollywood Studios on June 19, according to an Orange County Sheriff’s report. The Sheriff’s department incorrectly uses the term “fireworks show” in referral to the nighttime projection show at the Chinese Theater.
Disney Security stepped in to split up the suspect and the girl’s family. The suspect — an unknown woman wearing Mickey Mouse ears, a leopard print shirt, and jean shorts — fled the scene when Disney Security became involved and hasn’t been arrested.
The 17-year-old girl, her 14-year-old brother, and their 35-year-old father were visiting Disney World from Wisconsin and waited to watch the fireworks show in an area that was off limits, the sheriff’s report said.
Cast Members asked the trio to move, redirecting them to a different area. That’s when the girl and her family came into contact with the suspect. The suspect thought the trio was cutting off her group even though the girl’s father apologized, saying, “Excuse me.” The suspect’s group said they were there first.
The girl “removed herself from the situation” and then the suspect confronted her.
What seemed to trigger the suspect was she assumed the girl’s father was really her brother. The suspect demanded the girl go get her father even though the girl explained that was her dad.
“The suspect begins to tell [the girl] ‘she needs to get her dad right now’ and she feels horrible for (the girl),’” the sheriff’s report said. “The suspect then grabs [the girl] by her shoulders and begins to shake her while saying she needs to get her dad.”
The strangers “proceeded to scream and verbally attack” the two teenagers, the report said.
The girl’s brother told authorities he “observed the lady get close to (his sister’s) face while she was yelling at her. [The sister] told the lady not to touch her, and she was minor. The lady grabbed [the sister] and started to shake her and threw her to the side,” the sheriff’s report said.
The attack happened on the girl’s last night of vacation. The family left the next day to go back to Wisconsin.
“Disney advised they will be working on finding additional information of the incident and suspect,” the incident report said.
The sheriff’s report noted the case was an active investigation.
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Were the family of the suspect person wearing matching shirts??
Welcome to the new normal at Disney. Fights every day.
The women fled? Are there no cameras in the parks?
Well this how a village raises a child
I think it’s cliche to blame “society” at large for what ails us but I do feel the number of fights at WDW & DL is a microcosm of the nation, and the West, at large.
In a society where we demand instant gratification, where so many demand that others acknowledge them for whatever reason and if you don’t agree with their decisions then they must “cancel” you! “You must like what I like! If you don’t then you’re an (expletive)!”
“You must believe exactly what I believe if you don’t than you’re an (expletive) and must be unpersoned!”
In the case of Disney, they’ve fostered division instead of being a uniting factor! While touting “inclusion” they divide & hide. They remove things that practically no one found offensive. If you disagree then “YOURE A RACIST, SEXIST, HOMOPHOBIC PIG!!”
The nickel & diming, the exhaustion of a sun up to sun down Disney Vacation just wears people thin! The Fla heat & humidity does not help!
PICK YOUR BATTLES FOLKS! It’s often harder to walk away from a fight than it is to join one. We can disagree without being disagreeable.
There’s rarely an outcome to a fight in a Disney park that you will not greatly regret!
God bless!
I don’t agree. There are millions and millions of good interactions in the theme parks, but no one writes an article about those.
It’s only the once in a while bad interactions that gets written about.
Was she crazy??
You never, ever, ever put your hands on ANYBODY (unless it’s self defense), most especially a minor / someone’s kids. Holy cow, America. Sometimes we need to get a grip… it’s only DISNEY. We’re losing our minds. I don’t care how much money we spend… it will not always go our way. If someone is standing in a restricted area — What do I care?? It’s none of my business. Let them have a ball. It’s not my job to police people.
It goes without saying that everybody wants to see the fireworks and finding a good spot so that people can see the whole show without someone else blocking their view is difficult when there are a lot of people who want to see the fireworks.
It seems to be happening more often with larger crowds that people argue about who was there first. Logically, shorter people should be able to be at the front of the crowds so they can enjoy the whole show but that doesn’t happen. Instead, people are more and more selfish and inconsiderate. As long as they “were there first” and they “have a great view,” they don’t care that there are other people who are shorter and would like to enjoy the show too. Been there, done that. Nobody cares.