The employee who portrays Mickey Mouse went to the hospital. Two (2) women who portray Minnie Mouse and Donald Duck said they were groped.
The three (3) Walt Disney World Resort (Walt Disney World) employees who bring life to much-loved Characters filed law-enforcement reports earlier this month claiming guests touched them inappropriately at the theme parks.
In one (1) particular case, a woman who works as Mickey Mouse at the Magic Kingdom visited the hospital because of a neck injury after a woman patted her on the costume head around five (5) times, according to the report she filed with Orange County Sheriff’s Office (OCSO).
The force of the pats made the Character’s head slide down, straining the 36-year-old employee’s neck, the report states.
The 36-year-old woman didn’t believe the grandmother hurt her on purpose, and OCSO ruled the 4th December incident a civil matter, not a criminal one.
Now lawsuits appear to have been filed in Orange County Circuit Court. The family said they weren’t aware the employee had been taken to the hospital…until they were contacted by the Orlando Sentinel Thursday (26th December, 2019).
The grandmother touched Mickey to prove to her nearly 2-year-old nervous grandson there was nothing to be afraid of by the giant rodent, the woman’s son-in-law, Boone Scheer said.
“Share barely touched him,” Scheer said, adding his mother-in-law wouldn’t intentionally hurt Mickey Mouse. “It was very minimal.”
Nobody at the park said anything to the family about the incident until hours later, when the family tried to check into their Walt Disney World hotel, Scheer said.
The family didn’t understand whether Walt Disney World has a no-touching rule for the costumed characters, since they give high-fives and hugs to visitors, Scheer said.
Disney interviewed his wife, and “they definitely tried to insinuate it was on purpose,” said Scheer, who is a part-time resident in Fort Myers and Alaska.
Another incident happened that same day at the Magic Kingdom…
It began innocently when a 36-year-old Walt Disney World employee who portrays Minnie Mouse posed for pictures with a man and his wife from Minnesota in the park’s circus-themed meet and greet area – Storybook Circus essentially.
Afterwards, Minnie Mouse gave the man a hug. Then without saying a word, he groped her chest 3 times, according to the sheriff’s incident report. The employee who was groped alerted her supervisors.
On the 6th December, she identified pictures of the 61-year-old man from Brewster, Minnesota. The employee involved decided against pressing charges. It wasn’t the first time the man had done something wrong at Disney World on his trip.
The man also had “an inappropriate interaction with a cast member” on the 5th December at the Magic Kingdom, according to the sheriff’s office incident report. The report on this incident didn’t provide any details on what happened. Disney declined to comment.
Disney took some action to ban the man from the theme parks at Walt Disney World. The sheriff’s office report stated the following:
“It should be noted that [the man] is a Disney Vacation Club member. As a result, he was trespassed from all of Walt Disney World property, to exclude the Saratoga Springs resort.”
The OCSO also responded to another call from a guest mistreating a Walt Disney World costumed character on the 3rd December, 2019 at restaurant at Disney’s Animal Kingdom restaurant.
A woman in her 60s asked if she could kiss Donald Duck, the incident report stated. Donald Duck agreed, however the situation escalated quickly as the 18-year-old employee playing the character said the woman began touching and grabbing the character’s arms, chest, belly and face.
The employee moved toward another Walt Disney World employee for help, however the woman followed her, holding on and then “frantically” put her hands inside the character’s costume, touching her chest.
The woman’s family realised what was happened and shouted at the woman to stop. The character attendant led the employee away to the break room. The employee later decided not to press charges, telling authorities she believed the woman who wasn’t identified in the report, may have dementia.
All 3 Walt Disney World employees who filed the reports with OCSO declined to comment. Stay tuned to Orlando Theme Park Zone for more on this story.
Source: The Orlando Sentinel, WDWNT
