You know those heartwarming stories about guests making incredible journeys to reach the magic of Disney World? This isn’t one of those stories.
We’ve got a recently released Orange County Sheriff’s report that tells a way more complicated and honestly heartbreaking tale about a young man with autism who Ubered his way from New Jersey to Orlando, stayed at multiple Disney resorts, and then ended up completely broke and stranded in the Coronado Springs lobby with nowhere to go. The whole thing went down back in May, but we’re only hearing about it now because the sheriff’s office took forever to release the incident report. And just when you think the story has a resolution, his mom just revealed he’s disappeared again and is somewhere back in Florida right now.
This is one of those situations where everyone involved is trying their best, but the systems we have in place just aren’t built for this kind of scenario. You’ve got a 23-year-old who’s legally an adult and can technically travel wherever he wants, but he also has special needs that require daily medication and supervision. He managed to leave his group home, book rides to Florida, check into Disney hotels, and live his best Disney life until the money ran out. Then what? Law enforcement shows up, Disney’s trying to figure out what to do, his family is freaking out in New Jersey, and nobody has a good answer for how to actually help this guy get home safely. It’s messy, it’s sad, and it exposes some really uncomfortable gaps in how we handle vulnerable adults who exist in this weird space between independence and needing care.
The Journey Nobody Authorized
Adam Castro was living in a residential group home in New Jersey when he decided it was time to celebrate his birthday at the Most Magical Place on Earth. He has autism and other mental health conditions that require him to take daily medications. Despite being in a supervised living situation, he somehow managed to slip out and arrange multiple Uber rides to get himself all the way to Orlando.
His group home immediately reported him as an endangered person to local New Jersey police because, obviously, having someone who needs daily meds and supervision just vanish and travel across state lines is a huge problem. According to the sheriff’s report, this wasn’t even Castro’s first attempt at using rideshares to make unauthorized trips to Florida. He’d apparently tried this before.
Castro’s mom, Amina Castro, has court-monitored guardianship over her son, which makes this whole situation even more legally complicated. She’d been loading money onto his debit card, which is how he was able to pay for everything once he got to Disney. He checked into All-Star Resort on May 8 and managed to stay there for several days before the hotel got fully booked and he needed to switch resorts.
When Reality Hit at Coronado Springs
Castro moved over to Coronado Springs Resort, and that’s where everything fell apart. On May 12, Disney called the Orange County Sheriff’s Office because Castro was standing in the resort lobby unable to pay for a room. Deputies initially thought they were just helping sort out a booking situation, but as they talked to Castro, they started piecing together the much bigger story of how he’d even ended up in Florida.
“Initial assistance to Adam was focused on facilitating his ability to secure a room at a resort for the evening, however, as our engagement with Adam continued further information regarding his circumstances of being in Central Florida came to light,” the incident report stated.
Someone from Castro’s New Jersey group home contacted the Orange County Sheriff’s Office and told them she was seriously worried that Castro was experiencing a mental health crisis. She also warned deputies that she didn’t think Castro would voluntarily return to New Jersey and that he wasn’t being honest with law enforcement about his situation.
The Legal Handcuffs Nobody Wanted
Here’s where things get legally messy. Castro refused to go to a mental health facility, and according to the partially redacted sheriff’s report, deputies couldn’t Baker Act him. For anyone not familiar with Florida law, the Baker Act allows involuntary psychiatric examination of someone who might be a danger to themselves or others because of mental illness. Castro apparently didn’t meet those very specific legal criteria.
So you’ve got deputies standing there knowing this guy needs help, knowing his family is desperate to get him home, knowing he has no money and no plan, but legally they can’t force him to accept treatment or get on a bus back to New Jersey. That’s the kind of impossible situation that makes everyone involved feel helpless.
Castro told deputies his mom was totally fine with him being in Florida. Meanwhile, the group home employee was telling a completely different story, saying his mother “is in crisis attempting to secure a Florida attorney to assist with returning Adam to New Jersey.” Two totally opposite versions of reality, and deputies are stuck in the middle trying to figure out what’s actually true.
Disney’s Attempt to Help
Credit where it’s due: Disney comped Castro a one-night stay at Art of Animation Resort. That gave him a place to sleep and bought everyone some time to figure out next steps, which is more than they were legally required to do.
But after that free night, Disney informed Castro he’d be trespassed from property if he stayed without booking and paying for a room. That’s completely standard hotel policy and Disney can’t just let people camp out indefinitely without paying, but it still left Castro in a terrible position with no clear solution.
Castro told deputies he planned to take Amtrak back to New Jersey in two days. Cool plan, except he didn’t have money for a train ticket. He also had zero lodging plans for those two days before his supposed departure and no real itinerary. The whole thing sounded pretty half-baked according to the sheriff’s report.
Through some method that isn’t entirely clear from available information, Castro ended up at Orlando International Airport, got himself on a bus, and eventually made it back home to New Jersey. His mom confirmed he returned, but nobody seems to know exactly how that trip got arranged or who paid for it.
Plot Twist: He Left Again
Here’s where this story goes from “incident that happened in May” to “ongoing crisis happening right now.” When Amina Castro talked to WDWNT about the May situation, she dropped some devastating news: her son has left home again and is back in Florida somewhere.
“I’ve been praying to God for someone to help,” she said. “I know I’m not the only one – a parent, what you go through with an autistic kid.”
She’s been trying to get information from police about where her son is but hasn’t been able to get answers. She thinks he’s at some kind of treatment center even though he doesn’t have any addiction issues. Meanwhile, she’s describing feeling blamed for everything while being absolutely terrified about her son’s safety.
“Nobody knows what to do. They blame me,” she explained.
Think about that for a second. This woman has court-monitored guardianship over her adult son, which is a legally recognized arrangement that acknowledges he needs supervision, and she still can’t prevent him from leaving or quickly get him back when he ends up in another state. The system is fundamentally broken if that’s where we’re at.
The System Gaps Nobody Wants to Talk About
This whole situation exposes some really uncomfortable truths about how poorly equipped our systems are to handle adults who need support but aren’t quite disabled enough to lose all their civil rights. Castro can book Ubers, check into hotels, and navigate airports. Those are impressive skills that show real capability. But he apparently can’t manage money well enough to avoid running out of cash, can’t recognize when he’s getting into dangerous situations, and needs daily medications he’s not taking when he’s on these unauthorized trips.
Residential group homes can’t lock people inside. That would be a massive civil rights violation. Police can’t just grab someone and force them into treatment without meeting very specific legal criteria. Hotels can’t let people stay indefinitely without payment. Families with guardianship still face state-to-state jurisdiction issues and limited enforcement options.
Everyone is constrained by either laws, liability concerns, or practical limitations, and the result is that vulnerable people like Castro fall through every gap in the system. The May incident got resolved eventually, but clearly nothing fundamental changed because he’s gone again.
What This Means for Other Families
If you’re reading this because you’re dealing with something similar, you need to know you’re not alone even though it probably feels incredibly isolating. Amina Castro’s comment about praying for someone to help and knowing she’s not the only parent going through this with an autistic kid resonates because this is way more common than people realize.
The current systems weren’t designed for this specific situation where someone is capable enough to travel independently but not capable enough to do it safely. Guardianship helps but doesn’t solve everything, especially across state lines. Residential facilities try their best but have legal limits on what they can enforce. Law enforcement shows up but can’t act without meeting specific criteria.
Start documenting everything right now. Every incident, every conversation with facilities, every time you put money on cards or arrange transportation. Build relationships with autism advocacy organizations and lawyers who specialize in guardianship and disability law. Push your residential facility to establish better protocols for notification and response when residents leave. And if you’re hitting walls with law enforcement, keep escalating until someone listens.
This story doesn’t have a happy ending yet. Castro is somewhere in Florida right now, his mom doesn’t know exactly where, and the same systems that failed in May are failing again. But the more families speak up about these gaps, the more pressure builds for actual solutions instead of everyone just shrugging and saying “nobody knows what to do.” Your family’s story matters, and sharing it might be what finally forces the changes that should have happened years ago.
