A Walt Disney World Resort guest sparked outrage online this week after admitting to reporting 27 cast members to Guest Services. Their complaints about employee interactions during a visit with a service dog quickly drew backlash, with many Disney Parks fans accusing the guest of overreacting and targeting cast members unnecessarily.
A Laundry List of Complaints Against Disney Cast Members
The incident came to light when Reddit user u/fuckedbuttholes shared screenshots from an “insane” anonymous message board post. The Disney Park guest described how interactions with cast members during their visit led them to compile a list of employees they felt should be reported.
Any CM’s run into this psycho recently?
Any CM’s run into this psycho recently?
byu/fuckedbuttholes inDisneyWorld
One complaint involved a cast member at Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party who allegedly startled the guest by loudly asking about their service dog’s name from across a walkway.
“I jumped out of my skin because I hadn’t seen her there,” the guest wrote. “…I go, ‘ARE YOU SERIOUS?’ because are you fucking serious?”
Another issue occurred at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park, where a cast member made casual small talk about the breed of the guest’s service dog while they were experiencing a narcolepsy episode.
The guest admitted they had written down the names and work locations of 27 cast members, most of whom were Disney College Program employees, and presented them to Guest Services. They claimed they didn’t want anyone fired but said, “They damn sure need to be retrained.”
Disney Parks Fans React
Disney Parks fans were quick to defend cast members, criticizing the guest’s actions as over-the-top and unnecessary.
“It seems the examples given were not about cast members interfering with the dog but simply talking to the owner,” Redditor u/opthomas_prime21 argued. “If it’s not clear why the service dog is there, cast members might have been trying to figure out how to assist if needed.”
Others expressed disbelief at the guest’s behavior, calling it excessive and unfair.
“‘I don’t wanna get anybody fired but I took down all their names and listed them off to anyone who would listen,'” u/FlatBrokeEconomist quipped. “Sure, we believe you.”
“‘They looked like i shot a child when i started listing off names and locations’ because you are literally getting people fired over offhand making a joke about how they wanna pet your service dog?” u/tyisreallygay replied. “Sure, that’s not cool, but it’s not ‘get someone fired over it’ bad.”
Some fans noted that the cast member at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park may have been trying to help.
“I imagine the one cast member approached to make small talk BECAUSE they were fighting off an narcolepsy episode, and I bet that looks concerning!” u/soyboy412 wrote.
Support for the Walt Disney World Resort Guest
Not everyone condemned the guest. Some Disney Parks fans supported their decision to report the incidents, arguing that service dogs should not be a topic of discussion.
“If they rely on their dog’s tasking for safety reasons, as a narcoleptic episode can be dangerous at the wrong time, I think their point is fully valid,” u/unamusedjester argued. “If this was a seeing eye dog being distracted from their job over and over by staff who should absolutely know better, would y’all still be laughing and calling their concern unreasonable?”
“This person explicitly said they didn’t want anyone fired but retrained. I agree it’s a lot to post on some message board but there should be better training if CMs don’t know how to act around a service dog,” u/legendnondairy added.
Has a Disney cast member made your Disneyland Resort or Walt Disney World Resort vacation more memorable? Share your favorite story with Disney Dining in the comments.
The beauty of social media anonymous posts and being able to report cast members for events you feel the least bit slighted for. If I was working guest relations when those reports were made I would have been as sincere as possible and told them we should investigate to the fullest and retrain or terminate those reports…….then throw the list in the trash because this person is obviously too fragile of a snowflake. I am not saying the claims are not possible, but really 27 different cast members? If the person claimed that 27 other guests acted out that could be more easily believed. I have been going to Disney for over 50-years and have not had even a fraction of that many bad experiences and in most cases it is other guests, as the cast members by far go out of their way to be appropriate, unless you are wanting to to something against established rules. I am not sure how this person goes through life, do they write down names and report people everywhere they go?