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A Walt Disney World Resort guest recently went viral after she accused a character performer of discriminating against her young son.
Donald Duck at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park
Credit: Disney
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Felicia (@fethelc on TikTok) posted a video of her son running up to Donald Duck at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park. She was angry that the Disney character “ignored” her son in favor of interacting with another young girl.
“Although our trip overall was great, this truly pissed me off and hurt my heart. Smh My 2 year old son ran up to Donald (one of his favorite characters) and was completely ignored. Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t Mickey Mouse Clubhouse target demographic babies and toddlers?? Why does this grown ass teenager get a cute personalized experienced while my BLACK son gets ignored?? I don’t like pulling the race card truly, but what am I to make of this?? A high-five, a hug, something!?!?! It’s just a really bad look.”
@fethelc So, although our trip overall was great, this truly pissed me off and hurt my heart. Smh My 2 year old son ran up to Donald (one of his favorite characters) and was completely ignored. Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t Mickey Mouse Clubhouse target demographic babies and toddlers?? Why does this grown ass teenager get a cute personalized experienced while my BLACK son gets ignored?? I don’t like pulling the race card truly, but what am I to make of this?? A high-five, a hug, something!?!?! It’s just a really bad look. #Disney #DisneyWorld #donaldduck #WaltDisneyWorld #WDWOrlando #DisneyWorldOrlando #foryou #foryoupage #fyp #theshaderoom
In the video, Felicia encouraged her son to run up to Donald Duck as he walked to the meet-and-greet location in DinoLand U.S.A. As Disney character performers often do, Donald and his character attendant had picked a young guest to share a special moment with and walk to his photo op area.
Credit: Disney
The mother eventually told her son to wait his turn, but only after the character attendant had tried to stop him from interrupting the other Walt Disney World Resort guest’s interaction. Donald Duck focused his attention on the young girl.
The character attendant told Felicia that Donald Duck was on his way to the meet-and-greet. “Okay,” she replied.
Commenters told the Disney Resort guest that the character performer was following policy.
Credit: Disney
“It honestly doesn’t have anything to do with the color of one’s skin..characters cannot stop interacting with one to interact with another,” @ashhbrookee wrote. “Sometimes it just happens. Do a meet & greet! He’d love it!”
“If he stops for one kid, he has to stop for them all,” @jenna_smith2002 echoed. “The characters have strict rules they need to adhere to.”
Former Disney Character Performers and Character Attendants Respond
Disney cast members also shared their thoughts on the video.
Credit: Disney
“As crazy as this sounds there is actually a person inside that costume,” said @shadowandbitch. “They have to learn the rules. All cast members have to follow the rules. We get fired if we don’t.”
Former Walt Disney World Resort character attendant Vanessa Marie (@xvanessaxmariex on TikTok) posted this response video:
@xvanessaxmariex No one should come away from Disney feeling like they were ignored or purposely avoided. This is why attendants usually don’t make exceptions for anyone because feelings get hurt. 🩷 To the mom if you’re watching: I hope your trip was magical and your sweet baby had a great time. 🩷 #creatorsearchinsights #wdw #waltdisneyworld #disneyworld #disney #fyp #foryou #foryoupage #foryoufeed #dcp #disneycollegeprogram #character #characterattendant #tips #tricks #hacks #disneytips #disneytipsandtricks #disneyhacks #meetandgreet #entertainment #story #storytime #storytimes #skit #karen #castmember #excastmember #disneycastmember
Vanessa Marie advised parents not to allow children to run in the Disney parks, especially not toward character performers.
“Parents, please do not encourage your children to run toward the characters or say, ‘Go get them,’ because it just creates chaos and can cause injuries,” the former Disney cast member began. “However, that’s not what this video’s about. The mom does correct herself.”
Credit: Disney
She explained that the character attendant was following her training when she stretched her arm out to signal that the little boy should step back. It’s also normal for character attendants to tell guests who miss out on an interaction or walk up to a character in transit that they can see them at the next meet-and-greet.
“Another reason why characters and character attendants usually don’t stop on their way to meet-and-greets is because when people see characters stop, they kind of flock to the area, and it creates an unsafe environment,” Vanessa Marie continued. “Not everyone is going to be able to talk to the character… He’s going somewhere.”
Credit: Disney
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Characters sometimes walk the first guest that approaches them to meet-and-greet locations so they don’t have to deny that interaction. Vanessa Marie speculated that’s what happened with the young girl in Felicia’s video.
“It sort of creates a magical moment for her as the guest, but magical moments can’t be magical for everyone,” the former character attendant said.
Disney Park Guest Doubles Down
Credit: Disney
Despite receiving thousands of negative comments, Felicia stood by her original statement in a seven-minute response video:
@fethelc This is the nicest way I can explain this because I refuse to acknowledge any of y’all individually because you’re not special 🤣 Anyways, have a great day! #Disney #DisneyWorld #DonaldDuck #theshaderoom #fyp #foryoupage #foryou #DisneyWorldOrlando #WDWOrlando #WaltDisneyWorld
The Disney Park guest argued that Donald Duck clearly saw and ignored her son, even with limited visibility in the costume.
“I used to work as a mascot, some big-headed ass mascots with those awkwardly shaped heads… I’ve done it all,” Felicia said. “I’ve done lots of different characters, so I understand, but you can still see a little bit. I was always able to see all of the kids that were in my view.”
“Kids get excited…They run up,” she continued. “They want to hug you. They want to touch you…It comes with the job. If you’re not prepared for that, then you should not do the job.”
Credit: Disney
Related: The Aftermath of Racial Discrimination at Sesame Place
Felicia also said it was clear that her son’s skin color played a role in the interaction.
“Y’all don’t have the right or the privilege to be able to tell a melanated person that they can’t ‘pull the race card,’ that they’re entitled, or whatever,” she argued. “Y’all don’t even understand the history behind it. Y’all have never been subjected to your race being the reason why you were denied for something, so you don’t understand how it feels.”
Credit: Disney
The Disney Park guest said that, despite her original video caption, she didn’t think Donald Duck needed to stop interacting with the other guest to greet her son:
“Nowhere in my video did I say that he had to stop what he was doing with the other person to then interact with my son…What I said was, he was ignored…He was purposefully ignored, because if you watch the video, you will see how Donald reacted when my son ran up to him and you will see exactly what he should not have done.
I’m not saying that he should’ve stopped his interaction with the other young lady to then cater to my son, but it takes nothing to wave while you’re walking. It takes nothing to do a face while you’re walking. It takes nothing to hit a high-five while you’re walking.
I understand that Disney has their standards, Disney has their policies, Disney has their procedures. I’m not saying that we needed to break any of those, but it takes absolutely nothing to acknowledge another person while you’re with another person…I’m not saying that my son needed a special, personalized experience that would’ve taken away from whatever that young lady was getting.”
Credit: Disney
Felicia felt it was hypocritical for commenters to say her son “isn’t special” when Donald Duck gave the other little girl a unique experience.
“What y’all are trying to make this out to be is that I’m part of the problem,” she said. “A lot of comments keep saying, ‘Oh, your son isn’t special.’ But she was. That little girl in the video was clearly very special. What do y’all got to say about that?”
She also claimed that the Walt Disney World Resort cast member should’ve told her Donald Duck was headed to the meet-and-greet before the Disney character ignored her son.
Credit: Brittany DiCologero, Inside the Magic
“She said that after noticing that my son was ignored,” she concluded. “If that was pertinent information, she could’ve said it to me before that interaction.”
Disney Parks fans still weren’t on the mother’s side.
“Disney’s policy is to focus on the party you are with and give them your attention,” @zbeldon reiterated. “Many characters don’t interact while walking on and off stage at all.”
Credit: Inside the Magic
“The teen was in mid moment when an adult encouraged her child to interrupt,” @hakunaxomatana commented. “If it was the other way around and someone interrupted his moment, there would be uproar. Entitlement is gross.”
Still, some commenters sympathized with the family’s experience.
Credit: Walt Disney World Resort
“I’ve seen other characters be nice about it when they can’t pay attention to a child,” @mandah1080 argued. “They don’t just completely ignore them. Mom wasn’t trying to be entitled. She even told her kid to stop and wait.”
“It’s the fact that it’s a child, and the mascot literally dramatically moves away from the kid,” @xxwaves34 said. “It’s absolutely ridiculous. Just wave to the kid man, that was shitty.”
Who was in the wrong, the Walt Disney World Resort character performer or the child’s mother? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.
