An ongoing debate about theme park etiquette was recently revived by a video of a child assaulting two characters at Walt Disney World Resort. In the short clip, a young boy punched Donald Duck in the stomach while the character was dancing. Moments later, the same child shoved Pluto, causing the character to go outside and “cool down” before returning to greet other families.
Earlier this week, Disney Dining reported on a similar video from Disneyland Resort. Disney Parks fans were outraged to see a toddler yank Minnie Mouse’s nose, causing the character to collapse on top of him. Instead of apologizing to the character performer, the child’s parents yelled at Minnie Mouse.
This month, Noelle Jajo (@adventureawaitstravelco on TikTok) shared a video from a character encounter at Walt Disney World Resort. The guest posted the video to encourage others to teach their children about appropriate boundaries and behavior around Disney characters.
“Parents, please have a conversation with your kids about Disney Character interactions before visiting,” the TikToker wrote.
@adventureawaitstravelco Friendly reminder to talk to our kiddos about @Disney character interactions and what is/isn’t appropriate before visiting @Disney Parks #disneycharacter #disney #character #pluto #donald #kids #disneyresort #disneymom #disneyworld #bad #reminder #parents
In the clip, an elementary-aged boy punches Donald Duck in the stomach while the character tries to dance with him. Later, the same child shoves Pluto from behind. Pluto walks outside to “cool down” before returning to take photos with other guests.
“It was sad to see! Pluto was really upset and went outside to talk with a cast member to let them know about the situation,” the Disney Park guest wrote. “But what’s worse, is the kid still kept running around bothering them.”
Overwhelmingly, Disney Parks fans blamed the boy’s parents for not supervising him.
“Why do parents not teach their kids about how to wait their turn and how to be kind to others?” @mermaidfiguresk8er93 asked.
“What little brats!” said @hsarge0905. “That’s so rude of them to abuse a character like that. Shame on those parents for not raising & teaching them proper behavior.”
Others encouraged guests to step in when they witness a child abusing a Disney character–even if that child isn’t theirs.
“Nope nope nope. If I ever saw someone hit a CM, I’m saying something,” @extrapixiedust wrote. “I know CMs can’t. So I’ll always make a stand for them.”
“I saw a kid pull on poor pluto once and I went to tell the nearest cast member,” @runitsanna replied. “Hopefully something was done.”
However, some Disney Parks fans have accused Donald Duck of behaving inappropriately toward the child.
“That first one was protecting himself,” @bella_nonnie argued. ”Why was DD gyrating his pelvis to a child.”
Still, there was no evidence that Donald Duck did anything wrong.
Disney characters like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck wear heavy costumes and cannot verbally communicate when something goes wrong. Always ask before touching their costume pieces, and make sure they can see your children before urging them to interact. One misstep or wrong pull can cause serious injury to both the character performer and guests.
Are the child’s parents to blame in this scenario? Disney Dining would love to hear your thoughts in the comments!
Definitely the parents need to teach their kids that rough housing is not allowed. Donald was clearly dancing and was not even that close to that child and plutos attack was totally unprovoked . People these days are parenting much less , there are no rules, and no consequences in some circumstances. Therefore , kids do whatever they want , leading up to teenagers continuing the cycle . Kid was a brat but shame on the parents for not teaching him better