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When guests walk through the gates of Disneyland Park, they are told they are leaving the world of today and entering “the world of yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy.”
Guests who visit Disneyland can head to a number of magical lands that truly transport them to another place. They can engage with swashbucklers on Pirates of the Caribbean in Adventureland, sing along with 999 happy haunts in the Haunted Mansion in New Orleans Square, and even ride the wildest ride in the wilderness on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in Frontierland.
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Related: You Now Live INSIDE Disney’s Haunted Mansion!
Fantasyland might be the most iconic and quintessential land in all of Disneyland Resort. It is full of incredible attractions, delicious food, bright colors, and amazing cast members. Guests can travel to hell on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, ride King Arthur’s Carrousel, fly with Dumbo, and travel to Neverland with Peter Pan.
While guests love all the attractions in Fantasyland, Peter Pan’s Flight is by far the most popular attraction in the entire area. It frequently has wait times of 45 minutes or more. That means that a lot of guests will be impacted if something happens and the attraction is forced to shut down.
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Disney rides and attractions can shut down for a number of reasons, but one recent shutdown of Peter Pan’s Flight left guests speechless.
According to Coasters101.com’s Facebook page, they were waiting to ride the attraction when they saw a woman board their flying ship with a small dog that appeared to be a French Bulldog. When the ride began to move, the dog “freaked out” and jumped off of the moving ride vehicle. That forced the ride to come to an emergency stop, which is more complicated than a traditional stop.
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The ride had to be completely shut down and restarted, while guests waited and hoped it didn’t take long.
During our trip to Disneyland last month we didn’t wait more than 20 minutes for anything – that is until the last ride of the trip when the strangest thing happened.
We hadn’t rode Peter Pan’s Flight because it doesn’t have Lightning Lane and it always has a long line due to the high demand and low capacity (it’s probably the worst “value” ride at Disneyland but that’s a topic for another day). The posted wait was 30 minutes so we decided to get in line. 40 minutes into the wait and getting close to the load area, we hear someone in line say “Oh, that’s a cute dog!”
We look over and a woman had just boarded the ride with her little White French Bulldog (emotional support dog?). The ride operator puts the lap bar down and sends the ride vehicle off. The dog was initially sitting on the seat and the women was trying to get it to sit on the floor, but wasn’t holding tightly onto the dog or the leash.
As the pirate ship begins to lift off the dog freaks out and jumps off the ride, down onto the roofs of London below! The guests in line surged forward to see what happened and the quick thinking ride operator hit the E-stop button. Luckily, the dog appeared to be unharmed. Unluckily for us, the ride had to be powered down and restarted, which took another thirty minutes and we missed the fireworks because of it.
It is important to note that guests are not allowed to bring emotional support animals into the theme parks. The only animals that are allowed at Disney are certified service animals. The Disneyland Resort lists the following rules for service animals.
- A service animal is a dog or miniature horse that has been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for an individual with a disability.
- Only trained service animals are permitted inside the Disneyland Resort or on Disney transportation vehicles. Emotional support animals, comfort animals and pets are not allowed inside Disneyland Resort.
- Service animals must be under the control of the owner at all times and should remain on a leash or in a harness. Cast Members are not able to take control of service animals.
Credit: DogsWithJobs Instagram
Related: Woman Tells Terrifying Tale of Fake Service Dog at Disney World
Many guests felt that the woman had lied about her dog being a service dog and brought in a dog that was not actually trained. They said that a true service animal would not have jumped off the ride because of the training it would have received if it was a legitimate service animal.
That poor dog, so many people are claiming emotional support dogs when they are untrained, unprepared and unable to cope with the environments and situations these people want to put them in.
I bet that dog would have much preferred to stay home or a little walk around a park as opposed to a theme park, I really do not understand what goes through peoples heads at times. 🤦🏻♀️
Credit: Reddit u/papa_giorgio
Now, legitimate service dogs are permitted on many attractions at both Disneyland and Disney California Adventure Park. At Disneyland, there are only a handful of rides that service dogs are NOT allowed on. Those attractions are:
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
- Chip ‘n’ Dale’s GADGETcoaster
- Indiana Jones Adventure
- Matterhorn Bobsleds
- Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
- Space Mountain
- Star Tours – The Adventures Continue
- Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance
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For the above attractions, a guest’s service dog will be kept in a crate in a safe area as the guest rides. For the rest of the attractions at Disneyland, the service dog (or miniature horse) is allowed to sit with the guest on the ride.
Guests who are caught lying about their service animal will be escorted out of the park and permanently banned from Disney Resorts. Emotional support animals are NOT considered service animals.
Do you think Disney should be more strict when it comes to service animals? Let us know in the comments!
No “comfort” dogs should be allowed. The “service” dogs has been so abused and dogs that are NOT service dogs but are comfort dogs are allowed in the parks. I am highly allergic to dogs and what about my rights? Is it right for me to be sick for weeks because of somebody’s “comfort” dog? A true “service” dog should be allowed and I will deal with watching where they are. A true “service” dog does not get petted by anyone. These dogs are providing a SERVICE to their owner and the owner gets training to learn how to keep the dog under control.