Disney Guest Describes Potentially Racist Encounter Between 5-Year-Old and Park Character
A parent’s account of a character meet-and-greet gone wrong at a Walt Disney World Resort hotel is sparking significant discussion online.
A Lobby Meet-and-Greet That Went Sideways
Reddit user u/Informal-Scholar1722 shared the experience on Monday, recounting what happened when their family arrived for lunch at the Jambo House building at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge and discovered that Donald Duck, Goofy, and Pluto were greeting guests in the lobby.
Animal Kingdom Lodge – Weird Character Interaction
Animal Kingdom Lodge – Weird Character Interaction
byu/Informal-Scholar1722 inDisneyWorldResorts
“I have 2 sons (one biological son who is white 2yrs old and one foster son whom I’m in the process of adopting who is black 5yrs old)…,” the guest began. “We waited in line for Goofy and he very graciously took a picture with our boys. Then we waited in line to take a picture with Pluto (we were about the 4th family in). When it was our turn, the cast member who was aiding Pluto hurried him along to another part of the lobby.”
The family followed Pluto to the new location and rejoined the line. The same thing happened again. And then again.
“Just when it was our turn, the cast member hurried Pluto along to another part of the lobby,” the parent recalled. “We did the whole thing again until it was our turn. And AGAIN, the cast member maneuvered his way around my sons.”
The family ultimately got a photo with Pluto, but it was rushed. The parent described their five-year-old foster son as “very thrown off” and “visibly shaken” by being repeatedly passed over for the character he had been excited to meet. The family didn’t bother attempting to meet Donald Duck after the experience with Pluto.
Hotel Management Didn’t Help
The parent raised the issue directly with the character attendant and with management at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge, but came away feeling dismissed.
“Now I will mention that the cast member did not seem like he was 100%,” they wrote. “Management was there and they were physically flustered. I made a comment to them and they sort of shrugged their shoulders…Management didn’t seem too interested at the hotel.”
The guest connected the incident to a prior experience at another Disney Deluxe Resort property, suggesting a pattern they couldn’t ignore:
“It’s not the first time that I’ve had an odd experience at a deluxe resort with my foster son (wilderness lodge once gave away our room and offered him an air mattress in a smaller room). I will add that absolutely everyone else at the Animal Kingdom Lodge was spectacular. I have never had a better experience at Disney. It’s just this one really odd experience that I can’t shake.”
What the Community Said
Responses poured in from Disney Parks fans across the spectrum of experience and background. Many urged the family to take the complaint further than the hotel level.
“We’ve never had what felt like a race related issue at any Disney resort or park (we are a black family),” said u/PEM_0528. “That being said, your concerns for how your {foster} son was treated is valid and yes, you should report your experience to customer service.”
u/imnotarianagrande echoed the call to escalate:
“I’m really sorry to hear this. Definitely reach out to customer service and express your concerns…In any case, they should likely look into re-structuring how they organize these more informal meet and greets.”
u/humble-meercat described an almost identical experience:
“This may or may not help, but we are an all white family and the exact same thing happened to us. I was super annoyed wondering ‘why the heck the cast member keeps shuffling the character away from us’ and finally I had to tell the guy we had already waited in line twice and could he stop moving on our turn. It was VERY WEIRD!
I was pretty mad at the time and If I were you and that happened to us and one of my kids were black I would be fuming. So hopefully knowing it happened to an all white family helps you somehow. I think they have some secret number count we kept hitting, maybe you did too?”
“It was just such a bizarre experience,” the original poster responded. “It almost felt like he was running away from us (it happened 4 times in total before I finally told the guy ‘no, my kids have been waiting and want to meet Pluto’). I love my son so much and am a little sensitive about him being treated differently. He is such a sweet boy and just wanted to have the same experience as the other kids. It helps so much knowing that it wasn’t just us and that other families have experienced this, too.”
Walt Disney World Resort has not addressed the incident publicly. The guest did not indicate whether they had contacted Disney’s guest services beyond speaking with hotel management on the day of the encounter.
Have you ever had a negative encounter with a character at Walt Disney World Resort or Disneyland Resort? Tell Disney Dining about your experience in the comments.
