With the report of the current “Tigger accused of hitting a teen” incident at Walt Disney World, it is time we all get some perspective and recognize that at a place the size of Walt Disney World with thousands of guests visiting everyday; accidents will unfortunately and inevitably occur. This incident clearly appears to be just that, an unfortunate accident. Disney remains the gold standard when it comes to guest service and safety. Safety is absolutely paramount, which my son, a former Cast Member can certainly attest to. Disney Cast Members are fiercely devoted to upholding Disney standards and what I find ironic is that it seems that because of Disney’s ability to continue to uphold the highest standards of guest service they are unfairly scrutinized anytime an accident occurs.

After reading, re-reading and watching the video story of Tigger being accused of hitting a teen, what is strangely absent from this family’s side of the story was whether or not they had approached any Disney Cast Member immediately after the event occurred to inform them of this incident. Had a Disney Cast Member or management been made aware of this, they would have rallied to assist them as I have witnessed them do many times before.

The family claims that they simply want an apology from Disney. Having been to Walt Disney World more than 30 times, my family has never personally experienced any such incident with a Disney character. However, let me give you just a few examples of how Disney has “apologized” to my family over the years for incidents that were much more minor. During one visit our hotel room had a strange odor when we checked in, we told the hotel front desk, they immediately changed our room as well as our 2^nd room so that my family and I would still have a connecting door and when we returned from the park that night there was a basket of cookies in both rooms in apology for the inconvenience. Another time, my son sat on the curb at the Magic Kingdom to wait for the afternoon parade and there happened to be a patch of wet tar which ruined his shorts. I went to guest services simply to alert them that they should block that area off to prevent anyone else from sitting there and with deepest apologies they escorted us into the Emporium at the park, allowed my son to choose a new pair of shorts and paid for them. How about one more just for good measure? My dad’s sun glasses fell out of his pocket on Space Mountain, he reported the loss at guest services, even though he figured it was a long shot that they would turn up. By the time we arrived back home, they had shipped my Dad’s sunglasses to him. Ok, that one is not really an apology, but it’s just one of the great stories showing how important guest service is to Disney.

My point is that if in fact, all this family truly wants is an apology from Disney they could have saved themselves all of the trouble of hiring an attorney and going on television, they could have simply told someone at Disney who would have showered them with apologies right then and there!

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