When thinking of Walt disney World, people tend to think of wholesome entertainment with the children’s favorite characters playing a lovable role. However, things aren’t always as wholesome as they seem, especially when employees of the theme park end up filing police complaints over being inappropriately touched by visitors to the parks.
Complaints have been filed by three female employees at the Orlando, Florida, theme parks during December.
They were playing the roles of Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and Donald Duck at the time, where tourists wanted to take photographs with the characters and decided to spice things up a little.
Employees in Disney character costumes abused
Women who have played the roles of Donald Duck and Minnie Mouse claim they were inappropriately groped by tourists, while one woman in a Mickey Mouse costume claims she became injured when a grandmother repeatedly patted her on the head of the costume.
The latter incident happened on December 4 when a grandmother, with her daughter and grandson, approached the Mickey Mouse character at Magic Kingdom.
The grandmother was reportedly trying to show her grandson that Mickey was safe and would not hurt him. To do so, she patted the character’s head a number of times, which led to the employee suffering neck strain and having to go to the hospital.
Another incident happened on December 3 at the Animal Kingdom Park where a woman aged in her sixties asked to kiss Donald Duck. While the woman playing the character agreed to the kiss, the woman then started touching her all over her chest.
Charges dropped
The Orlando Sentinel reports that the Orange County Sheriff’s Office investigated all of these incidents, but those wearing the Donald Duck and Minnie Mouse costumes reportedly changed their minds and did not press charges.
In the case of the Donald Duck character, the employee believed the woman may have been suffering from dementia.
In the case of the injured Mickey Mouse character, police told the employee this was a civil matter, and not a criminal matter.
Disney Princess abuse incident
However, the BBC reports that these incidents follow an earlier case, where a 51-year-old man was taken into custody during November for allegedly groping the breast of a Disney Princess while a photo was taken of them.
Speaking to the BBC, a spokesperson for Disney said all employees should feel safe at work. They said any cast members who experience an uncomfortable situation at work should come forward and report it. Reportedly the organization works hard to protect their cast members while working at the parks, including on-site police officers who can respond as and when they are needed.