Welp, My Disney World Trip Went Horribly Wrong

Disney World is the Most Magical Place on Earth.

But for some of us, it can turn into a nighmare. That’s right. Today we’re talking tragedies — times when your Walt Disney World vacation went HORRIBLY wrong.

Let’s get right into some of our vacation horror stories from readers!

I’ve Fallen and I Can’t Get Up

I come from a long line of clumsy folks. My mom is notorious for spraining her ankle, and falling sideways off of bicycles. Yes, my mom is a lot of wonderful things, but she is not coordinated. Let’s get into some of your horror stories regarding falling and injuring yourself in Disney World.

Art of Animation Resort … a beautiful, fun place for the whole family to stay and play.

That is, until the exciting themed atmosphere lures you in and gets you to step in … mulch. Our AllEars reader twostepgrace said she severely sprained her ankle when she tripped and fell in the mulch behind Sheriff in the Cars section of the resort.

What I want to talk about here is that if you seriously injure yourself and you need the help of Paramedics, there’s a trick you need to know about dialing 9-1-1 in Disney World. When you dial, you’ll initially be connected with Orange County Dispatch. But that is not who will be responding to your call — you can save time by telling the dispatcher that you are in Disney World, and you need Reedy Creek and the District Fire Department.

If you want to be very clear, you can use “Reedy Creek” and “The District” to be as explicit as possible as to who you need to help you. Disney World’s first responders are held to the same standards as the rest of the nation — they pride themselves on being able to get to you fast and get you help.

Now Grace, the real advice is stay out of the mulch! I’m sorry, Grace, you’ve been through enough. All joking aside … do your best to stay on the beaten path. They’re safe, they’re big, they’re clean, they’re clearly marked — they’re where you should stay.

Something’s Missing

Let’s head over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in Magic Kingdom…the scene of a crime involving a pair of sunglasses that I placed in a little pouch in the ride vehicle where they tell you to put your personal belongings.

It’s all fun and games until you leap out of the ride vehicle with excitement, and you forget to get your sunglasses out of the little pouch. You go to a Cast Member, and they want to know which car you were in. You don’t know, of course, so they have you fill out a form…but that email saying they found them never comes.

AllEars Reader amosdegitz said his horror story is that his son’s friend lost his glasses on PeopleMover.

I think sunglasses are a tough thing to get back! Definitely fill out the form and attach a photo if you have one. It’s worth the effort to try — but in my case, I’ve lost two pair of sunglasses, and I haven’t been able to get them back.

Disney World uses a third-party company called Chargerback to help with its lost and found. So don’t be freaked out if you end up on a Chargerback website to fill out a form.

Now here’s a real horror story — on the 50th Anniversary of Disney World, I brought my brand-new MacBook Pro to Disney World, and I ended up leaving it in a locker overnight. I came back to Magic Kingdom the next day — and went to the Lost and Found counter at City Hall. They had kept my laptop because they assumed the owner would come right back looking for it — and I was able to get it back.

The normal process, though, is that if items in lost and found are not picked up by the end of the day, they are sent from all the parks to Disney Springs to the Town Center Storage House. It’s near the bus depots. This is where everything from Lost and Found will end up the day after you lost it. You can come here to check and see if they have your lost item.

You absolutely should still go onto the website and fill out the lost and found form, because that helps them search items when you come in person to try to find it. And it helps them contact you to let you know that they have your item. Now this is for the parks — if you lost something at your resort, it will stay at the resort and you should be able to retrieve it from the front desk.

If you head home before claiming your item, Disney World will ship your item to you for free — how nice! If your item goes unclaimed for 30 days, it will be donated to be sold for charity.

I Don’t Feel So Good

It’s happened to all of us. We work, and we save, and we plan, and everything is perfect about our Disney World vacation. And then we get here, and…then you start feeling ill.

AllEars Reader justineblackmon said a “2-year-old got us all stomach sick after a day at AK — first day of our trip.”

Guest healthcare services at Disney World are presented by AdventHealth, which is a very big hospital chain here in Florida. You can use their services by calling them at 407-939-7480 or through the Disney website. Additionally you can use Instacart of other delivery services to have over-the-counter medications delivered to you. They could bring everything from electrolyte beverages, to bandages, to crutches…yep, crutches! I checked!

I Once Was Lost

Let’s be real: Getting lost as a kid is a nightmare. And being an adult searching for a child who is missing has to be one of the worst feelings in the world. Luckily, when you’re in Disney World, you’re in one of the best places to have this nightmare come true.

AllEars Reader _emma._larouche_ said she got lost when she was little. “I got distracted by the hot air balloons in The Land Pavilion.”

While you’re planning your Disney World vacation, it’s a good idea to teach your kids to identify Disney World cast members. It’s a great to maybe pull up a picture of what their name tag looks like and show them, “This is an adult you can go to while we’re in Disney World if we get separated.”

If your child knows to go to a Disney World cast member and ask for help, and then you go and ask a cast member for help, you are now in communication with two people who will easily be able to communicate with each other. They can very quickly and safely reunite you and your child.

I’ve seen it happen. I’ve seen them go to cast members and ask for help, and they have been reunited within minutes. So it’s scary and I’m sorry if it does end up happening to you. But if you come here with a plan, it will resolve itself quickly.

Moogal’s Choice

AllEars Reader moogal is responsible for our next tale of terror. “Our Tron boarding group got called at the same time as our Steakhouse 71 res.”

This happens to a lot of people. You have a boarding group for your Virtual Queue, and your time is called and it happens to line up perfectly with your Advance Dining Reservation. It’s actually not a horror story!

There is a rule that Disney follows when it comes to negotiating between conflicting return times for things in the parks. If you have a Virtual Queue Boarding Group time that is conflicting with your exisiting dining reservation, Disney wants you to go eat. They want you dining and spending more money.

So, when they see on your My Disney Experience profile that you have a conflicting dining reservation or had one today, and confirm the fact that they were conflicting times. It has been my experience that they will let you ride whenever you are able to return to the park.

You’ve Gotta Pay to Play

It is a nightmare leaving your credit card at home, which is what AllEars Reader figmentloverforever did. There are, however, some things that you can do both ahead of time and after the fact, if you find yourself in a situation like that.

You should load your credit and debit cards into your Apple Wallet or Google Pay, and then use Apple Pay or Google Pay when you’re in the parks. Most locations have a touchless way to pay at the register.

If you’re really in a bind, you can have someone from back home purchase a Disney Gift Card online and have it emailed to you. They you can load that onto your phone, and cast members are able to scan a bar code so that you can use it to pay all over Disney World.

And if it is a debit card, you can probably find a branch of your bank here in Orlando. I have branches of my kind-of niche, Northeastern Bank — and they will make you a debit card while you wait.

Well, I’m happy to report that despite the horrifying nature of the stories we talked about today, everyone in them ended up just fine. I think I related to more of these stories than not! How about you?

You can watch my video of these horror stories right here.

And keep following us here at AllEars for all the Disney news you need!

What’s your Disney World horror story? Tell us in the comments below.

 

Comments (2)