Scott McDuck
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2019
I am extremely grateful for all of the advice that I learned on this site, and in return, I am in the process of sharing various nuggets of wisdom that I learned during my current trip. Perhaps none is as important as this: Tell your children what to do in the event they get separated from you.
The very first day we arrived at Disney, on our way into the park, I told my 6-year-old daughter that, in the unlikely event we get separated, she should immediately look for a Disney worker (who would be in a uniform and wearing a nametag).
Fast forward to night ~6 of our trip: We just finish meeting tinkerbell in the Magic Kingdom and are on our way out of the park to beat the Happily Ever After rush. Before we leave, I tell my wife I wanted to take a quick peak at the train parked at the station. My daughter wanted to come with me. My wife waited downstairs with our 2-year-old in the stroller.
After seeing an empty station (FYI: It's currently parked at the Fantasyland station, not the main entrance--in hindsight, that bit of info could have saved me a big headache), I tell my daughter we're leaving, and I head down the stairs with her behind me. I make a slight right at the bottom of the stairs and meet up with my wife and 2-year-old. My 6-year-old is not behind me. I run back up the stairs. She's not there either. I go back downstairs. Still nothing, except for my now-hysterical wife. It seems as though the exiting crowds are now picking up in intensity.
Hours later in apparent time, 3 minutes later in real time, we finally find a Disney photographer who was escorting our daughter back to us.
Later, my daughter would tell us what happened: As she was walking down the stairs, some people got in-between her and me, and when she got to the bottom of the stairs, she forgot where my wife was standing, and turned left instead of right. She started crying, but remembered what I had told her. The first Disney worker she found was the photographer, who started asking her what her parents looked like and what we were wearing. Fortunately, we were reunited before things got any worse. No damage done.
No one ever thinks this can happen to them. But we're living proof that it can happen to a well-meaning, if slightly negligent parent. Yes, you can hold your children's hand every minute in the park and be more responsible than I was. However, everyone makes mistakes and "things happen."
I was so proud of my daughter for remembering what I had said to her.
Realistically, even if she had no clue what to do and just sat down crying in the middle of the street, I'm sure some guest or cast member would have rescued her in short order as well. And the whole ordeal lasted less than 5 minutes. Nevertheless, I believe that both I and my daughter were well-served by knowing our "plan" in this situation.
Moral of the story: Take 10 seconds and tell your kids what to do if they get separated. And if you're going to lose a kid, Disney is about as good a place as can be.
P.S. My daughter was wearing a magicband. Afterwards, my wife was curious if Disney could have used the GPS feature to track her parents down. Apparently they do not use that, but they will look up the parents' phone number and call them. Fortunately, we never made it that far.
The very first day we arrived at Disney, on our way into the park, I told my 6-year-old daughter that, in the unlikely event we get separated, she should immediately look for a Disney worker (who would be in a uniform and wearing a nametag).
Fast forward to night ~6 of our trip: We just finish meeting tinkerbell in the Magic Kingdom and are on our way out of the park to beat the Happily Ever After rush. Before we leave, I tell my wife I wanted to take a quick peak at the train parked at the station. My daughter wanted to come with me. My wife waited downstairs with our 2-year-old in the stroller.
After seeing an empty station (FYI: It's currently parked at the Fantasyland station, not the main entrance--in hindsight, that bit of info could have saved me a big headache), I tell my daughter we're leaving, and I head down the stairs with her behind me. I make a slight right at the bottom of the stairs and meet up with my wife and 2-year-old. My 6-year-old is not behind me. I run back up the stairs. She's not there either. I go back downstairs. Still nothing, except for my now-hysterical wife. It seems as though the exiting crowds are now picking up in intensity.
Hours later in apparent time, 3 minutes later in real time, we finally find a Disney photographer who was escorting our daughter back to us.
Later, my daughter would tell us what happened: As she was walking down the stairs, some people got in-between her and me, and when she got to the bottom of the stairs, she forgot where my wife was standing, and turned left instead of right. She started crying, but remembered what I had told her. The first Disney worker she found was the photographer, who started asking her what her parents looked like and what we were wearing. Fortunately, we were reunited before things got any worse. No damage done.
No one ever thinks this can happen to them. But we're living proof that it can happen to a well-meaning, if slightly negligent parent. Yes, you can hold your children's hand every minute in the park and be more responsible than I was. However, everyone makes mistakes and "things happen."
I was so proud of my daughter for remembering what I had said to her.
Realistically, even if she had no clue what to do and just sat down crying in the middle of the street, I'm sure some guest or cast member would have rescued her in short order as well. And the whole ordeal lasted less than 5 minutes. Nevertheless, I believe that both I and my daughter were well-served by knowing our "plan" in this situation.
Moral of the story: Take 10 seconds and tell your kids what to do if they get separated. And if you're going to lose a kid, Disney is about as good a place as can be.
P.S. My daughter was wearing a magicband. Afterwards, my wife was curious if Disney could have used the GPS feature to track her parents down. Apparently they do not use that, but they will look up the parents' phone number and call them. Fortunately, we never made it that far.