15 former actors at Disney parks share the weirdest thing that happened in character.
Most of us have experienced Disney parks from the perspective of a visitor. We wait in line for rides, eat sugary snacks, and experience the gaudy magic of a fictional place referencing childhood movies.
But the actors at the Disney parks have a completely different perspective. They get to experience the chaos of hoards of guests, both touching and awkward exchanges with fans of their character, and of course, classic workplace drama.
In a popular Ask Reddit post, former theme park actors shared the weirdest thing that happened in character and it's a fascinating ride.
1. From Diehavok:
Dated an actress, the weirdest she had was a man asking for him to be in the suit for an hour. He offered her 3k.
2. From Judge_T:
I was playing Goofy inside a restaurant and I got swarmed Aliens-style by a hoard of <10 kids. Unfortunately, while I was playing around with them the inner hood below the mask slipped over my eyes and I was completely blinded.
We had assistants around whom we could signal for help by flapping our arms.
But the kids had made it a game of attaching themselves Tarzan-like to both my arms and to raise them I would have had to lift 3-4 kids per arm (dangerous even if I'd been strong enough to do that).
I found myself blind and completely rooted to the spot, unable to ask for help and with nobody realizing that I was in trouble.
I spent like a solid 10-15 minutes in that sort of limbo reflecting on the life decisions that had taken me there until the assistant came over and whispered 'set is over dude' and I finally managed to signal something was wrong.
3. From EarlSandwich0045:
I dated a girl that played one of the fairies for the Tinkerbell place.
Beyond the pretty much daily occurrence of old dads hitting on her (she was 19 at the time) the weirdest thing to happen to her was a woman with a 4yr old little girl was all excited to get a picture with Tinkerbell, who was busy, so my ex volunteered to do pictures and entertain the little girl while they waited.
The woman was a b**ch about that idea, rudely saying she was here to see Tinkerbell and not 'off-brand' fairies. So just shrugging it off, my ex moved on.
A bit later, she hears a commotion and Tinkerbell is obviously upset, and security shows up. Apparently, this woman was Tinkerbell's bio mom and had taken her granddaughter to Disney, just to violate the restraining order against her.
Disney Jail is a real place.
4. From ShireBeware:
Somebody offered me 400 dollars to have sex with him while in my Goofy costume *(makes awkward Goofy laugh).
5. From raybirdie:
I was a “mouse height” performer at Disney World around 2013. Can unfortunately confirm groping happened from time to time and it was incredibly uncomfortable.
We were trained to move away if we could and signal to the character attendants to escort the guest away if it happened. One time some guy thought it appropriate to pick me up completely off the ground in a bear hug.
The head pushed back and, because the inside is connected to us with head gear and a chin strap, my neck bent back with it and it hurt like hell.
Not a weird story, but one of my most memorable guest experiences was meeting a little blind boy as Mickey in Epcot. I gently guided his hands to the soft ears, then the nose, and bow tie and he was laughing and his smile lit up the whole room.
I still get emotional thinking about it! Interactions like that made it all worth it to me at the time.
6. From EddyBuddard:
When I was a kid at Disney World in the 70s, I watched Chip get into a fistfight with a young 20-something guy. The guy's girlfriend wanted him to do a picture with Chip & Dale, but he didn't want to.
Chip grabbed him in a head lock and his girlfriend snapped the photo. When Chip let go, the guy came up swinging. Dale had to jump in and break them up, as Chip started swinging back. For a kid of 12, it was awesome!
7. From reloadfreak:
I knew a friend (a guy) who wore Minnie Mouse costume. He told me almost all guys would put their hands around his waist. He wouldn’t dare to talk or else they will hear his manly voice and that might piss them off.
Edit: This blew up quickly. I feel I need to let people know that it’s not okay to grope the Disney characters.
My friend had introduced me to the people who play them and they are just normal people. All I can tell you is that they will make a disgusting face under the mask and talk sh*t about you later after work.
8. From SpaceLaserPilot:
I used to work at a different amusement park that featured similar costumed characters.
The worst thing I ever heard was the time one of the characters was overcome by heat in 95-degree weather, and vomited inside the suit, splattering the inside of the suit's head with their half-digested lunch.
They had to walk a long distance back to the dressing rooms breathing the super-heated vomit air the entire way.
9. From VogonSkald:
Not Disney, but mildly funny.
In the 90s, My mom used to work for the company that owns Kool-aid. She was over several commissaries (military base grocery stores) and I usually did odd work for her like stocking or building displays.
A few times, I got to put on the Kool-Aid Man costume. It was hard to see anything since the view ports were the eyes, mouth and they were super dark tinted plastic.
I was placed in between two racks of snack cakes and was scared to move much as I might knock them over. So I stood there for probably a half hour still as a statue while waiting to see people.
This small kid, maybe 3 or 4, comes up to me with his mom. His eyes were so big and he was adorably in awe. I saw him and bent down to say hello and scared the living hell out of that poor kid.
He BOLTED directly away from me, screaming in terror. I lumbered after him for about 5 steps...trying to placate him and tell him I was friendly..before realizing I was just making more nightmare fuel for this poor little dude.
His mom was laughing so hard she fell on her a*s.
10. From The68Guns:
I used to be the Easter Bunny at a function hall and people were just...weird. I've been threatened by a guy that told me he was going to throw me down the stairs. It's hot, too.
Some kids were really happy to get a picture, so it made it all worthwhile.
11. From The_Woman_S:
I was part of the Disney college program and I have my own stories but not as a character. My mom on the other hand, she was a character actor back in the day (60s or 70s).
They were testing a new headpiece for the seven dwarf costumes in Disneyland and my mom wore one of them out on a march with Snow White. As a Dwarf, your head is inside their hat, their face on their stomach, etc.
Being Anaheim, it was really hot that summer day and as they were going around following Snow White a little kid saw my mom “Doc” he ran up to give him/her a hug.
As he was hugging Doc, the plastic that made up the face started melting inwards and the child started screaming “I killed Doc! I killed Doc!” In hysterics.
Character handlers rushed my mom/Doc off through one of the secret passages by Pirates and got her out of the costume before the plastic could melt onto her. Always thought it was a fun story and curious how much it screwed up that kid.
12. From ExtremePikachu75:
I was one of the performers for Nick Wilde from Zootopia a few years ago, And if you’re not aware; a large number of people in the furry community find him highly attractive.
You can just imagine the number of people in that community who flirted with me and/or Judy and whispered some pretty sexual things to us. I think I also had a guy grab Nick’s tie like in that flirty way, we had to get him escorted out of the park.
The moral of the story is: don’t be inappropriate with the characters, we are real people underneath and the are legitimate consequences for that kind of behaviour.
13. From whodis_itsme:
I was Chip n Dale in Land and some dad came up with his kids, I was doin my thang and having fun with them. When it came time for pics the dad comes over to join us and all is well until after the picture when he asked for a hug so I gave him one.
He squeezed, pulled away, grabbed his kids hands, smiled and said,'I didn't know Dale was a girl under all that fur.'
I played it off at the time but it made me really uncomfortable that he squeezed hard enough to feel me under my costume...decided to wear binders while I was in character so that no one else could ever feel my boobs again through the suit.
This was back in 2019
14. From GuidingPuppies:
I was helping Br’er Rabbit. A teenage girl grabbed my shirt and lifted it up. The mom did not see it.
When the attendant told her what happened, she grabbed her teenaged daughter’s shirt, lifted it, and exposed her daughter’s bra to the entire line- including the 5-year-old boy behind her.
Stitch was another friend of mine. People like to hit him because he is “indestructible” in the movies. They think it’s funny.
The worst was when a teenage boy punched me in the head in the exact spot where a lip on the costume was, driving it into the base of my skull. It was the only time I ever left a set early.
Before the Chicken Little movie came out, they had him greeting at the art of animation ride at what was then MGM Studios. A little boy came up and punched me in the stomach because, “I don’t like to eat chicken.” That was a new one.
One of my most memorable interactions that has stuck with me: a kid with a pin for Give Kids the World (so wish kid) left his walker with his mom to walk up to Mickey Mouse. The mom started crying.
When we got backstage, I asked the attendant what was going on. She stated that his mom said he had muscular dystrophy and his wish had been to walk up to Mickey Mouse.
The mom told her that when they returned home, he was going to start using a wheelchair full-time. Those very well may have been the last unaided steps he ever took.
15. From jenpuffin:
I worked as a Smurf at Great America in the 80s. I was only 5 feet tall and maybe 100 pounds, I got beat up by five teenagers, because beating up a Smurf is fun I had a concussion and separated ribs.