How safe is your child at WDW?

[rsoxguy]

Sweetpee,

There can be no question that we must keep up our guard regarding the safety of our children. You don't know me personally, so I will tell you that I am one of the most protective fathers that most people have met. I have been criticized for the way in which my wife and I have raised our daughter because of our beliefs. With that said, you and I must agree to the fact that 24hr. news has changed the way in which the news is covered. As an example, how many times have we been subjected to traffic accidents being reported on a national level? (OK, I'll answer- many) This is not news that is relevant beyond a local level, yet the media is pressed to report a local story on a national level because of airtime. Such is the case with the modern world of news coverage. I have not worked in law enforcement, but I have worked with children and families. Are there dangers from which we should guard our kids? You bet. Is it an overwhelming issue for which we should be in a state of panic, as the media would intimate at times? Not so much.
I consider you to be a gentle soul, and I appreciate your concern for safety. I agree with you that we should be careful regarding our children. But I believe that the media can sometimes whip us into a frenzy as they declare that the sky is falling. I would prefer to just enjoy the clouds with my kid.

 

[jakeman]

I'm not trying to be doom-n-gloom or all conspiracy-crazed. I have no clue if this sort of thing has ever occurred at WDW. My argument is that it could. Just because we've never heard of it doesn't mean it hasn't. Just because it hasn't happened doesn't mean it can't. Don't be lulled into a false sense of security because you're at Disney. They do all they can to provide a safe environment but we have to do our part, too.

On the flip side, it's very easy to "what if" yourself into a paranoid stupor.

Really what it comes down to parenting. As a parent you should know what your child is capable of handling and what the risk are for your decision to allow your child additional responsibility.

I can't speak for anyone else here, but I am confident that my 12 year son can clearly articulate if he is being forcibly lead away by a stranger at Disney if we allow him to meander off on his own within a park.

Risk is inherent in everything. It's a parent's job to evaluate what level of risk their child can accept.

 

[juniorthomas]

Disney is very safe, in my experience. But to be clear, when I'm there I'm not just going to let my daughter run around without us. As long as I do my job and keep an eye on her, I know she'll be fine.

 

[bladerunner]

I can't help but read this stuff and think about the fact that Adam Walsh was taken in broad daylight from a Sears store that had security and cameras not all that far from where Disney World is located. That happened when I was a kid and, thanks to the undying efforts of his father, things HAVE changed a great deal towards awareness, procedure, etc. as a direct result. I cannot stress enough that the key to safety is NOT letting your guard down, not even at Disney. Pedophiles, criminals, etc. can very well be in the parks with you. There's no background check to get into the parks. You can't imagine someone being allowed to leave a park with a screaming child but who's to say the child would be screaming? Maybe they're convinced that this person is okay? It would take a split second for someone to pop a sun hat, sunglasses, and change of clothes on a kid. Better yet, make a boy appear to be a girl or a girl appear to be a boy. Now your description of your child is worthless. Who says a sicko needs to get a kid out of the park to do something unspeakable to them? Again, it takes no time at all. You think cameras & security would be a big deterrent. Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe the would-be perp sees this as reasons to be more crafty with their disguise. All those security cameras may just be gathering footage of something that happened...past tense...like it happened and then the authorities can rewind the recordings and watch it. Didn't stop it.

If you think that every bad thing that happens is news fodder, think again. Disney or not. I worked in Law Enforcement communications. The press got crumbs that was hand-fed to them by a PIO. Some of the biggest, most out-there serious events I worked with (including a few cases directly involved in child molestation & kiddie ) the press never had a clue. Why? Because we didn't tell them. The victim didn't tell them. If (and that's a big "if") a child were molested or abducted from Disney property I'm quite sure it could be kept quiet. If the cast, investigators, and family don't contact the media it could be kept private.

No, police scanners don't pick up all radio traffic either. Where I worked we ran on a digital communications system that was not scannable unless you had one of our radios programmed to pick up the specific "channel" we were talking on. If a radio was unaccounted for it was remotely shut down. Privacy can be achieved.

I'm not trying to be doom-n-gloom or all conspiracy-crazed. I have no clue if this sort of thing has ever occurred at WDW. My argument is that it could. Just because we've never heard of it doesn't mean it hasn't. Just because it hasn't happened doesn't mean it can't. Don't be lulled into a false sense of security because you're at Disney. They do all they can to provide a safe environment but we have to do our part, too.

As a kid growing up in Orlando we always understood from our folks that tourists who were in their vacation bliss were often targets for theft, etc. To this day when I go on vacation my parents will give me the lecture to be extra-careful, watch more closely, be aware at all times, etc. Don't let your guard down because it's Disney.

Wouldn't it stink for the first case of something unthinkable to involve you and your family? I don't think a single parent of an abducted child ever in a million years thought it would or could happen to them. Yet it did.

I agree with you 100%. My wife works in a Child Protection Team in Miami-Dade County. From what she tells me most of what happens to children never gets out to the media - so most people never hear about it and also think it cannot happen to them. Unfortunately children do get abducted everyday and the new trend now is social media exploitation of children. One of my sons was almost abducted when he was a few months old in a shopping center. What saved him was that he was strapped into a stroller and the kidnapper could not get the belt off. That was 8 years ago and it still haunts us. Just be careful with your children wherever you are.

 

[dsollie]

taking a kid from a Disney Park would be like trying to walk out of a casino with a cash machine. you'd be stupid to try and Disney has more camera's and security than we know.

+1

Not that it can't happen, because everything is possible, but this would be one of the hardest places to remove someone from with all of the other attentive parents and CMs around. It would take a "pretty big set" to try it in that environment. Outside of the parks and elsewhere on Disney property - that may be another story.

 

[kangaand2roos]

I think Disney World in no more safe or unsafe than anywhere else. I keep an eye on my kids just as I would anywhere else and tell them what to do if the were to ever get lost etc. I do think that alot of people get lulled into this false sense of a utopia in Disney though and feel they are safer than usual. All you have to do is look at the strollers with backpacsk filled with stuff left behind or bags left out and open at the hotel pools. I think people some times loose their common sense there. Keep your common sense, and you're good to go.

 

[AEfx]

+1

Not that it can't happen, because everything is possible, but this would be one of the hardest places to remove someone from with all of the other attentive parents and CMs around. It would take a "pretty big set" to try it in that environment. Outside of the parks and elsewhere on Disney property - that may be another story.

Exactly.

Unless they are taking a child who isn't old enough to say "this is not my mommy/daddy", in which case the child is not old enough to be away from parents to begin with, it would be very difficult. Have to get out of the park, through the turnstyles, to transportation (especially difficult at MK in particular), the chances are slim that anything could successfully happen.

It's not that you shouldn't worry about your kids at all, but just like flying is safer than riding in a car (yet it becomes national/international news when something happens to a plane as opposed to cars), I'd daresay WDW is a lot safer than, say, your local mall.

People should always watch out for their kids - anywhere - but you can bet if a successful child abduction happened inside a WDW park (or even on property) it would be an international news story. You can't cover something like that up, in this day of "Amber Alerts" and such. Someone sneezes in WDW and it's on CNN these days, I don't think you need to worry past the general care for your kids that you always must have.

 

[Spike-in-Berlin]

Ok I have to admit that have no children yet. But I am pretty sure when the day has come and I visit WDW with my children, that at least in the parks I would feel safer than at any place in the world, even more than at my home/house.
There are nearly no unsupervised areas in the parks, tons of security cameras, CMs and special security personel etc.
I cannot imagine some pervert stranger snatching a child in the park and taking it out without being catched. And he has to take it out first as I consider the parks nearly totally safe.

 

[si23]

walt disney world is no safer then anywhere else in the world. When i went in may 2010 a child was sexually assaulted in the laundry room at wilderness lodge, and another year a cast member from hollywood studios was arrested due to having images on his computer.Also if you view the list of accidents and reports from disney their a lot more in them. For some reason people are lead into a false sense of security on vacations and that they are not in the real world.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

walt disney world is no safer then anywhere else in the world. When i went in may 2010 a child was sexually assaulted in the laundry room at wilderness lodge, and another year a cast member from hollywood studios was due to having images on his computer.Also if you view the list of accidents and reports from disney their a lot more in them. For some reason people are lead into a false sense of security on vacations and that they are not in the real world.

Exactly. I'm amazed, really. Here you have people who have worked close to the subject in question (not at the specific location) who are telling people FIRST HAND not to think this stuff never happens just because they don't hear about it in the news and they **still** believe that it's "safer than your local mall" because it's WDW and they believe the press would know if something did happen. They won't always know and neither would you. It's not safer or less safe because it's WDW. It's just another place. The problem is the false ....I shall repeat it: FALSE.... sense of security because it's Disney World and the belief that cameras, crowds, and undercover security will make this a safer place and/or that because the news has never reported it, it's never happened. I'm not saying that it has because I have no first-hand experience or knowledge of it at WDW itself. I'm only saying what I do know from my personal experience which is that a great deal of things happen every day and the media does NOT always know about it or have info to report anything. Reporters used to call and try to coerce info from me all the time. They got nothing but a laugh. Believe me, things happen that would make your stomachs turn. Things the press would loooove to sink their juicy little teeth into and garner dream-ratings. Thank God they don't know and public doesn't know, honestly.

When people get lulled into a false sense of security they make themselves more vulnerable. I don't think people should live their lives in fear or paranoia (I certainly don't). Just be safe. Never assume anywhere is "safer". If you're always exercising the same precautions and alert levels then you're always being proactive in your family's safety. I don't think every time I leave my driveway that I'll be in a car accident but I never pull away without my seatbelt on and all passengers buckled-up. I don't believe every time I leave my house that someone is waiting for me to leave so they can enter my home and clean us out yet I never leave my home without locking all the doors and waiting for the garage door to be completely closed. Holidays, time of day, day of the week, the fact that I live in a safe area, or that my neighborhood is gated do not affect safe habits. Don't let your vacation destination change your safe habits. :wave:

 

[The Mom]

walt disney world is no safer then anywhere else in the world. When i went in may 2010 a child was sexually assaulted in the laundry room at wilderness lodge, and another year a cast member from hollywood studios was arrested due to having images on his computer.Also if you view the list of accidents and reports from disney their a lot more in them. For some reason people are lead into a false sense of security on vacations and that they are not in the real world.

I don't think anyone is saying that WDW is perfectly safe, and you don't have to be careful.

The original proposition (not the poster's, but one raised in her presence) was that children at WDW are in greater danger than they would be elsewhere, as Pedophiles would consider this a place to find children.

And I think that most of us agree that it is no more dangerous, and is statistically safer, since your child is more likely to be molested or kidnapped by someone they know than a stranger. Do bad things happen, even in the most magical place on earth? Of course - millions of people visit, and thousands work there. They aren't all going to be wonderful, law abiding people.

I wouldn't send a child off anywhere unattended, especially to a laundry room. Heck, I was always a little uncomfortable when I was doing my laundry alone in the basement of our high rise, and I was almost 30.

So use the same precautions to keep your children safe as you would anywhere else. But I wouldn't be more concerned (except for my child getting swept away in a crowd) than I would be at home.

 

[si23]

I don't think anyone is saying that WDW is perfectly safe, and you don't have to be careful.

The original proposition (not the poster's, but one raised in her presence) was that children at WDW are in greater danger than they would be elsewhere, as Pedophiles would consider this a place to find children.

And I think that most of us agree that it is no more dangerous, and is statistically safer, since your child is more likely to be molested or kidnapped by someone they know than a stranger. Do bad things happen, even in the most magical place on earth? Of course - millions of people visit, and thousands work there. They aren't all going to be wonderful, law abiding people.

I wouldn't send a child off anywhere unattended, especially to a laundry room. Heck, I was always a little uncomfortable when I was doing my laundry alone in the basement of our high rise, and I was almost 30.

So use the same precautions to keep your children safe as you would anywhere else. But I wouldn't be more concerned (except for my child getting swept away in a crowd) than I would be at home.

its more other people attitudes to it being a safe place rather then the person who started the thread, people assume beacuse its disney it be safe beacuse it all magical.

 

[zurgandfriend]

There is also the punishment side of the discussion to consider than should make any potential child molester think twice.

A few years ago at the Dolphin Resort a man attempted to lure a girl about age 12 into an area around the pool obscured by bushes. The life guards and security were there in a flash. The man went to trial and was convicted. The justice system in Florida, “knowing who is buttering their bread” sentenced the man to a very long term in a Florida penitentiary; I believe it was 40 years with no chance for parole.

Now this man’s fellow inmates are doing to him what he tried to do to a young girl. Who says there’s no justice?

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I don't think anyone is saying that WDW is perfectly safe, and you don't have to be careful.

The original proposition (not the poster's, but one raised in her presence) was that children at WDW are in greater danger than they would be elsewhere, as Pedophiles would consider this a place to find children.

And I think that most of us agree that it is no more dangerous, and is statistically safer, since your child is more likely to be molested or kidnapped by someone they know than a stranger. Do bad things happen, even in the most magical place on earth? Of course - millions of people visit, and thousands work there. They aren't all going to be wonderful, law abiding people.

I wouldn't send a child off anywhere unattended, especially to a laundry room. Heck, I was always a little uncomfortable when I was doing my laundry alone in the basement of our high rise, and I was almost 30.

I totally agree with ya, Mom! And, yes, laundry rooms can be pretty creepy not juuust because of the horrific, menial task that has to take place there...I do hate laundry duty...

There have been several posts where people here said they felt that WDW was "safer than a local mall" etc. which is the part that alarms me. It's not safer or less safe. It's just another place. Yes, statistically s e x crimes involving children are more likely to involve people they know or family members in a close-to-home setting. But there's still a small percentage that does not.

People keep saying things like: "I don't see how anyone could get away with dragging a kid out of a park who's screaming or upset without drawing attention", "There's so much security and cameras there's no way it could be done", or "If it had happened in the past we would know about it because the media loves to report this sort of thing". People need to open their eyes and think about these things. It CAN be done. A kid wouldn't necessarily be screaming. How easy would it be to drug them with a quick shot from a needle? How easy would it be to change their appearance? Knock a kid out, change their appearance, then carry them like their fast asleep on your shoulder. How many times have you seen kids being carried out by mom or dad who were totally out for the count with exhaustion? It looks totally normal. How easy would it be to coerce a child with smooth-talk? "Mom is waiting to surprise you over here with (insert the child's favorite character pictured on his/her shirt". Would a perp need to remove them from a park to have 30 seconds without someone looking? Set a timer. 30 seconds is a long time. It's long enough to do a lot of things. Cameras can't stop crimes, only help with prevention and gather evidence. Cameras cannot be everywhere in every angle at all times. They can easily be worked around. There are always gaps. And, again, it's been clearly stated that just because you don't hear about stuff in the news doesn't mean it does not happen. Think about it like this. Would it really be in Disney's best interest for parents to feel that their parks and property were anything less than magical??? If the public knew every juicy detail about every crime that took place then every open investigation would be compromised. There are a lot of good reasons for people NOT to know everything all the time.

Like I said, it's not that people should be paranoid...only realistic. Nothing is 100%. The original question was is WDW a pedophile heaven or does the WDW security measures make it a safer environment. How does the fact that there's never been any big reports of this type of thing factor in was an element that was introduced through discussion. There's no simple answer to any of this because there's no way you can assume that you have 100% of the information to make that yes or no call which is something I've tried to convey to folks. The safest answer to live by is that it is NOT safer or less safe for children...that even if there were an underground pedophile/psychopath convention going on you are as safe as you make yourself and your family. I think we can all agree on that.

This has been a great conversation. Very interesting to see what people think and what they're perceptions are. :wave:

 

[sweetpee_1993]

There is also the punishment side of the discussion to consider than should make any potential child molester think twice.

A few years ago at the Dolphin Resort a man attempted to lure a girl about age 12 into an area around the pool obscured by bushes. The life guards and security were there in a flash. The man went to trial and was convicted. The justice system in Florida, “knowing who is buttering their bread” sentenced the man to a very long term in a Florida penitentiary; I believe it was 40 years with no chance for parole.

Now this man’s fellow inmates are doing to him what he tried to do to a young girl. Who says there’s no justice?

Yep yep yep! And thank God the man's attempt was unsuccessful. I had never heard anything about this incident before. Interesting.

 

[dsollie]

There have been several posts where people here said they felt that WDW was "safer than a local mall" etc. which is the part that alarms me. It's not safer or less safe. It's just another place. Yes, statistically s e x crimes involving children are more likely to involve people they know or family members in a close-to-home setting. But there's still a small percentage that does not.

Here is one point that may support the premise that Disney Parks are at least a small amount safer than the local mall: how many times does your bag get searched on the way into the local mall?

I also agree that this is a great discussion so far. :wave:

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Here is one point that may support the premise that Disney Parks are at least a small amount safer than the local mall: how many times does your bag get searched on the way into the local mall?

I also agree that this is a great discussion so far. :wave:

The bag searches at the parks are trivial at best. Even if they had them at a mall it'd be easy as pie to bring a gun, knife, needles loaded with sedatives, or any other supplies needed in with careful concealment. It's easy enough to pass off meds, place things inside other things, etc. There's pocket holsters designed for concealment. The bag checks probably turn up some questionable items but I guarantee you a person who wants to carry in weapons or anything else could get crafty and make it happen. Don't think like a trusting tourist. Think concisely as a "bad guy" would. Very very simple stuff to overcome.
:wave:

 

[Sarabell]

I think if you keep an eye on the kids they´ll be safe. If your concern is one of them wandering off of your site, use the kiddy leashes. My parents bought me one of those on one of our visits and I wanted to wear it everywhere!

Another thing my mom did was, since we were a party of 20, and most of us were kids and liked to wander around, she would write down our names, our parents names and the info to the hotel where we were staying on pieces of paper and put it in our pockets. She would instruct us to give that piece of paper to a CM (and only to a CM) if we got lost. I had to use it once and the CM even gave me a treat while we waited for my parents to find me

 

[misterID]

I think if some sicko was intent on going into the park and doing something to some kid he pretty much could ' if ' he had the opportunity of some kid wandering off from their parents. But he'd most likely, if not defintely, get caught. Disney is fantastic at this kind of stuff. Even with "lost" kids who get seperated from their parents. With the amount of security, not just the cameras but the people you don't notice who are watching, WDW is probably the safest place you can take your kids.

The water parks... That's a different story. The wave pools are a bad place. Not that people get away with messing with kids, but they think they can. A few incdents have popped up in recent years. They do get caught, but it can/does happen there.

 

[THEMEPARKPIONEER]

When I was 10-12 years old I got about 20 feet ahead of my parents I guess cause something in the park caught my eye and I started pacing over to it and a cast member stopped me and asked me if I was lost. He wouldn't let me go until he knew I was with my parents. There was another time in 1999 when we were at the Animal Kingdom. My sister was having a huge tantrum, she wouldn't follow my mom so she took her hand. My sister kept on crying and throwing a tantrum as always and a Cast Member went to check out the situation. He was asking if everything was okay and explained to her that because he saw a resisting child he wanted to make sure my mom wasn't a stranger. I have a feeling they are instructed to keep watch for those type of situations.