Our Family Was Single Out And Ridiculed At Disneyland
On Monday June 1st we were celebrating my nephew's seventh birthday. We were a party of six with two people who are disabled. My nephew has down syndrome and becomes very agitated waiting in lines and my girlfriend has a broken back. We used the wheelchair and disability service. Hadn't used this service before we went to the ride radiator springs in cars land and asked the two women who were in the front managing the fastpass lines and the two other lines how we were able to ride this ride. Well, the woman Kimmy and Anida were completely unhelpful just repeating the name of the line they were managing angrily. So we, asked a younger gentlemen next to them for assistance since the other two didn't want to assist us. And he explained to us that California Adventure is one hundred percent wheelchair accessible and let us now we could wait in line and they would assist us in the front. We understood and as we walked into our line Kimmy says out loud not even under her breath , "we were trying to use any excuse just to get to the front." My sister who is the mother of my nephew with down syndrome looked at her and then Kimmy gave a smug look and began to laugh at her.
So we ignore her hurtful and outrageous words proceed to the line and as we are waiting the disrespect we felt sunk in and I decided to go back up there and speak to a manager. I asked a woman by the name of Brittany who was completely helpful for assistance and as she calls the manager on the phone I approach Kimmy and tell her that her words were completely inappropriate and I was contacting a manager. Well, that set her off and not only was she not apologetic she started yelling and shouting that I could do whatever I wanted she doesn't care that she never said anything to me and that if I don't leave she calling security and all the while in front of a large group of customers. Then I told her that she doesn't need to that since the manager is being called and then she stated that she was glad I was standing there and Anida then shouted to Kimmy that she never said anything. Kimmy proceeds to walk to the phone and Brittany who had been so helpful doesn't let her use the phone and comes back to where I was standing.
Now this is one hundred percent childish and outrageous and Kimmy no doubt wanted to egg the situation on and create not only a commotion but a fight. Brittany asked if there was anything she could do and when explaining the entire scenario to her, Kimmy is not only laughing but telling Brittany not to listen to me that the manager is coming and to ignore anything I said. Brittany ignores her one hundred percent and I tell Brittany to look at Kimmy's behavior right that instant and see how inappropriate and ghetto she is being. Kimmy laughs at me throughout the entire conversation and I explain to Brittany had it not been me she was dealing with and had it been another woman who was just like Kimmy there one hundred percent would of been an altercation because of the degree of mocking and escalation on Kimmy's part. Brittany understood and let me know she would have something to say to the manager also.
When the manager comes he doesn't say one word as I tell my story. And at the very end he apologizes that I had a bad experience and says he will talk to her. That is all he says. After the ride my sister wants to speak to the manager because the situation involves her child. And explains to him her outrage that someone would blatantly say that her child's disability is an excuse we abuse to go to the front of the line. And that there is nothing at all funny about a child with special needs. The same manager explains that Kimmy felt we were abusing the privilege which is a one hundred percent inappropriate statement for him to repeat. He also said Kimmy felt threatened by me approaching her but, in reality she was abusing her power assuming security could just take me away and she would be "right". The manager tells us we could file a complaint at guest services. We walk away to head toward guests services and i turn back around to ask the manager where the building is located and he is surrounded by three other cast member gossiping about our story. The young girl Anida was there and I tell the manager that she was the other woman who jumped in when Kimmy was yelling at me and she shouted that she never said anything to me and another cast member pulled her away. I am outraged and appalled but, I let it go and decide to write an email instead of talking to anyone else that day.
Not only did we feel discriminated against but, we felt disrespected that our child in our group and our other disabled family member would be talked about in that light and make fun of our situation. We were there to celebrate our beautiful seven year old who happens to have down syndrome and instead of having a disability service cater to our special family we felt ridiculed and abused with no one there to help us at all. It was the worst experience I have ever had at Disneyland. And I will encourage anyone with a special circumstance at Disneyland to use the disability service with caution because cast members will not be helpful and they may meet a situation where no one is willing to help or accomadate. And if a situation was to occur they might be on their own. All of this anger, distress, and disappointment all because I asked two cast members which line we enter and we became something to ridicule and make fun of accusing us of using our family members as leverage. Absolutely disgusting and revolting. It was his seventh birthday and he wanted to ride one ride.
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