Disney Denies Entry to Teen in Tinkerbell Costume

[crashhelmet]

Teen dressed as Tinkerbell breaks down in tears after being denied entry to Disney World - because she 'looks too good'

Girl dresses up as Tinkerbell and her boyfriend dresses up as Peter pan for his first trip to Disney World. They were allowed into MGM Studios, but denied entry trying to get into Animal Kingdom.

One article quotes her as saying "They were talking how little girls, it ruins their dreams," said the 15-year-old. "But it ruined my dreams because I just want to be Tinkerbell."

Disney has a strict policy about adults and teens dressing up in costumes that mimic their characters. They don't want to confuse the kids that are there or risk anyone, regardless of age, of getting the wrong impression about their cast members. It's a simple liability issue.

I liken it to walking into a department store wearing the same color clothes that their employees wear. Like walking into a BestBuy wearing khaki pants and a blue polo shirt, for those of us here in the U.S. Customers will automatically think you work there and approach you.

For Reference

Disney attempted to right the situation and provided her and her boyfriend with free clothes to wear instead, as well as fast passes for her family to skip through the long lines.

[Andara Bledin]

That is kind of a "duh" moment.

I find this part notable:

She said they were able to walk around the Disney Hollywood Studio theme park dressed in character.

But at Animal Kingdom, Disney staff who had spotted the couple posing for photographs, refused them entry.

They were refused entry to another of the parks after they had been spotted posing for photographs. *shakes head*

Honestly, I'm not even sure why this is news. At all.

^-.-^

[draco664]

One article quotes her as saying "They were talking how little girls, it ruins their dreams," said the 15-year-old. "But it ruined my dreams because I just want to be Tinkerbell."

Suck it up Prince... er, Tinkerbell. You're 15 for fucks sake. The other kids are 5.

Disney attempted to right the situation and provided her and her boyfriend with free clothes to wear instead, as well as fast passes for her family to skip through the long lines.

Just... wow. Given clothes to wear instead, passes to get through long lines, and they still complain? EW to the max.

[LexiaFira]

seeing her picture and the picture of tinkerbell they look NOTHING alike
one disney's tinkerbell doesn't have green eye makeup and only her wings are sparkly, and the wings had yellow tint in them

i understand it took hours but the sad thing is the disney version doesn't due to the person having to portray, and that looking at her picture versus disney, she puts the disney part tinkerbell to shame

a reason i can see them being stopped for photos because her costume looked very nice and so did her boyfriends but uhm yeah peter pan doesn't have ears like that. (whatever the term is for the tube things in the ears that make them bigger)

basically an OOPS on both sides

[Andara Bledin]

Not on Disney's part.

Or are you seriously claiming that a 5-year-old will know that her costume doesn't look right?

They've got rules about costumes that are easy enough to find for anyone that has the sense to look.

I also wonder where this girl's parent's were during all this. The whole costume idea can't have been whipped up overnight - her's is far too elaborate.

^-.-^

[Greenday]

15 years old is old enough to use the internet to find out dress codes.

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/faq.../#subCategory8

Wasn't that hard for me to find.

"Attire that is not appropriate for the theme parks (and which may result in refusal of admittance) includes but is not limited to:
Adult costumes or clothing that can be viewed as representative of an actual Disney character
Masks (unless you are dressing up for a particular event)
Clothing with objectionable material, including obscene language or graphics
Excessively torn clothing
Clothing which, by nature, exposes excessive portions of the skin that may be viewed as inappropriate for a family environment
Objectionable tattoos
A Guest is allowed into the parks if her or his hair (or make-up, if applicable) has been made to resemble a Disney Princess or character (for example, after a Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique makeover) provided the Guest is not also wearing a costume or clothed to look like the character."

[RedRoseSpiral]

I watched a news segment about this the other day, and the teenager came off as a whiny drama queen attention whore. Hell, she was even being rewarded for breaking the rules with clothes and a fastpass for her family.

[Nekojin]

Yeah... that article is sensationalist muckraking, and the girl in question is a drama w... er, princess.

[HYHYBT]

Even though the principle is similar, the *degree* matters. Assuming anyone in Best Buy in a blue shirt is an employee is not at all on the same level as assuming that someone in Disney World dressed as one of their characters is.

Especially when the rules say visitors aren't allowed to wear such costumes.

[BlaqueKatt]

a reason i can see them being stopped for photos because her costume looked very nice and so did her boyfriends<snip>basically an OOPS on both sides

or the people may have thought they were employees of the park, if they didn't have the ban, how easy would it theoretically be to harm a guest of the park and have the park be liable?

[Greenday]

or the people may have thought they were employees of the park, if they didn't have the ban, how easy would it theoretically be to harm a guest of the park and have the park be liable?

Or what if some pervert decided to dress up like a character, find some lost kid, tell them he/she will help them find their parent, then molests them?

[siead_lietrathua]

even skipping the extent of creeper pedos, last thing disney needs is some 21 year old girl getting slammed and doing a striptease as jasmine. or having the princes bro-fisting and cutting in lines.

[Hyena Dandy]

Yeah, pretty clear cut case to me.

I don't think it's the same as going into best buy in the wrong outfit. Because that's

1) An easy mistake to make and
2) People don't go to Best Buy thinking "Damn, I sure hope I can see the people in the blue polos"

[Seifer]

Disney is trying to limit liability. What if someone dressed up as a character in order to get closer to...err...certain guests? It might sound crazy or over-paranoid, but when you're Disney you worry about that kind of stuff.

I'm going to assume that if the girl hadn't stopped for photos, Animal Kingdom wouldn't have had a problem with it.

Edit: Just a small aside. I wish someone had sat this girl down beforehand and said, "Okay, you want to go to Disney dressed as a Disney character. Please, imagine for a moment if someone had a very accurate Mickey Mouse costume and decided to wear it to the park. What do you think would happen?"

If the teen didn't think that would be an issue, than she isn't able to make her own wardrobe decisions.

[Rapscallion]

Also, they're trying to protect their brand. A trained 'crew member' in a professional outfit versus an amateur who could say or do anything with little to no legal recourse for Disney? Could ruin their reputation if someone had malicious intent.

Rapscallion