Photo: Tomohiro Ohsumi (Getty)
Working at an amusement park gives you the freedom to work out in the sunshine, but also forces you to see people at their absolute worst: on vacation. A Reddit thread allowed employees or former workers to discuss the craziest or most terrible thing they’ve ever witnessed at an amusement park. Here are the best of the worst ones from the thread.
1. Disney Meet and Greet
I was a cast member at Walt Disney World. One time, I saw a mother climb a tree and swing down in the middle of another family’s meet and greet with Beast. She didn’t want to wait in line.
2. The Lazy River
I worked at a children’s theme park and one time, a family left their baby in a lazy river.
3. The Ninja
One time, a guy dressed as a ninja kept riding the coaster over and over with his mom and dad, which was strange enough, but on the third or fourth time around his mom whipped out her boobs and in the photo he was staring at them pretty intently. Security escorted them out.
4. The Rip Tide
I once worked at a water park as a lifeguard supervisor and we had a rip tide water ride where people could ride bodyboards like a big wave. While I was talking to another guard, I heard the whistle go off like there was an emergency. As I approached, a guard told me that there was a nail in someone’s foot. I thought he meant someone stubbed their toe and their nail pushed back into their toe but it was an 8-year-old girl who had stepped on a 4-inch screw leftover from the maintenance the ride had recently undergone; right into the heel.
5. Sesame Place
I worked at a toddlers theme park called Sesame Place (owned by SeaWorld) and I’ve seen so many things from parents that I didn’t even think we’re possible.
We have character meets in the park for 20-30 minutes at a time. It’s hot outside in the summer and the costumes add an extra 80 degrees for the 15- to 17-year-olds wearing them, but people just don’t understand that they need a break. So this one mom got in line right as Bert and Ernie were going in for their break and this mom started FLIPPING OUT. She was yelling at her 2-year-old for being too slow to walk to make it there on time. She was screaming at her, saying, “YOU CAN’T MEET THEM. THIS IS BULLSHIT!” Right before I thought she was done, she grabs Bert right as he’s walking away and punched him in the face (really just the nose of the costume head, but nonetheless).
6. The Drunk Guy
I operated rides for 4 years. One time, a guy who was very upset that I wouldn’t let his kid (who was a foot under the height requirement) ride. I told him no early in the day, but one of my coworkers let the kid ride while I was on break. The family comes up later and the father who was noticeably drunk, jumps two gates and over the tracks to threaten me with a knife. I called security and he ran.
7. Waterworld
That reminds me of a story from Waterworld in Concord, Calif., from like 15 years ago. It was seniors day for a bunch of local high schools, and a big group of kids from one high school decided to knock the lifeguards out of the way, bum rush one of the slides, and try to all go down the slide at once. The slide collapsed from the weight and everyone fell to the ground. Surprisingly only one person died, but I think around 15 people were injured.
8. Halloween Night
The worst thing that’s happened is a guy spitting in my face and starting to film me with his phone while screaming at me that he was going to sue the company I work for because I confronted him when he tried to trip one of my performers during a Halloween event. He was drunk. He was arrested. We all laughed at his mugshot the next day.
9. Scooby and Bugs
Worked at a Six Flags as a sound technician, so I spent most of my time backstage with the characters and actors. One time I walked backstage to find a headless Bugs Bunny and Scooby-Doo having sex, costumes just unzipped, not off. Not exactly a horror story but definitely scarring.
10. Space Mountain
This couple was trying to ride Space Mountain and had a black duffel bag. My brother-in-law was working security and heard something come from the bag, so he asked them to open it. They refused. Security comes, forces them to open it. It was their 6-month-old baby.
11. Busch Gardens
I was working as a ride operator on the Big Bad Wolf (now torn down). It was a slow day for us, so my area manager had me move from my current position to help out the area staff (cleaners for the park) in a busier part. I didn’t mind, because most of the time you just walk around and take in the sights. I also like to keep it clean and the park is usually pretty damn clean. I then got a radio call to come to the men’s bathroom at the German Festhaus. Now usually this would mean there is overflow in the trash or some toilet paper on the ground. Well, I walked in and instantly realized something was wrong.
The smell … oh my God, the smell. It was so thick, I could taste it. I walked past the open stalls and still nothing could be seen but the smell got stronger. The last stall was in sight and it was the handicap stall. I went to the door and opened it. Inside was what looked like a caveman painting of horses and arrows but drawn in human feces. It was everywhere-literally everywhere. I immediately went to a couple of stalls over and threw up. I then radioed in that the men’s bathroom was a big nope from me and put an out of order sign on it. Not touching that literal shit Picasso that was going on in there.
12. Snow White
When I worked security in Disney World, the craziest thing I ever had to deal with was Snow White being thrown over the shoulder of a drunk man in EPCOT in an attempt to carry her away.
13. The “Pregnant” Lady
We had a lady try to smuggle an infant onto Indy at DL one time. She put a huge jacket on (in the summer) and stuffed her child down near the bottom in an attempt to look pregnant.
Several cast members warned her that it is not recommended that pregnant women go on the ride, but she insisted, and we couldn’t stop her. So she manages to get on the Jeep, and puts the seat belt on, and that was when her stomach started screaming and crying.
14. Poop
My first job out of high school was at a theme park.
Nothing crazy; just a lot of poop. Kids would poop on rides, adults would poop on rides. It was a daily poop fest. At the time, I was under 18, so it was always awesome when it happened because I had to shut the ride down and call in for cleanup instead of doing it myself.
Diarrhea on a roller coaster is not fun for anyone on the ride.
15. The Lifeguard
Former lifeguard at a major water park here: I would have to rescue between 15-20 people a day, but that number pales in comparison to the amount of weave I had to clean from the water.
Horror story? I’ll keep it brief as possible:
- Injured my foot on a double-spinal rescue for a morbidly obese couple
- Next day, foot gets progressively worse the more I walk around the park
- Test and fail a lifeguard for falling asleep while a baby mannequin floated around her ride’s pool
- Tested the same lifeguard later, and she failed again
- Reported another lifeguard who assaulted me when I told her to quit cussing in front of another employee’s 5-year-old brother
- Foot still getting worse, think it might be broken, go to first aid for help
- They tell me I can’t work until I clear it with one of their doctors and give me a mandatory urine drug test
- Test results “non-negative” which means I had been drinking so much water in the hot sun that the results of the test were inconclusive
- Fired within the hour, banned from park for 2 years
16. The Monorails
I worked in monorails at Disney World. About a year or so ago, a guest got off at Epcot Station and then told the cast member at unload he was going to be sick. The cast member opened up the trash can so he could puke in it easier. The guest then proceeded to take off his clothes and took a massive dump in the trashcan.
17. Cinderella’s Dinner
I was working in the kitchen at Cinderella’s castle when this family of 4 came in for their dinner. About halfway through the dinner, the husband politely stands up and taps his glass for attention. He announced that his wife of 15 years has been cheating on him for over a year. The entire place stood still in shock. He motioned for his kids, paid the waitress and left the wife crying at the table.
18. The Pee Jar
I was an employee at the original Disneyland and one time a lady brought a jug for her kid to pee in. I don’t know why. We told her anything to hold what should go into sewage is not allowed. She then says she will take it back to her car and then tried to hide the pee jar on her person. She ended up getting it all over her and still wasn’t allowed to bring it in.
