"Fight" and "Popping Sounds" at Magic Kingdom Guest Panic | Stampede at Walt Disney World

late last night there was an incident at Walt Disney World Resort where people stampeded in the Park after reportedly many balloons popped we know a little bit more about what happened but details are still emerging let's talk about what's going on at Disney here on that Parkplace hello I am Jonas J Campbell an investigative reporter for that Park Place and here with me is not just my uh usual compatriot here Mr Vash guy but also culture Casino welcome gentlemen we've got a big topic to talk about this morning absolutely thank you thank you very much for uh joining me here there is a uh a fight in a popping sound that prompted a false report at Magic Kingdom this out of USA Today you can read some of those words here I know that there are Audio Only listeners you're probably just going to have to catch up chaos erupted at Magic Kingdom in Orlando on Thursday after a fight and a popping sound led to rumors of a bad situation in the Parks the Orange County Sheriff's Office said on social media that that alert was false at the park and that the fight broke out and a popping sound was heard that police believe was a balloon based on the location of this incident which we believe to be Main Street USA there's no confirmation of that yet anyone who's been on Main Street USA especially in the evening time knows that there's usually a cast member there holding a giant cloud of balloons there so if those things start to hit the ground they're of course going to pop it used to be that you would just have the Mickey balloon now it's a Mickey balloon encased in plastic Nelson pelts famously pointed out that these things are like $16 a piece I would say they might be holding as many as two two and a half dozen balloons at a given time right easily yeah it seems like they're holding near 30 so yeah as we have learned as well expression is the balloon costs more than my hourly paycheck is that right uh yes yes and hopefully that's changed for cast members here but cast members obvious VI L are being asked to deal with something they should not have to deal with at Disney Parks here so there are still lots of details emerging right now and we'll play some of the video from the parks just so people can get a better idea of what's going on inside of there this is one of the shops looks like Main Street USA I'm not sure which specific shop is maybe if you guys know you can uh let me know [Music] it's is that Emporium it might be the Emporium next to maybe cases yeah all right so um as you can see we have one of the areas looks like for people to eat there's somebody that's left a stroller you have a distressed looks like a mother and father looking for one of their children man in flipflops a woman hiding behind the counter cups strewn all over the place you have people on cell phones trying to get in touch with presumably either loved ones that are in the park or to confirm to people who are hearing reports of what's going on here calling out to try to figure out whether or not they're safe or to confirm that they're safe here's a tweet it's in Spanish my Spanish is not quite good enough to uh translate all of that basically saying that this is uh terrible and there's an evacuation at Magic Kingdom but it's a false alarm about a I don't know in the park but uh here we go you can see cast members that are with their faces to the crowd towards Cinderella Castle guiding people slowly out of the park in order to keep them from presumably from rushing on the way out so this looks like good crowd control on the part of Disney not what we were hearing from some other reports here if this was incited by a fight in the park that's something that's been on the rise I don't think it's social media that is the problem here where we're just seeing the fights now as opposed to some people would say that social media is tracking the fights therefore we're more aware of it but it was always there there might be someone with a long history of the parks there's always a Disney historian in the comments that whether they're qualified or not is happy to correct us but I don't think fights in the park were nearly as common a decade ago or two decades ago and and now something has changed here to where these aggressive incidents are happening in the park security at the parks is presumably better than it's ever been because they keep upgrading the security checkpoints but this idea that there's an added aggression that goes on here in Walt Disney World Resorts I'm a little concerned that the aggression level at these Parks is so high that you can't really enjoy your day anymore culture Vash you have been in the Parks more recently than I have I'm assuming is that something that is common to you all cuz I know that when I was there there were many even families like people with kids with them that were being very aggressive in trying to get first in line willing to do things that are rude getting in front of people willing to confront people who are on their phones at times when you pretty much have to be on your phone but whatever I think the aggression level is just getting higher and higher and higher can either of you speak to that in your experience at the parks I think there's been a trend where people have less tolerance it's come along with the expense of the parks and the expense of the experience is it's gone up it seems like the level of frustration has gone up because with that enhanced pricing I think it's had influence uh over people because they feel entitled to more things I think that's a psychological response but look the number of violent incidents really used used to be down the street at least in California it used to be at Six Flags Magic Mountain it didn't used to be at Disney they treated everything in that park with more reverence and I think you and and Vash have both pointed out that as they've allowed things to suffer more deferred maintenance meaning things are obviously being ignored that need to be repaired and litter is being you know on the ground longer than it needs to be didn't used to be I think with that comes a certain level of disrespect so you've got multiple factors working towards that but that's really only been a recent phenomenon maybe in the last 8 years or so maybe 10 and it does seem that people are more willing to do things as you said that are you know beyond the pale lots of cutting like oh my friend's right up there and trying to walk around people right you know people try to do that and I'm like you know what I've been waiting here a long time I'm sure your friend will wait for you why don't you you know use your phone and tell them wait where they are and then you'll catch up with them in the line behind us you're more bold than I am usually I'm there with my kids and I'm thinking about the example that I set for them if I want to show them that I can be assertive as a dad and you know stick up for them or am I uh trying to teach them to turn the other cheek it's a very difficult balance which also I'm gonna add adds to the aggression level for people at the parks I'm going to say it adds to my aggression level to see people mistreating and not having basic human decency in the Parks you know basic human decency in a stampede that's a whole different thing you're generally trying to just get your loved ones and and get them to safety in a situation like that Vash did you have something you wanted to add there I think the number of incidents have gone up tremendously and I think that's for a variety of reasons I think one of the big thing has to be just the degree in Disney that we talk about right the genie plus now multipass lightning Lane scenario where it's become a lot more stressful to visit these Parks uh this picture shows a scooter actually upturned by the incident that took place last night that's that's a pretty heavy unit right there so there was a lot of chaos attached to this and I think this is chaos that could be mitigated by Disney in some way I understand it's not Disney's fault per se but Disney hasn't made this any less likely to happen I'll put it that way there are a lot of stresses that go with a visit to Disney now it's never been as expensive as it has been now and that obviously UPS the stress and anxiety and the frustration level we've seen Disney's it not up to standard at all which leads to additional frustration multipass Ling for example we've seen a number of things that could lead to enhanced aggravation from a guest's perspective and I think what culture was speaking to the level of instances have gone up I think it was like what two years ago there was a big old brawl between two fans amilies I believe from New Jersey who were visiting and they were in line for like Phil har magic yes which is pretty crazy to think that something could pop off there right and Phil har magic is a static show it's not Fantasmic which also had a fight recently here Phil har magic is you are sitting down in seats and watching a show that does not change I mean you pretty much get a good view anywhere you are in the auditorium because it was designed by whatever previous version of Disney has now been replaced here it's it's so tragic to think that people cannot take this moment to consider one another I see all these abandoned strollers and of course a Mobility Scooter I hope that whoever was in that a Mobility Scooter the best I can say is hopefully that fell over when someone was being pulled out of it by a loved one who was trying to get them into a more safe position here because if that if that fell on a child that could injure them especially uh if there was a person in it I seen those take out the facades of buildings before so on Disney property that's a serious engagement right there yeah I think that you said something very prudent here in culture you of course contribute to this idea Disney Parks have never been more expensive and have never offered such little value they have not added anything in the last little while that is worth the exorbitant addition in ticket price and of course if you throw in Genie Plus or lightning Lane which is I often say that it is price priced low enough that you feel stupid not to buy it but it is so overused that you feel stupid for buying it it's something that adds to the idea that you are being overcharged the entire time that you're here I don't know I don't want to say that Universal doesn't have these issues they do have these issues but there's something very different about Walt Disney World right there on Main Street USA the idea the partner statue right there and I don't want to clutch my pearls and talk about oh Americana and all this but there's something different when Disney is a place that has an incident like this versus anywhere else and I'm not saying it's solved by lowering the prices I'm not saying it's solved by well it might be solved by cleaning up your parks and maintaining your parks to where people look at it and they think I'm in a nice place I want to behave nicely broken windows policing is a real concept is there anything you guys want to add here before we wrap this up I don't want to go too long on this but I do think that the aggression at the par is a cause of incidents like this whether or not it's there for a specific incident I think the rise in incidents is uh caused by things like this we've seen a number of incidents take place at like notb farm for example and they up security and they also enforc of conduct yeah there's a Code of Conduct but I think you to have an adult present with children that are like less than 14 or something like that right so they've they've implemented procedures in which to mitigate that and we've seen that mitigated we see incidents take place at Six Flags for example we see stuff take place at Disney we don't really see that Universal and you have to ask why I understand they're not under the spotlight that Disney is and maybe they have less Parks maybe you could consider those things but you almost never hear or see it whereas Disney I mean Disneyland we've seen multiple instances take place like you said Jonas Fantasmic recently had a fight Fantasy Land recently had a fight not too long ago we've seen multiple instances in the Magic Kingdom over the last couple of years but we don't see that Universal why well I think placing an emphasis on guest experience on convenience on these things that mitigate stress I think are a big contributor to why the amount of instances are so desperate it's a very good point that summed it up beautifully and again I mean it's not just Disney that has these incidents but it now is Disney that's having these incidents and I think that's what brings it more to our attention yep I agree because we do hold Universal and Disney to different standards because they are different companies with completely different public images that being said we want to throw this to our commenters here there's a chance that uh you were there last night we would love to hear what your thoughts on all of this are drop that in the comment section down below like this video If you like this video and uh stay tuned to that Parkplace for all the news that should be fun thanks for watching that Parkplace news for more information consider checking out www.th parkplace.com and don't forget to subscribe share like and send this out on your favorite social media accounts