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A mother’s arrest at Disneyland sparks backlash online

When you think about the “happiest place on Earth,” a mother getting arrested with her children screaming is the last thing you’d imagine. 

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Unfortunately, no imagination is needed. An incident involving a woman getting arrested at Anaheim Disneyland Resort took place on September 24, 2024. The woman, a 26-year-old mother, allegedly snuck two of her children inside Disney California Adventure Park. Only children under eight years old are allowed free entry in the park. The mother didn’t want to verify her children’s ages and kept walking straight into the crowd.

This wasn’t the first time the mother of two attempted to evade admission fees. According to Sgt. Matt Sutter and the LA Time, footage showed that she tried to do this four times in the past two months. The mother and her children were removed from the park by police officials. This situation would not have escalated if the mother cooperated with park security. Park officials also offered the mother the chance to buy tickets so that she and her family wouldn’t be escorted out of the park.

She refused, which gives context to the viral video of her and her children being taken out of the premises. Of course, none of this was pleasant to watch online. Imagine the confusion and fear people present at the scene must have felt.

How the internet reacted

Initially, there was some negative reaction to the event, with people online believing that Disneyland had acted in an inappropriate way. However, as the story developed, people began to turn on the mother, questioning just how entitled she was in the situation.

After all, everyone wants to experience what it’s like to be in Disneyland at least once in their lifetime. The tickets aren’t cheap, but it’s not an excuse to break in the park. There are tons of other places you can bring your kids to without having to spend over a hundred dollars for tickets.


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Vanessa Esguerra
Vanessa Esguerra (She/They) has been a Contributing Writer for The Mary Sue since 2023. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Economy, she (happily) rejected law school in 2021 and has been a full-time content writer since. Vanessa is currently taking her Master's degree in Japanese Studies in hopes of deepening her understanding of the country's media culture in relation to pop culture, women, and queer people like herself. She speaks three languages but still manages to get lost in the subways of Tokyo with her clunky Japanese. Fueled by iced coffee brewed from local cafés in Metro Manila, she also regularly covers anime and video games while queuing for her next match in League of Legends.