Disney Security

Over on one of my favorite Disney discussion boards there is a thread going about Disney security and how amazing they are at blending into the crowd and handing incidences with speed and discrection.

It reminded me of my own story...

Daddy and PJ have a tradition of going on Splash Mountain. Lion doesn't like the ride and so he and I usually have to sit and wait for them. This usually never makes Lion happy and the half an hour or so is usually spent with him being agitated and me trying to keep him occupied.

On this one occassion Lion got a bee in his bonnet that he only wanted to be with daddy. When daddy and PJ left Lion lost it. Complete and total ferecious meltdown. Kicking, screaming at the top of his lungs, raging at me, crying. An autistic tantrum isn't like a normal tantrum. It's 10x worse and you cannot reason with them and trying to remove them or "fix" the situation will usually cause it to get worse. You have to ride it out, and make sure they don't hurt themselves.People couldn't help but stop and stare. Hell, if it wasn't happening to me, I would have stopped as well. I stayed calm, talking to him in low soft tones, trying to soothe him, never getting angry or frustrated.

About 15 mins into the tantrum with no signs of an end, with no stopping or slowing in sight, someone must have alerted security because all of a sudden I saw, one, two, three new folks around me with earpieces in acting as though they weren't watching but I knew they were. They had set themselves up in a triangular formation all observing as though they were just nosy tourists.

I ignored them and focused on my Lion knowing full well that the only thing that would end this tantrum was daddy. They stayed with me the whole time, watching, talking into their "watches" and making sure I wasn't kidnapping or hurting the Lion.

I was impressed with how well they blended and how truly discreet they were.

Now on each trip, I look for them knowing they are all over the parks and that guy sitting down reading a map on the bench, might not be a guest at all.