Last Saturday at the Magic Kingdom, a father exclaimed he has “had it up to here” with his kids.
The disturbance was witnessed by a handful of people who were innocently passing by when the father’s outburst occurred.
“I was on my way to inquire about when the 3:00 parade started and I saw this father of two who looked very upset,” park patron Deborah Stephens recalls. “One of his kids was seemingly in the middle of a temper tantrum when their dad interrupted and said, ‘If you don’t cut it out, we’re going back to the room!’ It was terrifying. I don’t know if those kids were tired or hungry but I shouldn’t have to witness something like that while I’m on vacation.”
Others who witnessed this outburst also described the scene of horror. John Kaine was one of those who saw first hand what transpired.
“I think the kids were yelling about wanting to go on a certain ride but their father didn’t want to. They were probably just tired and hungry,” Kaine told us.
Megan Stiller from Detroit, Michigan also witnessed the father’s outburst.
“I’ve been coming to Disney World for the last 25 years and I have never seen anything like this.” Stiller commented. “The first thing I did when I saw it was to run to Guest Relations to try to get comped a free pass for my distress. Although, I can partially understand being a parent myself. The kids were just tired and hungry!”
We caught up with the father who subjected other park guests to his violent temper. His name is Chris Carpenter from Cincinnati, Ohio.
“I don’t know why people are getting so upset. The kids were out-of-line,” Carpenter told us. “They weren’t listening so I threatened to take them back to the room so their mother and I could enjoy ourselves. It’s not like I drowned them in a bathtub or something.”
Carpenter was quick to apologize, however.
“In hindsight, I probably should have just done whatever the kids wanted,” Carpenter continued. “They were just tired and hungry.”
It may come as a surprise to some but this was not the first time there was a clash within a family beyond the turnstiles of a Disney theme park. We spoke with Thomas Jefferson Geronimo III, a Lead Consultant at the Family Vacation Stress Institute.
“Sometimes tempers flare and people just don’t know how to deal with it,” Geronimo explained. “You’re in a theme park, it’s hot, and there’s a lot of people. It definitely has all the elements needed to create a potentially volatile situation. Luckily, it doesn’t happen too often.”
When we showed Geromino the security video tape of the incident, he indicated that this was most likely a case of the children being tired and hungry.
We will continue to monitor the situation and present more details as they become available.
