Ever get lost in Disney as a child?

[WDWPRIME]

Back in 1986, when I was 5, I walked (probably ran) away from my parents about an hour before closing at MK. I wanted to find Mickey, and assumed he lived in the castle. I ran over, and quickly found that a) there was no way in b) it was getting dark and c) my family wasn't with me anymore.

I roamed for a bit, and told a CM that I couldn't find my dad. He ask "What does he look like" I replied "He has brown hair, and a moustache". Pretty good eh?

My father eventually found me sniffing candy in a candy store I guess. My mother was basically out of her mind. Anyhoo, we went to the Empress Lily the next morning for a Character Breakfast, which was a nice follow-up to a crazy night.

Anyone else?

[Imagineer1981]

lol...I assume the CM was still with you when you were sniffing candy, because they are not allowed to leave a lost child, but good story. I remember wanting to climb up the castle to go to mickey's room, then I got confused when I saw he had a house in toontown.

[CaptainJessicaSparrow]

I got lost lots of times...

Like, when I was 7 or 8, I went to look at something by Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, and then I was scared by something, so I ran back to find my parents and grabbed the first hand I saw.

Well, the person looked down at me and was like...."Hi, you're not one of mine."

A minute later my mom found me.

I also think they tried to leave me a few times, or pawn me off on the characters. Maybe that's why I like them so much?

[Greenlawler]

Never myself at DW but at K-Mart once, but my three year old ran off from us this year to ride Peter Pan at MNSSHP while we were walking to the castle. My wife was with our youngest son somewhere else. I kept my cool but I was admiteldy scared. I ran for the nearest CM. It was about 10 of the scariest minutes of my life. Finnaly after roaming Fantasyland with my six year old and I screaming his name, a lady brought him to us.
I knew we would find him but I was more worried that he was terrified.

His name is Battle so we were roaming the streets yelling Battle! People I am sure thought we were nuts.

[JasonH]

I unfortunately have never had this happen before. After my first trip, I pretty well knew my way around the world...and I had only been there for two days, one at each park. :D Mind you this was in 1984 and only MK and Epcot Center were around. I'm such a Disney nut and remember most everything visually that my fam thinks of me as the human map of the group...yes, even including the nearest restrooms. :rotfl:

[jennsky]

I got lost lots of times...

Like, when I was 7 or 8, I went to look at something by Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, and then I was scared by something, so I ran back to find my parents and grabbed the first hand I saw.

Well, the person looked down at me and was like...."Hi, you're not one of mine."


That's funny! I did something very similar. We were getting off the tram from the parking lot on our way to the Magic Kingdom and in the throngs of people, I somehow got separated (unknowingly) from my family. I grabbed the hand of the man beside me, thinking it was my Dad, only to look up and have some stranger look down at me saying "you're not mine"! Momentary panic ensued, but fortunately I turned around and saw my family not far behind me!

[casey@bat]

I was 8 and wanted to go ride Haunted Mansion. I thought everyone was beside me. I grabbed a man's hand and then found out it wasn't my dad! I was so scared. I started walking in circles looking for my family. There were people from other countries there and I didn't want them to think Americans were wimpy so I held back my tears! I can't believe I actually thought that. My dad was watching me the whole time. He always knew where I was. He wanted to teach me a lesson. We ate dinner shortly after that and I couldn't eat my favorite dish, chicken. It really scared me. But I did stay close to them after that.

Now when we go I am always running ahead. They all follow me. My parents are afraid I will run off and leave my kids if I see something exciting!

[CAS]

Yeah, been there myself. I got lost in the Studios (when I was 12 maybe?). MGM studios had just opened so we didn't know our way around. I was tinkering around in a shop when the rest of the fam must've taken off without knowing I stayed behind. I didn't notice for a few minutes but when I did I was a little alarmed.

I had a feeling they'd look for me in the last place they saw me so I hung around and didn't say anything to any case member (After all, I was 12. That's practically a full grown man as far as I was concerned). Probably another 10 or 15 min later we saw eachother and I (being the cool and unafraid kid I was trying to be) was like, "What's up?"

After my mother had a fit and my father calmed her down I chalked it up to a great learning experience. :blush:

[BigRedDad]

It was either my brother or I in the early 70s. I was probably still in diapers.. Mickey either took my hand or my brother's and walked off. Heck if it is Mickey, it is OK :mickey:

[Insanity Clause]

This wasn't at Disney but when I was about five or six my mom and I were visiting my grandma and we went to the fireworks in St. Louis. When we got to the park it was pretty empty so I was playing on the playground with mom and Grandma watching from just a bit a way when the crowds just starting pouring in so I went to look for my mom but got disorientated. A teenage girl found me and was nice enough to stay with me and take me to the announcer booth who called for my mom over the loudspeaker. She stayed with me until my mom came. She was a very nice girl and I was never so happy in my life to see my mom and that is saying something because I adore my mom.

[jrkcr]

Ya'll people who got lost at WDW are lucky!
When I was five I got lost in Sky CIty-a cheap version of Wal-Mart.
Now THAT was scary!! :cry:

[Nancyjae]

Back in 1993 my entire family (at that time there were 12 of us) got off of Splash Mountain. We had stopped to look at our picture. And as everyone does, you laugh and walk away. We walked away but my 8 year old son didn't follow. Next we hear screaming and crying as he comes running. He didn't leave our side after that, and to this day (and now there is 27 of us - last Christmas my mom took all of us for one week as our Christmas present!), out of all of us, everyone that knows the story, and as we're leaving the photo viewing area we yell "Matthew, where are you?" He is now 24 and shakes his head with a smile. Those are great Disney memories when its a family inside joke, and brings back a funny time from the past.

[Boojum]

....I lost my younger DD in the "Honey I Shrunk the Kids Playground" when she was about 4.

We didn't panic too much. We knew she was in there someplace. I told the Castmember at the entrance what she looked like and what she was wearing, then stationed my DH at the exit. Older DD and I then went looking for her. She eventually came crawling out of one of the tunnels, but it took about 15 minutes before we found her.

[DisneyMelissa]

Yep! I was about 6 years old --so this was in about 1994. My mom and I were just getting off the carousel, and walked towards next to each other. A guy and his family were pushing through everyone and separated the two of us. Of course, I walked one way after the exit, and my mom walked the other. I panicked and started doing circles around the carousel...and so did my mom. After a few laps, it dawned on me that I should stay in one spot, so I went back to the exit and my mom found me about 1 minute later. I was so scared and didn't leave her side the rest of the trip.

[EmISeeKayEeWhy]

When I was young and went to WDW (around 7or 8 ish), it was a different time (1977-1978). I was common for us to have a meet up spot and I was left to my own devices. So I never really got lost in WDW. But I don't see lrtting a 7 or 8 year old doing this these days.