Disney Theme Parks are the sorts of places that can transport you and make you truly feel like you're truly somewhere else. This is the only thing that we can think that would make somebody believe it was acceptable to just start climbing the tree in the middle of Disney's Animal Kingdom. And yet, that's exactly what happened when several people apparently hopped off the path and began to try to scale the Tree of Life, check it out.
The Tree of Life sits at about the middle of Disney's Animal Kingdom Park and it is quite impressive. It's a massive artificial tree with hundreds of animal shapes and other images carved into its trunk. One can certainly understand the desire to get a closer look, but most people will limit themselves to the walking trail that takes you to its base. That wasn't good enough for four people who, over the weekend, hopped the fences and tried to climb the tree.
It's not clear exactly how far the four made it up the tree before they were apprehended by Disney World security. But apprehended they certainly were. It's also not clear what sort of punishment they received. It's possible they were let off with a stern warning, but more then likely, they were tossed from the park. The next question is, for how long? Disney will remove anybody they feel is being unduly disruptive and this certainly appears to be a valid case. They've also been known to ban people for life for the most significant violations. There's some anecdotal evidence that people who have decided to go for a swim in places like the Epcot lagoon or the moat around Cinderella's Castle have been banned for life, and this would seem to be a similar sort of situation. Hopefully, they enjoyed their time in the park a lot if they're never able to go back.
One really wonders what possesses people to do things like that. There's literally zero chance that you're not going to get busted by security. In my experience, Disney Parks have both security and medical personnel that literally hide in shadows and magically appear wherever they are needed. But even if that wasn't the case, these people were climbing a tree! There are only two directions to go and the higher you go up, the longer it takes to come down. Security could stop and eat a Mickey Mouse ice cream bar on the way and still be ready for you when you came down. If they just assumed they'd get yelled at or kicked out for the day, and they were cool with that, one wonders how they felt if the punishment was worse.
The ages of the four tree climbers is unknown, one assumes if they were climbing trees they were fairly young. That's a lot of decades of not being allowed at Disney World if they were banned for life. I mostly just feel bad for any kids who might exist who will have trouble going to Disney World again because dad isn't allowed on the premises.
Cover photo credit WDWNews.com/Disney
