How long would it take you?

[Big Wallaby]

I was training some new people, working Express Unload at TTC. A lady got off one of the trains, walked about halfway down the ramp, turned around and started screaming at one of our unloaders because she had lost her son and just noticed. She seemed rather angry with him... I still haven't figured out what he did wrong.

She came up looking for him. Quickly, it was discovered that he had not gotten on the Monorail when she (and everyone else in the family) did at Magic Kingdom.

The person on the platform said it was no problem, he would probably appear on the next monorail. If not, we'd call the other station.

He didn't show up on the next monorail. Or the next one.

Mom decided to go back to the Magic Kingdom to look for him. Dad and several siblings (I later found out, one of them the identical twin brother of the lost boy) stayed behind with us. It was at this point that I realized what was going on (I was training and still had this other person working the station while I talked with my learners about it). I took a pad and began to get a description of the boy.

A couple moments later, with a description in hand, I went to Central to call Control to report the Signal 70.

When I gave the Control Operator the name of the boy, they immediately began asking me if he matched a certain description. He did.

He was already at Baby Care.

Where he had been for over half an hour.

He had not been forgotten at the Monorail Platform, otherwise he would have stayed with Security outside the park.

He was at Baby Care, where a Security CM had taken him when an attractions CM had brought this boy to Security.

An attractions CM in Frontierland.

When I found all this out, I hung up with Control. There, in Central, before I left to have to deal with this deadbeat dad, I went into a shouting, swearing frenetic tirade.

I then walked out the door, to Concourse and back to Express Unload, where I proceeded to help the father call the mother to tell her where to find their beloved son.

The fact that I was dealing with them meant that they had forgotten their son in Frontierland. They had managed to make it out of the land, past the Hub, down Main Street and through theturnstiles. They had waited in line for the second or third Monorail since they got in line (conjecture based on the time of night and the number of people who were disembarking every time an Express train pulled in), boarded the Monorail, sat/stood on said Monorail for at least three minutes, exited the train and walked halfway down the ramp before realizing they were missing their son.

They were three miles away from where they lost their son before they realized he was missing.

That brings up the reason for the poll I am posting.

[lady ulrike]

Wow, just wow. I don't think I've ever gone longer than maybe a minute (and probably really much less) in public without my daughter in sight or knowing she's in someone else's sight. Even then, if there's someone else in the group watching her, I still periodically get that line of sight check myself. I don't know how you could go that long without noticing. People irritate me.

[GaTechGal]

How many people were in this group? And you would think that SOMEONE would have done a head count. This HAS to be the stupidest family I've read about in a LONG time.

[luckylady]

How many people were in this group? And you would think that SOMEONE would have done a head count. This HAS to be the stupidest family I've read about in a LONG time.

I so agree with that. How can you forget your child and it makes you wonder what does that little boy think. He must have felt unloved and invisiable

[KidAtHeart]

And that is just one of the reasons I think people should have to pass a test before they breed...

Seriously, how do you not realize for -that long- that your child is missing?

[MyLittleAngels]

Some people just astound me. People laugh at me because I'm *always* counting ... 123 123 123 .. But I always leave with all three of my kids.

[ktulu]

That is an amazing feet of parental stupidity. I took my two girls to the Zoo yesterday, crazy packed, and I made sure I kept an eye on the 4 year old when I let her out of the stroller to look at some animals. It would take me no time at all to notice if one of my kids was missing.

Glad the boy was safe!

[Ms. Matterhorn]

Remember "Home Alone"? The mom was half way to Europe before she noticed Kevin was missing!

[BRWombat]

Utterly amazing. Poor kid.

Some people just astound me. People laugh at me because I'm *always* counting ... 123 123 123 .. But I always leave with all three of my kids.

There's also the matter of getting home with the *correct* three kids. :D:

Remember "Home Alone"? The mom was half way to Europe before she noticed Kevin was missing!

Um, I'm pretty sure that was fiction. :D:

[techie-13]

Wow Wallaby! You found the real life "Home Alone" family! I'm sure that if this story made the news, there would actually be producers trying to put them on reality TV. Can't you see it, the family travels around forgetting the kids and then yelling at the employees of various companies about how the company should have handled it better.

OOOooooo... Maybe they are the Disney version of the Balloon Boy hoax family.