A Disney theme park goer has gone viral for her “traumatizing” experience on one of the theme park’s classic rides. TikTok user “@creatingafairytale” (aka “Leslie” according to her bio) posted about getting stuck on the Who Framed Roger Rabbit ride “Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin” on the social media platform; at the time of writing this, the video has 1.2 million views (and counting). The supposed “trauma” in question is a 5-second clip that shows the Roger Rabbit ride broken down on the tracks at a particularly creepy spot, where two animatronic clowns are lurking ominously in the distance.ย
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While it may be easy to mock young Leslie for this level of experience being equated to trauma โ it is arguable that if life were a horror movie, Leslie would’ve indeed been in that scene where the killer finally takes her out.ย
In full disclosure, one look at the @CreatingAFairyTale TikTok page reveals that Leslie is an avid Disney fan who is well on the way to making her own brand in Disney-themed TikToks (I mean it’s in the user name, right?). That’s all to say that Leslie is clearly not out to do a hit-job on Disney; in fact, her December 14th post about the Roger Rabbit ride breaking down has been supplanted by no less than 61 additional posts about Disney parks, films, products, and attractions. Only a couple of those videos talk about theme park attractions breaking down or being otherwise creepy.ย
Leslie eventually got back on the horse and returned to her spot of dread in the Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin ride, in order to give those creepy clowns their proper chance to entertain, rather than horrify. As you can see in the December 22nd TIkTok video below, there was, unfortunately, no redemption to be found:ย
Disney’s theme parks are taking on a whole new level of social relevancy thanks to social media. Videos of aging park attractions, breakdowns, live events or uniquely joyous experiences at Disney World or Disneyland parks around the world have become some of the biggest viral hits in the last few years โ free advertising for Disney to reach new audiences of people who aren’t already regular customers at their parks.ย
Unfortunately, the benefits of free social media PR for Disney’s theme parks has been wildly offset by the milestone losses the parks have suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time of writing this, Hong Kong Disneyland has had to close its gates for the next few weeks, due to the exponential surges in COVID infections from the Omicron variant, worldwide. But so far, Leslie is free to keep TikTok the happenings at Disney.ย