10 years ago, in June 2016, three separate, horrific incidents took place in Orlando, Florida, within five days. 51 people lost their lives. One of the incidents happened on Walt Disney World property, and another of them almost did. All immediately affected Disney’s operations and continue to do so today, a decade later.
Today, we remember this tragic moment in history and the global community of theme park guests and employees who brought about a movement in its aftermath. What I experienced as an Orlando local and a Disney cast member that week was a reminder of the enduring power of the human spirit.
Week of Orlando Tragedies 10 Years Ago
Walt Disney World declares itself “the most magical place on Earth,” but even its most immaculate fantasy theming is not immune to some realities of the world beyond its bubble. For Disney, when faced with seasonal hurricanes or the pandemic, for example, safety always supersedes the fantastical integrity of its theme parks.
This was certainly the case the week of June 10, 2016, when three separate tragedies shook Orlando: the fatal shooting of singer Christina Grimmie after her concert, the shooting at Pulse nightclub that led to 49 deaths and over 50 injuries, and the alligator attack at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort that caused the death of a 2-year-old guest named Lane Graves.
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Each incident had inflicted its own wave of shock and sadness across Orlando. The three of them together were heartbreaking and numbing. The Pulse massacre had been the deadliest mass shooting in American history at the time, and it was later discovered that the shooter’s original target was Walt Disney World.
As a cast member participating in the Disney College Program at the time, it was impossible to completely maintain the illusion of a fantasy escape. By design, the aesthetics of the parks were fiction, but everyone, cast members and guests alike, carried baggage of the realities of what had just happened that couldn’t, and didn’t deserve to, be ignored.
In the days to come, as I cleaned strollers and delivered merchandise as part of my College Program responsibilities, two questions echoed in my head. Firstly, were we all safe? Despite the incidents being unrelated, you couldn’t help but wonder if another tragedy was still to come. Secondly, did these places even matter? The notion of a theme park having any meaning seemed soberingly unimportant in the wake of such harsh reality.
I’d soon be shown that the fantasy was never the point to begin with.
Links in a Chain: Orlando Strong
On Friday, June 17, 2016, I stood among a crowd of hundreds in front of Cinderella Castle, awaiting the debut performance of Mickey’s Royal Friendship Faire, Magic Kingdom’s first new daytime castle show in 10 years.
The previous week had been heavy. The city was simultaneously in mourning and on high alert. National dignitaries had visited Pulse to pay their respects to the deceased. Disney had begun installing safety measures near bodies of water across the entire Disney World property.
Mickey’s Royal Friendship Faire would be significant in more ways than one.
Following the alligator attack, out of sensitivity toward the incident, Disney had completely removed from the show Louis, the trumpet-playing alligator who first appeared in The Princess and the Frog. In less than three days, Disney had pulled Louis from the show’s plot, recorded and edited replacement dialogue for other characters, and rechoreographed the production without Louis.
Beyond this, the message of Mickey’s Royal Friendship Faire was timely to the Orlando community in a way its creators couldn’t have possibly anticipated.
The storyline of Mickey’s Royal Friendship Faire involved Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, and Daisy meeting characters from far-off lands for the first time. It functioned as a spotlight for the films of the then-recent “revival” era of Walt Disney Animation Studios: The Princess and the Frog, Tangled, and Frozen.
At its essence, Mickey’s Royal Friendship Faire was about the power that happens when different people come together in the name of unity.
The show’s theme song contained these lyrics:
We are links in a chain made of silver and gold
We are part of a pattern about to unfold
We are heroes of stories yet to be told
We come together on this day
In a finale reprise of the anthem, the cast sings, “All these separate parts together make us whole.”
The debut performance of Mickey’s Royal Friendship Faire, to this day, remains one of the most profound moments I’ve witnessed in a theme park. These lyrics, and the joy with which they were performed by characters and dancers, were not lost upon the audience, which contained a large number of Orlando locals supporting the first show with unabandoned, uproarious cheers. The photo at the beginning of this story is from that debut performance on June 17, 2016.
The script, all performed from a prerecorded track, was clear in its intentions of positive affirmation. When Goofy is feeling discouraged about joining the party, Tiana assures him that “Everybody’s got something to add.” At one point in the show, Elsa looks over the crowd and says, “I hope none of you ever lose sight of being your own person.”
Mickey Mouse himself declares that the show is a “celebration of what makes this kingdom really unique: all of us.” These words possessed infinite new meaning within the context of that week.
Here, in as seemingly meaningless a place as a stage in front of a fairytale castle, was a rally cry for unity, a plea to recognize that we are all part of a beautiful pattern together.
The Walt Disney Company often attributes this quote to its founder: “You can dream, create, design, and build the most wonderful place in the world, but it requires people to make the dream a reality.”
Walt was referring to his cast members and employees, but the sentiment is true of the entire community that populates the parks, including guests. These castles, mountains, and galaxies far, far away are just mounds of mortar without people to inhabit them and make them real.
In the days and weeks following the tragedies, guests and cast members met each other where they were at emotionally. It was a special thing to see others rise to the occasion in a way that made you want to do the same for them.
On Saturday, June 18, 2016, an unofficial Disney fan page called Disneylifestylers organized a community vigil in remembrance of the 49 Pulse victims, to be held in front of Cinderella Castle when Magic Kingdom closed. No speeches or formal programming were planned; the event was meant to be a simple opportunity to gather together and mourn.
Hundreds of guests attended the memorial. Disney usually doesn’t participate in unofficial community gatherings. However, during the vigil, Disney muted the background music on Main Street, U.S.A., and the central plaza in front of the castle for a moment of silence in honor of the deceased. This moment was captured by Thingamavlogs on YouTube.
By the end of the week, Disney had started building fences with wood posts and rope along the previously unobstructed beach shores of various Disney World hotels, including the Grand Floridian. These barriers were accompanied by caution signs that would eventually be added near every body of water throughout all of Walt Disney World, a standard that remains in place today.
On August 7, 2017, Disney installed a small lighthouse statue near the Grand Floridian beach as a memorial to Lane Graves, and presented by the Lane Thomas Foundation, an organization founded by Graves’s parents following his passing to support families of children needing life-saving implants. A plaque on the statue reads, “A Beacon of Hope | A Light of Love”. The lighthouse statue is still standing at the Grand Floridian today.
Indeed, as its viral hashtag declared, Orlando was, and is, strong because of the people who make it so.
In Memoriam
Today, we honor the 51 individuals who died from the incidents in Orlando from June 10 – 14, 2016:
- Stanley Almodovar III
- Amanda L. Alvear
- Oscar A. Aracena Montero
- Rodolfo Ayala Ayala
- Antonio Davon Brown
- Darryl Roman Burt II
- Angel Candelario-Padro
- Juan Chavez Martinez
- Luis D. Conde
- Cory James Connell
- Tevin Eugene Crosby
- Deonka Deidra Drayton
- Leroy Valentin Fernandez
- Simon Adrian Carrillo Fernandez
- Mercedez Marisol Flores
- Peter Ommy Gonzalez Cruz
- Christina Grimmie
- Lane Graves
- Juan Ramon Guerrero
- Paul Terrell Henry
- Frank Hernandez
- Miguel Angel Honorato
- Javier Jorge Reyes
- Jason Benjamin Josaphat
- Eddie Jamal Droy Justice
- Anthony Luis Laureano Disla
- Christopher Andrew Leinonen
- Alejandro Barrios Martinez
- Brenda Marquez McCool
- Gilberto R. Silva Menendez
- Kimberly Jean Morris
- Akyra Monet Murray
- Luis Omar Ocasio Capo
- Gerardo A. Ortiz Jimenez
- Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera
- Joel Rayon Paniagua
- Jean Carlos Mendez Perez
- Enrique L. Rios Jr.
- Jean Carlos Nieves Rodríguez
- Xavier Emmanuel Serrano-Rosado
- Christopher Joseph Sanfeliz
- Yilmary Rodríguez Solivan
- Eddie Sotomayor Jr.
- Shane Evan Tomlinson
- Martin Benitez Torres
- Jonathan A. Camuy Vega
- Franky Jimmy Dejesus Velázquez
- Juan Pablo Rivera Velázquez
- Luis Sergio Vielma
- Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon
- Jerry Wright
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