Credit: DisneyEvery year, Walt Disney World Resort, Disneyland Resort, and Disneyland Paris Resort gather thousands of dollars in coin donations tossed throughout the theme parks to give to charity. Previous recipients include Give Kids The World Village, Make-A-Wish, and children’s hospitals.
Though most visitors toss coins into fountains and water attractions like “it’s a small world,” some ambitious guests make coin-tossing into a game. Most recently, Disney Parks fans noticed a mountain of coins piling up in Pluto’s bowl in Toontown at Disneyland Park, part of the Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway queue.
Reddit user u/panda-rampage shared a photo of the coins, asking, “When did people start throwing coins here?”
When did people start throwing coins here?
byu/panda-rampage inDisneyland
Many Disney Parks fans explained that the money would eventually become a large charity donation. However, numerous guests felt Disneyland Resort shouldn’t allow such coin-tossing.
“I hate it,” u/kevinmattress said.
“Right? Looks tacky,” LeftofCenter25 replied.
“Wow, that looks trashy,” u/junostr agreed.
“Can’t people not borderline vandalize everything?” u/OliverNodel wrote. “This is akin to the stray hair ties literally everywhere at Everest in WDW.”
But others defended the practice and the good it eventually does.
“It doesn’t look great, but people toss coins all over at Disney so it was just a matter of time before this was a new target,” said u/BitchyFaceMace. “The money is collected & donated to charity, so it doesn’t bother me.”
One insider alleged that Disney cast members get in on the fun.
“CM’s have been known to ‘seed’ areas like this by placing a few of their own coins into the mix at the start of the day,” u/BabserellaWT explained. “This is usually done in areas without water (it’s traditional for people to throw coins in water, after all) — I believe the act was first noticed on the hammocks in Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse.”
Pluto’s food bowl isn’t unique. Guests throw coins at countless locations throughout Disneyland Park, Disney California Adventure Park, and Downtown Disney, including Snow White’s Wishing Well, Pirates of the Caribbean, and more. But instead of donating, some guests try to get a piece of the pie.
Greed backfired for one group of guests, who hopped fences and jumped over a river to steal bills from an off-limits area. Reddit user u/popcultureretrofit explained.
“Back in April I was line at Radiator Springs and there were $5s, $10s and $20s all scattered on the rocks across the river,” they recalled. “People were hopping the fence, jumping over the river, and climbing the rocks to grab them. They all turned out to be ‘for motion picture use only’ lol.”
Should guests throw coins at Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort? Share your thoughts with Inside the Magic in the comments.
Please note that the story outlined in this article is based on a personal Disney Parks Guest experience. No two Guest experiences are alike, and this article does not necessarily align with Inside the Magic’s personal views on Disney Park operations.