Earlier this month, a viral video claimed that a young girl went missing at Disneyland Resort after disappearing with a strange man into tunnels under a women’s restroom. Weeks later, a man stripped on “it’s a small world,” walking through the attraction until police carried him out of Disneyland Park naked. Now, online theorists claim the two incidents are connected.
Alleged Kidnapping
The kidnapping allegations started in mid-November with a deep fake video of podcaster Joe Rogan. The fabricated video claimed that a four-year-old went to the bathroom by herself and was last seen climbing down a secret staircase with an unknown adult male.
Multiple news organizations debunked the clip. Rogan hadn’t worn the shirt in the video since last year, but the deepfake claimed the kidnapping took place in October. Additionally, the Anaheim Police Department confirmed that no missing children were reported at Disneyland Park.
“We are not investigating any child abductions at, or near, the Disneyland Resorts,” Sgt. Jon McClintock, a public information officer at the Anaheim Police Department, told Politifact.
The story gained traction anyway, with some artificial intelligence (AI) videos of the supposed little girl garnering more than one million likes and millions of views.
Naked Man at Disneyland Park
Unlike the kidnapping, this shocking Disneyland Resort incident was very real. On Sunday, multiple videos emerged of a man climbing out of an “it’s a small world” boat. He stripped to his underwear and climbed through props on the attraction before stripping fully nude. Eventually, the naked man made it to the outer part of the historic Disneyland Park ride, where security carried him out.
A post on X (formerly known as Twitter) by @ashleyesqueda contained the first viral photo of the incident, and multiple videos followed:
I AM ON SMALL WORLD AND THERE WAS A STREAKER, I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS IS HAPPENING
I AM ON SMALL WORLD AND THERE WAS A STREAKER, I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS IS HAPPENING pic.twitter.com/AeP7fiuvwI
— Ashley Esqueda, Christmas Bauble (@AshleyEsqueda) November 26, 2023
The 27-year-old man was arrested and charged with public indecency and abuse of a controlled substance.
Online Theorists Make Connections
On Wednesday, social media content creator @metacowboy shared this video connecting the fake kidnapping story and the “it’s a small world” streaker:
@metacowboy #greenscreenvideo disney streaker #disney #disneyland #disneystreaker #fyp #metacowboy #conspiracy #foryou #missinggirl #coverup #undergroundcity
“What are the correlations between the streaking guy and this incident here?” the user asked. “We all know that Disney World, Disneyland has a huge underground facility so that Disney can still have the magic feeling and you can’t see all the comings and goings of the employees.”
(Walt Disney World Resort’s Magic Kingdom Park has extensive underground utilidors, as does a small portion of EPCOT. The only utilidor on the West Coast is in a small area of Tomorrowland at Disneyland Park.)
“But also, a lot of people speculate that there’s also people going missing and people being taken underground,” the TikToker continued. “That’s what I think… Did the guy escape?”
The 27-year-old streaker was not identified as a missing person, and no missing person reports are currently active at Disneyland Resort. When reading social media allegations like these, it’s essential to check multiple news sources.
Once again, it’s important to note that the allegations of a kidnapping at Disneyland Resort are false. The story started with a deep fake video of Joe Rogan, which was thoroughly analyzed and debunked. No police report about a missing child at Disneyland Park was filed.
Please note that the story outlined in this article is based on personal Disney Parks guest experiences. No two guest experiences are alike, and this article does not necessarily align with Inside the Magic’s personal views on Disney Park operations.