Credit: UniversalA Disneyland Guest was recently arrested for stripping naked on a ride, and the theme park’s biggest rival is making a meal out of it on social media.
We reported that an unidentified 26-year-old male Guest of the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim was arrested on Sunday after the iconic “It’s a Small World” ride broke down. Unlike the other people on the Fantasyland ride, this individual decided to strip off his clothes and streak through the rest of the attraction in full view of thousands of other patrons, including children.
It is unknown why this particular individual decided to streak naked in Disneyland Park, but it did end up shutting down the ride for about an hour and resulted in multiple eyewitness videos of him being arrested. Bizarrely enough, this is not an isolated incident, as there has been a weird spike in Guests deciding to get naked at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World in Florida.
The recent attention given to so-called “Disney adults” has seemed to correlate with a weird trend of adult performers visiting Disney Parks to film content, in addition to people seemingly just deciding the heat of both Southern California and Florida was too much to bear.
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The Disneyland Resort comes down hard on nudity in Parks, for obvious family-related reasons, and it is clear that the Walt Disney Company is embarrassed by incidents like these. Unsurprisingly, its biggest rival in the theme park market, Universal, has decided to clown on Disneyland.
In a recent post on Twitter, the official Universal Orlando Resort account shared an image of its holiday mascot, Earl the Squirrel, leaping into frame, accompanied by the caption: “Reminder: Just because Earl doesn’t wear pants around the park doesn’t mean you can too.”
Reminder: Just because Earl doesn't wear pants around the park doesn't mean you can too. pic.twitter.com/rYETHRxmu3
— Universal Orlando Resort (@UniversalORL) November 28, 2023
It is not a big reach to read this social media post as a pointed jab toward Disneyland and the recent streaker. Universal Destination & Experiences has long been considered the runner-up to the Walt Disney Company in the theme park competition, but for the first time ever, Disneyland and Walt Disney World have actually been defeated. It’s not surprising that Universal would take a little victory lap and poke some fun at its longtime foe.
Related: Universal Resort to Extend Theme Park Hours
Although the reasons for Universal becoming more popular than Disney Parks are probably complicated and numerous, it certainly doesn’t help that Walt Disney World has been raising the prices on annual passes and Genie+ at an unprecedented rate. That, and Disney’s ongoing battle with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, in which he seems to be favoring Universal, has been a thorn in the House of Mouse’s side.
As of publication, the Walt Disney Company has not clapped back at Universal Orlando Resort over the naked arrest incident, but we’ll have to wait to see if this turns into a full-on flame war.
Do you think Disney should fight fire with fire when it comes to Univeral? Let us know your opinions in the comments below!