Woman Found Unresponsive in Car at Disney, Babies Abandoned in Back Seat

Theme park parking lots operate around the clock as guests arrive early for rope drop, depart after evening shows, and occasionally return to their vehicles during park visits for various reasons. Disney security teams patrol these massive parking areas continuously, monitoring for theft, vehicle damage, medical emergencies, and unusual situations requiring intervention.

While most parking lot incidents involve minor issues like dead batteries or locked keys inside vehicles, security personnel occasionally encounter scenarios requiring immediate law enforcement response and coordination with multiple agencies.

Training prepares Disney security for these situations, but each incident presents unique challenges, particularly when children’s welfare becomes a concern during late-night hours when most guests have already departed the parks.

In the early morning hours of December 18, 2025, Disney security personnel discovered such a situation in the Mickey Parking Lot at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. What began as a welfare check on an unresponsive woman in a parked vehicle quickly escalated into a child neglect investigation involving the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, Fire Rescue, and the Florida Department of Children and Families.

The incident, which occurred shortly before 2:00 a.m., resulted in DCF taking custody-related action involving two young children and law enforcement issuing a trespass warning. Understanding what happened and how multiple agencies coordinated their response provides important context about the serious situations that occasionally unfold at Disney World, even in spaces as mundane as parking lots, per WDW Active Calls.

The Initial Discovery

Disney security personnel patrolling the Mickey Parking Lot at Disney’s Hollywood Studios contacted the Orange County Sheriff’s Office shortly before 2:00 a.m. on December 18, 2025, reporting a female who would not wake inside a black Tesla parked in Row 300. Security described the vehicle as turned off with hazard lights activated and only a cracked window providing ventilation.

🔁 UPDATE to previous call: Person Down ➡️
Changed to: Child Neglect
📍 Disney’s Hollywood Studios#WaltDisneyWorld #Disney https://t.co/rbO51VBlq7

— Walt Disney World: Active Calls (@WDWActiveCrime) December 18, 2025

Security personnel had attempted to wake the woman through various means, including honking their vehicle’s horn, without success. They described the woman as very pale and completely unresponsive to verbal contact, raising immediate concerns about a potential medical emergency.

The combination of an unresponsive individual in a vehicle during overnight hours in a theme park parking lot warranted immediate law enforcement and medical response.

Orange County Sheriff’s deputies dispatched to the scene along with Fire Rescue personnel arrived to assess the situation. While deputies were present, the woman eventually became responsive, initially suggesting the incident might resolve as a medical issue or exhaustion-related situation.

However, as the investigation continued, deputies determined that young children were inside the vehicle with the unresponsive woman. This discovery fundamentally changed the nature of the incident, prompting the Sheriff’s Office to upgrade the call classification from “Man Down” to “Child Neglect.”

Child Welfare Response

Two children, documented in records as ages 3 and 5, were present in the vehicle during the incident. The presence of young children with an unresponsive adult in a parked vehicle during overnight hours triggered mandatory child welfare protocols requiring notification of the Florida Department of Children and Families.

DCF investigators responded to the scene to assess the children’s immediate safety and welfare. Following their investigation, DCF took custody-related action involving the children, though specific details about placement or ongoing custody arrangements were not disclosed in public records.

The response involved coordination between multiple agencies, including several Sheriff’s Office units, Fire Rescue personnel, Disney Security, and DCF investigators. This multi-agency approach reflects standard protocols when children’s welfare becomes a concern during law enforcement incidents.

Deputies also issued a trespass warning as part of their response, effectively banning the individual from Disney property. Law enforcement activity extended beyond Hollywood Studios, with units traveling to Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort where additional investigative steps were taken, suggesting possible connections between the parking lot incident and activities at the resort hotel.

Records indicate the woman was either arrested or transported for medical evaluation following the incident, though exact disposition details were not specified in available documentation.

Prior Universal Orlando Incident

Public records reveal this was not the first time the individual involved in the December Disney incident encountered law enforcement at Central Florida theme parks in 2025. Approximately ten months earlier, on February 18, 2025, Orlando police arrested the same woman following a disturbance at Universal’s Cabana Bay Beach Resort.

According to the arrest report, Universal Security contacted Orlando police regarding a disturbance at 6550 Adventure Way involving the woman, who reportedly attempted to flee when security tried making contact.

Officers also encountered two adult males at the scene with two small children, the same children later involved in the Disney World incident. One male was described as extremely intoxicated and acting erratically while being trespassed from Universal property.

During that response, officers were alerted to a female passed out in the parking lot. They located the woman asleep on the ground near a vehicle with her face in the dirt. Upon waking her, officers documented signs of alcohol impairment including slurred speech, bloodshot glassy eyes, and the odor of alcohol. Fire Rescue requested a welfare check, though she refused medical care.

After being informed she was trespassed and free to leave, the report states she became hostile and erratic, grabbed one of her children, and continued causing a disturbance. Officers removed the child from her care due to immediate safety concerns and placed her under arrest.

She faced charges of disorderly intoxication, resisting an officer with violence, and battery on a law enforcement officer. The report noted that body-worn cameras recorded the entire incident.

Pattern of Concern

The two incidents, occurring approximately ten months apart at different Central Florida theme park properties, both involved the same woman, the same two young children, and situations requiring law enforcement intervention due to welfare concerns. Both incidents occurred during overnight hours and resulted in law enforcement determining the children required removal from her immediate care due to safety concerns.

The escalation from the February Universal incident, which resulted in criminal charges, to the December Disney incident, which again required DCF involvement and custody-related action, suggests ongoing child welfare issues that multiple agencies have now documented across separate occasions and locations.

Theme parks work closely with local law enforcement and child welfare agencies when situations involving children’s safety arise on their properties. While these incidents remain relatively rare given the millions of visitors Central Florida theme parks host annually, they underscore the reality that security personnel and law enforcement must remain prepared to respond to serious situations that extend far beyond typical theme park operations.

Looking Forward

The December incident at Disney’s Hollywood Studios serves as a sobering reminder that child welfare concerns can emerge anywhere, including at entertainment destinations where families typically create happy memories. The coordinated response involving Disney Security, Orange County Sheriff’s Office, Fire Rescue, and DCF demonstrates the protocols in place when children’s immediate safety becomes questionable.

For the children involved, ages 3 and 5, these incidents represent trauma and disruption during formative years. The involvement of DCF and law enforcement across multiple incidents suggests ongoing efforts to ensure their safety and wellbeing, though specific outcomes and current custody arrangements remain confidential under child welfare privacy laws.

These situations are difficult to read about and even harder to witness. If you’ve ever encountered a situation at a theme park where you were concerned about a child’s welfare or saw something that didn’t seem right, share your thoughts in the comments about whether you reported it and how security responded.

Sometimes these discussions help other guests understand when and how to speak up if they observe concerning situations.

And for anyone who works in theme park security or has experience with these types of welfare calls, your perspective on how these situations typically unfold could help readers understand the complexity involved in protecting children while respecting privacy and following proper protocols.