Furious Guest Says She'll Never Return to Magic Kingdom Attraction After Her Daughter Was Mistreated, Humiliated By Cast Members

An Alabama mom says she and her family will never return to a popular Magic Kingdom attraction after her daughter’s experience was allegedly ruined by multiple cast members at Disney World.

A Unique Experience For Little Ones at Magic Kingdom

At the Walt Disney World Resort, there truly is something for every member of the family. There are so many rides, attractions, shows, and special magical experiences across the four theme parks at Disney World–and at the Disney Springs shopping, dining, and entertainment district–that there’s something magical for every single guest to enjoy, whether they’re two or 92.

Some of Disney World’s very special magical offerings come with an added cost to guests, but many are willing to undertake the extra expense, especially when it means that their children will get to enjoy an unforgettable experience that’s tailor-made for them. One such experience happens daily at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique.

At the boutique, fairy godmothers (in training) are paired with children between the ages of three and 12, and “with the wave of a magic wand—plus a few hands-on tricks of the trade—the Fairy Godmother’s Apprentices will pamper and primp the child until they look storybook stunning.”

A royal transformation takes place as the apprentices work their magic, turning girls and boys into “elegant princesses and shining knights.” It’s a magical, personalized experience that is extremely popular among guests–so popular, in fact, that advance reservations are required for the experience.

But for one family, the experience, which was supposed to be magical, was ultimately unforgettable, though not in a positive way.

Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Booooooo

Rogersville, Alabama, resident Holly Kelley says she will never return to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique at Magic Kingdom following what she described as a “terrible experience” during what was supposed to be one of the highlights of her family’s trip to the Walt Disney World Resort. According to her account of the incident, Kelley’s young daughter had looked forward to visiting the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique for months before her scheduled appointment with a fairy godmother at Magic Kingdom.

But she says that it was “a few godmothers” who ruined her daughter’s experience, which happened to be scheduled at the end of a wet and rainy day at the theme park. Kelley readily admits her daughter has “occasional problems” with dandruff, and as such, the fairy godmothers at the boutique refused service to the little girl, telling her mother that the child had lice.

“I told them, ‘No, it [is] dandruff,” Kelley wrote in an online review. “As a former elementary school teacher and as a current Girl Scout leader, I’ve seen children affected by lice, and I am able to tell the difference.

But Kelley says she was then told by the cast members that they couldn’t style the child’s hair because of her “skin condition.” The understandably frustrated mother then asked the cast members to tell her the skin condition to which they were referring, as she had no knowledge of her daughter’s skin issues aside from the occasional dandruff.

“They could not give an answer,” Kelley said in her review. “They said they just observed a ‘skin condition’ and that Florida law would not allow them to do her hair. When I asked what the law was, no one could seem to give me a copy of the law or tell me exactly what it said other than it couldn’t be anything [contagious].”

Kelley says that dandruff is not contagious and that her daughter had no other skin problems–“no cuts on her head, no open sores on her scalp, none of that.”

“I’m just really upset by this experience, mainly because it so sorely upset my daughter, so much so that for a while, she wanted to go home,” Kelley said. “They wouldn’t tell me 100% if she had lice; they said they couldn’t confirm it because they weren’t qualified. I wanted a second opinion [from] someone other than a godmother, so we headed to the infirmary to get the advice of the on-call nurse.”

Additional Disappointment Follows

But Kelley says that when they arrived at the first aid office at Magic Kingdom, there was no nurse to be found. As a result, she never got to hear a medical professional’s opinion about her daughter’s skin.

“So, let me get this straight,” Kelley writes. “Your ‘godmothers’ say they have to follow Florida law. Well, are they all registered as beauticians in Florida? If not, why?”

The angry mother feels strongly that if the cast members at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique can deny the magical experience to a child on the basis of what they think could be lice, they should also “be licensed and able to tell you unequivocally” whether a child actually has lice.

“If they can’t do that because they’re not licensed, then they should not be working on children’s hair,” Kelley said in her online review. “Also, as much money as Disney makes, it baffles my mind why there cannot be a nurse on call at a walk-in clinic . . . at every Disney park.”

Not At All the Experience They Dreamed Of 

Kelley continued, saying that even if it were true that her daughter had lice, the cast members gave them no guidance about how to treat it, and she feels that the fairy godmothers should be able to do so, should the situation happen to another little girl visiting the boutique.

“If this happens to another little girl, I hope the ‘godmothers’ might offer advice on what to do or offer products to buy to get rid of the lice,” Kelley said. “Any other beauty shop in the state of Florida would do that.”

Though it’s not known with certainty whether the little girl had lice or a lesser condition like dandruff, the child’s mother felt strongly that the situation should have been handled differently by cast members.

The admittedly “upset and disappointed mother” says she read numerous reviews of the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique experience at Disney World and says it is clear to her that she and her child “are not alone in this terrible experience due to the very same issue.”