Pluto flips out at Disneyland (video)
Why is Pluto chasing this kid around at breakneck speed on Main Street USA? And why does that woman grab Pluto and push him to the ground? I don't know, but it makes for a great vacation video moment for all the camcorder-wielding visitors to the Magic Kingdom. Link (Via Nothing to do with Arbroath)
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Perhaps the child had been taunting him with the fact that Pluto is no longer a planet?
He wasn't pushed - he fell off the curb.
The best part about this is Pluto doesn't break character. Notice he never talks, just uses gestures to get his point across (clearly asking other tourists "Did you see that?" after he falls over.)
I'm also not sure if the kid was scared. He may have asked Pluto to chase him, you never know.
1. I bet that kid deserved whatever pluto was gonna do to him.
2. They should rig it so when they remove their masks the neck sprays fake blood to obscure their faces.
Time to put Ol' Yeller down, methinks.
It looks like they were playing a game, like maybe the kid ran up and slapped Plutes on the back and said "TAG!" and ran away. It didn't seem to me like an "I'm gonna throttle you" moment, but the mom sure didn't know what was going on. The guy in the costume had his hands up like "okay, okay, it's cool, no more chasing" and she pushed him, and he fell off the curb (I would surmise that it was more of a pratfall). After that whole debacle with Goofy slapping some kid in the back of the head, I'm sure Pluto didn't want the same level of heat on him for a situation that was easily misconstrued.
This was all meant to be a character act: Dogs chase people sometimes, and the cast member was just having fun with it (too much fun, apparently). When the woman started yelling, the CM could tell he'd taken the joke too far, and accidentally or deliberately fell off the curb to break the tension, making it look like a cartoonish pratfall. Obviously he could tell he'd taken the joke too far, because he then walked away, shrugging and mugging to the crowd like it was all a bit. If he could have put his tail between his legs and whined, he would've.
Not defending the CM's behavior--the kid was clearly terrified--just showing what the intention might've been.
Mistrained Disney employee. At about the 3 second mark, you can see him make a little side shuffle in his run stride. He's not taking full strides, "chasing" the boy, but keeping uniform distance. My guess is he's new, wanted to play with the boy, but didn't realize it was breaking character/alarming to others.
Addendum: On second thought, the immediate retreat (as noted in the YouTube contributor's comment) seems to indicate that the CM is off to fetch a supervisor. I'm sure there's a rule in the character's handbook: "NEGATIVE CHARACTER INTERACTION: If the guest seems unhappy, immediately walk away and summon a supervisor."
And ditto Deejayqueue and Mrfantasy - I think the kid must have initiated the chase, probably as a game of tag.
It really looked sinister to me.
My made-up story for this video is that the kid did what kids usually do to characters: kicked him in the balls, or stomped on his instep. Then Pluto grew a set (of fangs).
After chasing the kid (kids run *fast*), and being snagged by the mother, an argument appears to take place. Just as the mother touched Pluto on the back, Pluto fell off the curb. There's a muffled voice in there where I heard "...pushed me...!" but I don't know if that's an observer complaining that Pluto pushed him, or Pluto complaining that the mother pushed him.
The holding the hands up in the air part seemed to me like Pluto was gesturing that he was giving up the argument.
But the thing that tells me this probably wasn't so sinister, and just a misunderstanding kid and mother, is that Pluto also gestures to his eyes and then points back at the mother. No flipped-out person would do that. They'd be shouting and waving their arms, not acting like a character with no voice.
Still. It's a funny video :)
What I want to know is where is Pluto's handler? I've never seen a character in ANY theme park (let alone a Disney park) not have a uniformed staff member with them who can assist in a "negative character interaction".
Maybe junior stabbed Pluto with a sharp object or something, who knows.
Years ago I got to drive the RC R2D2-like robot from behind the two way glass at a science fiction themed restaurant. A kid was kicking the robot so I followed him around with R3 for a while, not unlike Pluto - just slower. He eventually got scared and hid behind mommy in their booth where I parked the robot and left. He was old enough to know better.
Yeah, there's no way Pluto was actually chasing the kid, because even in that heavy suit, Pluto would have caught him easily. Looked like some horseplay gone slightly awry.
Related:
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/offbeat/2007/09/13/mascot.brawl.kezi
Great video of two college mascots in a fist fight (duck vs. cougar).
Seems evil to me. You can hear the kid screaming, and after Pluto falls down, you can hear someone (maybe Pluto?) yell, "what the fuck you doin'?" or, "what're you fucking doin'?"
That's the problem with those places. Goddamn kids everywhere.
This is not new behavior for Pluto. My parents have some ancient video footage from the first time we went to Disney World, in 1981 or so. In it, Pluto grabs a little kid's arm and takes off running down the road. The kid loses her footing and Pluto starts dragging her along the ground, scraping up her legs in the process for several seconds before he notices.
I used to think it was just weird, but seeing this video makes it appear much more sinister. Disney must put the third stringers in the Pluto costumes.
I SAW THIS ON THE NEWS...THE KID KICKED HIM IN THE GROIN...HE DESERVED TO BE CHASED.