The 26-year-old man was arrested for “indecent exposure and for being under the influence of a controlled substance.”
Police arrested a man on Sunday afternoon after he stripped completely nude inside the ‘It’s A Small World’ ride at the Disneyland Park resort in Anaheim, California.
The incident occurred over the busy Thanksgiving holiday weekend at around 1:30 p.m. local time. Shortly afterward, the Disney security team detained the man. Police officers then removed him from the park.
In a statement to PEOPLE, spokesperson for the Anaheim police department Jonathon McClintock said officers had “responded to Disneyland to assist Disney security with a guest who removed his clothes and was naked in or near the ‘It’s a Small World’ attraction.” McClintock added that, as the guest seemed to be under the influence of “a controlled substance,” he was taken to the hospital as a precaution.
The man got off the ride while it was moving. Other guests on the ride watched him as he walked amongst the sets, touching the animatronics. At this point, he was wearing only a pair of shorts before stripping completely later on.
Videos and photos of the incident have gone viral on social media. One guest can be heard asking the man to “please stop” and “I need you to sit down.” Others expressed concern that he would damage the scenes he was walking through.
Cast members attempted to help him escape the ride structure after it was stopped. One eyewitness, Maegan Carmona, who posted a video of the incident to Instagram, told Entertainment Weekly that the man “just looked out of it.”
Furthermore, Carmona described that, after cast members were able to get him to sit down for a moment, “he ended up walking into the water and started drinking the water.”
After opening at Disneyland Park in 1966, ‘It’s a Small World’ has been a staple of the Magic Kingdom ever since. According to the description on the Walt Disney World website, the attraction promises guests “a whimsical boat ride past a jubilant chorus of children from around the globe.”
A representative for Disneyland Resort told Deadline that operators stopped the ride completely when the man got off the attraction. Operation of the ride resumed as normal at approximately 3 p.m. local time.
There were no reports of physical harm to any of the guests present at the time of the incident.
