Parents Add Heels To Their Son's Shoes To Trick Disney Employees Into Letting Him On A Ride He's Too Short For
Height requirements are implemented for a reason.
@the.kelly.fam / TikTok / Youtube Many parents dream of taking their children along with them to their favorite theme parks and experiencing some of their favorite rides with them.
Opportunities like this when you have young children can be hit or miss, however, since they will not always meet the minimum height requirements for certain rides.
One father is refusing to let his toddler’s height harm his chances of getting on certain rides at Disney World, so he took it upon himself to make his son appear taller — other parents are calling him out for his “dangerous” hack.
The father added an extra heel to his son’s shoes, increasing his overall height so that he could get on thrill rides.
The Kelly Family is a family-vlogging channel on Youtube that documents the adventures of Ty and Haley Kelly, along with their three children, Kash, Kannon, and Kolbie.
While visiting the theme parks, the family realized that their middle child, Kannon, did not meet the minimum height requirement for some of the bigger thrill rides — so they took matters into their own hands.
Ty describes Kannon as his “thrill-seeking boy who can’t get enough of Disney theme park rides.”
Upon realizing that the toddler would not be able to join his family on some of their favorite rides, Ty and Haley decided to make some alterations to their son’s shoes that would make him appear taller than he actually was.
“We took matters into our own hands and crafted a shoe that just might do the trick,” the father explained in a TikTok video that has been viewed over 360,000 times.
The family’s most recent vacation to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida was featured on all of their social media platforms.
This video in particular, however, caught the attention of many viewers for all the wrong reasons.
The parents added a heel to Kannon’s shoes using extra flip-flop bottoms and ensured that they stuck together using gorilla glue.
Ty dubs his trick “the ultimate theme park hack.”
It didn’t take long for viewers to call the father out for the issues his hack could cause.
Many people noted that the idea was dangerous since his son could not fit properly into some of the rides.
“And just like a cannon, he will be yeeted out of his seat,” one TikTok user wrote — "yeeted" meaning "thrown" or "launched."
“Next video is gonna be a hospital update,” another user shared.
“They [height requirements] are designed to make sure people don't die. Fixing his height doesn’t take away the danger of height restrictions,” another user pointed out.
“We took matters into our own hands and risked his life for the sake of him not hearing the word no,” another user sarcastically commented.
Others responded to the Kelly Family’s ‘hack’ with their own videos calling them out.
“Disney has height requirements on some of the bigger thrill rides. These are designed for the safety of guests,” TikTok user @themouselets explained in a video.
“If you are too small the restraints might not work for you. This family is trying to break or bend that rule so their kid can ride it but it’s just putting him at risk.”
She added that Disney cast members are trained to recognize when a child’s shoes have been manipulated to make them appear taller to prevent them from getting on the ride.
Former Disney employees confirmed this to be true.
“As an ex-Soarin cast member, this is why we’re trained to look at shoes to see if they are tampered with,” one user commented.
“As a former CM [cast member], CMs will deny you entry for modified shoes. I denied so many kids, sorry not on my watch,” another wrote.
TikTok user @themouselets also bashed the Kelly Family for boasting about their dangerous hack to their 1.2 million followers on TikTok.
“This is the worst hack,” she says. “If your child is too small to ride, take them on a different attraction and let them look forward to it. This is really one of the biggest mistakes you can make.”
While your child may be disappointed they cannot experience all of the thrill rides they were hoping to, height requirements are a safety measure that ensures guests are in no danger while riding certain attractions.
It is better to have an upset child than a severely injured or dead one.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.