Is Disneyland in California likely to be closed indefinitely as of November 2023 over an alleged child kidnapping? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that Disneyland is closing and no evidence for the alleged child kidnapping was provided in the video making the claim. As of this writing, the park was open to the public and accepting visitors. An article cited in the social media post as evidence of the closure actually reported on a water park within Disney World in Orlando, Florida -- not Disneyland in California -- that closed in November 2023 for refurbishment, with that not affecting the whole theme park.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) on TikTok on November 12, 2023. It opened with a person in the video saying:
Disneyland California is likely to be closed indefinitely and here's why.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Wed Nov 22 19:24:44 2023 UTC)
The person speaking in the video claims the reason Disneyland was going to be closed indefinitely was because a child was supposedly kidnapped from a bathroom and taken into secret tunnels in the theme park on October 13, 2023. They offer no proof of this incident ever taking place. A Google news search (archived here) for "child missing Disneyland October 13, 2023" yields zero credible news stories about the incident. As of November 22, 2023, Disneyland was open to visitors from 8 a.m. to 12 a.m. and there were no notices of closure.
As the video opens a screenshot is shown of an article titled, Goodbye! Disney World Theme Park Closure Begins Imminently, No Reopening Date in Sight (archived here):
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Wed Nov 22 19:33:24 2023 UTC)
This is a real article published on the website Inside the Magic on November 5, 2023, but it was about the water park Typhoon Lagoon within Disney World in Orlando, Florida, that was closing for refurbishment. The Orlando Sentinel newspaper reported (archived here) on Typhoon Lagoon's closure on October 20, 2023.
There have been no credible news reports, as this Google search (archived here) shows, that Disneyland is closing indefinitely, an occurance that would generate worldwide news were it true. Lead Stories contacted Disneyland for comment and this story will be updated if a response is received.
Lead Stories previously debunked the claim that podcaster Joe Rogan discussed a child being abducted through secret tunnels at Disneyland on his show here.
Other Lead Stories reports about Disneyland claims can be found here.
