[FloridaBeachMan]

I’ve visited this site many times but I’ve never posted. But a recent conversation with a friend reminded me of this incident I observed about 15 years ago. I worked in the entertainment department for a couple years at Disney World in Florida. There was one girl who played Ariel, the Little Mermaid, in the Magic Kingdom. She played the character in parades and also in a meet-and-greet area. I remember her being really nice and having the perfect face for Ariel but I also remember her for not having the right body type for the part. Her breasts were huge, and I recall fellow employees commenting about that. If they hadn’t had a shortage of qualified women for that part, she probably would never have been allowed to play it because of that. Her costume was basically a giant mermaid fin with a special top with shells to cover her boobs. Though the shells were not skimpy (this is Disney, of course, so they didn’t want much cleavage), this particular cast member filled it out nicely and I often wondered if they had to get larger shells just for her.

One of the parades I worked was the Remember the Magic Parade. This was back before 2000. My job was to stay close to that float, although I had other responsibilities. I could always see that part of the parade but I had to assist with the charactrs who were walking alongside the floats. There were also times when the floats stopped and guests could mingle with them, so I was in charge of that. One day I remember noticing about 10 minutes into the parade that the mermaid shell bra didn’t look quite right, like it was riding too low. I didn’t think much about it, and I guess neither did the coordinators who were in charge of helping Ariel if she needed anything. You can probably see where this is going.

After one parade stop, when the floats startd going again, I was maybe 100 feet from the float. Suddenly I looked up and saw that Ariel’s top had slipped. She was trying to hold it up with one hand and kept waving with the other. I had to look away and deal with a situation for a minute, and when I looked back the whole top had slipped off. She was completely topless as the float went around a corner and in front of the castle. Because she was fixed into the float and could'nt move, I guess she was unable to reach down and grab the top, which I think had fallen to the platform at her feet. I’m guessing the clasp had broken. She was trying her best to cover her breasts and not doing a very good job. I know she was humiliated and I heard people commenting and pointing in the crowd. And I saw people taking pictures. I’m sure there must be a video of it somewhere online. I know I would have taken one! I felt so sorry for her but I couldn’t help looking at her breasts, as they were enormous.

A coordinator noticed probably about 30 seconds after it happened and I think he tried to get up there to assist her, but they were unable to fix her top until the next parade stop, which was another three or four minutes. During that time she was almost totally exposed with just her arm across her boobs to try to shield herself.

A friend told me that everyone tried to not talk about that incident just so it wouldn’t embarrass the girl anymore. But he also said they made some adjustments to the costume so that wouldn’t happen again.

I found photos online of what the costume and float looked like but I can't get the link to post here. Just google Ariel and Remember the magic parade and you will see the costume and the blue-green shell beyhind her.