What was going on with Pluto?
 

http://wellwtf.com/pluto-loses-his-mind/

Was he just having fun with the kid and the lady overreacted?
Did the "little darling" provoke the CM?

You know, I usually assume in these cases that the kid did something to provoke the CM (like the latest Tigger one where it was clear the the kid was doing something that deserved a shove), but 1) while provocation might justify a shove, or even a slap-of-the-hand to get yourself out of immediate contact with a brat, I'm finding a hard time coming up with any reason that chasing a kid around Town Square as Pluto would be justified and 2) the prat-fall Pluto takes when the lady who stops him barely taps him on the shoulder doesn't do much to engender my sympathy for this masked CM.

Weird.

Did you watch this one? Funny! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5IE8PPI2Ko

That was pretty awesome. Almost as good as the Disney orgy one in DLP!
:D

I don't think this was a pratfall. Look again, she actually pushes him off the curb. She grabs him pretty hard at about 20 seconds, stopping him short. At 14 seconds, he turns to his right, his left foot is out over the curb, and she shoves his shoulder, causing him to lose his balance and fall. At 12 seconds you can clearly hear a male voice saying, "What are you fvcking doing?" I have no idea if it's the CM playing Pluto, or someone else in the vicinity of the camera.

If I had been playing Pluto, it would have been me.

Where were his handlers?

The CMs who play Pluto and Goofy are usually the rowdiest of the character crew. (There were a Pluto and Goofy team who routinely used to roughhouse with guests under the Hungry Bear ... until one of them went into the Rivers of America ... and was never not seen behind the rubber head again.)



Personally, I don't find anything unwholesome about Pluto chasing the kid around Town Square. It looks like fun. We don't see whatever "incident" sparked the chase ... so I've no reason to assume Pluto was hunting the kid down to harm him.

The lady who pushed Pluto off the curb may have assumed Pluto was out to bite the kid, but I put far less faith in the wisdom of guests than I do in the wisdom of character CMs.

I agree. I've seen characters chase kids for fun.

Apparently this lady hadn't.

It looks to me like when the lady shoved Pluto that he tripped off the curb. I'm a little surprised that she grabbed him like that, perhaps she was telling him that he was scaring the child in case he couldn't tell behind the head.

I don't think he intended any harm, but running through a crowded Main Street seems inapropriate to me. It looks like he even bumped a few guests along the way.

Well, he's a dog. And I LOVE it when the characters actually interact with the population of Disneyland ... yes, even - OMG - brushing up against a few guests ... rather than being handled and minded and kept in a tiny photo/autographing spot.

Bah on that.

And hip hip hooray for frisky, running, chasing Pluto the Dog!