This Memorial Weekend on our family vacation to the Bush Gardens theme park in Williamsburg, VA. After I personally strapped in my daughters into one of the kiddie carousels, I walked around the outside of the fence and stood there with my wife to take pictures. In a matter of seconds while I was talking with my wife, a park employee un-strapped our 3 year old daughter out of her seat, walked over to the exit, with out a worry or care in the world, handed our baby off to a complete stranger!! (No Questions asked!!!)

After getting in this mans face, and asking him how the hell did he get my daughter and where was he going? He asked me: “OH, is this your kid, the employee told me that she had to go the bathroom???” I took my daughter handed her to my wife and asked the employee why she did this? She said: “Because, she said she needed to use the bathroom.” But, I asked her: “WHY did you hand my daughter over to a complete stranger, without asking who the parents were?” She said: “I DON’TKNOW?” and she shrugged her shoulders as she was telling me over and over “ I DON’T KNOW?” As I pressed on more on why she had done this, she began to push on her Thailand accent, and kept saying: “I DON’T KNOW?” I asked if she spoke English and did she understand what I asked her, and she said: “Yes, I speak English.” Then answer me why? Again, she shrugged her shoulders at me and said: “I DON’T KNOW?”

I told her to call her security, management, someone with authority. She said that she had no way of calling someone!! I then went out in search of HIGHER AUTHORITY.. The first four people I approached had No radio or ANY means of communicating with any kind of management, they just kept pointing to the next employee over.

Finally I spoke to my first supervisor, he directed me to Guest Service and we were told that he was going to call it in, that once I get there, Guest Service would know every thing that had happened. When I got to guest services, they had no clue of what had happened, I had to explain the entire story again, and then they told me that someone would call me some time next week. After asking persistently to speak with upper management, they send over a Rides Manager who handles complaints about rides?? She apologizes over and over for this incident and has the face to bribe me with? And GET THIS!! Breakfast with ELMO!! The kids would enjoy that, she said.. This lady had no idea what to say to us, because and I quote: “We are prepared if a child gets lost, but we have never had to deal with an employee handing off a child to a stranger, so I apologize if I don’t know what to say.” I told the park that I didn’t want them to try and buy me off, and to stop asking me what I wanted!

We leave the park with an empty feeling in the pit of our stomachs, and a business card of the rides manager that kept offering us a Breakfast with Elmo! We are freaked out, I am having bad dreams on What could have been or the What if?? Two days later, I call to get the corporate number, because no one has called me back, and the first thing they tell me is: “Oh, we were just about to call you.” YEAH RIGHT!! She goes on to tell me that, the employee was removed from her position, moved to another part of the park, NOW GET THIS,

“where she no longer has access to children” and a memo was sent out to all the employees on the rules of handing off children.??? I told her that was unacceptable and I thought it was in the public’s best interest to know that a park that is visited by millions of children every year was not prepared to handle this kind of incident. I was going to go to the media about this, people needed to know! Now, after that comment, I am now getting calls from an Executive Vice President General Manager. He has nothing new to say, only that they do care and they stand behind there employee, because she thought she was giving your daughter off to her MOTHER. What?? This man was an old, heavy, white headed dude.

People need to know, that this park has no regulation, has no clue how to deal with this, and we can't sleep at night or stand by knowing that another child after mine can slip through the hands of a un-caring park attendant.

If you are a parent, just picture your child being handed away to a stranger right in-front of your eyes... Now you feel our pain...

Are we supposed to sit around and wait for the child to disappear, before someone will think this is serious or should we have the park attitude as: "Whoops, that was a close one!"