Have you ever walked around a theme park and found hidden treasure? The worldwide popularity of theme parks by Disney, Universal, and other companies has given way to fervent online fan communities such as hide and seek craft gifts and trading groups. Now, an alleged park ban threatens their fun little ritual.
About Theme Park Crafting Communities
Universally Crafted, a Facebook page with over 5 million followers, showcases theme park inspired crafts and customizations created by their members. Like many fan communities, the page organizes meetup event for its members at the parks, where they can share and their handcrafted creations.
Another activity that has stemmed from this and several other communities are hide and seek craft gifts, a sort of scavenger hunt for parkgoers. Community members make unofficial Disney or Universal merchandise such as pins, buttons, rocks, bracelets and such. They then hide them around the park for other guests to find during regular hours or special events. Social media posts have recently featured this treasure hunt.
To abide by park rules, these gifts could only be stashed around exterior park areas, never within park rides nor their queues. Shops and restaurants were also off limits. The trinket had to be placed in a plastic bag with a note attached describing it as a gift and not someone’s lost property.
Universal Allegedly Bans Hide and Seek Craft Gifts
X users @Hallowed_Horror, @CoasterCreature, and several other social media accounts with theme park content recently shared a screen capture of an alleged post by Universally Crafted administrators. The message begs community members to cease and desist all activities related to hide and seek craft gifts within Universal properties.
The text offers no official reason for the ban yet does post a threat that any failure to comply can result in Park Security staff intervening and even cancelling annual passholder status.
Closing Thoughs
Universal Destinations and Experiences has not made an official statement regarding the matter as of this writing, which makes this news rather suspect.
Still, logical reasons do exist for Universal and other theme park companies to take such alleged action. Littering, for instance, would be a concern, as well as whether said gifts could prove to be choking hazards for small children. The more important reason, of course, would be copyright infringement.
Should this be a real situation, we hope some sort of agreement can be reached between Universal and the fan communities involved. Initiatives like hide and seek craft gifting come from a place of love for theme parks, not profit.
Destinos Ahora couldn’t verify the origin or authenticity of the screencapped post, nor if it was either taken down or made private.
