Suspicious conditions

Image: Disney

The conditions surrounding this latest theft are definitely eyebrow-raising, as the items that were taken had been kept in a padlocked storage facility that had a security fence around it. Unfortunately, this likely means that someone with some kind of backstage access is responsible for the theft, as most guests are not able to easily navigate to this type of secure location from guest areas.

In addition, these items are quite large, and would be difficult to take out of the front gates of Epcot without someone noticing (especially the Peter Pan sails), which means that some kind of backstage route must have been used to get these items out of the park and eventually off Disney property. 

As you would expect, Disney is working with the local police to try and locate these missing items, while not officially commenting on the situation or releasing any statements about this missing attraction parts.

The dark side of the Disney memorabilia market

Image: Joe Pennison, Flickr

Though most collectors of Disney memorabilia are happy to stick to buying items from reputable merchants, official storefronts and well-known secondhand sellers, unfortunately the appearance of a "black" secondhand market for stolen pieces of Disney attractions has made formerly secure areas of Walt Disney World unfortunately more attractive to thieves looking to make some serious money. 

As mentioned previously, the most recent stolen items are being valued at $20,000 and though that might sounds like a lot at first for just some random parts of attractions, there is some precedent for this high estimate. Though exact figures aren't known, the pieces of the Haunted Mansion attraction that were sold in the first incident reported earlier this year fetched a hefty pricetag online, reportedly selling for over $8000. 

The investigation of this latest theft is still ongoing, but we'd guess that security backstage at Walt Disney World is about to get a lot tighter to try and avoid these issues in the future.