Disneyland Guest Sues After Being 'Butchered' By Bed Bugs

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It's a small world after all. But it wasn't a happy one for an extremely disgruntled Disneyland customer. During a visit in April to the amusement park, which is considered "the happiest place on earth," Ivy Eldridge was met with an ugly encounter with bed bugs in Anaheim's Disneyland Hotel. She claims she experienced both physical and emotional damage. Now, Eldridge is suing the famous Disney-owned amusement park for ruining her vacation and putting her inside the hospital during what was supposed to be a relaxing, fun-filled stay. Here's what we know about this terrifying trip.

While Disneyland is populated by friendly rodents like Minnie and Mickey Mouse, Ivy Eldridge had a reportedly nightmarish experience inside one of the park's hotel rooms, and she is hoping to receive compensation for her troubles. As it was reported by Fox News, Eldridge filed a lawsuit against the popular amusement park, claiming she and her family left the park damaged and then "betrayed," as it was written by Ivy Eldridge's lawyer, Brian Virag.

People put trust in the Disney name and pay top dollar to stay at Disneyland Hotel. In this case, Ms. Eldridge's trust was betrayed. This was not a situation where a person sustained one or two bites. Ms. Eldridge was bitten throughout her body, including, but not limited to her face, ears, neck, arms, and back. She was absolutely butchered.

Brian Virag made these claims in an article found on My Bed Bug Lawyer's website. As the website's name suggests, bed bugs remains a devastating problem for many, but people expect better from Disneyland. Thousands upon millions people visit the popular tourist attraction in a given year, and it is certainly not going to bring business to the location to know that bed bugs might be a potential problem.

As a result, Disneyland might be inclined to settle this matter as swiftly as possible to prevent more bad word about the park's hotel from leaking out into the public. One also hopes they fix the bed bug issue (assuming it's still a problem and not already addressed at this time) before they get even more bad press from this ongoing court story.

In a statement released to Fox News, a spokesperson for Disneyland claimed that "these occurrences are extremely rare" and that they take "extensive preventative measures" to ensure the guests are accommodated and "comfortable" during their visits to Disneyland and their hotel. They also claim they will take "aggressive steps to rectify" situations like this one from happening again in the future. So that's a relief.

It's unclear how much Ivy Eldrige and her attorney are seeking in damages at this time. But it's clear that Disneyland is now made a little less magical.

Will Ashton

Will is an entertainment writer based in Pittsburgh, PA. His writing can also be found in The Playlist, Cut Print Film, We Got This Covered, The Young Folks, Slate and other outlets. He also co-hosts the weekly film/TV podcast Cinemaholics with Jon Negroni and he likes to think he's a professional Garfield enthusiast.