In what can only be looked at as a scene straight out of the movies, there was a lot of action taking place at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort this afternoon. A bit of chatter started up on Twitter this afternoon when numerous police vehicles along with fire trucks and a hazmat team arrived at the Walt Disney World Resort hotel. From there, reports of a “chemical smell” started going around as police took at least one person into custody.
There is still not a whole lot of information that has come out of the situation at the Art of Animation Resort on Wednesday afternoon, but something was certainly going on. Around 4 p.m., numerous police vehicles arrived on the scene and shortly after, a hazmat team was there as well.
The hazmat team began setting up small tents on the property near the Cars section of suites over to the right-side of the main lobby entrance. As the team set up the tents, they also set up a wash station as reported by Twitter user @patrckm who happened to be at the resort when all of this was taking place.
Disney security advised guests that the police and emergency personnel response was due to a “chemical smell” on the fourth floor of one of those buildings. That fourth floor was evacuated of all guests.
Security reports chemical smell on 4th floor pic.twitter.com/xfYSJXQeBE
— Patrick C. Morgan (@patrckm) September 13, 2017
Disney’s Art of Animation Resort has rather large and sprawling grounds with three sections of suites and one section of regular hotel rooms. The Cars section is just one of those which features suites and @patrckm reports that it was the fourth floor of building one which was evacuated and from there, the police took one suspect into custody.
@shawngorlando chemical wash pic.twitter.com/XIIIpWFyVj
— Patrick C. Morgan (@patrckm) September 13, 2017
The police were taking this report of a “chemical smell” very seriously and even brought in helicopters in case they were necessary.
Lol now there’s news helicopters flying around #artofanimation …what the heck is going on!!
— brittanyfett? (@brittanyfettt) September 13, 2017
As police are sorting out the scene, @brittanyfett on Twitter reported that the first three floors of the Cars building were allowed to go back in, but floor four needed to remain clear. If guests were already in the building, they were allowed to stay which may raise doubts as to it being a “chemical” situation as reported by Disney security.
The person who has been arrested by the police was reportedly taken into custody for trying to get back into the building.
Person in custody was for causing a scene about getting into the building –
— brittanyfett? (@brittanyfettt) September 13, 2017
UPDATE at 7:15 p.m. on Sept. 13, 2017
The hazmat team and fire trucks have left Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, but a number of police vehicles still remain. @patrckm reports that police are being very quiet about the situation and say the person in custody became “unruly” after trying to get back into the building where he had an unusual “potpourri mixture.”
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This is still a developing situation.
Walt Disney World is a fun place that is full of good times, great attractions, incredible food, and a lot of people. As of now, it appears as if whatever exactly took place at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort has been contained after reports of a “chemical smell” and one person has been taken into custody by the police. More information is likely to come out regarding this situation soon, but the police have taken it very seriously with emergency personnel and a hazmat team to control the scene.
[Featured Image by Danny Cox]
