Cover up! Mother told to show less cleavage during Disneyland family trip: 'Are we supposed to wear turtlenecks our whole lives?'

Melissa Behnken was approached by a park attendant during her visit and told to pull up her top

Kashmira Gander
Saturday 19 April 2014 10:16 BST
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Disney character Mickey poses in front of the Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland park as part of the 20th birthday celebrations of the park, in Chessy, near Marne-la-Vallee, outside Paris, on March 31, 2012.
Disney character Mickey poses in front of the Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland park as part of the 20th birthday celebrations of the park, in Chessy, near Marne-la-Vallee, outside Paris, on March 31, 2012.

A mother from San Diego has said her family’s trip to Disneyland California was ruined when a park employee told her she was revealing too much cleavage.

“This was our first family vacation and for me, it was ruined,” Melissa Behnken told ABC News.

“This gentleman out of nowhere comes up to me and just says, 'You need to pull your top up,'” she told the station, adding: “I was looking at him like, 'Excuse me? Are you serious?'”

She says he added: “'This is a family park. You are showing too much.'”

“I guess women with large chests are expected to wear turtlenecks their whole lives,” she said.

The trip was planned to coincide with her husband returning from deployment as a US Marine - an occasion which the family had been looking forward to for a long time, she said.

The couple’s 9-year-old daughter Hailey claims she also heard the park attendant make the comment.

"I heard him say to put on a sweater or to pull her shirt up," Hailey told the US TV network.

She has since filed a report with guest relations at the park

"Maybe they need to do more exclusive training on what is OK to say to people that come there," she said.

ABC News did not receive a comment from Disneyland, but the family said that after the station made the request a park spokesperson had called to apologise for the attendant’s behaviour.

According to Disneyland’s website, the rules that visitors must adhere to include: not impersonating Disney characters, not wearing clothing with objectionable language or graphics, and not wearing clothing that "exposes excessive portions of the skin that may be viewed as inappropriate in a family environment."

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