Ex-Disney employee 'used theme park's secret underground tunnels to avoid detection as he stole $14,000 of costumes and animatronics models' from Epcot and the Magic Kingdom
- A former Disney employee is accused of stealing $14,000 worth of costumes from Epcot and the Magic Kingdom attractions, including the Haunted Mansion
- Patrick Spikes, 24, of Winter Garden has been charged with burglary of an occupied structure, dealing in stolen property and grand theft
- Spikes even posted pictures and videos featuring of some of the stolen items on Twitter which he is then accused of selling
- Spikes used the hidden underground corridors to move effortlessly between various rides where he was then able to access backstage areas to commit theft
A former Walt Disney World employee with backstage access is alleged to have stolen about $14,000 worth of costumes and items from the Magic Kingdom and Epcot theme parks.
Patrick Allen Spikes, 24, faces burglary, grand theft, and trafficking in stolen property charges.
The Orange County Sheriff's office said it began investigating Spikes when he posted a picture on Twitter of a retired animatronic character wearing its clothes two months after the reported theft of the robot's garments.
Patrick Allen Spikes, 24, faces burglary, grand theft, and trafficking in stolen property charges. The stolen items belonged to 'Buzzy', seen right, a character from the Wonders of Life ride
Spikes, 24, is now behind bars for real as he faces charges of burglary, grand theft, and dealing in stolen property
Spikes calls himself a theme park urban explorer -an increasingly popular subculture.
He created a Twitter account where he posted Disney backstage content for movie and other theme parks aficionados.
The stolen items belonged to Buzzy, a character from the now-closed Wonders of Life attraction at Epcot, investigators said.
Buzzy was the audio-animatronic star of Epcot's long-closed Cranium Command show. He had been stolen from the decommissioned theater where he'd been gathering dust for a decade.
The estimated value of the items is more than $6,800. After the clothes were taken, the entire animatronic was later stolen, according to Friday's arrest warrant.
Detective said a search warrant for Spikes' cellphone turned up photos of stolen Disney wigs, skirts and jackets.
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Spikes is accused of entering restricted areas of Disney and stealing more than $14,000 in items before reselling them. Here he is pictured in one of the underground tunnels at the parks
Buzzy was an animatronic character at the Wonders Of Life pavilion at Epcot when he suddenly went missing along with his clothes
Spikes used underground tunnels to get to Magic Kingdom's Haunted Mansion, where costumes were stolen, the arrest warrant says.
In several of the Disney theme parks, the underground corridors know as the 'utilidor system' system are some of the world's largest utility tunnels.
They allow Disney employees to perform park support operations, such as trash removal, and for costumed characters and other staff members to quickly move about the park while out of the sight of guests.
Financial records showed that Spikes received about $30,000 via PayPal from two buyers, investigators said.
One of the buyers told detectives he had paid Spikes about $8,900 for 18 items that were later confirmed by the company to have also been stolen.
The arrest affidavit shows Spikes is accused of using his Disney employee ID to get into Magic Kingdom.
He was caught taking a photo in the utilidor area of Magic Kingdom - an area that is for employees only and bans photography.
Disney security investigators told authorities they were aware of Spikes taking pictures backstage while employed and running a social media account showing backstage photos.
The affidavit shows Disney said Spikes had photos on his phone of other animatrontic models that were stolen.
One of the photos was a piece of merchandise stolen from the Haunted Mansion, according to the affidavit according to ClickOrlando.
Disney also reported an animatronic as being stolen from the Cranium Command attraction.
Spikes posted brazen tweets where we would actually reveal how he stole certain objects
Spikes posted photos of himself and behind the scenes at the theme parks, which is forbidden. The Buzzy model was located in the now closed Wonders Of Life pavilion, pictured here
It's believed that Spikes used the hidden underground corridors to move effortlessly between various rides where he was then able to access backstage areas to commit theft
The buyer turned over the stolen goods, which he said he thought had been legally obtained. One of those costumes is listed in the arrest warrant.
Detectives are still investigating and trying to track down the rest of the items that have been documented as stolen.
Jail records didn't list an attorney for Spikes.
In an email, Disney said the case was a 'law enforcement matter.'
Spikes would often post lengthy YouTube videos about his experience backstage at Disney
Some of the items stolen came from the Haunted Mansion at The Magic Kingdom ride
