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A Florida family known for its TikTok videos has come under fire for a “shoe hack” that many people felt put their oldest child in potential danger.
Recently, Ty and Haley Kelly posted a video showing how they were able to make their toddler son tall enough to ride the more adult thrill rides at the Disney theme parks.
The video, which can be seen in a full version below, shows the two parents gluing flip-flop bottoms to some shoes with already thick soles to help their 37-inch son look like he’s 38 inches tall, the minimum height requirement.
But while Ty Kelly calls the shoe-gluing the “ultimate theme park hack,” others felt that he, as one YouTuber commenter noted, seemed to care more “about a youtube video than your child’s safety.”
The video inspired clapbacks like this one from a woman who helpfully pointed out that height restrictions aren’t put on rides to “ruin your child’s day.”
Other people commenting on the couple’s YouTube page were also tough on them.
“Safety regulations are written in blood. In the case of amusement parks, that blood is the blood of young children. You’re not just putting your kid in danger, but the children of anyone foolish enough to try this,” one person wrote, while another called it “the dumbest idea EVER.”
Others pointed out that the “hack” could get some theme park employees fired on the spot if they let a child with altered shoes on a ride.
As Theme Park Insider Editor Robert Niles explained in 2018, height requirements on rides aren’t arbitrary.
“Height and other restrictions protect riders in case something goes wrong, such as the stopping on a safety brake or having to be evacuated,” he wrote. “In those, rare cases, people under the designated height can be at extreme risk.”
HuffPost reached out to Disney for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.
Ty Kelly was apparently miffed that people were questioning his parenting skills rather than praising his “ultimate theme park hack,” so he posted a video titled “Watch All The Way Through Please,” where he claimed the “hack” was faked.
“I would never condone any other parent trying to put their kid on a ride that they aren’t tall enough for,” he said in the clip. “You don’t know what happened. In the video, you didn’t see him actually go on any rides.”
Kelly also claimed there was no need for shoes — since his son is actually tall enough for the rides. He didn’t acknowledge that someone viewing the first video without that additional context might take his advice at face value.
Based on the reactions of TikTok commenters, people weren’t particularly impressed.
“I cant believe you guys had the audacity to assume that what I said in the video was what I meant,” one commenter snarkily wrote.
