Disney let down... Elias and his parents Margie and Craig. Photo: Supplied

Elias Anderson had been counting down the days until he would see Buzz Lightyear, marking them off a chart at home and asking his mother each morning if today was the day they were going to Disney on Ice.

But sadly the non-verbal 11-year-old, who has severe cerebral palsy and who uses a wheelchair, did not get to see his hero when the big day finally arrived, after staff at Melbourne’s HiSense Arena did not know where the wheelchair accessible route to his seat was.

Instead Elias and his mother Margie spent the first part of Disney on Ice - the part in which Buzz Lightyear appears - facing a set of concrete stairs listening as the crowd cheered for the show they were unable to see.

"We have to take oxygen, an electric feeding pump and everything else he needs, so when the day turns out to be so disappointing it is very upsetting" ... Elias's mum, Margie.

“When you have a disability the barriers you face are often almost invisible,’’ Margie said. “But this set of concrete stairs that stood between Elias and everybody else who was enjoying was a very stark barrier and it was very upsetting.

“Nobody could show us the wheelchair accessible route to our seats. Different staff at the arena kept saying ‘sorry that’s not my area’, nobody was able to help us.”

Elias had dressed in his Buzz Lightyear outfit for the event, and Margie said it was heartbreaking when she didn't have an answer for his repeated questions, using sign language, of “Where is Buzz?”.

To make matters worse, when Margie and Elias were finally shown to their seats, they discovered other people were already sitting in them.

“None of the staff would approach the people in our seats and move them to other seats so we could sit down,” Margie said. “Instead we were told we would have to watch the show from over in a side corridor.”

Unhappy with the situation, Margie instead took herself and Elias to stand in front of the people in the seats in which they were meant to be sitting.


“It was humiliating to have to take matters into my own hands, but after I did that the people in our seats were soon whisked away and taken to other seats,” she said.

The incident on Thursday upset Margie and left Elias confused.

“Elias has limited sign language, but one sign he does have is for Buzz because he loves Buzz Lightyear so much,’’ Margie said.

“He was so excited that he was going to see Buzz, we had been counting down the days on a chart for months and every morning the first thing he would do was the sign for Buzz and want to know whether we were going today. So at the end of the show, when he still hadn’t seen Buzz, he was very confused.

“When you have a disabled child it takes a lot of organisation and planning to get them to an event like this. We have to take oxygen, an electric feeding pump and everything else he needs, so when the day turns out to be so disappointing it is very upsetting.”

Margie, an Essential Baby forum member, wrote of her disappointment of the treatment she and Elias received on the EB forums on Thursday afternoon. Her story touched the hearts of hundreds of members who were shocked on her behalf.

She also posted her story on the HiSense Arena Facebook page, where she received hundreds of supportive comments - many from other outraged EB members.

“I think parents everywhere want the best for their kids and they understand how horrible it is to see your kids disappointed like that,” Margie said.

“Part of the reason this is so upsetting is because when you have a severely disabled child, there is so much they can’t do. Their world is very small. Elias is tube fed, he can’t speak, he’s on oxygen so he won’t be going swimming or camping or to playgrounds or doing the many other things that other kids will be doing these holidays.

“But live performance is his thing - it’s one thing that he can take in and enjoy just as much as any other child there. So to even have that taken away from him was heartbreaking.”

A HiSense Arena spokeswoman apologised for the “regrettable” incident.

“Melbourne and Olympic Parks is aware of the complaint regarding wheelchair access at Thursday’s Disney on Ice show at Hisense Arena. Complaints regarding disability and accessibility are taken extremely seriously,” a statement released by the arena’s management reads.

“The family in question accepted complimentary tickets to return … and we will work with them to ensure a positive outcome on their next visit. We apologise unreservedly for the family’s experience and we are immediately reviewing our customer experience processes.”

HiSense management offered the pair tickets for a Saturday night show, but when Margie pointed out that a late show wouldn't work with Elias' schedule, she was given tickets to the Monday matinee show.

Essential Baby members are still unhappy with the handling of the situation, and are calling a special treat for Elias - and an overhaul of the entertainment venue's disability plan. Others would like a wheelchair taxi to take the pair to and from the venue - at the expense of HiSense - and a backstage tour for Elias.

Margie is still holding out hope that Elias will get to see his hero. "What I'd really like is a Buzz meet-and-greet for Elias so he knows Buzz didn't let him down yesterday," she wrote on the Essential Baby forum on Friday.

"Plus I would like Melbourne and Olympic Parks to contact Very Special Kids and see what they can do to offer some other families of children with life-threatening illnesses the opportunity to visit shows at the arena complex."

Update: Read what happened next, and how Elias met Buzz