Thread by @epthot_

this is patrick spikes, more commonly known by his former twitter handle BackdoorDisney. today i want to tell you all about how and why he got arrested from stealing from actual rides in walt disney world, and how he's connected to a missing figure from an abandoned show in epcot

the story begins on twitter, where a mysterious account called backdoordisney popped up. this account gained a lot of traction fast due to the behind-the-scenes content posted

the majority of photos and videos posted by BDD were from restricted areas for cast members only, and gave a glimpse into a world few fans would ever see otherwise. at the time, very little was known of who was running this account. were they just a really lucky urban explorer?

most of what BDD posted was never meant to be seen by the general public, as it would break disney's "magic". but patrick didn't care. and neither did his fans, really - many were excited to see abandoned rides and lounges, backstage areas, and how the magic worked.

BDD was generally well received as an anonymous creator until someone went missing. someone with very dedicated fans. someone named Buzzy, star of the long closed former epcot attraction Cranium Command, located in the closed wonders of life pavilion

something weird was happening. buzzy was missing... but where did he go? on december 21, 2018, twitter user @DreamfinderGuy posted the following tweet. this was later corroborated by a police report filed by walt disney world officials, citing the animatronic as stolen.

side note: if you're interested in learning more about Cranium Command, Wonders of Life, Buzzy in general, Epcot in general, i highly recommend following @DreamfinderGuy , @WoLArchive , and @bunny_wars as they're great archivists and have a wealth of knowledge to share

BDD was taken in for questioning about buzzy's whereabouts. but what did he have to do with this situation?

in july 2018, patrick spikes (aka BDD) was an employee of the magic kingdom. that month, he and his cousin snuck into the utilidors (MK's cast member tunnel system). patrick gave his cousin a fake disney ID as he was not employed with the company.

patrick and his cousin-accomplice made their way to a restricted zone of the Haunted Mansion, a ride that is exactly what it sounds like. the two rummaged around, eventually taking over $7,000 in props and costumes from the ride itself. patrick used these to play dress up

patrick had already been on the company's radar due to his weird behavior, and was let go from his position. fast forward to december, and patrick is now also on the police's radar. it tuns out the cops had been notified that buzzy was missing four months prior

the cops had also received evidence that patrick had been in possession of buzzy's clothes at one point, because this dumbass was using his regular cell phone number to text pics of the stolen props to friends. they decided to bring in patrick for questioning

while meeting with police, patrick was told that they intended to file a search warrant for his cell phone and that he'd need to leave it with them.

being the genius he is, patrick attempted to take the cell phone and run out of the police station, resulting in investigators tackling him to the ground. after being cuffed, he stated that he felt sick, and first responders were summoned to assess him. he was fine

so where were buzzy's missing clothes? in the hands of basketball player robin lopez! robin purchased the props through an ebay listing, where the mysterious buyer claimed the clothes were given to them by a cast member

the police interviewed robin, who expressed interest in also pressing charges against the seller. he returned the prop clothing, and life moved on. except for the seller, patrick spikes. duh. of course. we all knew it was him

in may, investigators finally connected patrick to the missing haunted mansion props and arrested him. apparently he'd been selling quite a bit of stolen stuff from disney world - $30,000 of it according to his own paypal records

in february 2020, both patrick and his cousin-accomplice accepted plea deals to avoid jail time. they were ordered to pay restitution, as well as community service. the two are also banned from ever stepping foot on disney property again.

the original backdoordisney twitter account still exists today - with the content originally posted by patrick spikes. it appears he either gave the account away or sold it, as it's still posting and claims to be under "new management."

buzzy has still not been found. it's rumored he was taken by disney imagineering and "forgotten" about. it's also rumored that disney doesn't want to admit they found him in their archives because it would be embarassing PR. the truth is out there...

thank you for reading and i hope you enjoyed! if you made it this far, you deserve a pair of buzzy's gloves. if you like these long form threads, please consider following me and my checking out my others!

i want to follow up with a quick aside - please don't seek out anyone in my threads to harass them, bully them, interrogate them on their behavior. everything i share is public info and my own opinion! we don't condone bullying and harassment here folks