There’s often such a sense of sheer anticipation when you’re a kid and there’s a vacation to somewhere exciting on the books. Whether you have siblings to share in the experience or you’re just headed off somewhere cool with your mom or your dad, some core memories likely will be formed during these trips away from home. Unfortunately for one young girl, she may look back on a trip to a popular tourist spot in Florida with her mom with some rather negative memories. Her allegedly intoxicated mother was arrested after she left her daughter alone at a bar in Orlando while heading off on her own to party.
A mom left her child alone at a bar at Universal CityWalk Orlando for a night of partying.
According to an arrest affidavit from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office obtained by Us Weekly, 33-year-old Amanda Thorpe from Lake City, Florida, was arrested on March 7, 2026, on a charge of neglect of a child after leaving her 12-year-old in the area of the CW Shoreline Bar to venture off solo to another bar.
Authorities initially responded to a call for a missing juvenile until Universal security informed them otherwise. The deputies were able to make contact with the 12-year-old who was “visibly upset,” “crying,” and “sitting alone on a bar stool at the bar,” per the arrest affidavit.
The affidavit details how Thorpe was already intoxicated while at the CW Shoreline Bar with her daughter when an unnamed bar patron said something that upset the mother. Thorpe told her 12-year-old that she wanted to leave and go to the Red Coconut Club, to which her daughter responded that she was tired and wanted to go back to their hotel. At that point, Thorpe got “livid” with her daughter, gave her the middle finger and said “F— you” before leaving the establishment without her tween.
That just seems like all sorts of wrong.
Luckily, some bar patrons stepped in to help.
Other bar patrons who witnessed Thorpe’s angry display toward her daughter and bar exit notified staff members, Us Weekly reported. Universal’s security team was contacted to help track down her mother.
While security was speaking with the 12-year-old, they were advised that other team members had found a woman matching Thorpe’s description inside the Red Coconut Club, which is in Universal CityWalk Orlando, per the arrest affidavit.
Thorpe was reported to be on the dance floor by herself at the club with an alcoholic beverage in her hand when the security team found her and escorted her out.
The intoxicated mom was in rough shape after a night of bar hopping in Florida.
When authorities spoke to Thorpe, they made note that she had “red, bloodshot eyes” and she was also uncontrollably swaying her body and walking off balance, according to the arrest affidavit. The officer also noted that there was a “fruity purities” scent coming from her breath when she spoke, which they took to indicate that she has been drinking alcohol.
In Thorpe’s verbal statement, which was recorded in the arrest affidavit, she told authorities she was not aware her 12-year-old was missing from the Red Coconut Club. She also told officers that her daughter was at their hotel and no longer at Universal CityWalk.
Thorpe also “spontaneously uttered” that she was confused about why she would even have to go to jail because she had done something like this before, per the arrest affidavit.
According to Us Weekly, Thorpe’s daughter was picked up by her grandfather, and authorities made sure the tween was safely reunited with other relatives after her mother was taken into custody. This incident also was reported to the Florida Department of Children and Families.
We hope that the young girl involved in this incident, which could have been so much more dangerous, finds love and care with her family and community.
