A 31-year-old Disney fan who vanished from her home in Illinois has been found dead at Walt Disney World in Orlando.
Summer Equitz took her own life at Disney’s Contemporary Resort Hotel on Tuesday night. The Orange County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that she died from multiple blunt force injuries and that her death was ruled a suicide. Officials did not share any further details about what happened.
Before she was found, relatives had raised the alarm online. A missing persons post appeared on a Reddit forum for Disney superfans, urging people to contact police if they spotted her at any of the resorts. The post said Equitz had left her home in Naperville, about 33 miles from Chicago, and boarded a flight to Florida without telling anyone.
When another Reddit user asked what time she had checked into the hotel, the family member replied, “I believe early afternoon. She booked a flight there without telling us, unfortunately.” Not long after, reports began circulating that someone had died at the Contemporary Resort, and the missing post was suddenly deleted.
The Contemporary Resort is one of Disney World’s two original hotels, opened in 1971, and is famous for its sleek modern design and the monorail that glides straight through its lobby. It sits right next to the Magic Kingdom, with sweeping balconies that overlook the park.
Equitz’s death has left the Disney community shocked. She wasn’t just a fan—she had worked at Disneyland Resort in California as a character performer and entertainment host from 2012 to 2015. Her LinkedIn profile also listed jobs as a nanny and social media consultant.
Her love for Disney was clear from her social media. She shared countless photos from the parks, including one of her meeting CEO Bob Iger. In an April 2021 post, she captioned the photo, “My life has peaked.”
Equitz was married to Nico Danilovich, according to an online honeymoon fundraiser created in September 2024. The couple had celebrated their honeymoon at Disney World exactly a year earlier. In December that same year, they announced they were expecting a baby, sharing an ultrasound photo online. There were no public updates after that.
Police arrived at the Contemporary Resort on Tuesday evening after reports of a body were made. Images posted online showed a white tent set up near the hotel’s observation deck, which runs beside the monorail that takes guests to Magic Kingdom and EPCOT.
Rumours quickly spread online suggesting that Equitz had been hit by the monorail, but police shut down the speculation. “The Disney guest was NOT struck by the monorail, so that is erroneous information,” a sheriff’s spokesperson confirmed.
Tragically, this isn’t the first time the Contemporary Resort has been linked to a suspected suicide. In 2020, a woman reportedly jumped from the building and was found unresponsive at the scene.
Equitz’s death comes just over a week after a woman in her 60s died following a ride on the Haunted Mansion attraction at Disneyland, adding to a string of recent tragedies linked to Disney parks.
