Anyone who thinks sitting "just can't be done" has clearly not been to TDL. TDL is largely a much more enjoyable atmosphere due to the kinds of crowd control measures they implement compared to WDW.
Yes, but it probably has more to do with the fact that most guests are
Japanese than the crowd control measures. Japanese culture is very driven by social order and respect for systems.
Totally! We visited TDL and saw that everyone sits for parades, etc. it was great!!
Compared to the Japanese, Americans are a lot more individualistic and defiant of authority. (Mind you, I actually appreciate our qualities, but it makes it harder to "control" a crowd.) As a CM in
Disneyland (CA), I observed that most guests did follow the rules, but Americans were far more likely to be questioning and defiant about them... and Japanese tourists were almost never defiant. When keeping a clear walkway or asking people to duck under ropes, Japanese folks obliged 100% of the time, while Americans were more likely to hold up traffic asking "why" first. My fellow CM from Toyko validated the differences between working in the two resorts.
For a short while, I was in charge of creating seating sections before the parade. One of my least favorite memories as a DL CM in California was trying to create a seating section in the hub near the castle. It took a lot of work to keep the section a seating section. Even with signs, sometimes people would sit, and then others would come in and stand behind them. That doesn't work because then you can't seat anybody behind the standing folks. I made announcements continuously that guests were entering the seating section, and asking them to stake their spot. Using that technique, we could get the whole area beautifully seated. Lots of guests appreciated this section, but it only took one or two people who stand up to cause the whole thing to fall apart.
My first time doing this, I had a beautifully seated section, then one man who had been there for a while decided he wanted to stand right in the front middle. People complained that his backside was in their faces, but he pretended he couldn't hear them. I offered him another spot in the standing section, he told me he had "right to do what I want. I paid for my ticket. I am not leaving." Slowly the people around him were forced to stand up, and then the whole section turned into a standing section. This would happen surprisingly often. Some nights everyone would listen, but just as often there would be some who refused, which ruined the whole section, and eventually we gave up trying to create that section.
It was nice certain areas in front of the castle were seated and the further back you could stand. This works for those who can't sit while accommodating those who would like to sit.
We also sat this last summer for the 60th on one side of the castle where we could see the Matterhorn. So it is possible.
