Has anyone ever had an altercation with another guest and/or family while at WDW?

[momsavealot]

I had an incident several years ago--after they changed the Diamond Horseshoe and put the Woody's Roundup show in there or Goofy something. You know how there are benches around the perimeter of many of the attractions to be seated while you wait especially if you are very early for the show (American Adventure, Country Bears, Hall of Presidents all come to mind)? Well, they had these in there as well. An older couple around my parents ages (early 60's) is seated. I am standing while I get my kids set up--they are seated on the floor, but I tell them that when the show starts they may have to stand to be able to see and that the show from what I knew of it would be one where they could stand and move around a bit. The man tells me I have to sit on the ground because he and his wife cannot see from the bench. Now I am not a meanie I would move from their view if it is indeed a sit down show and if I didn't want to sit I would move behind others so I didn't obstruct a view. I said nicely, but firmly that I would not be sitting to wait for the show to start. I explained that once the show started everyone would be standing. He was livid and fuming about it. He went back to his seat though and &*^%$ed up a storm just loud enough so I could hear it and so he could be obnoxious. He gets up agian and tells me to sit down. "Just about everyone else is seated on the floor are you stupoid you need to sit down." "Umm no I am not stupid, a lot of people sit down while waiting for shows and I choose not to." Again I say no. There is nothing going on in here BTW--no entertainment, nothing to see I am not blocking anything. He continues to brood. The music starts and he comes up to me, grabs my arm and tells me I must sit down now and I have to listen to him. At this point I lose it. First I tell him to take his hands off of me, I am not a child and I will not be spoken to in a nasty tone or touched by someone who has no right to lay hands on me. He is freaking out now. A CM comes over and says that I do not need to sit down and when the show starts everyone will be standing anyway because the characters come down from the stage and interact with the children and we can't have children getting stepped on. I continue to stand, he continues to brood and I am scared that he will hit me and yell more. The CM did not handle the situation well, and I see he is still ticked off. I move to the back of the show area nearer to the CM's and the door while DH stays with our kids. I'm thinking to myself if this guy touches me again I am going to press charges and I really don't care who's grandpa he is, but I do not want to cause a spectacle for my children or anyone he is with. Later in the day we see him again and he shoves his way up to me and starts swearing. Now my DH is a very quiet guy who knows I can stand up for myself and will ( I teach high risk High School students, you really can't scare me--and I am very good at deescalating situations so he usually doesnt' get involved). Well DH jumps in and says very loudly ENOUGH! You have been harassing her and we will press charges if you so much as even attempt to come near us again. The guy just puts his head down and wanders off with his wife and a few grandkids. He was jsut a bully who was used to yelling to always get his own way and I wasn't giving it to him.
I have been to WDW a lot, and have only had this one incident, but it really only takes one person to drive a stiuation to escalate to violence.

Wow, that's scary! It's too bad the CM didn't call security and escort that man out! Just the fact that he touched you is battery! I'm glad your dh knocked him down a peg. I just feel sorry for his family that has to deal with him - yikes!!

 

[lundve]

Here's one from our trip last year. We are riding the bus back from MK and someone had driven on the bus only lane then tried to turn around in front of our bus. The bus driver had to slam on the brakes because otherwise he was going to hit the car that pulled out in front of him. A man and his wife were at the back of the bus with their two kids. He was holding onto the huge double stroller and his wife was holding a baby. Their 3 year old son was not being held onto so when the brakes were slammed the son flew off the seat and landed on the floor. The guy starts cursing at the bus driver the entire time it took for us to get off at OKW. Obviously he was probably upset about everything and that his kid might be hurt (he ended up just scared not hurt) but all of us on that bus had to hear it for a long time. I think everyone departed the first bus stop even if they had not intended to while the driver tried to talk to the man.

I mean I know he had a right to be upset but I think he should have saved the language for when he wasn't in mixed company. The driver dealt with it as soon as he could. Especially company that could not leave. They tell you to hold onto young children - I think he probably learned his lesson - that the stroller wasn't as important. Never did see how it was resolved.

 

[dolfinjuls]

A couple weeks ago we were at DHS and missed out on fastpasses for Toy Story Mania so we were waiting in a long line! The wait time was about 90 minutes. Well wouldn't you know we're about 3 groups of people away from the turnstyle to enter the ride and my 3 year old starts freaking out that she has to go to the bathroom. Very urgently! I knew if I didn't leave then she would have had an accident. Mind you...I definitely did NOT want to leave the line!

So I decided to ask the two groups in front of me if I could pass through with my daughter so I could take her to the bathroom. I figured it'd be easier then backtracking through the whole que. So the one family could tell it was an emergency and let us through. Then the last guy says very firmly NO and stood there with his arms out so I couldn't get by. I asked again and stated I wasn't going on the ride, I was leaving the que and he wasn't budging. His wife (I'm assuming) kept saying honey just let them go and he just wasn't having it. I just said you have got to be kidding me! So I squeezed through this little area on the side to get to the cast member and ask her the best way to get out!

That was the only time on our trip we came across someone like that...and I was mad!

 

[POPCITY]

I can't believe people would actually think that it is OK to touch someone else's child, let alone stroke their hair That is creepy!!!!

One of my coworkers told me that that it's considered bad luck NOT to touch a child that you think is cute. She is in her fifties, and grew up in Mexico. She says that her mom and aunts still will touch a baby they have just been admiring. It's something about the evil eye, admiring a child brings the attention of the evil eye, and you need to touch the child, pat them on the head or touch their arm or something, to make the evil eye go away.

 

[TexasMinnie82]

One of my coworkers told me that that it's considered bad luck NOT to touch a child that you think is cute. She is in her fifties, and grew up in Mexico. She says that her mom and aunts still will touch a baby they have just been admiring. It's something about the evil eye, admiring a child brings the attention of the evil eye, and you need to touch the child, pat them on the head or touch their arm or something, to make the evil eye go away.

I have also heard this. We live in a town with more than 50% of the population hispanic. You can't go anywhere with out someone trying to touch your kid. I still don't like it. I don't believe in it so don't touch my kid! I have told this to many people before.

 

[jtopp]

Kudos for security in the parks.
We were eating tacos across from POTC when a family dispute broke out in front of us. Two older sons were starting to fight, with their mother in the middle. The altercation lasted less then a minute, until plainclothes CM's could control the situation and remove the family. The amazing part was that the family was Brazilian, and everyone, including the CM's who arrived in short notice, spoke Brazilian-Portugese. Disney security monitered the building dispute, and took appropriate actions to solve a difficult situation and remove it from a public area in seconds. Bravo!

 

[roscoepc1]

A couple weeks ago we were at DHS and missed out on fastpasses for Toy Story Mania so we were waiting in a long line! The wait time was about 90 minutes. Well wouldn't you know we're about 3 groups of people away from the turnstyle to enter the ride and my 3 year old starts freaking out that she has to go to the bathroom. Very urgently! I knew if I didn't leave then she would have had an accident. Mind you...I definitely did NOT want to leave the line!

So I decided to ask the two groups in front of me if I could pass through with my daughter so I could take her to the bathroom. I figured it'd be easier then backtracking through the whole que. So the one family could tell it was an emergency and let us through. Then the last guy says very firmly NO and stood there with his arms out so I couldn't get by. I asked again and stated I wasn't going on the ride, I was leaving the que and he wasn't budging. His wife (I'm assuming) kept saying honey just let them go and he just wasn't having it. I just said you have got to be kidding me! So I squeezed through this little area on the side to get to the cast member and ask her the best way to get out!

That was the only time on our trip we came across someone like that...and I was mad!

I think I would have had her squat down and pee on his shoes! What a jerk!

 

[PelletierBears]

first, you shouldn't have screamed at the kid first, always talk to the parent first


second, he was 6, it was most likely his first trip and wanted a good view, you couln't have moved for a 6 year old

I didn't even wait to read ahead and see if anyone else responded to this....you do not reward bad behavior, from an adult or a child. Let's start holding our kids responsible for their behavior and maybe there will be less rude adults in the future! The mother could have asked if her son could sit in front, etc. I'm astonished someone is making excuses for someone (child or not) hitting someone else...and yes I'm a parent. I'd take my child out of the park if they ever thought to strike someone. We all need to learn to wait in line, deal with not having the best view, etc. I think this thread proves what happens when you don't learn to as a child ...you grow into a selfish, bully like the subjects in many of these posts!

 

[jtopp]

I did not have anything to terribly bad happen and I also didn't react too badly to what did happen. I was on my honeymoon and DW and I were in line for space mountain. It was late I would say about midnight there wasn't much of a line and we walked almost all the way to where the switchbacks begin. There was a Dad and his son (a young teen, 16 or under) in front of us. I noticed that the dad was pointing and leering at attractive woman and saying things to his son about them and they would look at each other and laugh. It seemed a little inappropriate but it didn't really effect me so no big deal.

I wasn't paying attention just waiting and watching the chocolate chip cookie asteroids fly overhead. I looked over at my wife of a few days and she looked very uncomfortable. I turned toward the father and son and they were staring at my wife checking her out and whispering to each other right in front of me! I could tell my wife was very creeped out and uncomfortable and I wanted to grind there bones to dust, but hey this is Disney World. They had not seen that I noticed what they were doing so I positioned myself between my wife and them with a menacing glare on my face. They turned pale and spun around like tops. I moved so I was right behind the father my nose was about five inches from the back of his head. I did not say a word but for the next 15-20 minutes we were in that line I remained in that position. We were separated right before boarding but I can tell you they did not look at me, my wife or any other woman inappropriately or even out of the corner of there eye and they did not make a peep.

After we had separated and were in our boarding stall my wife thanked me and let me know that she was glad she married me because she always feels safe with me. She also thanked me for not doing anything to them.

I could have handled it better and just said to they guy, "hey buddy put your eyes back in your head". But I also didn't escalate the situation after all we were there to have fun. I just had my wife read this and she said "I will never forget that. We didn't have to say a word to each other you just knew."

Does anyone think I over reacted?

Congrats on your quick thinking and restraint! I don't know if I would have had that quick thinking and control, even in Disney, it might have escalated into a bigger issue.

 

[chrisw127]

I've been to Disney World many times and only had one bad incident, if you don't count over-heated exhausted parents yelling at their own children (Hey, go your hotel and take a nap! Who cares if she doesn't want her Figaro Fries?).

Last year in early December, we were lining up to watch the show in front of Cinderella's castle. My son, who was only five-years old at the time, hopped up on a ledge and was watching the show and not in anyone's way. A minute later, an older woman in a EVC pulled up next to him. All was fine, they both could see and were comfortable. Except a guy comes up and demands that we leave so he can get his (well into middle-aged) girlfriend into a shot that had the castle and the Walt and Mickey statue. He starts yelling at my kid and the older lady at the top of his lungs saying "this is for our Christmas card, get out of the way" and being really aggressive when the lady in the EVC couldn't get ouf of the way fast enough. When people gave him a hard time, he starting saying "Oh yes, I'm just a big a****le, everyone look at me" all the while trying to get the perfect shot.

It was completely unneccesary. First of all, by December 10th, you're probably too late to send out Christmas cards. And second, after a certain age, no one wants to see your old mug on a Christmas card anyway. Also, if he'd been nice, we probably would have moved anyway. I don't know where he's from, but where I come from, you don't yell and old ladies and kids.

I'd just like to say that the next day (we went to MK everyday, what can I say?) my son watched the show again. This time, a group of people made way a place for him up front when they saw he couldn't see and let me sit up there too. After the previous day's bruhaha, I was almost shocked by their generosity.

 

[lntsmom]

I have also used handicapped stalls when taking my children in with me. I never for one minute thought that these stalls were "reserved" for handicap only. It is not like a parking spot. Youre not going to get fined if you take a seat. If there is a line, whoever is next takes the next available spot and if that happens to be a handicap stall thats what you get. Of course, I wouldnt use it if there was other stalls available and didnt have a need. Am I wrong on the rules?

You're not wrong! If someone handicapped enters, they go to the front of the line for that stall. If everyone in the bathroom is able-bodied, it is to be used just like any other stall.

I've noticed that more and more places are putting the baby changing area in the handicapped stall...because that's where there's room for it! If the stall were solely for the use of the handicapped, you wouldn't find the changing table there.

Also, some places even have that little jump seat for infants/toddlers, so mom can go to the bathroom without having to worry about the kiddie getting down on the floor.

The handicapped are guaranteed equal access, not special treatment!

As to the original question: I had been on 3 Disney trips prior to the one this summer and hadn't met any nutters along the way. Matter of fact, most folks were more than friendly. This time, however, we ran into 3 in 7 days. Of those 3, two were confrontational.

One was a mom who screamed at me for saying, "Oh, no, honey, I'm not your mommy!" to her toddler who was crawling into my bathroom stall at Music. Mind you, the kiddo wasn't coming from another stall, but from out by the sinks. The mom screamed at me for having the nerve to be "so harsh" to her child. I pointed out to the mom that she had no idea who was in the bathroom, which should be a concern for her child's safety, and that if she was watching her own kid, other people wouldn't have to.

The second was a man outside Caseys after the fireworks. We just wanted chairs to sit on while my older son went to get water. There was a whole cluster of empty chairs, none around tables, by the rail. As we went to sit down a man started screaming at me, asking if I was trying to "take" his table. I calmly explained no, and what I was trying to do. He continued screaming, saying that I was "moving in too quickly". His poor wife tried to get him to shut up. I just said, "OH, MY GOD!" and moved to another cluster of empty chairs. You have to understand, many tables were empty. Most chairs were empty. We didn't need a table, so I was trying to be kind to others. My reward was to have a complete psycho go off on me.

A CM nearby commisserated with me, saying they are seeing more and more of these sorts of folks recently.

 

[cheerforchelsea]

In my many trips to WDW I have encountered some of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet and some people who I am sure had never been out in public before!!! I have had people in my personal space; individuals break in line in front of me; entire families of 20 or more break in line; people nearly smash a 6 year old trying to get in front of her; kids on wheelies nearly knock me down; an entire family go to the front of a LONG bus line leaving Epcot one night (I thought that everyone in line might start a riot - and the line breaking family finally left the bus area). My daughter had her foot run over by an occupied stretcher in Magic Kingdom one night----came up behind us and passed without every saying a word--just ran over the top of her foot---OUCH!! We have been on a WDW bus that was involved in an accident one night.....car pulled over on us and driver did a wonderful job of missing the car but people on the bus were thrown around - no one was seriously injured but on really rude man had a bruise on his side where the armrest of the seat hit him. (To get away from his loud mouth, swearing and complaining we finally walked to the room after securiity was through with us). Ahhhh the fun of WDW!!!!

 

[NEDisneyFans]

I am sure there are folks out there that may not mind and would take it as a compliment, but it is only good manners to at least ask before taking a picture of someone in public.

From dictionary.com, a definition for "public:"

in public, not in private; in a situation open to public view or access; publicly

If you are in PUBLIC why do you have expectations of PRIVACY? These people aren't following you into your car or hotel room -- they are just taking photos on vacation!

I take lots of photos all over the place, all the time. Sometimes I include people in those shots because I don't have choice. Sometimes because they "add" to the composition (design of the photo) -- and, on occasion, this has included children. No big deal!

Now if I -- or anyone else who didn't know you and/or your child started talking to them and asking them to pose, THAT would be creepy

 

[Syrreal]

The only one that comes to mind happened to me at POR. I was really sick on that trip. I had a flu and a sinus infection to boot. I walked into the CS area and went straight to where you get condiments and can get drink refills so that I could get some salt. Well some guy runs up to me as I'm leaving and just goes off on me abot how I'm stealing and how much I am raising the price of his vacation. Now, mind you, this was not said in a way that didn't include very very many cursewords. Once I decided he needed to be finished with his rant, I quietly and mostly politely informed him that I was sick and that if he wanted me to, I could cough on him and spread the love. I also offered to give him the $ that my taking some salt, that for all he knew I had just left the area and had forgotten salt to take back with my purchase, was adding to his vacation payment if he would be so kind as to be able to break a penny into .000001. I finished by telling him that he shoudl mind his own @#$%ing vacation.
That last part wasn't my finest moment, but I didn't care. I did say it quietly enough that other people would have to have been literally right next to us, so at least that's something.

ETA- I wanted to add that I have been going to Disney ever since I was 2. This is the only incident that comes to mind and it happened 3 years ago and I have been there many times since. These altercations really are the exception and most of the people I have interacted with at WDW do not exhibit these behaviors.

 

[HappyLawyer]

i really try not to get upset, i mean it's disney after all, but more importantly, not in front on my children. I can get quite evil, but not in front of the kids a big no no

 

[jboysen]

This is simply not true. If you bothered to read what folks from the Disablities post, all they ask is that you consider your choices wisely. The stall you are running to get for your convience MAYBE the ONLY stall they can use. Sue the moderator has written some very well worded posts on the subject.

Yes, I get that. Which is why I certainly would never have used the handicapped stall if there were anyone else waiting to use it. And although things haven't gotten heated on this thread, I've seen it very "hot" on other threads, on other boards.

Moot point for me now anyway, since my kids are old enough to go in their own stalls, thank goodness.

Okay, I feel the need to ask how anyone considers a young child an able body person? My 2yr old can not climb on a toilet seat by herself, she needs to be wiped properly if she goes #2 and considering I have a stroller to contend with, how should I feel guilty or even be questioned for using the larger bathroom stall? I specifically wait for the larger stall for these purposes and let others behind me go ahead into the smaller stalls. Besides, if you've been in a large stall, maybe not at WDW, but other places , they have been putting the baby changing stations in there. Once my children are older and can do everything by themselves, I will no longer need the larger stall and then it would be rude, but for the time being I don't see a problem with this.

 

[Jenvenza]

One of my coworkers told me that that it's considered bad luck NOT to touch a child that you think is cute. She is in her fifties, and grew up in Mexico. She says that her mom and aunts still will touch a baby they have just been admiring. It's something about the evil eye, admiring a child brings the attention of the evil eye, and you need to touch the child, pat them on the head or touch their arm or something, to make the evil eye go away.

The same thing kind of happened to me while I was pregnant - This Hispanic woman came up to me and touched my belly and said some prayer before I even knew what happened. My husband is Hispanic and after I stumbled backwards from trying to get away from this strange lady praying and grabbing my belly, he told me she was saying a prayer to keep the evil eye away - there is a Spanish word, but I dont want to murder the spelling of it, so I wont try.

Needless to say, I think I will take my chances with the evil eye. I dont like strangers touching me. I have gotten use to some people wanting to touch my daughter, but I had someone try to put their fingers in her mouth once, and that I wont stand for. Who does that????

 

[wickywinn]

I remember an incident about a decade ago when we were leaving Mk after fireworks at closing. You can imagine the crowd we were in....we were in line to catch the monorail back to the Polynesian and, since it was Xmas and closing even we had quite a line. We were next to the main monorail line for the main parking lot which was much longer. Part of the line was roped off once you got to a certain point. Well, a very large family of mainly adults decided, in full site, to just jump over the rope and cut in front of hundreds of people. A couple of men in line became irate, as did the rest of the line and - as they lifted their legs over the rope - jerked the rope sending at least 3 of them flying backwards. After they picked themselves up everyone started clapping and yelling at them and pointing at the end of the line. As if they didn't know where it was but, after that display, they sculked - all 10 of them - back to the end of the line with people clapping as they passed them in their walk of shame. I was really glad I wasn't in that line...

 

[TxRabbit]

My mom and dad are at that point in their lives where they can and do travel quite a bit. It's unfortunate that so many people in the world are generally unhappy people for one reason or another. I think that many people think that if they could just do this or that, they would be happy. Like if they could just go to WDW, then, for a while they would be happy. It doesn't work that way.

My mom is fond of saying this:

No matter where you go, you take yourself with you.

 

[Tricia819]

I do understand that, but this was a mass of bodies sitting down filling the entire castle forecourt. There was NO ROOM to walk without trying to step over and step on fingers, etc. No one tried to get out of our way at all. Because of the fireworks, we had nowhere else to go to exit the area. If you're tired, fine, take a load off, but not in the middle of the walkways and once the show starts, STAND UP, for pity's sake, so that the exit doesn't become a pushing, shoving, trying not to trample people thing.

I'd have said to everyone within hearing distance, "Okay folks unless you want me to stand here through the entire fireworks presentation you need to get up and let me out." And when they start to complain about you standing during the show, "Oh well, you made your choice not to let me out."