Add Manners to the Packing List

[disneyfanatic60]

Having just returned from WDW, I just had to mention one observation. It seems each trip we make, guests manners and common courtesy just get worse! I think people clearly forgot to add "manners" to their "packing lists!"

I was appalled to see the rudeness of people and the blatant disregard they showed to others. Both old and young alike! When you see grown men sitting on buses and women holding young babies (almost newborn) STANDING, something is very wrong! When I thought I couldn't be more surprised, I was wrong. It was just very sad!

We traveled with our kids when they were small and if they had acted like some of the children we saw! I'm not trying to pass judgement. I just think common courtesy should be used. I think the parents just need to take control. It just seemed like many "kids were running the show!"

I was really just shocked at some of the behavior I saw demonstrated. Fortunately for us, we only experienced it first hand once or twice (one guy in particular who was just downright rude!) In speaking with many others from this board and others who were just down there, this was a common complaint! It's just sad!


Michele

 

[Brian Noble]

You can see the exact same behavior for a lot less money nearly anywhere!

 

[Dana49]

I have to agree and it seems to be contagious. People witness others acting rude and inconsiderate, then they think that it's okay for them to do likewise. By the end of our vacation week, we were truly tired of selfishness and non-caring.

 

[reddixie]

Unfortunately that is a common trend extended into our towns as well. I am amazed at how people don't kill each other more common place now due to the amount of rudeness I see. We are living in a sad time. I went out last night to sing carols with my Girl Scouts I am the Troop Leader. A lady gave us cans but said don't sing take your voices down the road. I am sure they will enjoy them more. I have Larayngitis so she says to me you could just knock on doors explain you have no voice and move on. My girls wanted to sing they practiced for 2 months. I was livid but being a Girl Scout I said thanks for the cans and I have a committement to the girls so voice or no voice I will do this for them. I thought how rude can you be. So it's an epidemic. If you do go some where in good spirits and say please etc. people look at you with such hate and they seem angry at your manners. So what do we do?

 

[CarolMN]

Wow! Sorry you saw/experienced such rude behavior.

We also just got back (12/4/04), and I saw/experienced just the opposite. For example, I (50+ female in good health) gave up my seat on a crowded boat (between EPCOT & MGM)) to a woman with a squirmy baby. Immediately had two men insist that I take their seat, and saw two sets of parents put young children on their laps so that others could have a seat. The grandmother of the baby thanked me several times and we had a nice (but short) chat at the MGM dock when we disembarked.

I can't ever recall someone looking at me with "hate" due to good manners or seeming angry that I am in good spirits. In fact, I often find that good manners and a smile produces the same in return - especially if there's a Disney CM involved.

Again, sorry others' experiences were different.

Best wishes -

 

[chesirekate]

Wow! Sorry you saw/experienced such rude behavior.

We also just got back (12/4/04), and I saw/experienced just the opposite. For example, I (50+ female in good health) gave up my seat on a crowded boat (between EPCOT & MGM)) to a woman with a squirmy baby. Immediately had two men insist that I take their seat, and saw two sets of parents put young children on their laps so that others could have a seat. The grandmother of the baby thanked me several times and we had a nice (but short) chat at the MGM dock when we disembarked.

I can't ever recall someone looking at me with "hate" due to good manners or seeming angry that I am in good spirits. In fact, I often find that good manners and a smile produces the same in return - especially if there's a Disney CM involved.

Again, sorry others' experiences were different.

Best wishes -

I had the exact same experience as you. I was offered more seats than I could count, and don't remember anyone who was downright rude. My daughter did run out in front of a mother trying to take a pic of her daughter with Donald and the mother did give me a bit of a look as I ran out to get Kate and scold her, but that's as close to a nasty look as I received. In fact, I can think of at least a dozen, even more, times where people went out of their way to be nice and friendly. Honestly, after reading this board for several months, I was expecting some pretty bad behavior but actually experienced nothing really negative at all!

 

[Cbarr]

I just returned on Dec 4th and had the opposite experience as you. Everyone was so polite! No one trying to cut in line...everyone insisting for others to go ahead of them...smiles...people offering to take our family picture with all of us in it...everyone waiting their turn to take pictures in front of popular places...it was just great!

 

[Hippychickali]

It is true that there are rude people in both the world and the World. However, I think that too often we focus on the negative. For every rude person there are many more nice people. The only people we can control is ourselves so I think the best we can do is try to have a good attitude and hopefully it will rub off. (like the Girl Scout leader) Getting angry because of the rudeness we observe only lowers us to that level.

Have a Disney day,

Ali

 

[MrsJ Henry]

When we were there recently we experienced both. Overall I think most people were holding up pretty good considering they were with screaming children etc... My husband and I commented on this several times. We don't have children and if we were going through what some of these parents were going through we would probably have torn our hair out at that point. We were very impressed with them. We were tired and grouchy at times and it was just the two of us!!!!
Our hats go off to all of you parents who take on the world with small children!!!

 

[HollyJoy]

OMG! I couldn't believe how rude people were! I know it's hard when there are alot of people taking pictures, but I tried my best to be aware of my surroundings as to not walk in front of a snapping camera. It amazed me at how many people just didn't give a about this! Also, we had an experience where we were standing in line at MGM to take a photo with Chip and Dale. The line was about 20 people long, and there was one man (and his son) in front of us. This lady came up with another woman, they had a stroller and a small child. They totally just cut infront of us. When I turned to her to tell her that the end of the line was back there, and that she had cut in front of us, she started speaking another language to me. I repeated myself, and she proceeds to say, "I understand", but stood right where she was. The CM did NOTHING! Even the lady behind me said she cut in line, but the CM turned a blind eye to the matter. Ugh!

 

[wilderness01]

I just returned and saw both as well. Many people were kind on the bus which was very nice. A man did explode at MVMCP because my 7 year old niece bumped into his child who was walking with a drink and HIS kid dropped the drink. He started screaming at at my SIL and niece. What a jerk. Another man jumped in and defended them telling the jerk man to calm down since it was an accident. My brother walked over to the man after he saw his daughter crying and offered to pay for the drink. I was behind him saying "don't offer him any $ it was free hot cocoa, he is acting like a jerk". The man's wife was mortified and kept on apologizing. This man wouldn't let up and kept screaming that you should walk where you are going. What a jerk and a half. Merry Christmas buddy! We just walked away and let him look like a *******. What an embarrasement to his family. Perhaps he shouldn't have been letting his 3 year old walk in the middle of people and that wouldn't have happened. Some people are just miserable no matter where they are at.

 

[HollyJoy]

We saw a young guy give the guard at the front gate (actually the bag searcher) a really hard time. He was practically cussing him out for having to search his girlfriends bag. He got really fresh, then took out his wallet and asked if they wanted to search that as well. Everyone was just staring at this guy, shaking our heads. His girlfriend bolted away from him, in what seemed like, embarassment. And the bag being searched? One of those TINY backpacks! LOL

 

[DaveH]

I just got back yesterday, 12/10. I saw both also. We try to be pleasant to everyone. I understand when I am trying to take pictures that sometimes you just don't notice someone taking a picture, even in front of you when you are engrossed at looking at everything around you. The worse I saw was a woman witha very expensive slr camera. She me saw taking pics and stepped in front of our camerea anyway. ugh. To me the worse are the parents who use the stroller as a battering ram to get somewhere faster than anyone else. They put the child and others at more of a risk of getting hurt. I had a great time all together. I have learned to try and ignore these idiots.

 

[freediverdude]

I don't get as much of this at Disney World, because most people seem better behaved in the world, but frequently when I go up and smile and ask for things politely and say thank you and everything, people give me that dirty look like I'm being fake or something, when it's not. I guess they are so used to everyone acting indifferent or rude that they think someone being nice is being sarcastic or something. Now it's gone full circle, where you CAN'T be nice and polite or people think you're being rude.

 

[swilphil]

I find that if you go out of your way to be nice and smile at others, the same will happen to you in return--even if it's not at that exact moment. It's kind of like the karma concept, what goes around comes around.

I like to give people the benefit of the doubt that many times they are disrupting others unintentionally. I know I have accidently bumped into people with my stroller, and I've probably walked into somebody's picture without realizing it because I was busy keeping track of my two toddlers. I'm kind of klutz, and that's why I choose to vacation at disney instead of on the ski slopes. I always apologize and try very hard to not do these things. And as far as my kids go, they aren't always perfectly behaved 24 hours a day. They might cry if we don't buy them everything they want, but I'm not going to start spoiling them on vacation just so they don't disrupt someone else. The only sitdown restaurants we go to are for character meals, and we only take them on age appropriate attractions.

 

[disneyfanatic60]

I hope my post wasn't taken the wrong way. This discussion of increased rudeness came up between a large gathering of people from various boards earlier this week at Epcot. There were several of us who mentioned they were surprised at some of the things they had observed during their trip myself included.

We were talking about blatant rudeness not things like accidentally bumping into someone, stepping in front of someone's camera shot, etc. Those things happen to all of us. As far as children go, I have two myself. There are times they are not well behaved, etc. and I certainly did not mean to refer to "all children." What I was implying and I guess badly, was behavior that was much more than a child simply misbehaving. I'm talking about children left to run wild with little or no supervision. Children who in the middle of shows, etc. shouted or did inappropriate things. We all seemed to feel we saw a lot of this in various parks. It was certainly not the "norm" by any stretch but it was noticeable.

I'm sorry if anyone took any offense to this post. I truly do look for the positive in everything at WDW and really do turn the other cheek. I also believe if you smile and are polite to someone they generally returned the gesture in the same fashion. I know myself I don't look for the negatives and dwell on them. In fact, all in all this trip was absolutely wonderful.

 

[PatriciaH]

I'm talking about children left to run wild with little or no supervision. Children who in the middle of shows, etc. shouted or did inappropriate things. We all seemed to feel we saw a lot of this in various parks. It was certainly not the "norm" by any stretch but it was noticeable.

Loved the adults SCREAMING to their friend at the TOP of their lungs right outside the Candelight Processional a few days ago in Epcot. I felt so bad for the performers that work so hard and the guests viewing the show. They screamed for about a minute straight to get her attention-how about walking over to her???

Also loved the lady with 2 sets of twins (wow) in Brown Derby that let the infants SCREAM for the whole meal while ignoring them. They were BLUE! Finally she picked them up and walked around the restaurant (still inside) while they screamed. How is that an enjoyable meal?

What is up with kids picking their noses today too? I see it a LOT now. They don't even care that people are looking at them-haha. Back when I was a kid that was considered WAY gross Don't their parents tell them that is rude? I am talking about older kids too-7,8 not 3. One kid was wiping it all over the bus window! I was SO disgusted. Do not touch anything on a WDW bus! Sorry to gross everyone out but this really bugs me.

We see both rude and kind people also. I guess it just depends on how people are feeling that day and if they have manners.

 

[lsteadman]

I am truly surprised at how some parents behave. The parents should be setting an example for their children. How can the children know how to behave when the parents are worst than the children?

I agree with the comment on the screaming children during the meals! How about the teens swearing worst than sailors!

My biggest problem is the kid who is fallin' out rolling all over the floor, yelling, screamin at the top of his/her lungs because he can't have that toy or whatever. I am shocked that these parents have no control over their kids. No control! The FATHER told this kids at least 20 times to sit down. Then FATHER had the nerve to say PLEASE to this kid. Then the FATHER and MOTHER started a foreign trade NEGOTIATION with the kid!!!!

My daughter watch this in amazement!!!! I wish I would say PLEASE to my child. She KNOWS MAMA ITS NOT GOING TO STAND FOR IT!!!!!! She knows that I work very hard to treat her and myself to special vacation at Disney or anywhere else we might go. She knows what I expect at all times.

I don't have to say anything to my daughter when I feel she is "acting up" -- I just cut my eye at her and she straightens right up! Very similar to what my mother use to do to me in church when I would be sitting on the back pew with my friends talking. All it took from Mom is one bad look and I was an "angel" for the rest of the Sunday service.

Parent need to train themselve and then train their children because the "rudeness" and the children at Disney has gotten out of control.

If the shoe fits! Shame on you!!!

 

[disneyjunkie]

Then the FATHER and MOTHER started a foreign trade NEGOTIATION with the kid!!!!

 

[HollyJoy]

How about the parents who let their little boys STAND ON THE BENCHES during the Beauty and The Beast show. Now I can understand that they wanted their children to be able to see the show, but they totally blocked the view of the people behind them! The little boys ended up being TALLER than a sitting adult! Finally, my DH talked to a CM and she told them to sit them down or in thier laps.