We normally stand on the steps in Canada but this year everyone wanted a new view so we decided to try a small patio area infront of Germany, near Italy. We arrived one hour before and found two other couples already there. We struck up a conversation with them and the couple on the point assured us this was a great place to view the whole thing. So we took a seat on the pavement and just sat around talking.
We had one member. "J" who had never seen Illuminations and we were excited to share with him. All was well until about 30 seconds before it all started and a man with a video camera rapidly pushed past all of us and jumped up on the pillar that was part of the wall. He placed himself right in front of "J". It happened all so quick and right as the show started that it left us all speechless!
I finally reached the man's arm and said, " Oh no no! You can not sit there! We have been holding thses places for an hour. You need to get down!"
He very rudely told me not to touch him. I had already let go of his arm. I again repeated that he needed to get down and several others around us stated that you are not permitted to sit up there. He ignored everyone and just kept filming. I was ticked off and missing the start of the show. The couple on the point moved over a bit so "J" could see a bit of the show. It was still very distracting and irritating. The man pretended that he could not understand English.
After about 5 minutes a CM dressed in the costume from Italy stepped up to the man and told him he had to get down and explained that it was dangerous for him to sit there like that. I told the CM that he had pushed his way in front of us and that we had asked him to get down and he just ignored us. The CM asked again and the man said in Spanish that he would get down in one hour! I translated for the CM and then the CM got angry and told the man very firmly that he had to get down and get down now!
Again we were just not thinking and when the man finally got down he stood right in front of all of us with his arms way out to his side and basically blocking the view for as many of us as he could. I turned to the CM to get him to make the man move and the CM shrugged and walked away.
Now I was really ticked and I told the man in a very loud voice that I did not think he was a very nice person! I did not swear or anything like that I just used those words. By this time the show is nearly over and the fireworks are in the air a bit more so we just watched what we could of the show. At one point the man turned to our DD and said the "F' you words to her right in the face. Then he started pushing into the back of the woman half of the couple on the point. Then he got on his phone and called someone and then started raising his hands and jumping all over the place. A minute or two later a man starts pushing in my DH who was behind me at this point. Then the man in the front yells to this guy for him to start getting into our backpacks and take our wallets. I had enough Spanish in HS and college to understand the man. I told my husband to move his wallet and keep our back pack in front of him that they were trying to steal things out of it!
It was just plain ridiculous and we were tried of the whole thing. With that the show ended and we quickly moved away from them both. Everyone around us was shocked and upset with the whole thing too. We tried to not let it ruin the entire show for us but it was certainly uncalled for and we really did nto know what else to do. We could see no security near us to help and when the CM did show he only got the guy off the wall but did nothing to help us.
Has anyone had anything like this happen to them? We have seen the show several times although we usually have someone with us who has never seen it and we have never had any problems. Once in a while you get a family with a young child and they politely ask if the child can move to the front and see the show. Normally they are lower than any of us so they do not block our view and it is not a problem at all.
Does security have the power to move someone who pushes in like this? Someone else said we should have let them take something from us and then gotten security but we just did not want the hassle of all of that!
Next time we will go to our better spot in Canada!
Any help would be appreciated. I'm only going to have 4 hours to spend in EPCOT and I don't want to spend a lot of time standing and holding a spot for Illuminations.
