Argument about smartphone at Carousel of Progress

[nkereina]

Yuck - totally rude of that guy to be so mouthy and obnoxious. I don't think it's rude to ask him to turn off his phone, per se, but if it were me I would have either moved my seat or just dealt with it rather than say something. As mentioned, phones during shows is par for the course in this day and age so I'm learning to ignore it. People get offended at the littlest things and I can very easily see how asking someone to turn off their phone could turn ugly like this, as innocent of a request as it is. Sorry you had to deal with a jerk!

 

[Travis B]

I HATE bright screens in dark attractions or theaters. It's the absolute worst. I find it completely impossible to focus on anything else and then I sit there simmering with anger. Good on you for calling him out - I'm sorry he was such a d-bag. As others have said, I'm glad I wasn't in that situation because I would have had a hard time holding my tongue.

 

[jmkjr72]

Yes it may have been rude to start but the alternative could have been A screaming kid

 

[mesaboy2]

Yes it may have been rude to start but the alternative could have been A screaming kid

Is it wrong to expect another? Namely, no screaming kids or bright screens?

 

[theone74733]

I'm sorry you had to go through that. This is why I always like to sit in the front rows for these types of shows. It seems when I sit in the middle or back rows, there is a lot of crying babies or people not caring about the attraction and talking with each other or on phones. Most of the time, the front rows of attractions has very few people sitting and/or you don't notice the distractions that easily.

 

[psiprez]

Turning the flashlight on you was a step over the line for sure.

If it is any consolation, know that using flashlight on a phone eats up a huge chunk of battery. He probably ran out of juice well before his day at the park ended.

 

[LumosQ102]

so sorry you had such a horrid experience. any additional light source on dark rides / shows drives me potty, it negatively impacts the design the imagineers have created for us. I'd have fled too to prevent him from coming back at me. I do hope this didn't cast a shadow over the rest of your day

 

[anniemae]

Is it wrong to expect another? Namely, no screaming kids or bright screens?

This would be ideal, but at Disney all bets are off. It's full of tired, hungry, cranky, hot kids AND adults!

 

[P'colaBeachBum]

I typically am very avoidant, but was bothered my a family having their infant play with a smartphone during the Carousel of Progress. It was a very bright screen right in front of us. I told them to please turn it off. The father refused and instead turned the phone towards me and my husband during the entire show and said - "this is what you get". I moved seats and tried to ignore him but he then turned his flashlight on me.
I noticed other people on their phones as well. Maybe I am just getting old, but was I rude to ask him to turn off his phone? I noticed many other phones in use during the Tiki room as well.
Shouldn't people turn off their phones at a performance? Not just to enjoy the show, but to not be rude to other guests.

One of my favorite rides at MK is POTC. This past May every person, except DH and I, had a cell phone up. I get ocular migraines and the girl in front of us had a bright screen on her phone. It ruined the ride for us. Too bad they can't ban cell phones on rides.

 

[CodeGoddess]

To be honest until I read this I wouldn't even have thought twice about it. For most of our family its an attraction we ride because my 70 year old mother loves it. Bores the rest of us after this many years. I would bet most of our family would have been using the down time to check ADRs and wait times.

 

[jlwhitney]

While its not something I would do, It wouldn't ruin the attraction for me. I can choose my own attitude and if I enjoy something or not.

 

[3DisneyFanz]

My wife has an eye condition that makes being in dark extremely uncomfortable and on occasions has had to use her phone to generate enough light to not cause issues for her. I realize that isn't the case for probably 95% of people playing with their phones but you never know.

That said there was no excuse for the flashlight incident.

 

[LilyWDW]

It is 100% rude to use your phone in an attraction, especially when the room or ride is dark because that light can be blinding. You are bothering other people and ruining their enjoyment. If you MUST use it for whatever reason, then sit in the very very back and turn the brightness down.

 

[disnut8]

The father refused and instead turned the phone towards me and my husband during the entire show and said - "this is what you get". I moved seats and tried to ignore him but he then turned his flashlight on me.

I think the father was rude but my question is if the phone was turned towards you during the entire show, when did you leave your seats to avoid it?

 

[BuckeyeBama]

There are crazy people in this world. You did the right thing to avoid them when they came out. However, if I had witnessed that during the show I would have stood up and forced Disney to stop the ride and address the jerk who was shining a flashlight in someone's eyes.

 

[jesse8931]

I would have been kicked out of Disney for what would have happened next

Especially "that's what you get"

Yup

Then your no better then that guy. Let that guy be a jerk and move on.

 

[kandb]

Now a days, you can't confront anyone about anything. There are way too many sickos around and a lot of them have anger issues!

 

[BuckeyeBama]

Anyways if you tried that at Disney you would end up banned and possibly arrested.

You are correct, but thuggish behavior needed to be addressed by Disney management. This man did this to a woman. For me, as a man, this would be like doing this to a child. How would you feel if this man had done this to your child?

Not saying that he deserved a beating for his behavior - but I wouldn't be upset to hear that he got one.

 

[hammie59]

OP- What happened to you was disgraceful. There were a few times during an attraction like CoP that I was guilty of being on my phone to switch fast pass times, but I made sure I hid it under my shirt or backpack. I felt it would be pretty rude shining my screen all over the place.

 

[ChloesDaddy]

I doubt this would ever fly here, but I'd like to see a sticky thread called, "WDW Guest Hall of Shame," where Disers could post pictures of guests behaving badly.

OP -- Sorry you had a bad experience with a jerk. You did the right thing avoiding him once you realized he was unrepentant and aggressive.