As promised, Totally Outragous Behavior~

[mickeyluv'r]

Hmmm...I won't defend rude behavior...it is rude, BUT...clearly this is an area where WDW could improve. If demand for characters is THAT big - then maybe WDW should hire more, and do a better job of rotating them. I've seen times where Mickey goes in for a break and is back out in less than five. If Beast (or any other character) is so popular, surely there is a way to close the gap between appearances. Perhaps an exception should still be made for the Princesses. (It would be obvious if one changed her appearance suddenly)


As for parents who don't plan ahead for character greets....well, in many cases that's kind of a silly notion...While some places like Ariel's Grotto are clearly marked, most are not. Sure, some DISers know that you can ask certian CM's and they will be able to tell you, but many CM's these days are poorly informed.

On my last trip, my room key holder fell off - and my room key was gone. In my mind, Disney was partially at fault, since the rather expensive holder I bought broke after just a few days. their product was defective/shoddy quality. I looked for it, but to no avail. I spoke to about ten CM's who were beyond clueless as to what I should do. I knew I could get it replaced at the resort, but going all the way back to the resort would have ruined our evening. I lost quite a bit of time trying to get help, being misdirected, having to walk out of my way. I consider myself pretty well informed about WDW, and still the options in this case were pretty limited. To top it off, when I got to the head of the line at the customer service line - the lady who was manning the booth just turned and left. No explanation, no "I'll be right back." No apology when she did come back. I didn't say too much, but it was very aggravating. Only our waiter took some sympathy on my situation.


Most folks visiting WDW don't know where or whenthe characters are going to be. Finally WDw has started listing character greets on maps, but in the past it was VERY hard to get that schedule. Heck, most folks at WDW can't even look where they are walking.

 

[Joanna71985]

Attendants need to watch out for the time they need to go out and at the same time be aware of how many guests can they put in a line. Many, many guests (and attendants) hate to leave the line running until it's time to leave and whoever is left; sorry you didn't get to see it. People get very upset and I understand that. I think enough guests have made clear their dissatisfaction about that approach in character times and so I personally avoid it as much as possible. What I do is I time the characters and sort of get an idea of how long I can let the line run before it must be close, usually I'm on the mark and other times I'm way over. But I do try because I've been in both sides of the fence and I feel for everyone.

This is why my watch is my best friend. I always make sure it is set right, so I can get the character(s) on and off on time. Also, so they can be out long enough to see everyone in line. I haven't worked at Epcot in a couple of years, so I haven't had to deal with soft-close lines (except with the Power Rangers at DHS). I usually had hard-close lines, which I prefer. This way the line definitely has an end to it, and people don't have to hang around, only to not make it up. I hate closing the lines, but (with exception to the end of the day) the characters will be back out (either right away, or at a certain time).

Oh sweet Lord, how much do I HATE when people do this. How much do I wish that a magical force would take away their ability to speak momentarily, this so others magic remain intact. It's so frustrating!! I will never understand why some folks feel the need to ruin the magic not only for their kids but for everyone else.

I hate this too! I hate it when people ruin the magic for others (especially little kids). Those type of comments are so unecessary. They really make the characters mad too.

 

[Luv2Roam]

For the most part everyone "plays nice". But those meltdowns -- by young and old alike I wish people would realize their limits and for their sake and everyone else's go somewhere quiet and regroup or chill. Even if it is just for a beverage, snack or meal.
But because they have paid "so much" they want to squeeze out every minute and then some. (That's fine if you have the physical and mental stamina to do so.)

We don't run into too much very often, and rare as crazy as what I have read here.
Not unusual is to see kids screamed at the top of the lungs by who I assume are their parents. My heart is so sad for those poor kids. I can't imagine what they could have done to be yelled at in their face at the top of an adult's lungs in a very public area, and often called nasty enough names child welfare should be called.
DH did start getting into it one day when a mother kept hitting (and I don't mean love taps) her small son in the head. And for nothing that we could see. She just seemed to be abusing him just because she could. Looking back we should have just called the police or security. The kid needed to be removed from her. She just seemed like a hateful unhappy woman taking it out on her poor kid.
I have witnessed parents making considerable effort to go around what they were specifically told not to do, and often for their own safety, only to swear and yell as loud as possible at CMs, and in front of their kids.
One incident we witnessed I am sure some pre teen girl will not recall the parade or the lighting of the castle because her terrified memories are probably of her dad swearing, yelling and acting a big brat in front of Cinderella's Castle.
What a Kodak moment. priceless.

As an adult I handle anyone rude to me, figuring after that moment I will never see their face again.

 

[WDSearcher]

Hmmm...I won't defend rude behavior...it is rude, BUT...clearly this is an area where WDW could improve. If demand for characters is THAT big - then maybe WDW should hire more, and do a better job of rotating them.

Disney literally hires new characters every day. But it's not just hiring characters and rotating them. Say they hired ten new characters this afternoon to "work with" Mickey Mouse. Those characters need to be trained and costumed. Which means training time has to be available, trainers have to be available, training facilities, costumes and costumers have to be available. Then, the characters go out on set, which means character attendants have to be available, photographers, costumers and the costumes themselves. Wouldn't make any difference if there were 50 new "friends of Mickey" hired tomorrow. If there aren't 50 new costumes, those folks have absolutely nothing to do. And it's not like Mickey Mouse costumes can be pulled out of thin air for no money. It's not like there are thousands of dormant costumes in a warehouse somewhere not being used and just waiting for someone to put them on. Every new character hire needs a support system.

As for whether there are enough characters in the parks, I personally think there are too many. Think about it. If the only characters available were the Fab Five (Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy and Donald), Princesses, Fairies and maybe Chip & Dale, how much easier would life be? You could have twenty different rooms going simultaneously in every park, and once your kids met the 10-12 characters, they'd be done with that and move on. Any other characters would be in stage shows and parades, but not available for meet & greets except maybe on party nights. People show up with these master lists of characters who MUST be met and autographs that MUST be gotten, and photo books that MUST be filled and they get a little crazed. Disney could add a thousand characters a day and you'd still have rude guests jumping lines and yelling at attendants. But there are way TOO many characters in the parks, if you ask me!

 

[scrump]

Now why didn't I think of the taxi-bus transportation system!!!


I'd almost forgotten about a bad scene I witnessed a couple of months ago. I was waiting for my family to come off Splash, and wandered down toward the open area just past the bathrooms; there are some benches there and it was a good place to wait with the sleeping baby. There was also a BIG line for some characters; I can't even recall which ones. But they did the typical switch, and the line was going to be at a standstill for a few minutes. The CM made some typical cute announcement to those near the front. OMG, this one woman went ballistic on him. She then proceeded to VERY LOUDLY proclaim to everyone around, over and over again, that "the character who is really just a person in a constume had to go take a break". Purposely trying to ruin any magic for the young children around. It was so unbelievable.
.

This is terrible. I haven't read all the posts, but this one really struck me as wrong if there were some believing, impressionable kids around. I know that if I were a young child, this remark would've stayed with me.

 

[scrump]

During our last trip to WDW, Joe and I were walking across the bridge from Tomorrowland over the hub in front of the castle. We saw a woman who was pushing an empty stroller, SCREAMING at her husband who was walking in front of her. He had their child on his shoulders, ignoring her. What made the entire situation go from domestic squabble into the are-you-friggin'-kidding-me territory was that because he wasn't turning around and dealing with her, she was SLAMMING the stroller into his ankles as he tried to walk. With each very hard slam, he'd stumble and wince.

The entire time this was happening, Joe and I were walking alongside them, about five feet away. Absolutely speechless. The guy finally turned around and said very calmly, "I'm not going to argue with you here, not in front of (kid's name) and not in front of strangers. STOP slamming me with that. I'm carrying (kid's name) and I might fall." Then he turned around and kept walking, the little kid crying.

The lovely lady once again SLAMMED over and over and over again into the guy's shins. It looked incredibly painful to watch. And the guy kept walking, faltering occasionally, tripping, while holding on to his kid. She kept i up and started throwing out LOUD four letter words and curses. We finally couldn't stand it any longer. Both Joe and I stopped walking and just shouted, "ARE YOU KIDDING? ARE YOU FRIGGIN' CRAZY? He's carrying a kid! KNOCK IT OFF!"

She turned beet red, stopped in her tracks, muttered something as the guy just kept walking off, not looking back. At least she stopped her idiotic antics.

Unbelievable.

Ok, this one takes the cake. I feel for the kid.

 

[WUVmyDISNEY]

We were in line for haunted mansion, standby I believe was 10 or 15 minutes. The three of us were moving along and all of a sudden a woman and her two kids ( prob 7 to 9 yrs old) just got in front of us. Now I stated months ago on here that I do not line jump, nor would I really say anything to a line jumper--I figure another minute or 2 before getting on a ride made no difference to me and if they want to be rude, that is on them. Anyway, the little girl starts calling out to her father, come on poppy, up here! Now, I had not really been paying much attention to who was behind me etc as I was looking at the different features of the attraction. After the kid called for "poppy" (there were accents and not british so not sure what country they were from) I turned around and all of a sudden a pushing shoving match started between 2 men and my husband pulled me out of the way afraid I would get somehow caught in the cross fire. Apparently, "poppy" tried to push his way thru the family behind us to get to his line jumping family and the father of the family behind me did not like being pushed. he told poppy that his behaviour was not acceptable here and if he acted like that then maybe he should leave. Poppy was saying he was in line right behind us when the other family really was behind us. He didnt mention how his family somehow got in front of us! Anyway words went back and forth and the innocent father tried to explain how the ride worked and there was no reason to push ahead and maybe poppy should leave if he cant play by the rules. At this point, it was a bit loud, there were no CM's around ( we were about ready to go into the dark room) and I noticed poppy's wife took her kids and went right ahead on walking leaving poppy on his own lol When we finally got into the dark room, the innocent man talked to 2 CM's and they pulled poppy aside and not sure what was said then. CM's asked the innocent man to step aside also so that they all can talk I suppose and he said he was there with his large family and his family went ahead also. I didn't see Poppy' family at that point but as we were no in line to board the buggy in about 2 minutes, the other family was also pulled out of line. I stated to the wife that poppy's family did jump ahead of me and I hope everything worked out. maybe they gave the innocent family fast passes or something after everything got settled. I think if Poppy didnt push the other guy, this whole scene would have been avoided. I don't know what the outcome was but I hope it all worked out. Side note: HM stalled for a while when we were on there, right at the point where you go backwards and are no longer sitting upright.....spaceship earth stalled also.....monorails were constantly being stopped for traffic holding......people mover stalled out to.

 

[DisMN]

We were in line for haunted mansion, standby I believe was 10 or 15 minutes. The three of us were moving along and all of a sudden a woman and her two kids ( prob 7 to 9 yrs old) just got in front of us. Now I stated months ago on here that I do not line jump, nor would I really say anything to a line jumper--I figure another minute or 2 before getting on a ride made no difference to me and if they want to be rude, that is on them. .....................*snip*
He didnt mention how his family somehow got in front of us! Anyway words went back and forth and the innocent father tried to explain how the ride worked and there was no reason to push ahead and maybe poppy should leave if he cant play by the rules. At this point, it was a bit loud, there were no CM's around ( we were about ready to go into the dark room) and I noticed poppy's wife took her kids and went right ahead on walking leaving poppy on his own lol When we finally got into the dark room, the innocent man talked to 2 CM's and they pulled poppy aside and not sure what was said then. CM's asked the innocent man to step aside also so that they all can talk I suppose and he said he was there with his large family and his family went ahead also.

To be fair, my family has been the line jumpers in the HM ride before, at the request of the CM's. There isn't a line per se at the HM and it's more of a group milling around the entrance.
This has happened to us on many occasions where the CM will come out and make an announcement for people to please move forward and fill up any empty spots. They make the request several times and it goes mostly ignored. For some unknown reason people refuse to budge....leaving large areas unfilled.
My family has no problem moving our "tired bodies" LOL into those open areas but MANNNNNNNNn do people give us looks.

Too bad. So sad. We were just following instructions.

 

[Luv2Roam]

There are areas, such as the HM and prior to entering the ToT library, where people have the mind set of having to stand in a line. Which I assume is because almost all the time there is a que line. Trying to get some out of the mindset that creating a line is actually what the CMs are asking you NOT to do seems to go on deaf ears.
I am sure some have thought I was being rude by breaking out of a line. BUt there are times where guests are told NOT to form a line, as we all have a tendency to do.

The one time that strikes me funny is on a crowded day we were at DAK. (Think it was a Mother's Day.) A large family group was nearly blocking the entire walk way because of forming their own line and just looking up and around.

I could not figure out what they could be waiting for as nothing was around. And we just walked around them. Sure enough, they were just standing and looking. But other guests started standing in line after this family.

It was funny to see and proved to me any group can start a line anywhere and for no reason at WDW.

 

[WUVmyDISNEY]

I agree with you there...there isn't a typical "line" for this ride. We were pretty packed in already and maybe if there was a CM in the area directing traffic so to speak, the situation wouldn't have turned into a shoving match with people putting their hands on others.

 

[DisMN]

There are areas, such as the HM and prior to entering the ToT library, where people have the mind set of having to stand in a line. Which I assume is because almost all the time there is a que line. Trying to get some out of the mindset that creating a line is actually what the CMs are asking you NOT to do seems to go on deaf ears.
I am sure some have thought I was being rude by breaking out of a line. BUt there are times where guests are told NOT to form a line, as we all have a tendency to do.

The one time that strikes me funny is on a crowded day we were at DAK. (Think it was a Mother's Day.) A large family group was nearly blocking the entire walk way because of forming their own line and just looking up and around.

I could not figure out what they could be waiting for as nothing was around. And we just walked around them. Sure enough, they were just standing and looking. But other guests started standing in line after this family.

It was funny to see and proved to me any group can start a line anywhere and for no reason at WDW.

Oh that is funny!!

 

[CanadianGuy]

Since this has become a thread best suited to the ThemeParks Community Board.. that's where this one will be located from here out.

Thanks,

Knox

 

[Jessfrogger88]

Personally I don't like the whole mass line fill in all the avail space lines... they create so much tension... and people become rude and use the filling in all space directions as an excuse to push and shove their ways to the front of the lines.

 

[DisneyWheeler]

I just wanted to add my part. When my husband Dan and I went with my mom in January of this year to Disney World, we went to EPCOT on our second day and wanted to ride Test Track. I am a wheelchair user and have balance control issues with my mobility because of my severe scoliosis curvature and osteoarthritis. What Dan did to me while waiting in line was something I'll never forgive him for.

Dan has traumatic brain injury, mild right-sided hemiplegia cerebral palsy, ADHD, and functional mental disabilities among a couple of others I'm still trying to figure out about him after being married for the last two years. Most of the time he's a sweetheart. But, when he gets into one of his bad moods where he's upset or frustrated, look out! He tends to take it out on me all of the time, using verbal abuse.

Well anyway, we got to the front of the line and I had just transferred out of my manual wheelchair to get ready to go on the ride. The cast member that was directing people where to go had taken my manual wheelchair to go park it where we'd be getting off the ride. The family ahead of us had already gotten into the car. There was one seat left on the end by the dad and his son. I wanted to ride with Dan, so I decided to wait for the next car.

What Dan did next was something I'll never forgive him for. Before the cast member was going to close the automatic gate. Dan purposely shoves me into the car with such a force that I literally spun out of control, lost my balance and fell into the car almost landing on the poor kid who was about 7 or 8 who was sitting in the middle seat next to his dad. When I tried to get back up and get back to my husband. The cast member had already closed the automatic gate. So, I was left with nothing but to have to ride with total strangers that I didn't even know, or who didn't know me at all. I'm sure the cast member that was working the controls felt bad for me since she saw what had happened.

Dan has never done anything like this before to where he'd shove me forcefully like he did at Test Track. I was so scared and shaken up that I wanted to cry. I was hurting pretty bad, but it wasn't to where I needed medical attention. I was however very angry at Dan and wound up walking my manual wheelchair for the rest of the day until we met up with my mom later. I didn't trust Dan to push me in my wheelchair anymore. I told her the story of what happened at Test Track, and she was not very happy with Dan for the rest of the night.

Samantha

 

[Mr. & Mrs. Smith]

DisneyWheeler, that is terrible. Was there some sort of misunderstanding or did he actually assault you right there on the ride? Did he apologize later? It's got to be terrible when the outrageous behaviour you witness at WDW comes from your own party. I'm so sorry.