Cell phone vent!

[gregtheshark]

In the rides, I think everyone needs to put their phone away and would even go so far as to say that CM's should encourage this whilst entering the ride, but in the queue is another matter because lets be honest, the line is the most boring and tedious part of the experience, it is for me at least. We are always checking ride wait times, posting pics of our vacation and the like while in line but as soon as we approach the ride entrance, away they go.

GTS

 

[Dot2Vegas]

OK, a different point of view here. I run a large family business. Because of cell phones, I can take 3 and 4 day weekends as long as I can work from my phone. I need to be available to my various supervisors, to my import/export attorneys, and to various brokers. Yes, last Friday I was in the park, and I was dealing with a payroll issue coming off Soarin', then I also dealt with a broker who needed to shift product in Spain while I was having lunch at BTMRR. But because I can do this on my cell while at Disneyland, I wasn't sitting back at the office 6 hours north, and could enjoy a long weekend with my daughter. I will take a 3-4 day weekend every 6 weeks at Disneyland where I need to spend a couple hours on the weekdays, than miss those trips.

Everyone's needs/choices are different. For me, I'd rather be at Disneyland for 2-3 days, knowing I will spend maybe 2 hours on the phone, than sitting home with no days in Disneyland.

I certainly didn't mean people in your situation! Totally different than people going on Facebook and texting for fun! My husband is never truly off from work, even on vacation and has to check his phone through out the day. But, his personal phone stays put away!

 

[lana772]

I'm going to put myself on the chopping block here.
I am one of those people that get on Facebook while I am at Disneyland.
No I do not walk and text and No I do not ignore the beauty around me. I take A LOT of pictures with my phone and all of my girls' Grandmas, Aunts, Uncles, friends and teachers want to see them. The easiest way to do that is to post them on Facebook. While we are in line or while I am waiting for them to ride something (I don't ride everything due to motion sickness), I will post. ... So I'm sorry if I offend some people, but I am making a bunch of people I care about happy with our pictures.

Lana

 

[anniemck]

I'm sorry but this topic is ridiculous.

WHO CARES if someone else is on a phone! Let them miss out on an enjoyable vacation. Do those people using their phones affect your vacation? IF not then why do you care? as long as you are having fun and they don't interfere with your vacation then let them be.

I for one constantly have to check my phone as I am an IT guy for a small company and I am the only one on payroll. So if there are ANY problems then I have to respond to them in a timely manner via email/phone call. Also I look at wait times on my cell.

And the comment regarding the kids with the ipads, my niece has autism and she is very fuzzy and can never be in one spot for to long without having a breakdown and belive it or not, the ipad keeps her occupied for long periods of time. So if my niece wasn't on her ipad and instead going crazy or crying in line for a ride/parade/ etc, then I'm sure somone will end up posting how "parents can't control their kids and that they shouldn't take them to disney if they act this way". There are reasons for eveyrthing.

I don't know why people have to complain about things that don't affect them. Just live your life and enjoy your vacation and stop worrying about what other people are doing.

Okay rant over now.

I agree completely, unless you are the one paying for my vacation, do not attempt to tell me how to enjoy it.

I remember going to WDW in 2000 with my daughters baton team, it was the first trip there with the team and one of the dads sat at the tables outside of Space Mountain overlooking the race track for 3 hours working on his laptop and making phone calls, I couldn't understand why he would do this why not have fun. One of the other kids said something to his daughter while they were in line and she said "he is here, that is what is important, I can look over there while i am in line for a ride he can not go on, and know he is here, he is working and paying for this trip" out of the mouths of babes. She was 11 at the time, and will soon be my daughters SIL.

He had back surgery a few years before and can not go on most of the rides so while he sits at the table and does his work, she can wait in lines, raceway line was almost two hours, but in the mean time, while she waited and rode that, as well as Space Mountain, he was able to finish up what he needed, and could then relax and enjoy the rest of the day with his family and our group...

ETA... I may pop my phone out and play while on haunted mansion and small world been on the rides many many times and love the air conditioning; sorry if my game of phase 10 on mute bothers you, but it is my vacation to enjoy the way I would like.

 

[Gatordude]

I know this is going to be an unpopular comment, but are people REALLY interested in what you're doing every second? Why do they want to see all of your pictures? I'll tell you the truth...I have a FB account, but I don't have any interest in hearing or seeing the blow-by-blow of everyone's lives and I rarely go on for that reason. I appreciate a picture now and then and an overview, but I don't need a map of where you're going every minute or a picture of every spot you visited. I have friends and family that are constantly sending stuff to FB from wherever we are, and it feels a little like that is more important than the time they are spending with me.

Why do I care? I think the question is why don't they?

Exactly!!!!!

 

[pixiewings71]

Basically how I use my phone is my business, no matter where I am. And that's how it will stay, my business. I don't walk and look at my phone unless I'm checking wait times, I don't stop suddenly in front of anyone, if I have to stop for something I get out of the way. I'm not ignoring where I am or who I'm with even if I'm "on" my phone. I use my phone for wait times, I use my phone for the time, I use it for many things. We play games on our phones and iTouches while waiting in ride lines, usually pass & play games but sometimes we play solitaire or something, it just depends, heck I've played Words With Friends with my boyfriend while standing in a line at DL/DCA. I also use my phone as my camera, it takes much better photos than my phone does. lol
So, you can judge if you want but your judgments may be wrong, just keep that in mind. lol

 

[Malcon10t]

I'm sorry but this topic is ridiculous.

WHO CARES if someone else is on a phone! Let them miss out on an enjoyable vacation. Do those people using their phones affect your vacation? IF not then why do you care? as long as you are having fun and they don't interfere with your vacation then let them be.

I think this is a bigger complaint for me. Too many people ruin their own vacations because they are so busy worrying about other people. Now, if someone is lighting up the Haunted Mansion with their cell phones, to me that is no different than someone taking flash pictures. But so many worry about someone who is on their phone or whose child looks to big to be in a stroller or who is eating something unhealthy. If YOU don't believe in something, don't do it. But it isn't up to me to decide how others should live.

 

[natfrac]

Unless I missed it, I don't think anyone's vacation was ruined because of others using their cell phones. But honestly, DH and I are always amazed at how many people are tuned into their electronics all the time. Yes, there are times when I have to respond to a work-related email. But I did not spend a lot of money on a vacation, only to be "checked-out" because I'm on my phone. We have 5 adult kids and a couple of them are completely glued to their phones. We've even witnessed DS texting his wife who was in the same room. We've noticed how our kids who are glued to their cell phones lack skills that the other kids have---anything from lacking basic communication skills to unable to problem solve on their own. Heaven forbid they try to find a street without GPS!

I realize I've strayed from the topic, but these are just the observations within our own family. Needless to say, when the "kids" vacation with us we make it clear that we want to spend time together and that means the cell phone is on mute.

 

[Gatordude]

Unless I missed it, I don't think anyone's vacation was ruined because of others using their cell phones. But honestly, DH and I are always amazed at how many people are tuned into their electronics all the time. Yes, there are times when I have to respond to a work-related email. But I did not spend a lot of money on a vacation, only to be "checked-out" because I'm on my phone. We have 5 adult kids and a couple of them are completely glued to their phones. We've even witnessed DS texting his wife who was in the same room. We've noticed how our kids who are glued to their cell phones lack skills that the other kids have---anything from lacking basic communication skills to unable to problem solve on their own. Heaven forbid they try to find a street without GPS!

I realize I've strayed from the topic, but these are just the observations within our own family. Needless to say, when the "kids" vacation with us we make it clear that we want to spend time together and that means the cell phone is on mute.

Exactly!!!!!! X2

 

[jenpace]

I'm going to put myself on the chopping block here.
I am one of those people that get on Facebook while I am at Disneyland.
No I do not walk and text and No I do not ignore the beauty around me. I take A LOT of pictures with my phone and all of my girls' Grandmas, Aunts, Uncles, friends and teachers want to see them. The easiest way to do that is to post them on Facebook. While we are in line or while I am waiting for them to ride something (I don't ride everything due to motion sickness), I will post. ... So I'm sorry if I offend some people, but I am making a bunch of people I care about happy with our pictures.

Lana

I do this as well since it's nice to include friends and family who couldn't join us on our trip. FB can be really nice in that way.

I'm not really understanding why anyone is getting their undies in a knot over something that has no impact on them (like looking at a phone while waiting in an attraction queue).

 

[Godzilla55]

I have to add my own experience this past November. My sister, Mom, myself and my 2 kids were at Disneyland and my sister was posting a few facebook photos. Well, our first cousin replied to her post and said they were at Disneyland too. Thanks to FB. We got to see my cousin and his girls whom w hadnt seen in over 10 years. Too ba my old iphone 3 wont run all the wait time apps

 

[KeepOnDreaming]

When we are on vacation we do use our phones for typical stuff, work calls, keeping in contact when we split our group so the older kids can do older kid rides and younger can do the younger rides. I do answer when anybody from home calls because who knows what it might be. If it isnt an emergency I will call them back later, but on a past vacay Grandma fell and hurt herself back at home. My biggest fear is if someone passes away, my niece who was only 3 months old died, I was the first call, I called the other family members. I hate being without my phone for that reason.

I do not like to be on it when at DL if I can help it, but will always have it.

 

[thankudrivethru]

Why do you come to a Disney park (or any other park, for that matter) and spend the entire time with your face glued to a cell phone?? We saw this ALL DAY! And on almost every single ride. What is wrong with people? Look up! Enjoy why you're here.

I have seen this too, i just take it as this is how society is now these days.

 

[pixiewings71]

Unless I missed it, I don't think anyone's vacation was ruined because of others using their cell phones. But honestly, DH and I are always amazed at how many people are tuned into their electronics all the time. Yes, there are times when I have to respond to a work-related email. But I did not spend a lot of money on a vacation, only to be "checked-out" because I'm on my phone. We have 5 adult kids and a couple of them are completely glued to their phones. We've even witnessed DS texting his wife who was in the same room. We've noticed how our kids who are glued to their cell phones lack skills that the other kids have---anything from lacking basic communication skills to unable to problem solve on their own. Heaven forbid they try to find a street without GPS!

I realize I've strayed from the topic, but these are just the observations within our own family. Needless to say, when the "kids" vacation with us we make it clear that we want to spend time together and that means the cell phone is on mute.

Well, I text my kids when they are in their rooms and I'm in the living room, I've sent DBF a text when we are both on the couch next to each other. LOL And again, we've played WWF sitting next to each other on the couch. Why? Why not? If I want to tell him something I don't everyone in the room to hear then I text him, if we want to play WWF and we already have a game going why open the Scrabble board and play? We were at dinner one night playing WWF with each other, I played, he played, I played, he played and back and forth. We were talking to each other (it was just us, no kids that night) and laughing and having a great time just being together and playing WWF with each other. As we were finishing up some random older guy walks by and says "You should put your phones away and spend time with each other instead of ignoring each other, your relationship will last longer" and he walked away. We looked at each other and just busted up laughing, clearly the guy was not watching us closely or he would have seen us laughing and talking to each other. It just cracked us up.

 

[TheLanes]

I never understand it, but it is very prevalent. Can't it wait? My own family is guilty. I do admit I use it for checking wait times, but that's it.

One of the reasons I enjoyed our Disney Cruise so much is that Cell Phones would not work. No one had a choice - it was very nice.

Your brother is so cool, especially when he is checking his phone, ALL THE TIME

 

[DebbieB]

What I can't figure out is how did people manage 20 years ago? If you wanted to call someone from a park, you had to find a payphone. You had to take pictures and get them "developed".

 

[mdsd8700]

You had to take pictures and get them "developed".

LOL! Now that is something I don't miss.

 

[Gatordude]

What I can't figure out is how did people manage 20 years ago? If you wanted to call someone from a park, you had to find a payphone. You had to take pictures and get them "developed".

Tell me, it's a miracle we made it this far.

Hee Hee

 

[Aaron70Monte]

LOVE this!! We so agree--cell phone stays at the hotel while we are in the parks!

YES! One of the reasons to visit the disney parks is to get away from daily life stuff. I just enjoy it without any interruption from a phone call, text, etc.

 

[lana772]

I'm not really understanding why anyone is getting their undies in a knot over something that has no impact on them (like looking at a phone while waiting in an attraction queue).

Agreed!

Lana