Crazy experience at It's a Small World

[momejay]

I remember my children telling me there is no flash photography on Small World, but you can take photos without flash. I think they make an announcement as the ride starts. (I am deaf & don't always hear it.) They also ask that you remain seated with your hands inside the boat, but I have seen groups of teens come out looking as if they got off Splash Mountain instead of Small World.

I can't believe the parents allowed the coin throwing. Who would you have brought to court if a coin ricocheted off & had struck your child in the eye? I definitely would have said something in the boat for the world to hear. I would have at very least told the parents to "have them put the coins in the water someone may get hurt."

And I worry about my autistic son's clapping...

 

[PrincessMama605]

I live in FL and work in hospitality/travel, so I have seen a lot of stupid tourist tricks, but this is one of the craziest things I have ever seen! What the heck are these parents thinking? Why would you pay all that money to travel to WDW and then purposely cause damage to a ride? Just completely stupid and ignorant behavior, IMO.

I am not usually one to get upset over this type of thing when I'm at WDW, because I don't let other people's behavior annoy me on vacation. But if I was on a IASW boat with these people, you can bet I would have given them an earful and then told a CM. Your ride shouldn't have to be ruined because of their behavior!

 

[ms.yt]

OP here, thought I'd answer a few questions some of you had. Yes, these people sounded American. How fortunate for all the rest of us! As for not confronting them on the ride, we thought about it, but we didn't know how they would react. We were stuck on a boat with them with our two sons, and we didn't want things to turn ugly. Since these people obviously didn't have a lot of sense, we didn't put anything past them. As for people who think that maybe they thought that was acceptable, remember, the older man with them told them a few times to just throw the coins in the water, but nothing was ever done when they ignored him. I knew things were going to be weird on that ride when as soon as the boat started moving the older man dipped his hand in the water & washed his hands in the IASW water! I really thought about getting the CM at the end of the ride, but as soon as the ride stopped, the family was sprinting up the ramp to the exit. If the CM actually wanted to do something, he would have had to chase them down in the dark (it was 12:30 am EEMH). I didn't figure that was likely to happen after reading on here how Disney lets people get away with stuff. We weren't quiet about our disapproval while on the ride, but they didn't seem to care. The adults were too busy talking, laughing and replenishing the coin supply.

And now for those couple of you who are appalled that we videotaped these kids and posted it on YouTube. Seriously? First of all, we didn't exactly hide the fact that we were doing this. My husband had the camera out in the open the whole time and even loudly made the statement, "It's going straight to YouTube." Second, as others have mentioned, you don't really have a right to privacy in a place like Disney. Getting ready for this trip, my son and I watched numerous YouTube videos of Disney rides, and guess what, there were sometimes random kids in the video! I know that in this case we were purposely filming the actions of these kids, but the concept is still the same. And third, it's so dark you can't even tell anything about them!! Other than the fact that the most voracious coin chunker was wearing a white hoodie, I don't think these girls are in any danger of being called out on the street for their behavior! I would like to point out the irony in the fact that a thread I started about seeing a lot of women in bikini tops and little girls in bathing suits in the parks had several posts chastising me for not taking pictures of the offenders to post in the thread! I guess there's no pleasing everybody!

 

[JLVermillion]

Hello ,

I think that is horrible that parents America or other nationality would let their children behave in such a manner.I would have gotten off the ride and complained immediatley.The ride conductor and the parents are fault , and need to be corrected. I commend you on taping them and putting them on the web,it may make other parents more aware of how their children behave and embarrass the parents who have let their children behave as such and make others experience unejoyable. The sad thing is if they do not care about how their children are perceived I cann't imagine how they themselves behave.Hope the rest of your day was very enjoyable,and CHEERS to you on calling people out.


Best Regards, Jenn V.

 

[Eljay]

to the DIS, Jenn V. !

 

[Sleeping Becca]

Wow! That is pretty outrageous behavior. Looks like vandalism to me. I wonder what their home looks like. If they have no respect for the property of others, I doubt they have respect for their own.

To my knowledge there is no prohibition of taking pictures using a flash on IASW.

 

[k5thbeatle]

OP here, ... I knew things were going to be weird on that ride when as soon as the boat started moving the older man dipped his hand in the water & washed his hands in the IASW water! ...

Seriously? Eeewww! I guess it takes all kinds?

 

[MomWith2Cinderellas]

I think that is just awful behavior by the children and the parents. It boils down to teaching your children proper behavior in order to become respectful adults.

 

[Sandy321]

ITA - if I had been on the ride I would've tried to say something, but definately NOT my job - I would be extremely disappointed and tell a CM - and wonder why no one stopped them from standing on a ride, potentially putting my family at risk - or maybe not - it would so depend on being there at that time in that situation!

video - no big deal!

BradK ? The coins thrown in IASW are unuseable? I didnt know that - I figure the coins thrown off the ferry (from TTC TO MK) are stupid - I cant imagine anyone collecting those coins! but people throw them nonetheless!

 

[Eljay]

Obviously, they do monitor the rides.
In the case of an emergency, like a child falling out of the boat, etc., they would have to be able to see this and stop the ride.

Now, that being said, why did the person monitoring the ride not make an announcement to stop throwing the coins? I've been on rides before, when you hear a voice over the loudspeaker saying to sit down or whatever else people might do.

 

[paintnolish]

Eek! I only watched the first 30 seconds-that was all I could handle. The vast majority of people I have encounter during my many WDW trips have been wonderful, but there are always a few who leave you scratching your head or simply annoyed. This family does both. I am a big mouth and would have probably said something to the family.

 

[cpdwiz]

On one of our several rides of IASW Sunday night (my 3 year old loved this ride), we had a very weird experience. We were seated in the third row of the boat. In front of us was a 30 something couple and a slightly older man. The front row had two girls, I'd say about 8-12, that belonged to the couple. As soon as we got clear of the dock, the girls started hurling money in an attempt to hit anything they could. As we were approaching the entryway to the ride, they threw some coins at the arch, causing them to come down and hit the man in the back of the boat ahead of us. He glared at them for about 30 seconds, but he finally just turned around. I thought at that point that their parents didn't see what they did, but I quickly figured out that they just didn't care. As we went through the ride, they continued to chunk coins at everything in the ride, sometimes standing up to gain more momentum. Every so often, the older man would weakly tell them to just throw in the water, but they wouldn't pay any attention to him. When they would run out of coins, the mother would reach into her purse and give them some more from the roll she had ready to go. We were shocked at the behavior of not only the kids, but more so the parents! My husband started videotaping them about halfway through. The video is dark, but you can hear the sound of the coins hitting the stuff in the ride. I thought about telling the CM at the end of the ride, but from everything I've read on here, I was pretty sure it wouldn't do any good.

Here's the links to the video; it's in 2 parts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJpUsW7h6Fw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAk64j8C4dA

before i said something to the brats, er, kids and enabling parents.

 

[cpdwiz]

I have to agree that is a little strange, but I would have had more of a problem with you video taping my children, then posting them on the internet, if I were them.

Your kids are acting like total brats, and you have a problem with someone videoing that, as opposed to the behavior???

I would have had a bigger problem with my kids disrespecting everyone on the ride, and the hard work CM's do to keep it nice, then someone videoing my brats....

 

[cpdwiz]

In no way do I condone what the children did. I also think it is very irresponsible of the parents to allow them to do it. On the other hand I don't approve of the OP videotaping the children and then posting it on an internet site that is seen by thousands of people. Some people are protective of their children and do not want their images posted on internet sites for anyone to be able to download. If you had a problem with what they were doing you should have reported it to a CM. What good is it to post the video here on the boards? Vent all you want that is what we are here for, my issue is purposely recoding them and posting it. IMHO

Stop video taping my child damaging a ride. We are trying to protect them. If you video them, they wont be able to shoot paintballs at people in the future, or rob ATM Machines!! I hate video!!

 

[PryncessChrysty]

Maybe I've just been oblivious, but seriously...you're not supposed to take flash photography on IASW?? I do...I took a whole bunch last trip and noone said anything...

I know that bradk already answered this, but since I think it was my post that you were responding to, I just wanted to chime in. Flash on IASW isn't so bad, as it isn't all that dark. But it can be annoying for the other passengers in close proximity that may be looking toward the flash when it goes off and it's right in their face (which has happened to me many times). Truly dark rides (Peter, Pirates, Haunted) is another story, also as bradk noted. Not only is it bad on the eyes, it also ruins the ambiance. When you're completely immersed in the atmosphere and then FLASH!! I don't mean to offend, and I'm sure you didn't mean to be rude when you were using your flash. But I have to say, in all honesty, it is a very big pet peeve of mine as they tell you before you get on the ride that there is "No flash photography" - either verbally, by signage, and sometimes both.

Sorry to the OP, didn't mean to hijack.

 

[WriteDisney]

So, here is the real question. What do you do in a situation like that?

Do you ignore it and try to have a good ride anyway?
Do you say something to the people, like tell your kids to sit down or something?
Do you tell the CM at the end of the ride and ask to go again?

Do you make some smart-alec joke to the parents like " can I have some coins too? I figure there is no way you all are ghoing to stop so if you can't beat 'um join 'um?

What do you do? Start an argument right there and ruin EVERYBODY'S ride?

What would I do? What can you do? Like OP said, they were gone before you could report them. You can't start a fight with them, who knows what they would do in a situation and you are stuck with them on the boat. In some situations on the DIS, people come and post with stories where it seems like both parties are at fault, but I honestly can't see a fault in OP's actions. The kids were being very, very over the top, bad. I think it's okay to post the video because you seriously can't tell who the kids are. If you could distinguish their exact faces, I don't know what I'd say, but since you can't its a non-issue I think. And it does give you an idea of just how bad that is. Maybe some CMs on the board will see it and know to look out better for this type of behavior.

I might have told a CM at the end of the ride about it. Just to let them know they missed it. But not at 12:30 am during EMHs. I honestly would have just moved on to another ride.

 

[GBBTomorrow]

I knew things were going to be weird on that ride when as soon as the boat started moving the older man dipped his hand in the water & washed his hands in the IASW water!

Totally OT, but this reminded me of something I witnessed at a children's museum. I had one of my kids in the bathroom and a mom was trying to rush her kid to hurry up. The kid said, "But I have to wash my hands!" And the mom responded with vehement frustration, "Oh, you do NOT...you're going to the water table anyway!" AAAGGH!

 

[pampam]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe IASW is one of the few or perhaps the only attraction that is not monitored. It was never monitored, even after the refurbishment.

 

[PryncessChrysty]

In no way do I condone what the children did. I also think it is very irresponsible of the parents to allow them to do it. On the other hand I don't approve of the OP videotaping the children and then posting it on an internet site that is seen by thousands of people. Some people are protective of their children and do not want their images posted on internet sites for anyone to be able to download. If you had a problem with what they were doing you should have reported it to a CM. What good is it to post the video here on the boards? Vent all you want that is what we are here for, my issue is purposely recoding them and posting it. IMHO

What would be the difference if I was video taping my own children and there happened to be other kids that we didn't know in the background? The video doesn't really show their faces, nor does it give us their names, where they're from or ANY type of identifying information. I don't really see a problem in this instance.

 

[kissthemouse]

I know that bradk already answered this, but since I think it was my post that you were responding to, I just wanted to chime in. Flash on IASW isn't so bad, as it isn't all that dark. But it can be annoying for the other passengers in close proximity that may be looking toward the flash when it goes off and it's right in their face (which has happened to me many times). Truly dark rides (Peter, Pirates, Haunted) is another story, also as bradk noted. Not only is it bad on the eyes, it also ruins the ambiance. When you're completely immersed in the atmosphere and then FLASH!! I don't mean to offend, and I'm sure you didn't mean to be rude when you were using your flash. But I have to say, in all honesty, it is a very big pet peeve of mine as they tell you before you get on the ride that there is "No flash photography" - either verbally, by signage, and sometimes both.

Sorry to the OP, didn't mean to hijack.

No, I in no way intened to be rude and honestly didn't even think aobut it. My youngest DD fell asleep in DH's arms and I thought it was so cute I was just snapping away... (is there a *head in clouds* smiley? ). I never heard the announcement saying don't do it, and I never saw a sign (wasn't looking for one though), or I certainly wouldn't have taken the pics. (Got yelled at for taking a photo of my DD sitting on the floor waiting for everyone else to get seated to talk to crush...and the CM hadn't even made the "no flash photog" announcement yet! LOL!) I'm glad I read this, because I don't want to ruin anyone else's experience, and if I did want to, I would wear a bikini top instead of taking pictures (sorry...couldn't resist... )

Thanks for the info...and I'll certainly be more aware of where I am NOT supposed to take pics this time!