for pat elliot: title too long to enter

[philaround]

what stupid rude thing I did in one of the parkes that I promise to never do again.

Several years ago we were at WDW between Christmas and New Years [never again LOL]. While at Epcot we stopped at the America pavilion for the carolers. There was quite a mob trying to see them and my daughter [less then 4ft rall at the time] was having a hard time seeing anything. I spotted what appeared to be a space between two people a little to my right and slightly forward. I took my daughters hand and said stand over here. Well I managed to make my daughter stumble and step on the mans foot, who let out a scream [he had gout].
To that man I offer my apologies.

 

[Pat_Elliott]

I'm SO honored! Here it is folks, your chance to stop *****in' and start fessin'.....

Rudest, most ignorant, pathetic, nasty thing I've ever done in Disney: Four years ago, I got so excited about sitting in front at Space Mountain that I cut off a ten year old to get into that part of the line. Because it was dark, I didn't realize my error until it was too late. Outside the ride, I was taken to task by an irate mother. The more I said I was sorry, the more she screamed. When she finally walked away from me, the child had a content smile and I was a 6'2" 200# almost in tears broken man. My new motto, from that point on? Never forget there's someone not just in front of you, but behind you. And remember that you can recoup a bad moment. Kids often can't.

Now, isn't this a refreshing post? Thanks to philaround for gettting it started. I want to see at least as many posts here as there is in the average complain-a-thon thread.

Honored,

Pat

 

[BrerMom]

I was 20 on my first trip to WDW. I had never seen anything like the jumping fountains (is that what they're called?) in EPCOT. I was trying to catch the water blobs as they jumped. Well, I caught it all right and batted it straight into an older woman's face! At least it was warm and would have dried quickly. I mumbled an embarassed apology and slunk away. I was 100% a kid for those few minutes though. Of course, I wouldn't do it again without making sure noone was close enough to get wet, but it was fun!

Cute thread!

 

[Simba0319]

Back in the day of my Disney commando-ing I stuck out my elbows and refused to let small kids in front of me at the Electrical Night Parade because I had been waiting there for 1&1/2 hours and the parents arrived as the parade started and shoved the kids up front.
Now If I am standing I will let the little ones in front regardless of what time they arrived.

 

[pintrader]

Hi, my name is Kathryn and I used to be a rude selfish park attendee .

when I was a new fledgling of an annual passholder, I used to get so upset by the people that wold run to the next attraction separating their whole party. Then as the first person got there they expected me to let all the rest of their party ahead of me to join them.

I used to insist that they should have waited and kept their party together and that I was just one and they were (well it felt like DOZENS)



Now I wait at the beginning of the line and do my best to see that they all get together


Wonder if our argumentative friend will find something to DEBATE over in this thread too

 

[Bill From PA]

Two years ago we were staying at PO and decided to catch the boat to PI. There was what I considered to be a small crowd waiting at the dock, certainly one boat would take us all, and since it was raining, my wife and I moved to get under the awning. Soon the boat came and we just went with the crowd on to the boat. It turns out the the boat does not hold as many as I thought, we got a seat even though we were the last to arrive at the dock, and some folks who were there before got shut out, including a party with someone in a wheelchair. Nobody commented on the matter, but I felt like a penny waiting for change as we pulled away.

Bill From PA

 

[cruisnfamily]

OK, this isn't mine...but DH's and I honestly don't know who was to blame, my DH or the small child but I suppose DH must take the blame as he is a big guy and can handle the burden.

We (DH, Me, DD, & DS) were walking around Universal Studios...must have been 2 years ago...going from one attraction to another on the crowded "NY city" streets. Anyway, I don't know whether this little girl (read 3-5 yrs old) ran in front of DH (who is 6'5") or whether he wasn't looking and ran into her but the long and short of it is that he knocked her down. He bent to help her up but her mother and many members of her party were immediately there cursing DH up one side and down the other and "ooh, baby are you alrighting" the little girl. My DH was honestly upset and again, didn't even really know if he was in the wrong but regardless, he hadn't intended to knock this little girl down. Their parting comment to my DH (with our kids standing right there) was "A@@H@@@!!" To which my DH of course responded "yeah, nice language in front of my kids!" and I feared a brawl was going to break out right there. We spend the next 30 mins or so avoiding this group of folks and calming DH down. It really upset him as well as our kids who couldn't understand what exactly had transpired.

 

[Planogirl]

I once took DS to a theme park when he was about 5. He was getting under my skin as where the big crowds so I was a bit impatient. At one point, I reached into a group of kids and grabbed my son's hand and pulled him along behind me. He struggled for some reason and suddenly a lady was shouting at me and my son was running in front of me. I stopped and discovered that the hand I was holding actually belonged to a very worried looking little boy who'd I'd never seen before. His mother (I presume) just gave me a LOOK and hurried away with him but oh boy, did I ever feel stupid. Since then I remind myself to slow down and to carefully check who each arm is connected to.

 

[mommystieg]

this is a great thread so I am bumping it

 

[Pat_Elliott]

Personally, I'm taking notes and learning everything I can...

 

[mommystieg]

Me. too!

 

[pintrader]

what?? no more remorse?? no more ill-doers in the "world"?

Phil, Pat, Mom, Simba and Bill, et al. We've confessed of our badness and feel better for it. Do you think people should get to read the thread that started all this soul cleansing and confessing? Apologies make the world go round

 

[N.O.Parrothead]

Okay, here's the stupid rude thing that I've done in the parks (and elsewhere) but I cannot promise to never do it again. I try, really I do, but sometimes I just don't think. I have a bad habit of stopping to retreive something from my bag, tie a shoe or whatever seems urgent at this moment. For all those people who are following behind me and have had to stop suddenly I do apologize and I honestly will try to pay attention. Also I have a slight balance disorder and sometimes do not walk in a perfectly straight line (my DH takes the brunt of this since I often bump into him) I will be in the parks in a couple of weeks, so if you see me weaving down Main Street I promise to try to stay out of your way.

 

[Pat_Elliott]

Originally posted by pintrader
what?? no more remorse?? no more ill-doers in the "world"?

Phil, Pat, Mom, Simba and Bill, et al. We've confessed of our badness and feel better for it. Do you think people should get to read the thread that started all this soul cleansing and confessing? Apologies make the world go round

I can honestly say in picking a thread, I guess it would be the competing threads on smoking the last two days, but they're the tip of the ice berg. I wouldn't know where to begin......

I'll be a truely happy man when a certain two or three names show up here. Should that happen, and their confessions be true, I pledge to go smoke-free on my June trip. Until then, I'll not only feel better with a confession, but strive to complain less.

Note, I'm intelligent and realistic. I didn't say "stop" complaining

Pat

 

[Emmyfaye]

I allowed both DD's to sit on the pavement to watch the Epcot fireworks/laser lights display in an area where some people earlier had been walking. When the display began, the kids sat down because I foolishly thought that everyone would just stop where they happened to be, and gape, ooh and ahh like me and mine. Unfortunately, I was wrong - as we gazed heavenward, so to speak, at least one poor soul was still walking along and didn't see these rather large kids and proceeded to nearly kill himself as he tripped over both in succession, and landed on hands and knees on the pavement. We were so embarrassed and ashamed - the kids hopped to their feet to help him, we all profusely apologized, but his anger was palpable. And that ended all pavement sitting forever...

 

[Harambe]

Being the good doobie that I am, I was walking dutifully through the maze of fabric gates that they put up to corral you onto the buses. This was at EPCOT after Illuminations. I noticed an entire party of people in their twenties running along the road straight to my resort bus, without going through the above mentioned maze!

Well, I proceeded to unhook all the gates and walked straight at the bus, cursing (since I was draggng two exhausted kids!). To my horror, the bus driver scearmed at me, in front of everyone including the party of losers that cut, that he would not let me on the bus if I ever did that again.

I was purple . . . and I never did it again. Not at the buses, at banks, at the grocery check out . . .

 

[carone0318]

When we were at the World for World Cup back in 1994, when characters came out, they didn't have those nice civilized lines like they do now. Well at the time I was 24, no kids or anything and I would be in the swarm with the little people and I being the woman that I am, I'd hip check them out of the way so I could get my autograph. I wouldn't do this to the little-littles, but the kids about 7-10 beware

I forget who said about the parades and letting little ones in, but call me cruel, but I don't let people in front of me. If I am sitting on the curb and someone tries to go in front of me, I say something. I normally would have been there for 45 minutes to 1 hour for that spot and there isn't any way someone is going to walk up 10 minutes before parade time and squirm into my spot. Sorry, but my time is invested. If someone really wanted to be in that spot, they should of been there an hour ago. I won't lose a wink of sleep over that one!

 

[Kaycee]

Last year, we were getting in line for It's a Small World. I tend to walk faster than my DH, and when I got in line with my two sons, I realized my DH was separated from us by a young couple. I stepped aside to let the couple go past me and let DH catch up. We proceeded forward a few steps and several more people had lined up behind us. The couple in front of us (the ones we'd let in) started motioning to a group of five people who had just gotten into the line. The group in the back then proceeded to push their way forward, in front of us, to meet up with the couple. I got really mad, and made some indignant comments, something along the lines of how rude some people were and I just couldn't believe the nerve of some people and how they could really act like jerks. I said all this rather loudly too. No one in the group acknowledged what I was saying, but a couple of them did appear to be embarrassed, so I guess I got what I wanted. The problem was, in a couple of minutes my anger disappeared and I started feeling really bad. To top it off, we ended up riding in the same boat with these people! During the ride, I noticed they had an Australian accent. As we rode along, listening to the words to "It's a Small World" I felt worse and worse. I usually love this ride, and get all warm and fuzzy thinking about our small world. Not this time though. All I felt was lousy, and I couldn't wait for the ride to end!

We rode "It's a Small World" a couple of days later, and I was able to enjoy it that time.

We learn from our mistakes, and I hope I've learned from that one. People are always going to do things that I don't like, and I can't control that. But I can control how I react. I can choose to just let it go. I'll probably get over whatever irritation their actions caused me a lot faster than the bad feelings I'll have if I choose to vent my anger.

Kaycee

 

[Elk34]

It seems like this site has a lot more women than men and as much as I hate to admit it (and there are definitely exceptions) men tend to be ruder and less considerate than women. With that in mind here is my rude, aggressive male story.

We were at TL waiting to get tubes for the river ride that circles the park. I had managed to get 3 tubes for my wife and 2 daughters but couldn't get the 4th. It was warm and everyone in the water just kept going by and there got to be a pretty big line crowding the steps. Finally one came available and some kid that I would judge to be about 17 or 18 reached around us from behind and pushed his way to grab the tube and try to lift it over our heads to get it.

Well water parks get me irritated anyway and this punks behavior didn't help so I sounded off to him about waiting his turn. I was down a couple of steps from him and he kind of confronted me in an aggressive manner. Since he was behind us he was up a couple of steps and looking down at me in a pretty confrontational manner and talking a lot of trash. Since I am 6'9" I went up to his step so he could see who he was really dealing with. He quickly apologized and then stung me with the accusation that I shouldn't be getting worked up about it in front of my kids. And you know what? He was right. He was still in the wrong to move in front of us but I certainly didn't handle it right.

I'm pretty intense and I promised myself (and my wife) that I would be more relaxed at WDW and I was except for that instance. Maybe next trip I can do better.

 

[kcarp]

The year was 1989 I was at TL, that was the first year it opened and you could ride the waves on a boogie board all the way to the beach part. I heard now, you have to bobble like a cork in that wave pool. Anyway, I was on a good wave heading for the beach and here comes Grandma walking into the water. I just knew I could miss her, nope didn't happen. I clipped her out from under her feet, huge wipe out. Once the waves settled, I felt so bad, her family was yelling at me like they were gonna kill me.
I still feel bad about that.

Anyway,

I'm still sorry grandma

Good Day