Good and Bad

[Blackbeltdisneygirl]

I was at WDW with a friend two weeks ago. We only had one incident that either of us remembered of rude or pushy people -- in the line for Soarin, a family kept inching their way past people. WE could see them moving up, so we stood slightly behind and on either side of a family of three who were standing shoulder to shoulder in front of us, and started chatting about how nice it was that nobody was trying to push forward in line. The family in front of us got into it too, and the pushy people could tell we were talking about them, and stopped behind us (dirty looks and all).

For the most part, we saw lots of well-behaved people, enjoying their trips. We both have kids (ours are all older now), so we gave sympathetic looks to young parents with whiny/overtired/unhappy children and tried to give them a "you're doing great" smile. We understood that kids don't have the patience adults (well, most adults) do, and it didn't bother us when kids bumped into us. (The only time it ever has bothered me was when a kid in line for the Jungle Cruise kept slapping me! I finally turned to the parents, who knew darn well what she was doing, and asked them to tell the child to cut it out. They didn't appreciate that too much, but at the point, I didn't care.)

In "real life," I'm not quick to get annoyed, especially by kids and the parents who are trying to manage them, and I wasn't going to be MORE annoyed by kids and parents at Disney World, where it's harder to behave when you're hot, tired, overstimulated, oversugared, alternately overthrilled and overbored. Yes, you see kids who behave badly, but you don't see them the other 15 times they've stood in line for 30 minutes or more and behaved perfectly well. Lighten up. Don't give other people that much power over your happiness.

I can't believe parents would knowingly allow their child to hit someone repeatedly!! That is crazy!! We have never encountered anything that would ruin our trip. Maybe we just got lucky or I was just enamored with Disney. I did have a woman sort of yell at me when getting in line for Thunder Mountain. She said " um, you cut my family off when they were trying to get in line and I want my family in line with us." We had just walked into the nearly empty line, and the people she said we cut off were about 15 feet behind us. I allowed her family to go up to her, but also said that she didn't have to be snotty. We would have allowed them by no matter what, but it is hard to cut people off if they are 15 feet behind you. Seriously, am I supposed to look around and guess who goes with what family? I didn't let it bother me beyond that, but I could tell she felt stupid for yelling at me when it was her family's fault for straggling, and because I spoke to her very kindly even though I said she didn't have to be snotty. My husband once was the culprit in a fly by bag incident. Apparently he kept whapping a lady with his ginormous backpack when we were in a crowded monorail car. My brother said afterward that he had to apologize for my hubby bc he had no idea he was doing it, but the lady got hit hard enough to spin her around the pole! He felt really bad that he had no idea, but she never said a word, just kept spinning around that pole. I guess she was nice about it and probably saw that we were all taking care of our 5 kids and niece and nephew, so was understanding that he was distracted. I seem to remember one of my kids thinking a stranger was me and grabbing onto them too. Oops! We apologized! My point is that sometimes things happen that are accidents or people just don't realize what they did. It is bound to happen more in crowded places like Disney. How we treat it matters though, and letting it ruin the trip would be silly. I always try to kill them with kindness, and they always feel really bad for copping an attitude and such. I would never let my children knowingly hit someone though! Yikes! Of course, they have never done anything like that bc I trained them at a young age. If misbehavior happens, they are done. We leave.

 

[Blackbeltdisneygirl]

I was at WDW with a friend two weeks ago. We only had one incident that either of us remembered of rude or pushy people -- in the line for Soarin, a family kept inching their way past people. WE could see them moving up, so we stood slightly behind and on either side of a family of three who were standing shoulder to shoulder in front of us, and started chatting about how nice it was that nobody was trying to push forward in line. The family in front of us got into it too, and the pushy people could tell we were talking about them, and stopped behind us (dirty looks and all).

For the most part, we saw lots of well-behaved people, enjoying their trips. We both have kids (ours are all older now), so we gave sympathetic looks to young parents with whiny/overtired/unhappy children and tried to give them a "you're doing great" smile. We understood that kids don't have the patience adults (well, most adults) do, and it didn't bother us when kids bumped into us. (The only time it ever has bothered me was when a kid in line for the Jungle Cruise kept slapping me! I finally turned to the parents, who knew darn well what she was doing, and asked them to tell the child to cut it out. They didn't appreciate that too much, but at the point, I didn't care.)

In "real life," I'm not quick to get annoyed, especially by kids and the parents who are trying to manage them, and I wasn't going to be MORE annoyed by kids and parents at Disney World, where it's harder to behave when you're hot, tired, overstimulated, oversugared, alternately overthrilled and overbored. Yes, you see kids who behave badly, but you don't see them the other 15 times they've stood in line for 30 minutes or more and behaved perfectly well. Lighten up. Don't give other people that much power over your happiness.

I can't believe parents would knowingly allow their child to hit someone repeatedly!! That is crazy!! We have never encountered anything that would ruin our trip. Maybe we just got lucky or I was just enamored with Disney. I did have a woman sort of yell at me when getting in line for Thunder Mountain. She said " um, you cut my family off when they were trying to get in line and I want my family in line with us." We had just walked into the nearly empty line, and the people she said we cut off were about 15 feet behind us. I allowed her family to go up to her, but also said that she didn't have to be snotty. We would have allowed them by no matter what, but it is hard to cut people off if they are 15 feet behind you. Seriously, am I supposed to look around and guess who goes with what family? I didn't let it bother me beyond that, but I could tell she felt stupid for yelling at me when it was her family's fault for straggling, and because I spoke to her very kindly even though I said she didn't have to be snotty. My husband once was the culprit in a fly by bag incident. Apparently he kept whapping a lady with his ginormous backpack when we were in a crowded monorail car. My brother said afterward that he had to apologize for my hubby bc he had no idea he was doing it, but the lady got hit hard enough to spin her around the pole! He felt really bad that he had no idea, but she never said a word, just kept spinning around that pole. I guess she was nice about it and probably saw that we were all taking care of our 5 kids and niece and nephew, so was understanding that he was distracted. I seem to remember one of my kids thinking a stranger was me and grabbing onto them too. Oops! We apologized! My point is that sometimes things happen that are accidents or people just don't realize what they did. It is bound to happen more in crowded places like Disney. How we treat it matters though, and letting it ruin the trip would be silly. I always try to kill them with kindness, and they always feel really bad for copping an attitude and such. I would never let my children knowingly hit someone though! Yikes! Of course, they have never done anything like that bc I trained them at a young age. If misbehavior happens, they are done. We leave.

 

[staceyhzoo]

Let me start by saying I have a child with Autism. I can't tell you unbelievably horrible things people have said. I find myself to be very patient with kids in lines because you never know. In my experiance it's adults that cause the most trouble.

That being said, I'm horrifyed at the attitudes of some of the people on this thread. I'd really like to meet some of you in real life, some of you are either very angry people that hate children or 'perfect' parents with 'perfect' children that need to 'teach the rest of the world how to behave'.

Every person with Autism is different and what works to control a situation once may or may not work again. For those of you that have issue with this, I'd suggest you change your mindset (since by CDC standards Autism could be considered 'epidemic' due to the stagering number of diagnosis) or stop leaving your house. Some of the things said of this thread are very ignorant. Kevin's parent is right we don't go to the store and ask for an autistic child, we are blessed to have them.

The rest of you (once again, general you) seem to have compassion and tolerance for people with different needs or issues. Thank you!


Now for my bad story(s). We were heading to TSM, I was pushing my youngest in a stroller (he was under 2yrs old). A 'wonderful' father was making a mad dash to get a FP and decided the best way to go was to jump my child in his stroller. For once, I had quick reflexes and jerked ds's stroller back so he missed kicking my 2 yr old in the head. Scared me and ds.

The same day, we were in line to see Lightning and Mater. A CM came up and said a Make a Wish family would be next, which was fine with us. The boy was so happy to see them it really was fun to see. The father behind us was pitching a fit, cussing in front of his kids and mine. After a few minutes, I'd had enough. I turned to him and said: "Sir, I'm sure that they would be happy to trade places with your family and not have a child that is possibly dying, please show some respect." At least he shut up.


We've had too many good stories to count. I'm very grateful, most of Disney's CM are wonderful, understanding people that see my child as I do and that she deserves the same chance to meet characters, trade pins, and enjoy all Disney has to offer. Thankfully, we run into some wonderful people that have spread and we have passed out some pixie dust too. One of my fav memories was when my (at the time) 3 yr old ds saw a boy in a wheelchair and took one of his favorite pins off his lanyard and went and gave it to him. He made both moms cry in a good way


When it comes to kids, please be patient and nice, you have nothing lose by doing it but they have so much to gain by being shown compassion. You never know, they might belong to those parents screaming at each other that are falling down drunk.

 

[joshstamp]

I remember on our Feb 2011 trip there was a dance party thing at the stage in Tomorrowland and there were a few kids dancing with Chip and Dale. Not for long. One group of cheerleaders arrived, then another and soon they had taken over :/ I thought that was a bit much.

I was there at that same time, them cheerleader groups were ridiculous, couldnt seem to escape them anywhere haha didnt help that they were staying at our hotel either

 

[Blackbeltdisneygirl]

Let me start by saying I have a child with Autism. I can't tell you unbelievably horrible things people have said. I find myself to be very patient with kids in lines because you never know. In my experiance it's adults that cause the most trouble.

That being said, I'm horrifyed at the attitudes of some of the people on this thread. I'd really like to meet some of you in real life, some of you are either very angry people that hate children or 'perfect' parents with 'perfect' children that need to 'teach the rest of the world how to behave'.

Every person with Autism is different and what works to control a situation once may or may not work again. For those of you that have issue with this, I'd suggest you change your mindset (since by CDC standards Autism could be considered 'epidemic' due to the stagering number of diagnosis) or stop leaving your house. Some of the things said of this thread are very ignorant. Kevin's parent is right we don't go to the store and ask for an autistic child, we are blessed to have them.

The rest of you (once again, general you) seem to have compassion and tolerance for people with different needs or issues. Thank you!


Now for my bad story(s). We were heading to TSM, I was pushing my youngest in a stroller (he was under 2yrs old). A 'wonderful' father was making a mad dash to get a FP and decided the best way to go was to jump my child in his stroller. For once, I had quick reflexes and jerked ds's stroller back so he missed kicking my 2 yr old in the head. Scared me and ds.

The same day, we were in line to see Lightning and Mater. A CM came up and said a Make a Wish family would be next, which was fine with us. The boy was so happy to see them it really was fun to see. The father behind us was pitching a fit, cussing in front of his kids and mine. After a few minutes, I'd had enough. I turned to him and said: "Sir, I'm sure that they would be happy to trade places with your family and not have a child that is possibly dying, please show some respect." At least he shut up.


We've had too many good stories to count. I'm very grateful, most of Disney's CM are wonderful, understanding people that see my child as I do and that she deserves the same chance to meet characters, trade pins, and enjoy all Disney has to offer. Thankfully, we run into some wonderful people that have spread and we have passed out some pixie dust too. One of my fav memories was when my (at the time) 3 yr old ds saw a boy in a wheelchair and took one of his favorite pins off his lanyard and went and gave it to him. He made both moms cry in a good way


When it comes to kids, please be patient and nice, you have nothing lose by doing it but they have so much to gain by being shown compassion. You never know, they might belong to those parents screaming at each other that are falling down drunk.

I applaud parents who commit to taking care of special needs children. U are heroes. There was a time in my life where I was pregnant with my fifth child and I knew there was something that wasn't right about my pregnancy. I spent many weeks praying silently that whatever child God gave me, I would commit to him or her fully and love them as I love my other children. I felt very alone bc I could not say what I felt aloud, so I suffered in silence, knowing that something was wrong. I had to strengthen my heart and my resolve to be ready for whatever special needs I knew my child was going to have. I don't know how I knew this, but I did. When I lost my child, I was devastated. We had nearly followed through with a vasectomy bc it was going to be our last child. We cancelled our appointment and went on to have one more child who I could not imagine our family living without. I have never forgotten those hours and weeks of prayer and committment that I made to raising a special needs child. I have a special place in my heart for kids who are special. I teach them in our karate studio and am very blessed by their pure hearts every day. I also see parents who let their kids do whatever they want though. Kids need boundaries, and I am not talking about special needs kids here, so please do not misread me. We stepped in once while waiting for a bus when a little girl was screaming hysterically and biting and hitting her mother. The mom had no idea what to do with her, and the one thing she did do was bite her daughter back. The little girl stopped when she was told not to bite or hit her mother. My mom just told her point blank, "do not hit or bite your mother." The girl stopped immediately, and it was like she had never been told that how she was acting was wrong. You are right, we can never know which children are special needs and which ones are just being given no boundaries. It is a sad world when parents don't think about what kids need. They want and need boundaries. When we give them those things, it shows them we care enough to give them to them. It is unfortunate to see some of the behaviors of grown adults in regards to their children. I don't claim to be a perfect parent with perfect children, but I do set limits, and if my kids cross the line, then there are consequences. Most of my kids are old enough to be left in a hotel room now, so they know better.

 

[g3pak]

Unfortunately I have a lot of "bad" stories, although I obviously have a lot of good ones or we wouldn't keep going back. One of my favorite bad (and good) stories- looking for a place to watch Spectromagic (ah, wish they would bring it back). Went from Hub area into Liberty Square and popped out around LTT. Ropes were up but because of traffic flow some areas were just marked off with tape. As we popped out my family paused for several seconds trying to get our bearings and figure out what to do. We were standing on the edge of the tape to avoid being in the middle of the traffic area. This mom steps up beside me and proceeds to lecture me like no one ever has. HER family had been there 30 minutes to have their seats and there was NO way we were going to just walk up and barge our way in. I apologized, tried to explain that we were just looking around to decide where to go, but she just kept yelling at me. When she returned to her seat I discovered that she was sitting about 17-20 feet away, so I have no idea how we were intruding on her space. We happened to walk down the street in the same direction, still trying to figure out what to do (we were clueless) when a single Disney traveler spoke up. First, she was sitting RIGHT next to the lady that had just blessed me out. She also had heard what happened because the lady yelled so loud at me. Third, she had one of the premier seat for a parade- on a tree planter. She said (obviously so the lady would hear) Sir, I have this large space reserved but I am by myself. If your family doesn't mind fitting around me, you are welcome to have the rest of this space. They were AWESOME seats.

Story continues- I was sitting right next to the mean mom and after several minutes and my blood pressure returned to normal, I decided for the benefit of my children I would apologize to the mom. I expected her to say "oh, I'm sorry, too, I thought you were trying to push others out of the way as I have seen others do. Considering you were just looking around, evaluating your options, I should have had patience with you." Well, I expected incorrectly. After I said "sorry" and explained what we were doing, she still lectured me in a firm tone how her family had been there for so long and she was not going to let anyone steal her good seats and good view.

Most of us can understand the mom to a point- we want our trip to be perfect for our children (she had an adorable little son and daugher, the older probably 5 or 6 at the most) and after all of the planning sometime we lose it. After she lectured me the second time, I started feeling sorry for the kids as they were being taught (incorrectly, IMO) how to act by their mom. I felt even worse as a few minutes later I hear her tell her husband "look over there. There's another family trying to push their way in. I am going to go over there and tell them they can't do it." As she walked off he had this look like "shoot me." I wondered if this was normal behavior for her and he just had to live with it or was it just "Disney-itis" and she needed some meds.

Ok, all-good story. We were in the old Toontown to see the princesses. They cut off the line behind us because a Make a Wish family was coming in through the exit. Except for CMs and the family, we were the only ones in the room as a little girl (my guess is 8 or 9 years old) was surrounded by all 3 princesses. The girl had no hair, so my guess is she was dealing with cancer. She was dressed like one of the princesses and the princesses made over her like she was THE princess of all princesses. She had the biggest smile on her face, like she was in heaven. I was shedding a few tears when I looked around and saw most of the other CMs crying, too. I told my wife "our girls seeing that was worth much more than the autographs and pictures we got from the princesses a few minutes later."

 

[AshleeH]

Ok, all-good story. We were in the old Toontown to see the princesses. They cut off the line behind us because a Make a Wish family was coming in through the exit. Except for CMs and the family, we were the only ones in the room as a little girl (my guess is 8 or 9 years old) was surrounded by all 3 princesses. The girl had no hair, so my guess is she was dealing with cancer. She was dressed like one of the princesses and the princesses made over her like she was THE princess of all princesses. She had the biggest smile on her face, like she was in heaven. I was shedding a few tears when I looked around and saw most of the other CMs crying, too. I told my wife "our girls seeing that was worth much more than the autographs and pictures we got from the princesses a few minutes later."

That just made me tear up! What a perfect Disney story!