Great, Good, Bad, Ugly small report

[WardFam]

We were in the parks October 20-23 and had a great time! I went in with lower expectations, but with a few strategies it was a mostly successful trip.
Great - getting to the parks early and taking afternoon breaks makes a huge difference.
good - take advantage of mobile ordering. Yes, it was annoying to pre-plan eating times, but definitely worth it.
Bad - not having parades and shows made the afternoon and evening lines long without a lot of other options and I missed them!
Ugly - a mom decided it was a good idea to physically assault my 15 year old son one morning. I have no idea why this family came to Disneyland with so much anger, but it definitely put a damper on our morning.
Conclusion: go into your day with a plan and keep everyone well rested and fed and hope you don’t run into anyone with anger issues.

 

[DisSurfer878]

I hope your son is okay and unharmed(physically, at least)

 

[DizMe]

Wow! Anger issues seem to be everywhere these days. Too bad that includes Disney, but I guess it's not surprising considering that we're now seeing people actually physically assault flight attendants and store employees. I'm sorry that happened to you, but glad you got to experience the great & good in your trip.

 

[KatieJoy]

Great- absolutely agree, get there early and take your afternoon break.
Good- it’s kind of a pain to plan that far in advance, but I agree it’s worth it.
Bad- I never truly appreciated how much that stuff sucked up crowds.
Ugly- I’m sorry, a mom assaulted your 15 year old son?? How awful! Was he okay?! I have a 13 year old son (and 16 year old daughter) and I can’t imagine if someone were to physically assault him, I would be, I don’t even know. I would just hope my husband was there (he only goes with us occasionally) because I don’t know if I’d just be in shock and do nothing, or go total mama bear on them. Do you care to share what happened?

 

[StarlitNight05]

Oh my gosh! What is wrong with people?! I hope your son is okay and it didn't impact his (and your) day too much.

 

[DLgal]

An adult assaulted your 15 year old son???

I hope you called the police.

 

[Wesley815]

I don't doubt your story, but to casually mention assault charges I hope he's ok and Disney Security and Anaheim Police were involved.

For an adult to assault a minor there's even more involved than if it was "adult vs adult".

 

[WardFam]

I don’t normally throw around the word assault - but a mom truly decided to shove my son while I was in the restroom. When I came out and saw the commotion I asked what was going on and the woman actually told told me that she had pushed him. I wish I had taken pictures or followed them, but as I was taking care of my son security came and they asked if we wanted to make assault charges and they were going to try and find the family to escort them out of the park. They were wearing pretty distinct clothing so I hope they found them. I did not file assault charges - I think I was in shock and honestly I just wanted our day back and not let them have any more of our time.
My son had a small panic attack, but was able to recover and we were able to have a good rest of the day.

 

[tlcdoula]

I don’t normally throw around the word assault - but a mom truly decided to shove my son while I was in the restroom. When I came out and saw the commotion I asked what was going on and the woman actually told told me that she had pushed him. I wish I had taken pictures or followed them, but as I was taking care of my son security came and they asked if we wanted to make assault charges and they were going to try and find the family to escort them out of the park. They were wearing pretty distinct clothing so I hope they found them. I did not file assault charges - I think I was in shock and honestly I just wanted our day back and not let them have any more of our time.
My son had a small panic attack, but was able to recover and we were able to have a good rest of the day.

I am so sorry this happened to your son. I am happy to here he was able to enjoy the rest of the day.

 

[DLgal]

I don’t normally throw around the word assault - but a mom truly decided to shove my son while I was in the restroom. When I came out and saw the commotion I asked what was going on and the woman actually told told me that she had pushed him. I wish I had taken pictures or followed them, but as I was taking care of my son security came and they asked if we wanted to make assault charges and they were going to try and find the family to escort them out of the park. They were wearing pretty distinct clothing so I hope they found them. I did not file assault charges - I think I was in shock and honestly I just wanted our day back and not let them have any more of our time.
My son had a small panic attack, but was able to recover and we were able to have a good rest of the day.

I get why you didn't, but I wish you had pressed charges. Otherwise this woman is going to do this again to someone else. I hope they at least got kicked out of the park and aren't allowed back in ever again.

 

[nicole88s]

Wow, that is awful! Your poor son. Was it just a random, unprovoked shove or was there some sort of altercation that happened?

 

[Dug720]

Wow, that is awful! Your poor son. Was it just a random, unprovoked shove or was there some sort of altercation that happened?

I was curious about this as well - I couldn't figure out how to ask it without it coming off as victim-blaming - you did a good job of not blaming. I was thinking maybe she got into it with someone else and the child was wrong-place/wrong-time. (NOT that "getting into it with someone else" justifies anything.

I wish I could say a random shove would be really weird, but I live in NYC where I've learned to stand on subway platforms with my back against the wall because sometimes there are people who should be on meds (at the least) who randomly push people off the edges - so I know they happen.

 

[StarlitNight05]

I get why you didn't, but I wish you had pressed charges. Otherwise this woman is going to do this again to someone else. I hope they at least got kicked out of the park and aren't allowed back in ever again.

I agree, and also understand OP's decision.

I sincerely hope this woman doesn't continue with aggressive behavior towards anyone, let alone children. Can you imagine what the outcome could have been if the shoved person/kid had balance problems, or other physical issues that aren't "visible"? Wow...it makes my blood boil.

 

[5forMickey]

I’m so sorry to hear this happened but good on you for not letting her take your day from you. People are out of control these days.

We had a small incident on our trip (seems insignificant next to yours). Some Lady was screaming at my new DIL about how stupid she was for paying that kind of money for a spirt jersey and it’s people like us paying Disneys high prices that ruin it for everyone. She claimed if stupid people like her wouldn’t pay that kind of money for things they would bring the prices down. It was ridiculous how angry she was. I was about to step in and explain (not very nicely I’m sure) that at 21 she has already received her MBA with a minor in Business Law, was still a full time student working towards another degree all while maintaining a full time job, hence, she could buy whatever she chooses (she’s actually quite frugal) and she’s far from stupid when my husband stopped me and reminded me that giving into that kind of anger was exactly what the Lady wanted. They want everyone to be as miserable as them. By fighting back our day would be ruined by feeding into the anger (actually I would have probably walked away feeling better). We also had another ridiculous incident while boarding the plane to return home. We followed the line up instructions given by the gate person and some guy was trying to tell her she was doing it wrong (come on people just because she’s young and pretty doesn’t make her an easy target). I noticed my DIL just stood quietly while both these people were being jerks-and it made them even madder that they couldn’t get a reaction out of her. The more she ignored them the louder and madder they became. It was brilliant. This old Italian might be learning a new trick?

Now I do have to give your EXTRA credit because if a person assaulted any of my children-it would be the last thing they did! I hope they found her and kicked her out. Disney is one of the last happy places on earth and we need to keep it that way.

 

[Kit Jackson]

I was thinking maybe she got into it with someone else and the child was wrong-place/wrong-time. (NOT that "getting into it with someone else" justifies anything.

I agree. Pre-pandemic there was this online rant from a woman who claimed childless millennials were ruining Disneyland and the basis for this rant was that a pretzel cart ran out of Mickey pretzels before she could buy one for her son. My friend and I decided that this woman must have been having a really bad day and the pretzel was the last straw, because otherwise the rant made no sense and seemed kind of ridiculous.

 

[Dug720]

I agree. Pre-pandemic there was this online rant from a woman who claimed childless millennials were ruining Disneyland and the basis for this rant was that a pretzel cart ran out of Mickey pretzels before she could buy one for her son. My friend and I decided that this woman must have been having a really bad day and the pretzel was the last straw, because otherwise the rant made no sense and seemed kind of ridiculous.

Oh yeah. That was WDW unless there was a second one at DL! I thought she just didn’t want to wait in line for the pretzel and was blaming “childless millennials” for the length of the line rather than admit that she just didn’t feel like waiting.

But yeah - it seems the slightest little thing can set someone off. My other big subway lesson is always have a book or e-reader or something and keep your eyes on it so you don’t happen to lock eyes with someone who will take it as a personal attack even if it was just a momentary peek around.

 

[WardFam]

Wow, that is awful! Your poor son. Was it just a random, unprovoked shove or was there some sort of altercation that happened?

Ok here is the story; at Rope Drop my son was walking quickly by a guy and the man just started yelling at him. My son had plenty of room, was not running and wasn’t putting anyone in danger at all, but this man was seriously shaming him. We rode Indiana Jones and my son was feeling emotional over the shaming the whole time. Then we ended up at the same restroom after as this family. The man approached my son while he was waiting outside and aggressively asked if we were following him. My son at this point did retaliate with yelling”do you get off yelling at children?” I wasn’t there so I have no idea how the woman then came into the picture but she walked up at this point and shoved my son. My older son came out and saw his brother crying and started yelling at the man. I came out of the restroom to a pretty serious altercation going on and I was just trying to calm everyone down when my son says, “she pushed me” I guess I just assumed it was the man so i turned to him and asked “you pushed my son?” The lady then came into my face and said, “no -I did!” At this point I really wish I would have just pulled out my camera and got some pictures and made them stick around until security got there. Instead I just asked “why would you do that?” She said my son was in her husband’s face which may have been true - again I wasn’t there at this point, but this guy was also significantly bigger than my son. The dad at this point was just getting his family out of there because I assume he knew they were in trouble. And my attention was turning to my son because he was starting into a panic attack. I am sure my son didn’t handle himself exactly as I would choose - I’m guessing there was profanity involved that I didn’t get told about? But this couple obviously has some weird anger issues. And nothing would excuse the woman from actually putting her hands on my son. Again - I do wish i would have been able to actually turn them over to security, but they were wearing some distinctive clothes and I’m hopeful they were kicked out for the day. I just couldn’t believe we actually were involved in an altercation at Disney! So crazy!

 

[WardFam]

Wow! Anger issues seem to be everywhere these days. Too bad that includes Disney, but I guess it's not surprising considering that we're now seeing people actually physically assault flight attendants and store employees. I'm sorry that happened to you, but glad you got to experience the great & good in your trip.

Right? I have definitely seen more anger around, but I have never had it directly affect me until now! It was really disturbing.

 

[WardFam]

I

Great- absolutely agree, get there early and take your afternoon break.
Good- it’s kind of a pain to plan that far in advance, but I agree it’s worth it.
Bad- I never truly appreciated how much that stuff sucked up crowds.
Ugly- I’m sorry, a mom assaulted your 15 year old son?? How awful! Was he okay?! I have a 13 year old son (and 16 year old daughter) and I can’t imagine if someone were to physically assault him, I would be, I don’t even know. I would just hope my husband was there (he only goes with us occasionally) because I don’t know if I’d just be in shock and do nothing, or go total mama bear on them. Do you care to share what happened?

I wish my husband had been there. I didn’t actually see the assault and my attention turned to my son because he was so upset. I do wish I had at least made sure security talked to them.

 

[WardFam]

I get why you didn't, but I wish you had pressed charges. Otherwise this woman is going to do this again to someone else. I hope they at least got kicked out of the park and aren't allowed back in ever again.

I hope they did too.