Guests behaving badly

[disneysteve]

We just returned from our latest visit. The biggest thing that really stood out to me this trip much more than in the past was guests behaving badly, or allowing their children to behave badly. I've come to expect this at home, but it always seemed to be less prevalent at Disney - Not this time!

I saw kids climbing the rock wall in the preshow area of Dinosaur at AK. I saw a tot, no more than 2 years old, allowed to stand on the seat and walk back and forth freely throughout the entire safari ride - we kept waiting for her to get bounced out of the car. Her mom was apparently too busy videotaping the animals to care about her daughter's safety. I saw 3 kids from one family sitting on the little shelf behind the last row of seats on the monorail and dangling their feet onto the actually seat. They were flanking their parents who didn't seem to mind at all. I saw another 2 year old standing on a table at the train station to watch SpectroMagic. She was standing until she tipped the table over. Fortunately, she didn't get hurt and the falling table didn't hit anyone. Then her father stood the table back up and put her right back on it.

I saw several guests arguing with CM's after being informed of rules they were violating. For example, the father right in front of us at Space Mountain spent 5 minutes trying to convince the CM to let his son ride even though he wasn't tall enough no matter how straight up he stood. In the meantime, the CM's weren't letting the rest of us get through to board.

At Universe of Energy, I clearly heard a CM outside tell a guest to finish his drink before entering the building. The guy went in anyway with the drink. Inside, another CM told him he needed to go back out or throw it away. Well, the guy and his female companion loudly complained about how rude it was for the CM to tell them that.

At MuppetVision, the CM in the lobby and in the theater both said to enter and move all the way down the row (you know the spiel). Well, one guy goes in and stops dead center. Even after the CM repeated the instructions and a few people managed to squeeze past the guy, he said to nobody in particular, "I got stuck at the end in the last show, I'm not doing that again here." No problem mister, just make up your own rules. Things go so much smoother when everyone does that - NOT!

There just seemed to be an abundance of folks who felt all the rules didn't apply to them. I guess this is a trend everywhere, but it seemed worse than usual last week at Disney.

Steve

 

[Chim Chiminy]

I don't know why, but it always surprises me how ignorant and self-important some people can be.
We witnessed our fair share of shocking and rude behavior on our trips, but thankfully not to the extent you experienced.
I hope these buffoons didn't put a damper on your vacation.

 

[Robinette]

Originally posted by disneysteve
At MuppetVision, the CM in the lobby and in the theater both said to enter and move all the way down the row (you know the spiel). Well, one guy goes in and stops dead center. Even after the CM repeated the instructions and a few people managed to squeeze past the guy, he said to nobody in particular, "I got stuck at the end in the last show, I'm not doing that again here." No problem mister, just make up your own rules. Things go so much smoother when everyone does that - NOT!

We saw this happen the last time we were there. The man refused to move down and was very loud and rude about it. Security was waiting for him when the show was over and people started clapping when they escorted him out.

 

[LT Hambone]

Are you sure you didn't have a run-in with Delswife and her crew?


Seriously, I've noticed that when certain people go to WDW, they feel that the magic of WDW will protect them should they choose not to use common sense. Like the person who decided to exit Splash Mountain while in the middle of the ride.

One of the ones that annoys me the most are the teens who get hold of a wheelchair and go from ride to ride pretending to be handicap so they can get head-of-line privileges. The worst part is that you'll see them in between rides fighting over who's going to get the chair next!

Hope you had a great trip despite the rude people!

 

[DMS_cruisers04]

I think Disney needs to take one month and just start ejecting people that break the rules, just like the guy in MuppetVision. Tell CM's it's okay to call security and give these unDisneylike folks the boot.
Of course I guess I'd be in that group. Cause every chance I get to step on, bump into or have the bag I happen to be carrying bang into some idiot like that, I take.

 

[disneysteve]

Of course, I didn't even mention all the geniuses who stop smack in the doorway of a shop or restaurant to pull out their guidemaps and discuss what they should do next. Amazing how many people remember to pack everything but their brains when they travel.

Steve

 

[missypie]

Disneysteve, regarding the folks that stop in the middle of everything to pull out maps, etc. If I can get a bit cerebral, I always wonder if that is being inconsiderate (or stupid) or if it is neurological. I mean, I can "feel" when folks are behind me; I can "feel" when my kids are spread out too far on a sidewalk and others want past. Do you think that maybe some people are lacking spatial awareness and just don't grasp their affect on people?

 

[kasar]

Disneysteve, regarding the folks that stop in the middle of everything to pull out maps, etc. If I can get a bit cerebral, I always wonder if that is being inconsiderate (or stupid) or if it is neurological. I mean, I can "feel" when folks are behind me; I can "feel" when my kids are spread out too far on a sidewalk and others want past. Do you think that maybe some people are lacking spatial awareness and just don't grasp their affect on people?

missypie, my husband has absolutely no sense of when someone is right behind him, it does cause frustration for others. Luckily, I'm there to "steer" him around!

 

[disneysteve]

Originally posted by missypie
Disneysteve, regarding the folks that stop in the middle of everything to pull out maps, etc. If I can get a bit cerebral, I always wonder if that is being inconsiderate (or stupid) or if it is neurological. I mean, I can "feel" when folks are behind me; I can "feel" when my kids are spread out too far on a sidewalk and others want past. Do you think that maybe some people are lacking spatial awareness and just don't grasp their affect on people?

You raise an interesting question. My wife and I are both like you, just naturally aware of our surroundings and our position. When my daughter stops in the middle of something, one of us always grabs her right away and moves her to the side. But I'd like to think we do it out of courtesy to others because we know how annoying it is when someone does it to us.

Are there any folk here who fit the other type - blind to your surroundings? If so, do you make a special effort to look around and make sure you're not in the way?

I don't want to sound too cynical, but it just seems that more and more people seem to only be concerned with themselves and just go through life as if they were the only ones around. If they get in someone's way, oh well. I see it when I'm driving, I see it in the supermarket when someone blocks the aisle with their cart. I saw it when we stopped overnite in Virginia on our way home. Sunday morning, someone left a fully loaded luggage cart standing in the lobby positioned so that it almost completely blocked the path between the front desk and the rest of the hotel. All it would have taken to be considerate of others would have been to turn the cart sideways. Sorry, but I just can't believe that is a spatial relationship issue.

And regarding some earlier responses to my OP, we certainly didn't let these incidents detract from enjoying our trip. Certainly, the huge majority of people we encountered were wonderful and friendly. We struck up conversations with a lot of other guests while we were in the parks. At first, these things are annoying, but at some point they become almost comical. We always like to focus on that side of things.

Steve

 

[HappyMommy2]

I agree, people do just seem to be more self-absorbed in general than they used to, even at WDW. DH and I talk about how hard it's going to be to raise our kids to be unselfish in a very selfish world.

Disneysteve, I'm glad you didn't let these things detract too much from your fun. When we went in July, we witnessed a lot of this sort of thing and by about day 5 of our vacation DH had just about had it with people's bad behavior--it really started to boil his blood! Fortunately he managed to behave well himself in spite of his indignation but I think if we'd stayed at WDW any longer we'd have had to take a couple days "off," away from the crazed crowds, for DH's sake!

 

[mommie2angels]

Originally posted by LT Hambone
One of the ones that annoys me the most are the teens who get hold of a wheelchair and go from ride to ride pretending to be handicap so they can get head-of-line privileges. The worst part is that you'll see them in between rides fighting over who's going to get the chair next!

LT Hambone, this actually made me cry! I hate to see this! We have two wonderful daughters who are completely dependent on us who are both in wheelchairs. We do get the special privileges but would gladly give them up if our daughters could walk. I know that the teens that do pretend to be handicapped think nothing of it. I wish they could view it through someone who is actually handicapped and maybe they would look at it different and be thankful the are not bond to that wheelchair.

DisneySteve thanks so much for this post. I wasn't sure what was going on with our last trip. We had never experienced so much of the careless people before. I have to say though that for everyone one rude person we met or ran into 10-20 good ones. Maybe more! We even had 4 rude CMs on this trip. Again for those 4 rude ones we had probably 20-40 that were exceptional. They went above and beyond. Like you we didn't let this ruin or affect our trip in anyway. We are glad to know it just wasn't us losing that Disney magic or not being sprinkled with enough Pixie dust.

 

[mommie2angels]

It's late and I know better than to try to post when it's this late. I meant to say bound to the wheelchair. I also meant to comment about the people that tried to sit in the wheelchair sections for the parades without being in a wheelchair or having a pass. It was obvious there was nothing wrong. When the CM asked them about it they had no answer other than that section wasn't crowded and they didn't see why they couldn't sit there. Again we would give up that privilege if our daughters could walk.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

I know there have been many posts about stroller's hitting ankles, but if you cut off one of those double stroller's with nearly a hundred pounds of toddler's in them, what do you expect?

I had a family send me off the curb on Main Street by simultaneously cutting me off and stopping dead. Then of course they stared at me like I was an idiot that couldn't control a stroller. Do you step in front of busses to test their brakes too?

No More!! The herky-jerky, arm straining, stop - start ended. I'm putting everyone's ankles on notice!!

 

[Degli]

I hear ya'
Although I still think the worst behavior is when "men" or other able bodied young people do not give up their seats on the buses for elderly or pregnant women. This never ceases to amaze me. Maybe that's a little old fashioned but I guess I was raised differently.

 

[missypie]

Degli, it totally depends on how you were raised. I should have noticed before I married my DH that my DH's father would never dream of carrying a woman's luggage, bringing in the groceries, opening a door, etc. So of course, it never occurs to my DH either (unless he gets a sharp nudge in the side with my elbow!)

 

[WDWisTheBest]

When we went to Pecos Bill's last Friday afternoon, it was totally crowded. Seats were at a premium.

Standing in a long line behind me, waiting for food, was a "gentleman" who was trying to tell his wife just how badly the staff was doing at getting the food out to the customers on his time frame. He had at least 10 complaints about how the servers were just not getting things done to his liking.

At the same time, I looked at the number of people in line, and thought to myself that the servers were doing a good job at sorting out all the drink orders, matching the food orders with the drinks, and getting this done with the minimum of time. We were very hungry and had small kids who were even more hungry. I was thankful to get the orders fulfilled and to the table in what I thought was the minimum possible time.

At the same time, the gentleman was quite vocal and rude to the server staff, telling them how they were doing everything wrong.

Oh well!

BTW, we also saw some of the apparently very able-bodied teenagers using wheelchairs to get into the handicapped special areas. That, to me, is disgusting.

 

[7thdwarf/dopey]

From the original post it looks like you were there during the first week in November..........correct?

 

[disneysteve]

Originally posted by 7thdwarf/dopey
From the original post it looks like you were there during the first week in November..........correct?

Yes, but why should that matter? And don't try and blame it on Jersey Week since I'm one of those Jersey folks.

Steve

 

[7thdwarf/dopey]

steve........why would you say that??

 

[jann1033]

Originally posted by disneysteve
[
Are there any folk here who fit the other type - blind to your surroundings? If so, do you make a special effort to look around and make sure you're not in the way?

.

Steve [/B]

to a degree that would be me... at least my husband thinks so to the point that some day I may just have to deck him for pulling me out of someones"way"..(I mean I am allowed to share the sidewalk and they can actually step around me if they want to walk faster than I do...)I don't mean I stop in front of people ( I can't stand that so if I stop I step off to the side) but really we should all be allowed to proceed at our own pace with out getting clobbered or yanked off our feet...now as to why... i am blind in my left eye and so do not see people well that are off to my left side until they are right on top of me. so I guess I truly AM BLind to my surroundings !