Have you been picked on?

[El Tel]

Sorry if you've seen this before but I posted it in the wrong forum previously.

On my previous trips to Orlando I noticed that the British always seemed to be the favoured targets for dragging out of the audience and made fun of (in the nicest possible way).
I'm not sure how they can tell we are brits from a distance (maybe the Union Jack tee-shirts)?
Is this my imagination, or some kind of retribution for the Boston Tea Party? Anybody else found the same?

 

[PoohnPglet]

Sorry - saw this title and just had to check it out.

I am a cm at WDW and I have to admit, we can usually spot a Brit a mile away. I do not know how, maybe it is the shoes?!? Just joking. I guess you are all just pretty unique.

I do hope that you know that all of the audience participation is done in fun and you can ALWAYS say no if you are not comfortable with it.

 

[Duggas]

DH was called out of the audience at Indiana Jones at MGM. He was wearing a luminous bright pink T shirt at the time so he would have been easy to spot. Although the 'stooge' guy had an even brighter shirt on which I hadn't thought possible! Of course now every time we go there, or see a clip of the show on tv he says 'See that stage, I've been on that stage!' I don't mind too much its just that it happened on one of our first visits to WDW therefore I've been hearing it for over 10 years!!

 

[Ang1e]

Yep I was dragged in by this group in 2004.

I was mortified lol I had the camera on me so DH couldn't take any photos....phew....unfortunately he did have the video camera on him

Just to bore you here's what I wrote about the event in my diary:-

In England we stopped to watch a little show about King Arthur and the Holy Grail. For those who haven’t seen it before, it’s a Covent Gardens type of show with 3 performers putting on a King Arthur & the Holy Grail Show. Three ‘volunteers’ were chosen from the crowd. Now the performers are very good at this. One minute they’re talking and one mention King Arthur and the next a crown appears as if by magic on a spectators head – there you have the King. A similar thing happens with Sir Lancelot. And then Pelham is mentioned. Now Pelham is an old hag who can transform herself into a beauty and as we’re being told this all of a sudden guess who gets a shawl thrown across her shoulders? Yep, yours truly!! I didn’t half feel a prat!

Enz couldn’t wait to get the video camera out! I was in such a daze! I was standing behind one of the performers who said ‘and Pelham took the cup’ – having now watched the video I realise he said this quite a few times but I was so dazed I didn’t realise lol Eventually I DID take it and on with the show!

 

[Boo Boo Too]

I am a cm at WDW and I have to admit, we can usually spot a Brit a mile away. I do not know how, maybe it is the shoes?!? Just joking. I guess you are all just pretty unique.

Yeah, know what you mean... I live in a tourist city in the UK and we have a similar thing with US tourists - you can spot them a MILE off...

Usually wear long shorts (no matter WHAT the temperature), t-shirt for men, vest top for women, a camera around their neck, a bum-bag ("fanny-pack") around their waists, sunglasses, a hat or a sun visor on their heads, short socks pulled half-way up their shins, sometimes sandals, sometimes trainers. Very distinctive

I always think that you can spot a Brit who has just arirved in a hot country (like Florida) - they are normally lobster red... (and many men/boys wear football shirts)

Viva la difference!

Boo

 

[El Tel]

Sorry - saw this title and just had to check it out.

I am a cm at WDW and I have to admit, we can usually spot a Brit a mile away. I do not know how, maybe it is the shoes?!? Just joking. I guess you are all just pretty unique.

I do hope that you know that all of the audience participation is done in fun and you can ALWAYS say no if you are not comfortable with it.

Hey don't get me wrong - it's fun. I just wondered why I always saw so many Brits being 'recruited'. Maybe 'picked on ' was the wrong phrase to use.

I've never had the pleasure of being 'recruited' by Disney, but I was the main stooge at the magic show at Wonderworks (my family were rolling about - though when my DS was drawn into it too the laughs were on him ). My DD was recruited to hang from a roundabout at the Hitchcock show in US, and she also rode shotgun on the safari ride at Busch Gardens

I think you are right about the shoes though

 

[El Tel]

And another thing (I'm on a roll now)....if I'm not immediately identified as a Brit from my appearance, I'm often mistaken as an Australian by my accent.

I guess I haven't got the polished tones of Hugh Grant, but pleeeaaase. (Only joking of course - I've got a number of Aussie friends and colleagues). I've seen a number of Aussie actors on US TV passing themselves off as Londoners - but that would have the opposite effect

 

[PoohnPglet]

I have to admit that I can be pretty bad about accents myself. I was at Cinderella's Castle and this very lovely family approached me and began asking me for something. I very quickly apologized and let them know that I only spoke english. They busted up laughing at me and I finally understood that they were speaking english as well! They were from somewhere in Scotland (I have forgotten exactly where) and in my defense, they had VERY strong accents.
I have felt bad about that since then and boy - do I make sure now!!

 

[Boo Boo Too]

I'm often mistaken as an Australian by my accent.

Me too! And I have a very "home counties" accent

I have to admit that I can be pretty bad about accents myself. I was at Cinderella's Castle and this very lovely family approached me and began asking me for something. I very quickly apologized and let them know that I only spoke english. They busted up laughing at me and I finally understood that they were speaking english as well! They were from somewhere in Scotland (I have forgotten exactly where) and in my defense, they had VERY strong accents.
I have felt bad about that since then and boy - do I make sure now!!

Ah, that is SOOOO funny! They lied, they speak Scottish not English

My Dad (English through and through) always used to say that "Taggart" (a TV programme about a Scottish detective, set in Scotland) needed subtitles because it was so difficult to understand what they were saying...

Some Scottish accents can be very heavy and they do seem to make up their own words for things sometimes. But I LOVE the softer Scottish accent (Edinburgh area etc.) - sounds really lovely.

Boo

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

I must say we stick out with all the kids having Virgin bags on their backs or the adults having flight bags.

Americans always comment on our accent, I say we invented it and they customised it. Usually gets a laugh.

We all tend to go at school holiday times and that might mean there is a higher percentage of brits at certain times of the year, and then we are more likly to get pulled out.

The best line is when its raining and they go to the audeince saying you the one in the yellow poncho, and theres about a hundred, its like going out downd any street this week and saying you in the England shirt!

 

[matty624]

And another thing (I'm on a roll now)....if I'm not immediately identified as a Brit from my appearance, I'm often mistaken as an Australian by my accent.

Us too!!!
Never been 'picked on' in a big way, but ds and dd have been chosen the last three consecutive years to be in the Lion King show at the end, the bit where lots of kids get to walk around the circle. So only nice 'picked on'!!
Ian

 

[MrsJobba1]

Dh was 'asked' to participate in the psycho attraction (hitchcock) @ universal. He ran a mile!!!

 

[El Tel]

Me too! And I have a very "home counties" accent
Boo

I thought I had too - born in Kingston-upon-Thames and raised in Surrey.

Some Scottish accents can be very heavy and they do seem to make up their own words for things sometimes. But I LOVE the softer Scottish accent (Edinburgh area etc.) - sounds really lovely.

Boo

I agree about the softer Scottish accents - they often sound better than English accents.

I know what you mean about heavy Scottish accents though - we stayed at a hotel in Luss once, just north of Glasgow. We had a game or two of pool with a couple of guys there. Couldn't understand a word!!!
I'm not normally that good with accents though. Glaswegian accents sound similar to Geordie accents to my ear. And my Welsh impersonations sound Pakastani!

 

[Boo Boo Too]

I thought I had too - born in Kingston-upon-Thames and raised in Surrey.

Ah, that's your problem then, TOO posh for the subtleties of the American ear...

Boo

 

[UKVermonter]

We are from the Northeast of England and we was at Disney World last November 2005 and have planned a trip for the end of July for 2 weeks. When we was there last November we had no problems with being treated badly by anyone. It was amazing how friendly people were to us, if we bumped into anyone they would say sorry or we would say the same in return. We did even talk with quite a few Brits from different parts of England and one couple was from Darlington which is the next town from us, small world isn't it.

 

[Boo Boo Too]

When we was there last November we had no problems with being treated badly by anyone.

Agree with you - think that Disney puts a lot of importance on the attitude of their employees... ok you may get the occasional bad one, but in general they are incredibly nice and polite... Infact, in general, most people are a lot more polite and friendly in the US (i.e. when you go into shops, restaurants - they always have a smile and a nice greeting for you...). I know that some Brits dislike this saying it is "false", BUT I don't really think so - just think that it makes the world a better place is people are nicer...

small world isn't it.

Not really, I think it's just that SOOO many Brits go to Disney and (as someone on another thread said) we often go at similar times. Disney/Orlando is a "home away from home" for many Brits... If you go skiing to Banff (near Calgary, Canada) and, to a certain extent, Whistler (near Vancuver, Canada) you find the same thing - LOADS of Brits...

I always tend to find that if we go on a cruise, there is ALWAYS a large group from the Manchester area on the same ship (that seem to get "picked on" for quizes, win the bingo and the horse-racing, do the pool games, do audience participation in the shows...). Am beginning to think that the SAME group from Manchester has been stalking us for years . Don't know what it is about people from Manchester and Caribbean cruises, but they do seem to like them

Boo
(not from anywhere near Manchester)

 

[Scrap_Vamp]

Until this year, I was always picked as an "Extra" for the blue screen bit on the Earthquake ride at Universal (you know, back in the days where it was an escalator with styrofoam rocks falling on your head?!) but that is it, I think!

As far as accents go, we've had a lot of people think we're Australian (Home Counties too!) but the funniest was this year when my DF and I were talking to a CM and she thought we sounded really alike - he is from Stoke on Trent and I'm from Kent (one of the well spoken ones ) - that made us laugh! But the accent is a real conversation starter - I've found that in New York as well as Florida