Have you ever had a shock?

[CheshireVal]

One thing I would say is that whatever you witness, short of abusing a child, you can't know all the circumstances of the shocking offense. My family behaved badly on a Disney cruise a few years ago, but if everyone knew the entire story masybe they wouldn't judge us so quickly. Here it is...

We had a 6 month old boy and couldn't find a "picture with characters" before 7 PM on any night. Well at 7 PM my kid was in no mood to take pictures. We checked and there weren't any other times except one night with Goofy at 5 PM. We had dinner shortly after that time, so we got in line at 4:00. There was no line, just us and the Pursers desk. We talked to the people at the desk for a while and entertained our kid by playing. About 4:30 a woman and her daughter, about 10 years old comes to the area. Since there is no line yet we are just standing there. Finally as people show up, a line starts to form behind this woman. Well, we decide not to move, since we were first and she obviously knows this. Then her husband comes down a few minutes later. We see her and her husband whispering and looking at us as if we are not supposed to be first. Anyway, Goofy finally shows up and my wife brings my son to Goofy's lap. The woman and husband scream that there is a line and we are not first. Luckily the photographer clicked away quickly and got my son done. The woman and husband continue yelling at us. At which point my wife, very upset says "F%$@ You and your matching Wal-mart dresses!". Well, that was wrong because of the kids in line, but we were just so mad. We knew we were first mostly because as the mother/daughter arrived we whispered jokes to eachother about their matching dresses. Anyhow, they then tell us to go back to New York. Presumably they can't tell the difference between a Boston and New York accent. These people didn't realize that they were the straw that broke the camels back, so to speak. To this day it bothers me that they probably truly believed they were first and I had no chance to prove it to them.

Well I'm sure we looked like the bad guys. They even called security on us and we were warned that we could be booted from the ship if we used profanity. What people did not know was we had tried on 4 occasions to get pictures with a character and our son. Every other thing on that cruise went wrong, too much to list here. It was probably the worst vacation ever and we just got caught at the wrong time.

Even *with* the whole story.... I can understand your frustration, but in my opinion, using that kind of language (in public, to a stranger) is just tacky/trashy, which is a bit ironic coming from someone being snobby about Wal-Mart dresses.

 

[frayedend]

Even *with* the whole story.... I can understand your frustration, but in my opinion, using that kind of language (in public, to a stranger) is just tacky/trashy, which is a bit ironic coming from someone being snobby about Wal-Mart dresses.

I think the point I was making was that we would never actually use that language in normal circumstances in front of children. It was just an involuntary reaction brought on by a ton of stress. As for being snobby, we are not. I know we made comments about the matching dresses, because that is just kind of goofy. I don't know where the Wal-mart part came from but I did find it funny as hell when she said that.

 

[ritchie56]

I wasn't too shocked by it, but we also saw a woman with a small dog in her arms while at Disney. She was in MGM enjoying One Man's Dream holding a small, poodlish dog (not a seeing eye dog). She was approached by Security and immediately asked if the officer would like to see the dogs paperwork. (She was obviously used to being questioned!) He was some sort of medically trained dog, though I didn't hear the whole explaination on my way by. So I suspect that most of the dogs in strollers and other dogs folks have seen weren't smuggled in, but had medical reasons for being there. Just like all handicaps aren't obvious, neither are all dogs training. aw:

 

[Robo]

we would never actually use that language in normal circumstances in front of children. It was just an involuntary reaction brought on by a ton of stress.

When one assesses "levels of stress" in life, I'd hope "a picture with Goofy" falls somewhere below the mid-point.

 

[dixiedizfan]

"Finally as people show up, a line starts to form behind this woman. Well, we decide not to move, since we were first and she obviously knows this."

You obviously assumed wrong. Once people started lining up behind the woman, one of you should have gone to her and explained your situation, and that you were there early for the picture, too ... just standing off to the side instead of in the line area. I'm sure she would have understood (see, now I'm assuming) and let you go ahead. That would have hopefully avoided your wife making that nasty comment, which IMO was totally out of line anywhere, especially in front of small kids.

 

[frayedend]

When one assesses "levels of stress" in life, I'd hope "a picture with Goofy" falls somewhere below the mid-point.

As I said, the levels of stress were not only because of the picture. We had many problems on that cruise and it was the worst vacation I have ever taken. We know what was said was not acceptable. My point is only that sometimes people say or do things that they later regret saying. I'm not trying to justify that it is sometimes okay to swear in front of kids, only that sometimes a knee jerk reaction can't be helped.

I guess we could have politely explained the situation to the woman, but at the time we were kind of confused as to what to do. We didn't realize that the woman thought she was first until the line was quite long. We figured she must, had to, no way not to, know that we were there. Heck, she even nodded a "hello" when she came down to the picture area.

Also, a picture with a Disney character for your child on a Disney vacation is sure to be high on most peoples list. Especially if a mom is into scrap booking, as my wife is. My son would not remember the cruise being so young, but at least he can look back at his scrap books and see the pictures.

 

[awatt]

Onen night last week we were walking back from dinner at Artists Paleette at SSR. We had to walk past the main pool to get to our unit.

As we are walking past the zero-entry area, there are a few small fountains spouting from the pool wall into the pool. A little boy about 7 or 8 years old stands up and pees into these fountains in the pool! Guess he didn't see us coming. Gross...

 

[Dislifer]

As I said, the levels of stress were not only because of the picture. We had many problems on that cruise and it was the worst vacation I have ever taken. We know what was said was not acceptable. My point is only that sometimes people say or do things that they later regret saying. I'm not trying to justify that it is sometimes okay to swear in front of kids, only that sometimes a knee jerk reaction can't be helped.

I guess we could have politely explained the situation to the woman, but at the time we were kind of confused as to what to do. We didn't realize that the woman thought she was first until the line was quite long. We figured she must, had to, no way not to, know that we were there. Heck, she even nodded a "hello" when she came down to the picture area.

Also, a picture with a Disney character for your child on a Disney vacation is sure to be high on most peoples list. Especially if a mom is into scrap booking, as my wife is. My son would not remember the cruise being so young, but at least he can look back at his scrap books and see the pictures.

frayedend:
I CAN understand your frustration. That lady had to have seen you, so I think she does know where your wife's remarks were coming from. So...someone out here does understand!!! She was the rude one...I know your wife's remarks were harsh but I know what stress and frustration can do to you too!!!

 

[AnaheimGirl]

frayedend, I understand your frustration, too. I can just imagine that woman coming to the DIS Boards and complaining about the people who cut in front of them, then cussed at them. While I know you know you shouldn't have cussed at them, it's very obvious the others were either too stupid to realize you were waiting, or too selfish to care. I think your intent was to show that things aren't always as they seem, and I believe you did that.

 

[CheshireVal]

I think your intent was to show that things aren't always as they seem, and I believe you did that.

I still think the F-bomb and subsequent comment was completely out of line and tacky. It's just a character picture!

 

[AnaheimGirl]

I still think the F-bomb and subsequent comment was completely out of line and tacky. It's just a character picture!

Wow! I wouldn't judge a person's character based on one comment uttered in response to someone yelling them for something they didn't do. But then, I've used the F-word on occasion, too, so I guess you don't think much of my character, either.

He admitted it was wrong, why continue to chastise him over it?

 

[LiteBrite]

Wow! I wouldn't judge a person's character based on one comment uttered in response to someone yelling them for something they didn't do. But then, I've used the F-word on occasion, too, so I guess you don't think much of my character, either.

He admitted it was wrong, why continue to chastise him over it?

I think when ChesireVal said, "It's just a character picture", she was referring to the picture with Goofy, not the character of the person.

 

[AnaheimGirl]

I think when ChesireVal said, "It's just a character picture", she was referring to the picture with Goofy, not the character of the person.

OMG!! I feel like such an idiot! Sorry, ChesireVal, if that's what you meant!

and here I almost posted to the "do you ever feel like an idiot on the boards" thread with a "no"!!

 

[CheshireVal]

OMG!! I feel like such an idiot! Sorry, ChesireVal, if that's what you meant!

and here I almost posted to the "do you ever feel like an idiot on the boards" thread with a "no"!!

Yes, that's what I meant.

No worries.

 

[frayedend]

Hey,

No worries here either. I know what we said was out of line. It was most likely brought on because the woman was basically yelling at us for cutting. We felt trapped because everyone in line was being led to believe that we cut when we didn't. Anyhow, my point was made that if you don't see an entire scenario, don't judge people too harshly. Now I think we can just go on and continue with the funny and shocking things we see...

Have fun...

 

[frayedend]

Yes, there are family bathrooms, although I don't know if they're available in every location. or how common they are.

Here's a question, based on some older posts... I would assume Disney is smart enough to have changing tables in the mens rooms? I get so aggravated when I take my son to change him and the mens room has no table. I find this in most restaraunts, malls, and lots of other public places. Anyhow, working on potty training now, so may be a non-issue, but you never know.

 

[88Keys]

bumpity bump

 

[brack]

bumpity bump

88Keys: We lived in Gaithersburg for a few years until 1990. Our house was on Sioux Lane near the "bubble" pool & tennis courts. It is great town.

 

[Amapola]

Regarding dogs in the parks: seeing eye dogs aren't the only kind of service dogs. People have companion dogs to help with anxiety or other conditions. Dogs can also be trained to alert someone to an impending seizure. So these dogs may very well have been service or companion animals.

 

[tinkerbellmom31]

bump