Have you ever had a shock?

[WishingOnAStar]

okay, we're just back and only have 2 things to share:

We were on the bus to MK one day and I'm holding Pal Mickey. This older couple is sitting near us and he asks if it is Pal Mickey and how I like it. I tell him I love and explain how it works as he and his wife are asking some question. A toddler is across from me on her mom's lap and she is eating an apple and making a mess. At one point- she sees Mickey and reaches for him. My first thought is "you're not getting your sticky hands on MY Mickey!" But, hey it's Disney and it's about the kids, right? I can always clean him later. So, I say, "Oh, you like Mickey?" as I hand it to her (she's reaching for it). At this point the older gentleman asks if you have to buy or rent him and how much. So I tell him it's $8/day, but I bought him for $60 and think it was well worth it. At this point- the mom of the toddler says in a snotty tone- "I wish Mommy had $60 to spend!" Then she hands him back to me. I thought maybe I heard it in the wrong tone and said nothing. We got off the bus at MK and dh says "What was her problem?" I mean, we weren't throwing in anyone's face - I was answering a question. We saved for many years for this trip - so what if I wanted to splurge on Pal Mickey? ugghh.

The other thing was this:
we were in the Emporium shopping - there was this couple- maybe 18/19 years old. They were dressed mostly in black with red hair. He was wearing a black pleated long SKIRT with black Army boots. Okay, whatever... BUT- he was sucking his thumb and crying while the girl was saying, "it's okay, baby, I'll get that for you, don't cry!" I must have had a weird look on my face because the CM burst out laughing at my expression and said "I know how you feel. I have now seen everything!"

The rest of our trip was PURE magic! I'll have to post about it soon!

 

[GDUL]

My wife, 2 daughters, and I were seated with another family of 4 (didn't know them - maybe mother, daughter, son, and grandmother) at a table at the Teppanyaki Dining Room. The son and daughter were probably in their mid-teens. As we were served the salad, etc., we were somewhat surprised at how fast these 4 could eat their food - but we didn't know that a new land speed record for eating dinner was about to be set when the main course was served! I kid you not, from the time the main course arrived to the time that they paid their bill and left the table couldn't have been more than a couple of minutes. During "dinner," all 4 of them put their heads down by the table, tipped their plates towards their mouths, and proceeded to shovel (literally!) the food in. I was afraid that they were going to singe their lips on the cooking area of the table. All the while they were "eating," they continued their conversation which resulted in rice, chicken, etc. being sprayed all over their end of the table. I don't believe that my family began to eat our dinner until several minutes after they left, not because we were shocked, but more amazed at what we had just witnessed (a "did you see what I just saw" moment). We still laugh about it even though this occured years ago.

 

[flyball]

I'll admit I haven't read through this entire thread, but there are some really funny stories here. I'd have to say our "shock" this past trip (8/29 - 9/9/04) was our constant exposure to partial and outright nudity! We saw a couple walking their daughter around MK wearing only her underpants. At the AKL pool, we witnessed several nude little boys (age 5 and above) over the course of our stay. These children weren't simply changing, they were swimming, sun bathing, and completely uninhibited. And last, but not least, we were MOONED in Epcot by a middle-aged British gentleman who was aiming his derriere at his friends (we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time)!!! We have two DDs (11 and 13), so every time one of these incidences occurred they were digusted and in complete shock!!!

 

[Hollyann]

GDUL - that was hilarious! It would have been worth the "shock & awe" just to have witnessed it! Hope it didn't spoil your dinner too much!

 

[DisneyIsMyShrink]

Not actually a "shock" more like a "thank goodness my boys behaved themselves so I'm not on here". Before we got to WDW with our 3 and 4 year old sons we threatened them with their lives about peeing in public. I wasn't afraid of it at the parks because they wouldn't be out of my site, but I was concerned that at the pool with all the trees and bushes around they would "whip it out". We have a rule at our house for them, that while they are playing outside and are dirty, they may pee in the bushes(so they aren't dragging dirt inside). We are really having to drill it into our 3 year old though that he is to do it only when its just him and his brother playing and also to keep his back turned. On more than one occasion while playing in the front I'll turn around to find him peeing in the neighbors direction.
But thankfully we had no such mishaps at WDW. Poor DH had to take 3 year old DS to the bathroom at least 2 times while swiming for less than an hour. I think he absorbs that water through his skin.

 

[caribear]

My DH and I had a "shocking" moment at WDW this past weekend. There was a young man..I want to say between the age of 16-20 and he was at the park with his parents. He literally had blood dripping down his face. I believe he had a skin condition, not really acne, but a drying/peeling type of skin condition. He was constantly picking at his face and ears. There was blood everywhere....and his parents just acted like it was normal. We saw him throughout the day.....on the monorail on the way into the park...on our tour.....on a ride after the tour....on the monorail going back to the hotel....so I know that he never washed the blood off his face all day. I could see the blood caked under his fingernails. I felt really bad for him because I am sure he could not help that he had this condition, but all of the picking and blood oozing everywhere really made me a little woozy. I really felt like this was a health concern though.....blood was all over his hands and he was touching everything in sight...and his parents never said stop picking or go wash your hands....it was all very strange.

 

[LuvN~Travel]

Ewwww!
Note to self: must remember hand sanitizer next month when going to WDW.
Poor fellow....
Kim

 

[MELSMICE]

Originally posted by ccrosner
My husband's firm just announced today that they would be holding a business 'meeting' at YC over MLK weekend. My husband and I go free (airfare, room, some meals) and kids are welcome (but on our tab). Needless to say, this is one happy family tonight

Here's the dilemma. We only can do 4 days and have been to WDW three other times (last time was 10/03). We're thinking we might like to try SeaWorld and/or Universal on this trip. Have never been to either. Don't know anything about plusses and minusses of US vs. IOA. Kids are 10 and 8. Must dos (according to them): MK, MS and TT at Epcot, RNR at MGM. Have never done Animal Kingdom either.

So what's a family to do? And I know (having been there MLK weekend with the firm four years ago) that the parks will not be open late.

Any thoughts? I know this one's open-ended but you all are always a great help!

You should ask this on a whole new thread - not attached to the "Shock" thread.

 

[pumpkinboy]

Originally posted by WDWorBUST
Oh yeah.....we were walking out of the Tarzan Rocks show and there was a girl in front of us in like a tank top and only her underwear. I was completely shocked - so much that I thought maybe it was a bathing suit bottom - but nope - you could see the tattoo on her butt right through the thin panty material - and then I noticed her shorts slung across her shoulder. I do believe she was not from the United States - so maybe it wasn't a big deal in her culture but I'm just glad it was just my husband and I and no kiddos. Of course we had a big laugh over it afterwards since we had both been staring at this girls butt trying to figure out if she was really walking around in just her panties

Notably, that's more than Tarzan had on .

 

[chesirekate]

Okay, I've read this entire thread over the past week or so, and caribear, that is hands down the grossest thing I have read on this thread! I can handle the urine, vomit, poopy diapers, yelling & screaming, barely clad tourists...but oozing scabs just do me in. Yuck!!!!!!!

 

[epcotfan]

I really felt like this was a health concern though...

Yes. That would be a MAJOR health concern. Gross! Spreading blood onto the handrails of rides and surfaces is a great way to spread germs around. That is disgusting that the teen never even washed his hands. YUCK.

 

[brunoflipper]

careful who you judge... it may indeed have been a "health concern" except it was his and not yours... i'll bet dollars to donuts that he has an untreatable/diffuclt to manage medical condition (i.e. epidermolysis bullosa) that caused his lesions and that is why the parents acted so normal...

 

[MELSMICE]

Originally posted by brunoflipper
careful who you judge... it may indeed have been a "health concern" except it was his and not yours... i'll bet dollars to donuts that he has an untreatable/diffuclt to manage medical condition (i.e. epidermolysis bullosa) that caused his lesions and that is why the parents acted so normal...

You are probably correct brunoflipper. My DH's cousin has some skin condition that he was born with (I don't know the name of it). He looks like he has been burned over his entire body. His skin is red, rough, flaky & I would imagine very uncomfortable & perhaps painful. I am sure he gets starred at continuously. It is very sad but is not something he can not change.

I feel bad for the boy mentioned above as I am sure it is a medical condition and probably something he can not control. As awful & as "gross" as it is, please remember not to judge until you have walked in that person's shoes.

 

[DizBelle]

Originally posted by brunoflipper
careful who you judge... it may indeed have been a "health concern" except it was his and not yours... i'll bet dollars to donuts that he has an untreatable/diffuclt to manage medical condition (i.e. epidermolysis bullosa) that caused his lesions and that is why the parents acted so normal...

This boy smearing blood on a handrail that my child is going to touch is definitely a health concern for me and goes beyond the health concerns of that family alone.

 

[MELSMICE]

Originally posted by lfontaine
This boy smearing blood on a handrail that my child is going to touch is definitely a health concern for me and goes beyond the health concerns of that family alone.

I tell my children not to touch ANY hand rails for fear of what may be on them that we can't see.

 

[MASHELL]

I've been reading all the posts and have a couple of my own to add. Except I was the one doing the shocking. (to my kids at least)
We were riding the Maelstrom in Epcot and there were several young South American girls riding in front of us. One girl kept taking pictures and saying "No Flash Photography" each time she snapped. At the section of the ride where you go backwards, she turned around and held the camera in front on my face and said "No Flash Photography", I then put my hand over her camera and said, "DO NOT Flash that thing in front of me!" "You are rude!" She mumbled, "So Sorry" and didn't take another picture, but my preteens about crawled under the seat.
The next incident was the same trip. My daughter and I were standing in line at the food court in the land. It was hot, hot, hot, that day and all we wanted was some ice water. We waited in line for a LOOONNG time, as there was only one cast member serving. There was one South American man in front of us. When he reached the front, all of a sudden about six or eight other South Americans rushed up to him and started giving him their orders and money. I said to the crowd, "NO, NO, NO, You have to get to the back of the line!, the man in front said , "they are with me." I told him I didn't care, they should have waited in line with him. I then pointed to him and said " YOU ORDER", and pointed to the crowd and said, "YOU BACK TO THE END". (I told you I was Hot).. The guy still got a couple of orders in but not as much as he would have.
When I reached the front, the cast member apologized and said there was nothing he could say to them, but they see it all the time and thanked me for saying something.
The last incident was on the same trip again. Several young South American girls were running through the park and run past me. One of them dropped their money and I hollered " HEY" and grabbed the girl. Of course by this time my husband and kids say, Oh MY GOD, what did they do to set her off this time!, and try to slink away from me. I handed the girl her money, and told her not to run. She thanked me and or course ran off to join her friends.

 

[caribear]

I do agree that the young man has an untreatable/difficult to manage skin condition that was beyond his control. Maybe he was constantly picking at his skin because it was itchy and uncomfortable, but the fact that he did not use personal hygiene was my concern. Going to the restroom and cleaning the blood is something that can be controlled.

 

[DisneyIsMyShrink]

My brother-in-law was diagnosed with Hep. C last year from a childhood blood trasfusion. The one thing we all learned through the last year was that once blood as dried any diease, hep., hiv, etc..is no longer a threat. So we can all gain a little peace that even though the boy left blood all over the park, it dried quickly and was harmless, even if its still gross. I hate the thought of all the germs my 3 and 4 year old came across on our last trip to WDW, but they never even got a cold from it. Most kids quickly build immunites to germs when they aren't completly sheltered from them. Thats why I lpretend not to see them when they "sneak" into the dirt and sometimes mud. The most they've ever gotten sick is colds, not even a ear infection. I've been so blessed!

 

[CheshireVal]

Wow, I've read only a few pages of this thread and there are definitely some truly bizarre stories here!

I've had a few strange things happen but the most recent is when I was standing on Main Street watching the fireworks. I was watching the show, minding my own business, when an older lady pushing a man in a wheelchair RAMMED the thing into my ankles. I turned around in PAIN and said "ouch, that hurt." And she just looked at me very rudely and said "Well, my husband wanted to see and you were in the way."

 

[brunoflipper]

i'll add one that happened this past may...

we were standing on the sidewalk for spectromagic in front of an empty wheelchair... the chair belonged to a teenager who had gotten out of the chair (with assistance) to sit on the curb a few feet further foward... while we stood there waiting (for about 15 minutes) an affluent (based on clothing and jewelry) family of four (with two kids under the age of three, one was under one year old) came up late and pushed their way into the crowd and stopped short of the wheelchair... after whining in her thick east coast accent, to her husband about how little "patrick", the infant under one was not going to be able to see "well enough," she asked me if it was our wheelchair... i replied "no"... she asked whos it was and i told her that it was the kid who was up on the curb... she then informed me that she would be moving it "out of the way"... i asked her what difference it made, it would only put everyone two feet closer and she would not be moving in front of us... she proceeded to move it back off towards the garden about fifteen feet away... i told her i thought it was rude and thought that in the dark with the crowds, he would have trouble finding it... (now my blood was boiling) and they literally pushed in front of us... and she smirked about how maybe if he "was lucky he'd find it"... i lost it and answered back that maybe if i was lucky she'd "burn in hell"... boy was she p.o.'d, they stood their ground, while they constantly tried to get little oblivousa patrick to watch the parade... she then even had the nerve to tell a man ( of very average ht.) who was in front of her to squat down so she could see... and that in a nutshell is why i hate parades...