Wherever there are crowds, there are going to be rude people. However, we had experiences this time that really made me wonder where our society is headed...
The worst event (physically) was my wife being knocked down by someone pushing a wheelchair. This woman was literally shoving people out of her way, using the wheelchair like a battering ram. The foot rest struck my wife in the back of the ankle/calf, and she stumbled and would have fallen if I hadn't been there to catch her. The woman pushing the wheelchair didn't even slow down...she just gave my wife a dirty look like my wife was in the wrong, and kept going. My wife had a welt and bruise on her leg, and limped the rest of the night.
The other big incidents weren't as painful, but were just as blatant. I was at the French bakery at Epcot (delicious, BTW), and for those of you who haven't been there yet, there are two lines side-by-side running along two glass display cases. I was next in line on my side, and was just waiting for the CM to take the previous customer's items to the cashier. As she came back, this guy jumped from the other line right in front of me, and immediately started giving his order to the CM. I said "Excuse me, there is a line here.", to which he replied without looking at me "Whatever, boss." Now, I might expect this from a teenager, but this guy was middle aged, well dressed and well groomed. I was just flabbergasted.
Then, of course, there was the woman in the stroller who came late to the parade at Animal Kingdom she shoved the baby in the stroller between me and an elderly couple up to the line marking the parade route. Then, her teenage daughter shoved her way through to the front and stood right in front of my DS9, completely blocking his view. The woman chatted on her cell phone and ignored everyone. I asked the elderly lady if she could still see the parade, and she just shook her head and said nothing surprises her anymore. It was a sad moment.
Then there was the guy who had his toddler pee into a POTTED PLANT at the bus stop!! There was a long row of tall hedges and a few trees just 50 feet away from us, but instead he had his son stand in front of everyone and pee into the potted plant at the corner of the queue area. Wow.
Im not picking on the smokers here, but there were a few that really stood out. Of course, there were the usual ones that smoke while walking in the park, but we had one guy smoking in the queue for Kali River Rapids while inside the building. And, there was the guy smoking in the middle of the extremely overcrowded queue at the bus stop while waiting for the end-of-the-day bus. There was an elderly couple both smoking at a table outside the French bakery in Epcot (between that and the rude guy in the bakery, we felt like we really were in Paris ). And probably the most ridiculous one was the young guy sitting on the half wall that separates the queue in front of the Pooh ride, his shirt half off, smoking in front of all the little kids queued for the ride. It was honestly all I could do to keep from walking up and knocking him off the wall. And, of all the CMs I mentioned smoking issues to, the young woman directing people for the Pooh ride was the only one to actually go up the guy and tell him he couldnt smoke there. He gave her a bit of a hard time, but eventually put it out.
Sorry to vent! Again, Im not saying this is a Disney thing but it seems every year, people feel more and more entitled to do whatever they want, and feel rules dont apply to them because they are special.
The worst event (physically) was my wife being knocked down by someone pushing a wheelchair. This woman was literally shoving people out of her way, using the wheelchair like a battering ram. The foot rest struck my wife in the back of the ankle/calf, and she stumbled and would have fallen if I hadn't been there to catch her. The woman pushing the wheelchair didn't even slow down...she just gave my wife a dirty look like my wife was in the wrong, and kept going. My wife had a welt and bruise on her leg, and limped the rest of the night.
The other big incidents weren't as painful, but were just as blatant. I was at the French bakery at Epcot (delicious, BTW), and for those of you who haven't been there yet, there are two lines side-by-side running along two glass display cases. I was next in line on my side, and was just waiting for the CM to take the previous customer's items to the cashier. As she came back, this guy jumped from the other line right in front of me, and immediately started giving his order to the CM. I said "Excuse me, there is a line here.", to which he replied without looking at me "Whatever, boss." Now, I might expect this from a teenager, but this guy was middle aged, well dressed and well groomed. I was just flabbergasted.
Then, of course, there was the woman in the stroller who came late to the parade at Animal Kingdom she shoved the baby in the stroller between me and an elderly couple up to the line marking the parade route. Then, her teenage daughter shoved her way through to the front and stood right in front of my DS9, completely blocking his view. The woman chatted on her cell phone and ignored everyone. I asked the elderly lady if she could still see the parade, and she just shook her head and said nothing surprises her anymore. It was a sad moment.
Then there was the guy who had his toddler pee into a POTTED PLANT at the bus stop!! There was a long row of tall hedges and a few trees just 50 feet away from us, but instead he had his son stand in front of everyone and pee into the potted plant at the corner of the queue area. Wow.
Im not picking on the smokers here, but there were a few that really stood out. Of course, there were the usual ones that smoke while walking in the park, but we had one guy smoking in the queue for Kali River Rapids while inside the building. And, there was the guy smoking in the middle of the extremely overcrowded queue at the bus stop while waiting for the end-of-the-day bus. There was an elderly couple both smoking at a table outside the French bakery in Epcot (between that and the rude guy in the bakery, we felt like we really were in Paris ). And probably the most ridiculous one was the young guy sitting on the half wall that separates the queue in front of the Pooh ride, his shirt half off, smoking in front of all the little kids queued for the ride. It was honestly all I could do to keep from walking up and knocking him off the wall. And, of all the CMs I mentioned smoking issues to, the young woman directing people for the Pooh ride was the only one to actually go up the guy and tell him he couldnt smoke there. He gave her a bit of a hard time, but eventually put it out.
Sorry to vent! Again, Im not saying this is a Disney thing but it seems every year, people feel more and more entitled to do whatever they want, and feel rules dont apply to them because they are special.
. Sad to say, it goes with the territory when there are that many people in one place - unfortunately. But like others have said - as long as the good outweighs the bad, it's worth putting up with it. We've had our share of inconsiderate (to put it nicely) people, but we've also had a ton of interactions with wonderful travelers and CMs, so at least the good still considerably outweighs the bad.
I may or may not have accidentally pointed my misting fan the wrong way.
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