Is Disney just for kids?

[mzmickey]

I ask this question from a "couples" point of view.

My DH and I have made 2 trips to Disney, the first one being our honeymoon 2 years ago and then our most recent one in December for our 2nd anniversary.

Although we were treated wonderfully by the CM's and staff at the WL resort and in the parks, it was the treatment from several parents that irked me.

I don't mean to offend anyone, so please don't flame me for this, but several parents gave me the impression that they were entitled to better views for the parades and shows, as well as other things, just because they had little children in tow!

My DH and I are very considerate people, but there were several cases where we were simply "looked over" by a family who pushed their way in front of us to have a better view of the parade. One instance comes to mind when we were walking towards a line to get our picture taken with Tigger, a family of 5 just stepped right in front of us. The mother turned around and said "you don't mind, do you, we have the children with us?" How do you answer that? I probably wouldn't have minded, but they ended up taking about 10 pictures with different people in different shots.

And I can't even tell you how many times we had to jump out of the way of a baby stroller.

Like I said, I don't mean to offend anyone or accuse anyone, this was just what we have experienced both time. So the main purpose of this was to see if any other couples experienced this?

 

[newarknut]

There are alot of people in this world who don't think before they act or speak. No, having children with you doesn't entitle you to any special perks. However, I find nothing wrong with someone with kids asking "do you mind if my kids stand in front of you so they can see the parade?" You sound like the type that would say, "sure". It's tough when people do things that show a lack of respect to others.

Rude people are everywhere. All we can do is smile and deal with it. It may mean speaking up once in a while and saying, "as a matter of fact, I do mind."

My wife and I have spent a few days at the parks alone. We usually stay clear of pictures with characters, however, I don't recall any problems with overbearing parents with kids THANK GOODNESS!

 

[worm761]

i am not a couple. when i go it is just DS and I. everyone pays the same amount to get in....so everyone should get the same treatment. the examples you give are just plain rude people.
i dont go to disney world for my DS. i go for me! DS really doesnt care one way or the other. he had just as much fun last summer at kings island as he did at disney world. the reason we are going to disney again is because I want to!

 

[B'rer Karen]

Well I'm not a couple, but I am an adult who travels to Disney solo and with other adults. I will say that I haven't experienced quite the level of rudeness (for lack of a better word) that you have. I have often been irked by being battered around my shins and ankles by strollers. But by and large I've only had good experiences. I will say that there are a class of people in this world who think they are more important than everyone else. They take the form of families, teenagers, adults travelling solo, kids, you name it. On more than one occassion I've had someone cut in front of me, or push me aside, and my travel buddies and I turn to each other and say "Because I'm more important than you . (It's even more funny when I say it to myself).

I guess my point is that you are going to find rude people every where. I also think that the families you encountered weren't rude because they had children. They're just part of a small class of people that thinks they are entitled to more than everyone else.

I also have had some great experiences with families. When I go solo, I have a hard time getting people to take my pictures with the characters. What I usually do is spot a family where mom is trying to take a pic of dad with the kids, or vice versa, and I offer to take the picture for them so they can all be in the picture. Then they are usually inclined to return the favor. I've found most people to be very friendly.

BTW, I agree with you, how the heck were you supposed to respond to that mother? "Yes I DO mind. I hate little children!!" But what an awful lesson for her to teach her kids. That they don't need to wait in line like everyone else. I've given up seats on the bus for a parent who had the dead weight of a sleeping child in their arms, or whatever, but there's no reason they can't wait in line.

 

[Pat_Elliott]

mzmickey,

My wife and I HAVE experienced that very thing. We'd NEVER been to Fantasy in the Sky, even though we've been around ten times together and I've been around 2 dozen times. I've just never been able to enjoy the magic of Disney when there are 50,000 people jamming Mainstreet, and they're hot, tired, sweaty, and usually feeling cranky and self-indulgent. We mostly go together in off-season, and Saturdays, the only day for fireworks, is just nuts. But we went this year (Sep. 02), found a spot at 7:15 for the 8 PM parade and 9 PM fireworks and sat. Sure enough, a family with a couple children came busting through five minutes before the parade, rudely pushed against us, and I had to endure the mom complaining to her husband through the fireworks that I was obnoxious, because the children couldn't see around me. My inclination at moments like that is to point out that A) once I'm halfway over the bridge railing, you can trust that I'm not able to make more room for you without going swimming; and B) My ticket cost as much as yours, and more than your child's.

I firmly believe Disney isn't JUST for kids. As a child, I went several times and quite frankly, my father quit taking us because we couldn't differentiate Disney from Hershey Park (I live in PA). I think the true Disney-o-phile is probably over thirty.

That said, I think as a non-parent you have patience with the adults, and you cherish the children. I don't think there's ever anything more "magical" than seeing the look on a child's face when Pooh comes walking out of nowhere. They just light up, and you realize the Disney magic is it brings you back a wee little bit of your own childhood innocence, the Disney characters were real people, and magic was possible. I guess that's what I like about Disney. The rides are secondary to me. Just being there is worth the time and money.

There's a thread going on about smoking in the parks, and some folks feel that because a few smoke outside the allotted smoking areas, smokers in Disney are rude. As a moderate smoker (adding moderate makes me feel better about admitting it, I guess), my contention is that smokers aren't rude. Rude people are rude. And when you put tens of thousands of people in a small area and they're paying a fortune to be there, you're going to have a few rude people.

A disclaimer: Our trip this June will be my last without children. I reserve the right over the five years to change my mind. My apologize if somewhere down the line my kids butt in front of you!

My two cents,

Pat

 

[apagano]

That's one of my pet peeves. I hate it when people act as if their children are the most important people who ever set foot on this earth. Yes, they are important to YOU, but their happiness is no more important than yours, mine or anyone else's.

That being said, I have not experienced that level of rudeness at WDW. Perhaps that has something to do with the fact that I only go during off-peak times when most kids are in school. Last time I was there the parks were empty enough so that everybody who wanted a front-row view of the parade could get one.

 

[mommystieg]

I think the biggest problem here is that some people are just rude and rude people with kids treat everybody rudely. Every year we attend the Christmas parade in downtown Dallas and we always claim our spot on the curb 1-1.5 hours before the parade starts. Inevitably, every year someone with kids comes and squeezes in right on top of our kids and all the other people around us. We are always very nice and let other kids come and sit on our blanket with our kids but there is ALWAYS somebody who plops down at the last minute in the smallest available space The saddest thing is that rude people end up raising rude children

 

[mzmickey]

I am glad to get the feedback from everyone!

And I totally agree, it has to do with the rudeness of the people. I was venting and forgot to add that we did have several positive experiencs, just too few compared to the negative. A positive experience was when an excited child was jumping in the line and jumped right on my DH's foot. It didn't hurt DH much as he had on steel toed boots (common footwear for a medic) and he just brushed it off. The mother turned around and apologized profusely for her child's behavior and then made her child apologize. This was a good example, but more often than not, we did not experience that.

And I love to see an excited child's face light up when a magical moment occurs. I don't even mind if the child pushes me out of the way due to their over excitement. It's just when the parent takes part in this that I mind.

Part of me wishes that Disney had an adult's only day, but then that would take part of the magic out of the Disney experience, because part of that magic is the children. What I do love about Disney is that it does take me back to my childhood, to that magic safe place. I just wish the rude people would quit being rude!

 

[CM Tinkerbell]

As a couple who traveled to Disney pre kids and then later with two kids, I definitely would never think of lessening someone elses enjoyment at Disney World so that my kids could enjoy it more. Disney is a wonderful place for couples. My husband and I have so many wonderful memories of our trips together. I agree that it's not families in general, just rude people. I'm sorry that you had to experience that. Even as a family we've had to deal with situations like that ourselves. Standing in lines with the kids to have a picture taken with a character only to have a mom push her child in front of ours. We've actually had the character on one or two occassions notice this and he would have the other child wait until he was done with our children. I like when they notice things like that and do something about it, but sometimes they're to busy to notice.

 

[Sleepy]

I give people like that a map of the park and point out the next parade time and tell them to come back an hour before that time if they want my spot.

 

[B'rer Karen]

mzmickey, you reminded me of a similar experience on one of my trips. I had bought fries from Pecos Bill and they put them in a large cup. I then filled up one of those little container of cheese and put that on my tray as well and sat down on one of those platforms around the trees along Frontierland. Well this little boy, maybe three, was standing on the platform in front of me and he was excited waiting for the parade to start and he was jumping and jumping and then he landed on my tray and the fries went everywhere (somehow the cheese survived). You could see the look on his face that he knew he did something wrong and he ran up next to his dad. So I'm cleaning up and a few minutes later the mom returns to the group and she is carrying maybe 3 or 4 of those containers of fries. Either the little boy or the dad must have told her what happened and she gave the boy one of the cups of fries and had him offer it to me. I told him no thank you, that it was okay, but that I really appreciated him offering. I thought that was a wonderful lesson the mom taught him. It was a total accident and he was just excited, but I've seen many others in that situation who wouldn't have so much as said I'm sorry.

So there are a lot of good people out there. We're just more conscious of the not so good ones

 

[dahess]

If we were to go on a "kid free" vacation, we would probably not choose WDW. I am thinking Mexico. DH and I have been there before the kids came along & loved it.

 

[B'rer Karen]

Well if I waited until I have kids to go to WDW, I might never get the chance!!!

 

[NHDisneyKid]

My bf and I have run into a few of the same problems that have been mentioned. Well, not problems, but maybe inconveniences is a better word...Especially when trying to take pictures with the characters (so what if we're 23 and 29, we still like to pose with them ). Anyway, this past Dec we ran into a few families that just kind of gave us dirty looks when we were waiting in line and actually taking pictures with the characters...like we were wasting their valuable time in making their kids wait in line. Just kind of irked us a couple times.

 

[eeyore0062]

DH and I go both with DD in tow, and without. I have noticed the "entitled parent phenomenon" you mention, and believe me, it is not all parents, it is just those who would be that way whether the kids were with them or not. It is called rudeness. When it is done to us, I usually smile and them and let them know that we had been there for such and such amount of time, and we have no problem with the kids standing in front of us, and that our DD would enjoy the company. Usually the adults get the hint... if they don't, I just chalk it up to ignorance and let it go. No sense in ruining my vacation because of people who just either don't know, or don't care.

 

[maxie]

My pet peeve was when we were riding the bus home in the evenings. So many people were standing and everyone was tired. SO many parents had little kids sitting next to them rather than on their laps. If you have a little child why not put them on your lap and let someone else have a seat?????

We had stood for along time holding our spot for IllumiNations when someone came and asked us if we would let the kids in between us and the railing. At first I was kinda peeved and said yes rather reluctantly as it was our honeymoon and our first time ever at EPCOT. However once we got talking to the folks they were so pleasant I got over it and they thanked so much afterwards.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Yeah, I noticed a little of that "entitlement" thing on my solo trip recently. However, what others have said about rude people being rude regardless if they have children or not is really true. The rude people with children probably would have been rude even if they didn't have children.

On my first trip I noticed a different kind of rudeness.... by people without children acting disgusted that we had 3 children including a stroller. I noticed looks, a few comments they probably didn't think we'd hear (or maybe they did?), etc.

Rude people are rude people.
I'm sorry that happened to you on your trip.

 

[Pig Pen]

DH and I were at MK in Sept. We too have been to WDW many times, but have never seen Spectro. We decided to stake out our spot TWO HOURS early on a Saturday night - we should have known better but we really wanted to see this parade! We sat at the end of Main Street on one of the circle benches near the Walt/Mickey Mouse statue.

Well, by the time the parade started there were kids who had climbed into the hedges behind our seats and were standing on top of the wrought iron fencing directly behind our backs. They were practically standing on our shoulders and breathing down our necks. CMs were telling them to get down and the kids - and the parents - were completely ignoring them.

In the meantime, people had crammed in front of us and were literally sitting on the tops of our feet. Then the tallest guy in the park (I'm not kidding - he was at least 6'7" and CHILDLESS) decided to STAND smack dab in front of us, rather than sit on our feet like everyone else.

Luckily, we were sharing our bench with another Disney addicted couple who had been there even longer than us - and we kept rolling our eyes at the rudeness of other people. We ended up having a good time talking to them.

 

[DisneyMim]

My pet peeve is rude people and they are everywhere. Rude is rude with or without kids. I have 2 kids and have been going to Disney for years so now my kids are older. We have stopped going to parades and such because we all can't stand the rudeness of some people. I am very short and sometimes kids are taller than me so I can't see anything if they are in front of me. And I love when the parents put the kids on their shoulders right in front of me. EXCUSE ME, but is that right?? My kids have always been taught to behave themselves and I have to say that we have always had people comment on how well behaved our kids are. Unfortunately not all kids are and some parents just don't care. Back to the matter ar hand though, I think that everyone should be able to enjoy Disney (or anywhere else for that matter). Manners go a long way. Respect goes a long way. If everyone had both there would be a lot more enjoyment for everyone. JMHO.

 

[Eeyore2U]

I agree with tge sentiment of the other. DW go off without DS and have been by ourself on a recent trip as well. It annoys me to no end when parents push their kids in front of us after we have been waiting in line to take a pic with a character. I have moved my ample body to block the youngun and have made some VERY loud disparaging comments about the parents to get my point across.

I have also seen some good CMs in those situations take control and show them where the lines are.