Line etiquette

[mkycrzy1971]

That sounds nice, but you'll never see WDW implement a policy like that. The responsibility of watching for line cutters, then using your judgement to decided if they're meeting somebody or not, then deciding to boot them from the park - that's just too much responsibility and judgement for those front-line CM's. No offense to any CM's, but for the most part, these people are young, inexperienced people in low-paying jobs. You don't want to force these young people into making decisions that will ruin somebody's vacation.

The only real responsibilities of the CM (regarding line jumping) should be to make certain it does not happen and if it does the appropriate actions are taken (at least removal from the line)...there should be no judgment involved, pretty cut-and-dry. If you get in line, it should be with everyone who wants to ride OR, if a person has to get out of line for some reason, the person/people at the front of the line should hold back and wait for the rest of their party. This is only common courtesy and respect to other park-goers IMO. I do not normally say anything to people line jumping when my children are with me (I try to act like an adult ); however, my husband and I are going in Sept for our anniversary trip (adults only ) and I will politely tell line jumpers that they may not pass us...if there is a problem I will call for the nearest CM to handle the situation. The only time I will let it pass is if it is a parent with a small child (potty break...sometimes it cannot be predicted with small children)...even then, if it is a parent with group of children the answer will be "no-way". My children have all waited their turn (all from a very early age)...I think it helps children learn patience and that they MUST wait their turn in everyday life; my theory is if your child is too impatient to wait then remove them from the line and come back at a better time and join the end of the line like everyone else...I have done it more than once with my own children.

 

[karapp75]

Oh gosh! I hate it when people cut the line but now that I have 3 VERY recently potty trained kids I am getting nervous. One of our twins is still having some accidents and we leave for WDW in 1 mos. I will definitely try and get the kids to go before we get in line but you just never know.... Also, the table thingy: My husband usually waits in line while I sit down with the kids. It is difficult for us to carry the trays of food and hold 3 little hands in order for the kids not to get lost. We're already outnumbered and the tray makes it harder for us to keep the kids right next to us. Whereas in a ride line we can hold hands, carry little ones etc. I never really thought of it as rude and I DESPISE rude people. I guess I iwll have to rethink this one.

 

[Praying Colonel]

The worst incident we had during our trip last week wasn't line-cutting per se--it was more crowd-pushing, but it was still upsetting to DW and some others, and DW is definitely a "live and let live" kind of person.

We were in the process of leaving Epcot, standing on the ramp leading to the monorail. It was jam-packed, the way it usually is after Illuminations. DW was the on the far right of the ramp, and there was this lady who literally pushed past several folks, including DW, to get farther up the ramp. When people refused to let her push past any further, she started screaming at a CM that she was claustrophobic and had to get out of the crowd. The CM let her across to stand in a less-crowded area with some folks in wheelchairs. When this happened, about 3 members of her party started pushing (literally pushing) people out of the way so they could get where she was.

When they all got together, they saw that a monorail door to a JAM-PACKED monorail car is still open, so they run over to it and throw themselves in. When someone yelled to them, "I thought you were claustrophobic!", the lady just shrugged her shoulders, smiled this big grin and waved bye to us as the monorail doors closed. DW had a hard time letting it go, and she's about as easy-going about that kind of stuff as can be.

 

[imthatgirl]

Personally I disagree about the table saving issue. My fam has always done this (me or DH gets online and buys, and me or DH sits at a table w/ the DDs (now 3 and 16). The purpose of this, is to not be standing with the fam's lunch and nowhere to sit. If I cant find a seat, I will seek elsewhere to eat

I hope that WDW doesnt change their policy, forbidding a mom and toddler/ small child to hold a seat while dad gets lunch. If that happens, I'll have to rethink how comfortable I am eating lunch during *normal* times, when places seem the most crowded.

ITA!!! we have always had someone save us a seat. and we always will. i do feel for single parents in this situation, and i have no solution for them. but unfortunately if its not done, no one gets to eat. but, we also never eat lunch at noon. we eat at off times like lunch at 11 and dinner at 5.

 

[AlexWyattMommy]

That sounds nice, but you'll never see WDW implement a policy like that. The responsibility of watching for line cutters, then using your judgement to decided if they're meeting somebody or not, then deciding to boot them from the park - that's just too much responsibility and judgement for those front-line CM's. No offense to any CM's, but for the most part, these people are young, inexperienced people in low-paying jobs. You don't want to force these young people into making decisions that will ruin somebody's vacation.

Why not just have your family wait for you at the entrance of the ride? I think that is the polite way to handle things. It seems that a lot of people send a FP runner and then want them to be able to catch back up in line. The FP is already going to save you time, have your family wait an extra 5-10 minutes and ride together.

I don't undertsand why 10 minutes more of waiting would be a deal breaker. Its Disney, riding with your family is a blast. Just wait the extra few minutes.

-Becca-

When we send a fastpass runner, we usually agree to meet the person at the ride entrance. Either we ride once and wait for theFP runner to ride again or we just wait and get in line together.

I'm not going to freak out if you want to get up to your family. But when we're in that situation (I'm the designated FP runner), my family waits for me at the entrance and I join them there, instead of them going ahead and me trying to get up to them. For us, it just feels icky for me to ask to get ahead of other folks in that situation, but YMMV.

Thanks all. I've never done the fastpass runner thing before. I personally don't know if I have the guts to to push past people to reach my family. I was working off the "advice" of a different board who said most people don't mind when you try to reach your family.
It's not a deal breaker for us. There is only one ride that I'm sure my boys just won't want to wait at the entrance for me and I'm okay not riding that one more than once. They can go without me. The other ones they can wait for me. I'm the sprinter in the family, I'm stuck as fastpass getter.
Thanks again for real world insight.

 

[motofox4]

I don't like the line cutting, but understand that sometimes it is legit. What got on my nerves the most this past trip was the people that sat at tables at counter service places when they didn't have their food yet!! We had trouble finding tables to sit at once we had our food because there were people saving tables while the rest of their group stood in line to get food! This really burned me up because we could have been done eating before their people even got back with the food! DROVE ME CRAZY!
We had this happen at least 1/2 dozen times during our trip in June and I wish Disney would have their CM's tell people that they cannot save tables until they have their food. We ate at HS once and could not find a table forcing us to eat while standing near a trash can since it was the only place we could find to set our trays. At that point, I looked around and found 7 tables being held by people with no food. We actually ate and left and only 2 of those tables were eating by that time. This, to me, is much more aggravating than people catching up to their group in line!

While I understand your getting upset that these people were taking up seats, I think it's kinda better that people do wait at tables while someone else gets the food, and if one person is able to handle bringing all of the food back, it's better to have that one person in line then a group of people. It kind of makes the order area less chaotic and easier to manage. IMO, I'd rather have one person in line ahead of me rather than 5..

 

[kaffinito]

I have a pretty good story about a line cutter. Believe or not.

Last time I was in Disney in April 08. My DD and I were waiting in line at Thunder Mountain. My back was turned so no cutting, when two teenagers came up to me and said Excuse me Maam can we catch up with our friends.

I was shocked it was the first nice teenager I ran into the entire trip. I said to her yes you may. And she said Thank-you so much. So whoever raised her I have to say Good Job.

I'm with you on this one. If someone asks me politely I don't have a problem with them going ahead.

I do have a problem with the pushers and shovers, and with the families who send their kids on ahead ducking around people and then shout that they have to "join" them. I got lucky the last time I was there, I only saw a few jumpers, and one of them was a foreign gentleman (and I use the term loosely) who held a place in line with his wife and then let his whole family in ahead of us. I'm talking other adults, kids, etc... He pretended not to speak English, but then spoke English to the CM running the ride. I was pretty steamed!

 

[Finally08]

While I understand your getting upset that these people were taking up seats, I think it's kinda better that people do wait at tables while someone else gets the food, and if one person is able to handle bringing all of the food back, it's better to have that one person in line then a group of people. It kind of makes the order area less chaotic and easier to manage. IMO, I'd rather have one person in line ahead of me rather than 5..

I agree. We always send the kids and an adult (if there's two of us) to a table while one person gets the food. At Disney especially the lines (or rather crowds) at the CS order counters are so jammed up that there's no way we would also try standing in that herd with the kids in tow too. We always try to thin out whenever we can and have the kids somewhere situated where they won't be run over.

 

[WriteDisney]

We got our food first and then had to get a table and I have to say (this was New Years Eve so it was *extremely* crowded too!) never again! We were at Pinnochio's Village Haus and we wandered around with our food looking for a table (what a sad sight we must have been!). We did finally find one, but I never want to do that again! Now I wouldn't blame someone for saving a table ahead of time.

 

[phisigprincess]

Let's just say I was shocked at the number of people who "suddenly had to go to the bathroom" in groups of 4 and 5 and needed to catch up with their parties when their parties were about to get on rides.

 

[ntsammy5]

It's interesting how much attention a thread like this gets. When we get in line it's as a group - we wait for everyone to get there - if we do it so can others.

 

[BarbieGal457]

This seems to happen to me most in line for Soarin', I think due to the huge line space. I understand it's easier for wheelchairs/etc, but I cannot stand huge groups, especially children, who push push push! Last winter I had my friends form a blockade, and people around us were thankful. At 6 people we were just the right size to do it. I also dislike the Haunted Mansion, how people trample you to get on first! People I find are generally nice here when they see my friends and I are holding hands so we dont get lost. Once I was separated from my 5 friends, and people there saw and waved me ahead of them so I didn't have to go it alone. I was very thankful..something about being alone makes HM so much scarier to me!

 

[BarbieGal457]

It's interesting how much attention a thread like this gets. When we get in line it's as a group - we wait for everyone to get there - if we do it so can others.

I agree. If we aren't a full party we wait, or we ride again when we are.

 

[AlexWyattMommy]

It's interesting how much attention a thread like this gets. When we get in line it's as a group - we wait for everyone to get there - if we do it so can others.

I know. That is what we did on our first trip in 2006.
It never occured to me before I paid for "advice" to send the others ahead and then met up with them. And the advice made it seem like everyone does it and it is okay. It sounded like line jumping/cutting to me, but that was the advice I was given. This is the first time I've looked for information on it elsewhere. I don't know if I would have had the guts to do it before, but now I know for sure I won't.
Promise, I won't be one of those pushing to get in front of anyone else in line.

 

[BostonRob]

I know. That is what we did on our first trip in 2006.
It never occured to me before I paid for "advice" to send the others ahead and then met up with them. And the advice made it seem like everyone does it and it is okay. It sounded like line jumping/cutting to me, but that was the advice I was given. This is the first time I've looked for information on it elsewhere. I don't know if I would have had the guts to do it before, but now I know for sure I won't.
Promise, I won't be one of those pushing to get in front of anyone else in line.

Are you saying that tour guide mike or one of those other sites actually advises people to wait in line for one thing while one person from their group runs off for fast passes? Yeah, that's out of line if you ask me.
I don't think that it affects the wait time when people do that, because the "runner" would probably just end up in a car with his/her family anyway. But its really annoying to have people squeezing through the line to catch up, and I think it encourages other to cut.

 

[DCLMan]

We holiday as a family and queue as a family.

 

[AlexWyattMommy]

Are you saying that tour guide mike or one of those other sites actually advises people to wait in line for one thing while one person from their group runs off for fast passes? Yeah, that's out of line if you ask me.
I don't think that it affects the wait time when people do that, because the "runner" would probably just end up in a car with his/her family anyway. But its really annoying to have people squeezing through the line to catch up, and I think it encourages other to cut.

I'm not allowed to say what site, as that is part of the agreement when you pay for the advice. But I can say I've seen in more than one place or I wouldn't have even mentioned it so as to not get in trouble. I don't like trouble. I'm way too passive/agressive to actively cause trouble.

Thank you again for the sound advice. Life is short, but not so short that I can't wait in line for a ride.

 

[imthatgirl]

We holiday as a family and queue as a family.

i am so getting tshirts that say this

 

[kdepot]

We always send 1 runner and waiy at the entrance. At AK a long distance runner is sent.

 

[luckytobeme88]

There were 11 of us most of the time. More than a few dozens of time, our big group got cut off by single or small group. When we tried to regroup, people gave us dirty looks (hey, you cut us off first!! ) There's one time when 2 of our teenage girls had to run to the bathroom while waiting for the 60 minutes line @ EE. I escorted them to the CM guarding the front, and told her that they needed to go. She was surprised but appreciative that I asked for permission to CUT the line and joined us later.