Note to cast members: packing us in like sardines does NOT decrease wait time

[Mambo Junkie]

It's nice to be glib when it's not your job on the line.

 

[bumbershoot]

That time in the HM, the CMs DID mean crash up against the person in front of you. There already was literally no room to move forward, but CMs were insistent about emptying the stretch room. I wouldn't be surprised if the crowd exceeded fire code capacity. The guy with the f-bombs wasn't the only person complaining. Many people were shouting that they just couldn't move forward any more.

I know CMs have to follow their procedures or face the wrath of their supervisors, but in some instances common sense has to have priority over policy. This instance was a big time failure of both. When the ride reached 30 seconds of being down, additional loading into the stretch room should have been suspended until the ride resumed and the crowd cleared. Metrics and CM protocol be damned.

All a guest knows is their own personal space. They don't know what's going on 3 people behind them or probably 5 people in front of them. There could be 3 feet of space between the 5th and 6th person in front of you; that could be who the CMs are talking to (trying to get the attention of) and you wouldn't necessarily know.

If I cannot move any further, I laugh. I can't move. The CMs aren't talking to me. No reason to yell at CMs who aren't talking to me, since I have nowhere else to move.


Case in point! In the corrals for the Disneyland Half. Big corral, close to the last corral. We got in and were about halfway down the corral. Had a decent amount of space to stretch and move. As more and more people kept coming, the volunteers were calling out (better description than "yelling", since they only have their voices loud to be heard over hundreds of people talking) to fill in space. Each time they started a cycle of calling that out, we would move. We ended up about 1/4 of the way up because the people in front of us, who we couldn't really see, were taking SO much room between them. Once they, the unseen people, moved up, the whole corral could move further forward.

 

[Belle5]

Which is my point. No, I don't listen. I refuse to be part of squeezing 100 into the last 100 seats, all the while leaving the remaining 300 seats empty.

Knock yourself out, saying everything you have to say. But don't get upset when we blow you off.

Now, I would never: put my arms or legs outside of the ride car, walk in front of a moving ride, stand up or unbuckle before the ride comes to a complete stop. I hold up the yellow loop, when they come by to check the seat belt. I always listen to the safety spiel. But when it comes to moving forward as far as I can. Or filing in all of the seats in a theater, I realize that although they have to say the spiel, there is nothing that says I have to listen.

Agreed. It may be their job to encourage me to smash into the guy in front of me, but it's my job to keep personal space between my family members and others during flu season. I don't feel like I'm "vacationing" when I am crammed into someone else's space. That makes me very uncomfortable.

 

[famy27]

We always fill in all available space, as instructed. It does help things move more quickly. I'll use the carousel as an example. If 50 people are waiting together in the holding area, then we all have, let's say, a maximum of 30 feet until we're on the ride. When the CMs open the gates, we can quickly enter the ride, and it will start in a short time, with all horses filled. If everyone is spread out in a single-file line, with a few feet between each person, now some people are back out by Philharmagic. Either the CMs will have to wait for all of those people to walk in (even if they are walking quickly, they still have to cover a much greater distance) or they'll start the ride at less than full capacity. Either of those things will increase wait times.

What I hate is when the CM says to fill in all space and I do, I get the stare of death from others in line, like I am cutting. A woman on RNRC gave me an exaggerated sigh and a dirty look. She was standing dead center in the holding area, and the CMs told people to go around those that weren't filling in space, so we did. We weren't even in the preshow, so I wasn't inching up ahead of her. I think she was actually closer to the door in the preshow and further ahead of us in the actual queue, so I have no idea what she was so huffy about.

For the CMs on the thread, do you ever get people complaining that others are "cutting" when they fill in space? How are you instructed to respond to that?

 

[Bluegrrl]

For complaining guests? This is what we said, nicely as possible:

1. Please move in folks, there is no line
2. Honestly, there is no line!
3. The quicker in line you move, the quicker you can get to the air conditioning
4. Keep your party together please
5. Really, no line! Trust me!

But when we got desperate and there was nothing else to say, we used our "Disney insult" - I'm sorry, have a magical Mickey Day!"

 

[maxiesmom]

It's nice to be glib when it's not your job on the line.

Glad I'm not the only one who was thinking that.

 

[wilkeliza]

We always fill in all available space, as instructed. It does help things move more quickly. I'll use the carousel as an example. If 50 people are waiting together in the holding area, then we all have, let's say, a maximum of 30 feet until we're on the ride. When the CMs open the gates, we can quickly enter the ride, and it will start in a short time, with all horses filled. If everyone is spread out in a single-file line, with a few feet between each person, now some people are back out by Philharmagic. Either the CMs will have to wait for all of those people to walk in (even if they are walking quickly, they still have to cover a much greater distance) or they'll start the ride at less than full capacity. Either of those things will increase wait times. What I hate is when the CM says to fill in all space and I do, I get the stare of death from others in line, like I am cutting. A woman on RNRC gave me an exaggerated sigh and a dirty look. She was standing dead center in the holding area, and the CMs told people to go around those that weren't filling in space, so we did. We weren't even in the preshow, so I wasn't inching up ahead of her. I think she was actually closer to the door in the preshow and further ahead of us in the actual queue, so I have no idea what she was so huffy about. For the CMs on the thread, do you ever get people complaining that others are "cutting" when they fill in space? How are you instructed to respond to that?

Normal response to people who complain of skipping is to say my apologies but guests were asked to fill in all available space and to move around those who were not.

 

[Aerinha]

Thinking of BOG where before FP they shouted this at you on the bridge and now they shout it at you while you wait by the knights.

When it is 100 degrees, it raises the temp to have people crammed in and presents a health hazard. More people pass out in crowds than not. To say nothing of the guy in front of me who had on a giant backpack and kept turning all around hitting me and I had nowhere to go to get away from the oaf. I wanted to shove him off the bridge along with the CM who kept barking at us. Breathing room is not a bad thing especially since getting in is based on group size and table space. If they don't have room for 10 when you get to the door, then it doesn't matter if you wait in line or have someone else's kid's nose up your butt you are so crammed in. In this case it was only to make the line look shorter.

They pulled this again inside on my second visit with the FP system then in place. Being indoors helped as there was AC, but the person behind me was a Universal employee and she flat out said cramming in was horrible crowd management. First if there was a fire it would lead to trampling. Second it leads to butting in line and you can say there is no line, but someone has been waiting longer and will not appreciate someone who just walked up using a stroller as a battering ram to get ahead on the pretense of "filling in space". And what are the CMs going to do when an argument breaks out, or worse, over this? Because the more stroller woman hits my heels with it, trying to get ahead of me even though I have nowhere to go, the more likely I am to tell her to knock it off before I stick said stroller where the sun don't shine. Universal girl said it was a great way to tick people off and cause problems. So this is obviously not how they do things there given how appalled she was.

 

[LBIJim]

All a guest knows is their own personal space. They don't know what's going on 3 people behind them or probably 5 people in front of them. There could be 3 feet of space between the 5th and 6th person in front of you; that could be who the CMs are talking to (trying to get the attention of) and you wouldn't necessarily know.

If I cannot move any further, I laugh. I can't move. The CMs aren't talking to me. No reason to yell at CMs who aren't talking to me, since I have nowhere else to move.

In a normal situation, this is probably true.

But in the Haunted Mansion situation I experienced, it was obvious to everyone in the loading room that there was not 3 feet of space between anyone anywhere. Yet the CMs kept on insisting people move forward so they could empty the stretch room. They should have kept those guests there until the ride resumed and the crowd dissipated. Or evacuated them outside again. Anything except trying to squeeze 10 pounds of baloney in a 5 pound bag.

I know it's a required part of their routine. But if they continue to do what they're told when it's obvious it doesn't make any sense, there's going to be backlash from the guests. I don't blame any guests a bit for reacting the way they did. And in this type of situation I certainly don't give a damn about metrics or whatever it is the CMs are evaluated on.

 

[Sparkly]

Exactly.

I always travel off peak. And we just laugh when the CM tells us to fill in all of the seats.

We did it once. The "crowd" filled in 1/4 of the theater. Then we all laughed, and spread out. No one else was coming. There was no reason for us to squeeze together.

But part of the spiel is to say, "Please fill in all available seats."

And you're still instructed to "move along to make room for everybody" on the monorail even if it's midday and you're the only one in your car.

 

[Money82]

On at least two attractions we were repeatedly told to "fill in all available spaces" so that our wait time would be reduced. Sorry, I'm not buying it. You still have x amount of riders, and x amount of seats. It's not like there will be empty seats because we're all lolly gagging about in line. Just sayin'.

Agree with you. I nearly got into a fight with a CM over this. The room was completely packed, I was in the middle, butt to butt with everyone. He was behind me basically yelling in my ear, "MOVE YOUR BODY TO THE DEAD CENTER OF THE ROOM." He did that about 3 times and I finally yelled back, "I CAN'T MOVE ANY FURTHER BRO." And then he and I yelled the same phrase about three more times before he finally left.