Other guests who ruin the Magic...

[mabenoab]

I remembered a story my friends telling me about someone ruining the magic.

My friends, a family of 5, go to WDW probably 3x a year, every year for the past 17 years. Their kids literally have grown up on Disney, and they live in NE! Anyways, they stayed at the GF one year, and thought it was a little uppity, so their oldest son (probably 15 at the time), whenever he saw someone taking video of their family in the lobby, by the pool, near the monorail...wherever...would walk close by the video camera and make a loud farting noise. Just loud enough to get on tape. I would think that would dissipate some Disney magic!

Disclaimer: Now I agree this is really rude, and I feel sorry for anyone whose lovely videos of their trip were ruined by this jokester. The teen in question is now a dad of his own little princess, and I sure hope karma comes back around!

 

[LOLA2]

Remember that situation could of happened to anyone- even us. I am very fair with my 2 teenage boys but to this day if they get out of line I will smack them, lol. Yes I did say smack- too many parents are so worried about what is right and what is the wrong way to raise your children. I have disciplined my two boys with a belt and never worried twice about having the police called on me. Their is a difference between discipline and abusing your children and I think parents are scared of that fine line- duh, who is control here, you or the kids? Once your children knows that mommy or daddy aren't going to do anything to them once they act up they will keep doing stupid stuff and even get away with it. I know one thing- my sons respect me for all of the whippings that they have received within these years of growing up. My younger son is only 13, stand 6'2" and weighs about 225 pounds so I have to take a baseball bat to him. My husband's mother used to beat them with an extension cord. When I was growing up my older brothers used to fight so bad, my mother broke a shovel over one of their backs, aaaahhhhhhhhhh the good old days.

I think you came from an abusive family and need to break that cycle. If you are hitting your kid with a bat you should be in jail. I have been hit 2-3 times by a belt when I was a child at my mothers lowest times and I do not respect her for this those are the times I remeber and think she did not care about me. Left welts. Besides those couple times I never recieved a spanking or anything from her. Now my dad on the other hand would sit down and talk with me then come up with a punishment. I respected him much more.

Your kids don't respect you they are afraid of you. Frankly so am I.

 

[noseygert]

Back in the good old days

Yes, I am one of them old geezers that remembers, spankings and a fast swat up side the head from my mom.
Respect was a good word and "dangit" could get you a mouth full of soap.
Being told to get a switch was not uncommon, and being grounded ment you had to clean the house top to bottom on Saturday.
Time out was sitting in a chair facing the corner.
If your mom used your first and middle name, you knew you were in trouble.
Saying mam, sir, please and thank you were use without even thinking.

Times change, people change.
For me, I don't judge ( I don't like how I look in a black robe)
And agreeing to disagree is the best thing.
How boring this life would be if everyone was exactly alike.
I know for a fact no one would want to be stuck with my hips

 

[lustergirl]

I think you came from an abusive family and need to break that cycle. If you are hitting your kid with a bat you should be in jail. I have been hit 2-3 times by a belt when I was a child at my mothers lowest times and I do not respect her for this those are the times I remeber and think she did not care about me. Left welts. Besides those couple times I never recieved a spanking or anything from her. Now my dad on the other hand would sit down and talk with me then come up with a punishment. I respected him much more.

Your kids don't respect you they are afraid of you. Frankly so am I.

FYI- For the most part I was trying to make a point- no I don't hit my younger son with a bat, give me a break- I was trying to state a point here. A lot of children are allowed to "rule the roost" but if that day ever even came in my household then I would do something. I created these children of mine and I will be damned if they are going to rule me. I guess we come from two different worlds. My sons were raised in a city that is very hard on teenagers to do the right thing in life. Alot of our youth here in this city overrun their household and that is why they end up dead, selling drugs on the street corners, part of a gang or even in jail. Yes my mother did hit my brother over the back with a shovel when him and my other brother were fighting but they were both also grown in their late teens to be exact. I laugh when I hear the counting game- 1-2-3, give me a break. Yes I would rather have my kids scared of me but Iam sure as hell they will never disrespect me. Kids will be kids for the most part. My own 2 sons have done some really stupid stuff, we all have growing up,, it is a part of life.

 

[Candid]

FYI- . I laugh when I hear the counting game- 1-2-3, give me a break.

I fail to see how it's funny that I can get the same results by counting that you get by hitting? I get compliments all the time on how respectful and polite my DS is and I've NEVER hit him in his life!

 

[Sammie]

Children of any age, misbehave more at Disney, because parents make unreasonable demands on them. Good grief, they push them from early morning to late at night, some hardly every taken a break and leaving the park. They sleep in strange beds, with probably everyone in the same room. Strange food, heat, and crowds.

How many times when someone asks about resorts, do you hear the comment, "it's just a place to sleep, who spends time at the resort". Who spends time at their resort?, parents who understand that kids of all ages need a break from the park, from the crowds, from all the stimulation of the rides. They need to nap, eat a good, quiet meal and go for a swim.

You see so many parents, telling kids, "quit crying I don't care if you are tired, this trip cost me a fortune".

Personally I think more parents live the dream to go to Disney than their kids. And when they get there and the kids just want to stay at the hotel and swim or rest, the parents lose it.

Some really need to wait and make sure the kids are old enough to handle it, or even want to go.

You know the world would not come to end, if some child simply did not want to go to Disney World.

 

[Sammie]

Since when does politely saying "I don't agree" or "I disagree" mean that a board is unfriendly?

When someone does not want to hear what you have to say.

 

[disneymoon_0307]

I had my hand at some unruly guests about 3 years ago. It was only my 2nd time at DW and my first time seeing Spectro and Wishes. We had a great spot right in front of the castle. We could see everything. It was perfect. Or so i thought. Next thing I know there were about 50 of the tour group people (anyone that has ever been during the summer knows what I'm talking about) They came and stood right in front of us. They were standing the the middle of the road sitting on the fences and just giving me the worst headache. One of the cast members came by and told them to get off the fence and out of the road and they acted like they didn't even speak english. During the entire show we couldn't see the parade and they talked so loudly during the fireworks it just ruined the entire experience. That was just our first day. The rest of the time we would be standing in line and there would be one person in front of us and that person would be holding the line for 50 other people. And during Indiana Jones they kept chanting and stuff like that. These are by far the rudest people I have ever met in my life. I will never go at that time of the year again.

 

[MomWith2Cinderellas]

I KNOW I will be in the minority here but......

I think if a child ,teenager whatever is throwing a fit inside a resturaunt,attraction, movie etc..the parent or parents with that child should exit the attraction, or resturaunt. It is disrespectful to allow a child to cry and carry on in a resturaunt while people are trying to relax and enjoy themselves. I am talking about the LOUD fits, you all know what I am saying.Take them outside and let them have their fit....it is nobody's business how you choose to discipline your child, now I am not saying beat them, you know what I mean here as well. For many people a trip to WDW maybe a once in a lifetime event (CAN YOU IMAGINE) ! I know children are unpredictable and no one can know when a child chooses to "loose" it. BUT in cases that you can get up leave I think its the respectful thing to do.

I totally agree. It is the only right thing to do when your child is acting up in a restaurant.
Occassionally one of my two girls will have a meltdown. It has even happened in a restaurant and we would not think of just sitting there letting her carry on. I will take her outside to try and asset the situation. A majority of the time if the younger one has a meltdown it will be an ear infection.

 

[Sabrina90744]

:/

 

[Mouse House Mama]

Children of any age, misbehave more at Disney, because parents make unreasonable demands on them. Good grief, they push them from early morning to late at night, some hardly every taken a break and leaving the park. They sleep in strange beds, with probably everyone in the same room. Strange food, heat, and crowds.

How many times when someone asks about resorts, do you hear the comment, "it's just a place to sleep, who spends time at the resort". Who spends time at their resort?, parents who understand that kids of all ages need a break from the park, from the crowds, from all the stimulation of the rides. They need to nap, eat a good, quiet meal and go for a swim.

You see so many parents, telling kids, "quit crying I don't care if you are tired, this trip cost me a fortune".

Personally I think more parents live the dream to go to Disney than their kids. And when they get there and the kids just want to stay at the hotel and swim or rest, the parents lose it.

Some really need to wait and make sure the kids are old enough to handle it, or even want to go.

You know the world would not come to end, if some child simply did not want to go to Disney World.

I think that in some cases you are completely right. We are a very laid back family on vacation. If we don't see everything then we don't see everything. There is no guarantee we will be able to come back but we'd rather have a great trip than spend our days as an unhappy group. I will say that you touched on one of my biggest pet peeves. I hate when parents go on and on about how much the trip cost to the kids. It drives me nuts!!! Of course WDW
is expensive but you don't have to go if you can't afford it and a child doesn't really comprehend what that means anyway. I'm sorry but it makes me nuts.

 

[Princess Bella Luna]

When someone does not want to hear what you have to say.

And you notice he/she hasn't even responded to what we have to say. I guess these days - if you ignore it, it does not exist and therefore you are right and everyone else is wrong.

 

[Chrisypoo]

I laugh when I hear the counting game- 1-2-3, give me a break. Yes I would rather have my kids scared of me but Iam sure as hell they will never disrespect me.

Maybe the 'counting game' never worked for your family, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't work at all. That's what I've done with my son, and he knows that once I say 1, he's got to stop what he's doing. I don't understand why anyone would want their child to be scared of them...I grew up scared of my dad and it was not a good thing...that's the last thing I would want for my son. Maybe I misinterpreted what you were trying to say.

 

[bytheblood]

tdkurten, I would have told that parent, you better call an ambulance, because if you get in my business again, you'll need it.

I am so sick of hearing about others who think spanking children is abusive or hearing about kids who tell their parents 'if you spank me, I'll call the cops.'

My 9-year-old daughter does get a spanking from time-to-time, but never anything that would leave a physical mark on her (except a red bottom for a while) and she would never tell me I abuse her.

She saw some of Mommy Dearest once, she would never say I abuse her.


As to bruises or cuts being reported to poilce, there is a HUGE difference between spanking your kid's behind and abusing them.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

What about a picture taking approach? When your kid is in the midst of a fit - whip out the digi cam and snap their scowl, pout, or frown.

Okay I almost cracked up at this. One trip to WDW we had 2 kids and one on the way. For whatever reason they were not in the mood for anything. I mean anything. The pool, the room, MK whatever you name it. Anyway- we are on Main Street (after coming back from lunch,nap, and snack time) and we want to get a photopass picture so we could have a picture of all of us together. Well my ds who had just turned 3 at the time did not want to take a picture for nothing. He wouldn't smile, would cover his face, you name it. We weren't going to torment him so we just had the picture taken with whatever face me made at the moment. So now we are walking down Main Street pushing the double stroller and he is still going on and on about how he does not want a picture taken. Well, my dh and I are the type of people to make a stressful situation funny so we were telling him stuff like "okay- you don't have to be in the picture, we'll black out your face when we get the picture." He still didn't like that so we were giggling and said "okay, we'll put tape over your face when we get the pciture." So now this man walks up to us and says "that is just horrible!!!" He obviously didn't hear the whole conversation and thought we were going to put tape over our kid's face to keep him quiet!!! I was horrified but then we cracked up! So it just goes to show that you never really know what is going on when you see a small snippet of a meltdown.

 

[noseygert]

Okay I almost cracked up at this. One trip to WDW we had 2 kids and one on the way. For whatever reason they were not in the mood for anything. I mean anything. The pool, the room, MK whatever you name it. Anyway- we are on Main Street (after coming back from lunch,nap, and snack time) and we want to get a photopass picture so we could have a picture of all of us together. Well my ds who had just turned 3 at the time did not want to take a picture for nothing. He wouldn't smile, would cover his face, you name it. We weren't going to torment him so we just had the picture taken with whatever face me made at the moment. So now we are walking down Main Street pushing the double stroller and he is still going on and on about how he does not want a picture taken. Well, my dh and I are the type of people to make a stressful situation funny so we were telling him stuff like "okay- you don't have to be in the picture, we'll black out your face when we get the picture." He still didn't like that so we were giggling and said "okay, we'll put tape over your face when we get the pciture." So now this man walks up to us and says "that is just horrible!!!" He obviously didn't hear the whole conversation and thought we were going to put tape over our kid's face to keep him quiet!!! I was horrified but then we cracked up! So it just goes to show that you never really know what is going on when you see a small snippet of a meltdown.

How true is that!!!
I work with special needs children, and trust me I know "meltdowns"!
One day, and young boy in my class decided that another child had looked at him for to long, and he totaly started trashing the place. Well, I sent the other children out side to play with the other staff and where it was safer. I let him rampage for awhile, just making sure he didn't do any harm to himself, and without even noticing I started singing. Something I catch myself doing all the time, btw. Anyway, it was a disney song, Zippity doo daa. The louder he got, the louder I got. I just followed a few steps behind him, picking up turned chairs and such. Pretty soon, he starts laughing, then singing. Instead of trashing stuff, he starts following me, also cleaning up his mess. So here we both are, singing at the top of our lungs (neither of us can carry a tune) walking in a circle, cleaning up the room.
In the mean time, the other staff had called our supervisor in a panic. Here they all stood, out on the playground, hearing this terrible screeching coming from inside, and they thought I was screaming at and beating this child.
Needless to say, it all became a big joke, when my supervisor rushes into the room, to find us singing and cleaning, instead of battered and bleeding.
So, things can fool ya. Just make sure to laugh when they do.

 

[Dis Ohana]

Children of any age, misbehave more at Disney, because parents make unreasonable demands on them. Good grief, they push them from early morning to late at night, some hardly every taken a break and leaving the park. They sleep in strange beds, with probably everyone in the same room. Strange food, heat, and crowds.

How many times when someone asks about resorts, do you hear the comment, "it's just a place to sleep, who spends time at the resort". Who spends time at their resort?, parents who understand that kids of all ages need a break from the park, from the crowds, from all the stimulation of the rides. They need to nap, eat a good, quiet meal and go for a swim.

You see so many parents, telling kids, "quit crying I don't care if you are tired, this trip cost me a fortune".

Personally I think more parents live the dream to go to Disney than their kids. And when they get there and the kids just want to stay at the hotel and swim or rest, the parents lose it.

Some really need to wait and make sure the kids are old enough to handle it, or even want to go.

You know the world would not come to end, if some child simply did not want to go to Disney World.

I totally agree. When my children were younger I would always make sure they had enough down time. On those rare occasions that they just lost it in a public place, I'd quickly pick them up and take them outside or away from the situation. I think a few times we just left and went home. This would usually happen because the child was tired and over stimulated. They learned early on that if they could not control themselves we'd take them out of the situation. We learned early on not to push our kids past their limits (and ours).

My kids are teenagers now and I can't even imagine them having a meltdown in public. I think the fear of public humiliation is enough incentive.

FWIW, I have never spanked my children. It just seems so wrong to do something to a kid that we don't allow them to do to others. I did spend a lot of time explaining why certain behavior wasn't acceptable and followed through on the consequences of their actions.

Now, to address the OP's topic: I must be really out of it, I don't think I've ever witnessed anything at Disneyland so awful that it would ruin my trip. I always go off season when it's not crowded, that might be why. I have also never been to WDW, but I assume it would be the same there. Maybe over crowded parks contribute to bad behaviour by both parents and children.

 

[BillyRayJimBob]

Unless someone actually, physically touches you or your child, it's not worth the fuss. If you do not contend, then no one can contend with you. Those are the words of Lao Tzu, and they are very true. I know I would just tell the woman that this is my daughter and that we aren't line cutting. I'd say the Cast Member waved us over to this spot. I'd even ask her if she wanted to go in front of us. What's the big deal? I think some people are just defensive and confrontational and others are not. I choose to take the high road unless it's a dire emergency.
I thought the Disney Boards would be a nice, friendly place. I have to say I am really disappointed.

Your response to the woman would be confronting her mistaken belief, wouldn't it?

The poster told her that they weren't cutting and she and her husband started in on her. Given the state of affairs, I seriously doubt the woman who just got done yeling the child would (1) believe you and (2) even consider apologizing to your child. I'm glad that you could walk away from someone wrongly yelling (the term used in the original post) at your child and (very probably) ruining her day. My kids don't know much about Eastern philosophies, zen or yin and yang. The do, however, understand feeling like crap because some bully has yelled at them and that being a child they can do nothing but take the abuse -- unless someone stands up for them. They also understand that their parents will stand up for them in the face of abuse. If I disappoint you, I'm sorry. I won't be disappointing my children when they need me.

 

[starbaby0103]

For the record, I spend 24/7 with special needs children. I homeschool my 2 Asperger's and bipolar DDs so I know ALL about those kinds of meltdowns/behaviors, which may be why I know to carefully look at the situation before I do say anything. If someone else's brat (not special needs child) is causing a problem that is impacting MY child (yes, the brat yelling at the parent with absolutely no response upsets my child), then you betcha I'm going to speak up. If my DD has a meltdown, I remove all 75 pounds of her from the situation, I don't just sit there and let her disturb the other people around me. Honestly, the majority of WDW meltdowns that I have witnessed (and there have been a LOT) usually stem from too-high expectations on the part of self-involved parents/kids.

as a young disney-goer with NO children, we definately appreciate this kind of parenting!!!! we spent just as much as you did to get into the parks and appreciate the magic now more than ever! and having to maneuver around a temper tantrum or having a parent plop their kid down right in front of you (even though you've been waiting in that spot for an hour) kinda detracts from the experience!

my all-time favorite display of parenting woud have to be waiting in line behind a larger family for a dark ride....they had to split up so that mom, kid, & grandma were in one party and dad and screaming daughter were in the other. screaming daughter had been screaming (duh) and crying that she didn't want to ride the whole time the were in line, which was 15-20 minutes. like, crying to the point where she's practically hyperventilating. they finally get thru the queue (like, they're the next ones in line to get on) and screaming daughter (who is still screaming) is crying so hard she throws up. all over herself, all over dad, and all over the rails. dad doesn't even offer to clean anything up. he just asks the attendant where the bathroom was and split. i was appalled.

 

[Katiebell]

my all-time favorite display of parenting woud have to be waiting in line behind a larger family for a dark ride....they had to split up so that mom, kid, & grandma were in one party and dad and screaming daughter were in the other. screaming daughter had been screaming (duh) and crying that she didn't want to ride the whole time the were in line, which was 15-20 minutes. like, crying to the point where she's practically hyperventilating. they finally get thru the queue (like, they're the next ones in line to get on) and screaming daughter (who is still screaming) is crying so hard she throws up. all over herself, all over dad, and all over the rails. dad doesn't even offer to clean anything up. he just asks the attendant where the bathroom was and split. i was appalled.

At DL, I spoke with a CM who dealt with a family in front of us that had a child who was crying and obviously didn't want to go on the ride. I didn't really see the family's reaction, but I asked the CM what the rule of thumb was if a child didn't want to ride. She told me they will tell parents about the babyswap option, but if they don't want to do that, then the CM will go with what the child wants -- or in this case, doesn't want. If the child does not want to ride the ride, and is obviously terrified, the CM will not allow the parents to force the child to board. I can see some of the scarier rides being a serious source of meltdown. I've ridden ToT twice, and won't get on that thing again -- the second time just to prove to myself, yep it really is that bad. If someone tried to force me, I'll probably have a hysterical fit, too!

So that was the rule at DL; I wonder if it's the same at WDW?