Please Have Theme Park Manners!

[MushyMushy]

I've seen some prety sick looking kids and can't imagine dragging them around. Our older DD got sick on our last trip, we hauled ourselves out of there after a stop at first aid, from the time she fell asleep on Splash to the time we were in our room at POR was about an hour and we had her in bed fast!

Yep. We lost a day last year when DD got a migraine (fever, nausea, etc.). It wasn't contagious, but I'm sure people thought that when she first came down with it.

Good thing we love AKL so much -- it was certainly no hardship to hang out in the room all day.

 

[BuckNaked]

As long as the person who is taking the picture does not wait 10 minutes trying to get their family posed correctly/wait for the sun to be at the right angle/wait for it to snow I agree. Take your picture quickly people! Disney is a theme park with lots of people. Don't expect them all to wait for you to get your shot just right.

Thank you!! I'm more than happy to wait a few seconds, but some people (not most) take forever.

The one and only time I've gone off on another guest at WDW, it was a picture taker (video actually). We were at MGM, in the "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" playground, and a lady was videotaping her little girl. I didn't want to walk in front of her, so I was trying to get behind. I was pregnant, so there wasn't a lot of room to spare to begin with, and she kept backing up. I very politely said excuse me three times, but she just kept backing up, pushing right into me. Finally, she yelled (never stopped taping) "You're just going to have to wait, I'm taping my little girl - now be quiet!".

Needless to say, I wasn't quiet, and she got a verbal souvenir on her video that I'm sure she didn't expect to have.

 

[CanadianGuy]

The backpack comment reminds me of another..

When you're in a tight crowd.. in lines for attractions, on the monorail.. on the curb for the parade (and frequently faced without much choice as to where you stand or how close).. Take off your darned backpack and carry it or put it at your feet please.

That monstrosity on your back flipping back and forth and back and forth.. While you turn to Susie to talk and then turn back to Karen and back to Susie.

It's just rude... unless of course it's hot out.. then the breeze from the backpack flying back and forth is cooling. You may carry on in that situation.

J

 

[LindsayDunn228]

about a year ago I reached my boiling point with people in those electric scooters. I was in one of the shops in MGM looking for a particular size of a shirt when a woman pulled up next to me and yelled 'excuse me'. I told her to put it in reverse and back out of the aisle, I was here first.

Nice

 

[Chattyaholic]

Well, a Disney vacation is an eye-opening experience in terms of viewing different parenting styles first hand. But even the best-intentioned and prepared parents have awful experiences with their children. The complaint that struck closest to home for me was the one about the screaming children during rides and shows. In 1996 when my daughter (now 11 1/2) was 10 months old, I took her into the Hall of Presidents in the Magic Kingdom. She had eaten lunch, napped, and was perfectly happy. My husband had taken our 3 year old on a ride in FantasyLand, so we were on our own. Anyway, we were herded into the large rows and ended up in the dead center of a row. Once you are seated, there is no going anywhere until the lights go on. You can probably guess what happened...About 10 minutes in she started fussing and then that escalated to wailing. Despite all of my efforts, I couldn't get her to stop. When the show ended, people turned from ALL directions with stares that have stayed with me to this day. Of course, as soon as the lights went on, she stopped crying. I wanted to die then and there. A woman said to her husband "Well, I guess we have to do this again before we leave so we can hear it". I didn't blame anyone one bit, but unfortunately, incidents like this do happen and they cannot be predicted. If there was any way to get out, I would have. I had even tried to get a seat near the end of a row, but unless you experience the "herding" effect, you can't believe how you fall in and just follow the person ahead of you. To this day, whenever we make our annual trip to the Magic Kingdom, my husband insists on taking a mother-daughter picture outside of the American Adventure. He says he will never forget how I looked when I met up with him afterwards!

You really should have let people pass by you so you COULD have sat on the aisle so you could LEAVE when the baby fussed.

I really don't understand people who take infants to attractions like Hall of Presidents. It's about as bad as taking them to a movie theater.

 

[DancingBear]

In a roadway--if you slow to stop regardless of reason and someone hits you--the person who rear ended is the one at fault as they could have or should have been able to do something defensively. There could be something in the road...or they could be breaking down....who knows why they stop. But you still have to use caution to not hit them. So that analogy doesn't really work as the law is on the side of the person who got bumped.

No, the analogy still works. We're not talking about legal liability for injuries caused by a collision, but the fact that it's rude to just stop abruptly in a traffic lane for no reason, other than you want to look at the map or discuss with your family where to go next. Just as you wouldn't stop in the middle of a highway to look at the map.

 

[Lizzy2]

Once again I am amazed at the level of "man's inhumanity to man" present here on the DIS.
No matter what stage of life you and your family are, whether you have a toddler in a stroller - a teenager in Heely's -your elderly mother is in a wheelchair-WDW is a place where we all should be able to be tolerant of each other. It belongs to all of us not just some of us or to the ones that behave the way you think they should. Short of causing some one physical harm, just get over it folks. So what if you have to walk around someone 's baby carriage? It takes 2 seconds to do it. And as for telling people in motorized chairs to back out of the aisle you should just be ashamed seriously. How do you know what wrong with that person and why they are in that chair?
My BFF is a certified WDW nut and is also dying of lung cancer at 37yold. If I am ever blessed enough to get her back to WDW it will probably be in one of those motorized chairs that inconvience you all so much. God help you if I hear one nasty comment or see one pair of eyes roll. Believe me, the *#@! WILL hit the fan!!!

 

[hogue123]

You really should have let people pass by you so you COULD have sat on the aisle so you could LEAVE when the baby fussed.

I really don't understand people who take infants to attractions like Hall of Presidents. It's about as bad as taking them to a movie theater.

You don't know how your child is going to react to a show/attraction or movie until you try it. Kids are unpredictable. You never know if something will set them off. Most of the time mine will sit pretty good through things like that and other times, not so good. Maybe you don't understand because you either don't have kids or it's been a while since you've had an infant? It's not a treat for the parent to sit with a fussing baby either. It's not like the parent brings the kid in there on purpose to spoil everyone else's time.

 

[MushyMushy]

You don't know how your child is going to react to a show/attraction or movie until you try it. Kids are unpredictable. You never know if something will set them off.

Exactly! Which is why a parent needs to make sure to sit in a place where they can make a quick exit whenever possible or not take the child into a quiet place like that in the first place.

 

[Liberty Belle]

about a year ago I reached my boiling point with people in those electric scooters. I was in one of the shops in MGM looking for a particular size of a shirt when a woman pulled up next to me and yelled 'excuse me'. I told her to put it in reverse and back out of the aisle, I was here first.

I hope this is a joke. If not, I do hope you happen to say something to Lizzy2's friend...you deserve her wrath.

 

[binny]

You don't know how your child is going to react to a show/attraction or movie until you try it. Kids are unpredictable. You never know if something will set them off. Most of the time mine will sit pretty good through things like that and other times, not so good. Maybe you don't understand because you either don't have kids or it's been a while since you've had an infant? It's not a treat for the parent to sit with a fussing baby either. It's not like the parent brings the kid in there on purpose to spoil everyone else's time.

EXACTLY!

My youngest has some special needs. I simply cannot predict how she will react to a certain thing.

An example would be last year at Disney. She LOVED the teacups. Had a blast. We go over to innoventions and the moving floor totally set her off. She went into FULL panic mode. There was nothing I could do stop her. I tried reasoning with her and was a little harsh because, as you can maybe imagine, having come from the teacups where she was fine to a moving floor freaking her out didnt make a lot of sense to me.

Im sure people thought I was a horrible parent for talking sternly to her (no yelling or anything just quietly reprimanded and reasoned with her) Oh well. Walk a mile in my shoes and deal with my everyday frustrations.



"Its the happiest place on earth darnit deal with it!"

 

[Chattyaholic]

You don't know how your child is going to react to a show/attraction or movie until you try it. Kids are unpredictable. You never know if something will set them off. Most of the time mine will sit pretty good through things like that and other times, not so good. Maybe you don't understand because you either don't have kids or it's been a while since you've had an infant? It's not a treat for the parent to sit with a fussing baby either. It's not like the parent brings the kid in there on purpose to spoil everyone else's time.

I have two children of my own and six grandchildren so I do know they are unpredictable, but I would never take a 10-month old into an attraction like Hall of Presidents. But if I DID take a 10-month old in, I would definitely have an aisle seat so I could get out FAST if the baby started fussing. To just sit there and let the baby fuss and fuss, while ruining the attraction for everyone else around you, I feel is just rude.

But then I wouldn't take a 10-month old to WDW in the first place but that's a whole different topic.

 

[LindsayDunn228]

I hope this is a joke. If not, I do hope you happen to say something to Lizzy2's friend...you deserve her wrath.

A lot of Amity's posts are like this. His post, sadly, did not surprise me.

 

[Chattyaholic]

Exactly! Which is why a parent needs to make sure to sit in a place where they can make a quick exit whenever possible or not take the child into a quiet place like that in the first place.

ITA!!!

 

[PenguinWaiters]

I'd like to add one....

If your child is visibly sick, LEAVE the PARK IMMEDIATELY.

QUOTE]


We were waiting to board the Safari in AK when my husband looked at the next line over and saw a boy of about 3 or 4 throw up. He was with his parents or grandparents and they did not see it happen, so my DH leaned over and said "Excuse me, he just threw up." The adults looked at the puke on the ground and then looked at the kid's face, shrugged and said "He looks fine." They then proceeded to get on the ride with us Every time we went over a bump (and there are a LOT on that ride) I worried that kid was going to lose his lunch all over me. Fortunately, he managed to wait until right when they got off the ride, then puked again.

On the other hand, I think sometimes people make too much out of it. We were waiting to go back to our hotel when a little girl got sick right as she was getting on the bus. Well, you would think she had projectile vomited all over people with the comments they were making. Give me a break, Sure, it is not pleasant to smell, but there is no reason to make pointed comments - after all there is nothing that can be undone at that point. I am sure she felt bad enough already without the nasty looks, and her dad WAS already trying to get her back to the hotel. They waited for the next bus while the dad cleaned her up, and the people who were getting on that bus treated them like they had the plague!

 

[Stinky_Pete]

I can't tell you how many times at shows and parades we've been asked to move by latecomers "well, our kids can't see and it's really for the kids you know".

That happened to me once. I don't usually don't go during busy seasons, but did one time. Since it was busy I lined up on the tape almost an hour before the parade. I don't know why, but for the first time in my life I really wanted to be in front and not look over a sea of people to see the parade.

So about 5 minutes before the parade starts some woman is pushing her children in front of me. I say "there's no room up here." She replies something about "they can't see" to which I respond "you should have staked a place out earlier - I've been waiting here over 45 minutes."

She mumbled under her breath a bit - something about "can't believe they won't let a CHILD in front." As the parade approached I sat down on the sidewalk so those behind me could see. I can be courteous, even if others aren't.

 

[maxiesmom]

Ok, take the person in Amity's post out of a wheelchair for a moment. If I am standing in an aisle, and you need to go by me, please ask me nicely to move. Do not come around the corner and shout "Excuse me!" in a rude way. I would be a little miffed. Now why is that behavior acceptable because the person is in a wheelchair? Sure I understand that wheelchairs/scooters are much harder to manuever, but that entitles the person in the chair to be rude? I don't think so.

 

[MushyMushy]

Ok, take the person in Amity's post out of a wheelchair for a moment. If I am standing in an aisle, and you need to go by me, please ask me nicely to move. Do not come around the corner and shout "Excuse me!" in a rude way. I would be a little miffed. Now why is that behavior acceptable because the person is in a wheelchair? Sure I understand that wheelchairs/scooters are much harder to manuever, but that entitles the person in the chair to be rude? I don't think so.

There could be any number of reasons the person spoke up. Maybe s/he is hard of hearing and doesn't realize how loudly she speaks... maybe the person already tried speaking politely, but the op didn't hear it the first time. Maybe the person actually didn't want through, but rather wanted the op to reach something for him/her.

It's a whole lot easier to assume a rude motive than good intentions, though, right?

 

[LindsayDunn228]

Ok, take the person in Amity's post out of a wheelchair for a moment. If I am standing in an aisle, and you need to go by me, please ask me nicely to move. Do not come around the corner and shout "Excuse me!" in a rude way. I would be a little miffed. Now why is that behavior acceptable because the person is in a wheelchair? Sure I understand that wheelchairs/scooters are much harder to manuever, but that entitles the person in the chair to be rude? I don't think so.

I agree, but you are just lowering yourself to their level with smart*** retorts like Amity used.

 

[Kath2003]

People who don't understand that the characters come round to your table at buffets and can't wait their turn

Oh and people who don't take screaming kids out of restaurants. Everyone knows it's WDW, everyone accepts that kids make noise. No one should have their vacation ruined, however, because your kid is making excessive noise by screaming at the next table for extended periods of time. If your child cannot behave in a restaurant, it should be removed until it can. I'm not talking about the occasional wail or scream, I'm talking about melt-downs that cannot be put under control within 2 minutes. At that point, enough. Remove, sort it, return.