Problems at Contemporary

[sadiebug]

I just want to say that most parents do not use the stroller as a bulldozer as someone in a previous post replied. People on both sides of the stroller need to watch where they are going. I couldn't believe how many people would step directly in front of the stroller when we were there!! I would never intentionally hit anyone, but when people are constantly stepping in front of the stroller what's a person to do?? Then they have the nerve to turn around and get upset at you for their carelessness.

I realize that isn't what happened in this case, and the parents behavior was horrible!! I just wanted to point out the other side of the stroller story.

 

[ncgolfer]

Paulamom you are a much calmer person than myself. If someone had threatened by daughter the paramedics would have had to come scrap the women and her husband off the street. Sorry you had to put up with some people's stupidity.

Charlie

 

[undertheradar]

Originally posted by sadiebug
I just want to say that most parents do not use the stroller as a bulldozer as someone in a previous post replied. People on both sides of the stroller need to watch where they are going. I couldn't believe how many people would step directly in front of the stroller when we were there!! I would never intentionally hit anyone, but when people are constantly stepping in front of the stroller what's a person to do?? Then they have the nerve to turn around and get upset at you for their carelessness.

I realize that isn't what happened in this case, and the parents behavior was horrible!! I just wanted to point out the other side of the stroller story.

As a father of three, I speak from experience when I say that some parents DO use the strollers as a way of "clearing" a path for themselves. The sidewalks and street are very crowded at parade and closing times, and many parents seem to lose control of the strollers. It has gotten so bad, that we find it easier to take the train back to Main Street, it is a much safer and quicker journey. I am sure that I did not accuse MOST parents of the "bulldozing" practice. It would be wise for Disney to direct wheeled vehicles to one area and foot traffic to another.

 

[McCall]

Originally posted by ChesireMeg
I'm so sorry that this happened on your trip. Some of these strollers/scooters are ridiculous. I've had so many people run into me with these and then they get miffed and look at me like I'm the problem! Whatever. I'm glad you still managed to look on the bright side of your trip and had a decent time. Thanks for the info!

People turn around and walk right in front of or into me and my scooter all the time. or stop dead in front of me. scooters do not stop dead they take about a second or so to stop.
I have had people land across my lap when they have turned like this suddenly. they also walk right in front of you like they don't see you at all, when I am in my wheelchair it is even worse.

 

[floridafam]

While I understand all of the frustrations with strollers I find it funny that only 2 people have expressed shock that someone got in an elevator during a possible fire.

This is far more dangerous and should at least be worth a few responses.

Maybe I'm having a bad day, which I am, but I've never heard of anyone killed by a stroller at WDW.

 

[terribm]

This thread has just depressed me. Everyone with any sense knows how to use common coutesy when pushing a stroller or walking around those pushing strollers. The problem comes with selfish, rude people who are only out for themselves and have no regard for anyone else. I truely believe that these people live misreable lives and want to make everyone else as misreable as they are. DH and I were enjoying a day at MK recently when I turned around from a pop corn stand and walked into the path of an approaching stroller. I instantly stopped, backed up and said "excuse me, go ahead". She said "no you go ahead" in a smart a$$ tone that I didn't pick up on at first. But DH heard her make a rude comment when we passed. I can't stand horrible people that try to suck the magic right out of the Kingdom. UGH!!

Terri

 

[BettyCv]

Why did it take your husband an hour to get down to the ground floor? That alone would scare the daylights out of me...

Sorry to hear about all the ding-dongs you had to deal with.

BettyCv

 

[sadiebug]

Originally posted by familyoffive
As a father of three, I speak from experience when I say that some parents DO use the strollers as a way of "clearing" a path for themselves. The sidewalks and street are very crowded at parade and closing times, and many parents seem to lose control of the strollers. It has gotten so bad, that we find it easier to take the train back to Main Street, it is a much safer and quicker journey. I am sure that I did not accuse MOST parents of the "bulldozing" practice. It would be wise for Disney to direct wheeled vehicles to one area and foot traffic to another.

Sorry.
I realize that you did not mean that "most" parents use strollers as bulldozers, and I agree that there are some that do. It was just that as I was reading the posts it seemed that people were blaming strollers for the problem of getting hit. I just wanted to make the point that everyone needs to watch where they are going, not just those who push strollers!!

 

[DisOrBust]

I had simular experience but with an ECV. The guy just backed up w/o looking and came dam close to taking out my 18month old. The stroller business goes both ways. I drive mine carefully but had many people jump in front to get ahead. I had to laugh when the gal who did it last landed right on her butt, did she look like a fool!

What we were amazed by was the rented wheelchair abuse goiming on. 10 people with one person in a WC, RENTED, expecting allto get FOTL at rides and parades. Sorry but if you rented a wc at the park you probably walked up to rent it and can probably walk the lines like the rest of us. I was sick after watching all the space for Spectro being taken up and people truely in their own chairs turned away. I have more examples but I will cut it short. WDW should have some form of medical necessity for WC and EVC rental..that would cut down on considerable traffic.

I know I know go ahead barb b que me!

 

[Disneyolic]

I see life from the other side of the stoller. I'm alway's watching where I going but I can't say the same for pedestrians. You don't step in front of a truck and expect it to stop on a dime, why do people step in front of a stroller carring 100 pounds of toddler and not expect to be hit?

I just had to comment on that one too. This past trip was our first with a stroller and we saw life from the other side. I could not believe all the people who did step directly in front of us and stopped dead then gave us a nasty look when we hit them with the stroller accidentally - or the people cutting right in front of our stroller and getting hit too. This, I would assume would be the same situation as if someone was walking and someone cut in front and stopped. You would probably bump into them. Strollers aren't always as easy to stop on a dime.

Now on the other side, I still had my foot ran over last time from a lady rushing to get her daughter to the character bus in Epcot. I was standing in the same spot for quite a while and "wham" right over my foot. It really hurt and I said "ouch" in quite a loud voice to hope she would at least apologize. Nope. Just gave me a dirty look.

Please don't be hard on the we "nice" stroller pushers. We're trying our best. It's too bad that there are nasty ones out there ruining it for all of us.

While I understand all of the frustrations with strollers I find it funny that only 2 people have expressed shock that someone got in an elevator during a possible fire.

Okay, after rambling about the stroller issue, I have to say that I thought the same thing about the elevators. I have always heard no one should go in an elevator during a possible fire. I'm surprised they were working. There should be some type of override that shuts them down during such an alarm.

~DawnMaree

 

[auntpolly]

Originally posted by floridafam
While I understand all of the frustrations with strollers I find it funny that only 2 people have expressed shock that someone got in an elevator during a possible fire.

This is far more dangerous and should at least be worth a few responses.

Maybe I'm having a bad day, which I am, but I've never heard of anyone killed by a stroller at WDW.

I just got the impression that Paulamom was telling us a story about her the weird things that happened on her vacation -- I mean the car accident, then the smoky restaurant, the the husband MIA in the smoky restaurant, then the lady threatening to bowl over her child...! eek!

all part of a rather out of the ordinary trip! I'm glad you had fun, anyway, Paulamom!

 

[QJ411]

Originally posted by ncgolfer
Paulamom you are a much calmer person than myself. If someone had threatened by daughter the paramedics would have had to come scrap the women and her husband off the street. Sorry you had to put up with some people's stupidity.

Charlie

Again about the strollers and the mean ppl who uses them to bulldoze ppl, it's really a terrible thing. I understand the sometimes ppl do just stop dead in their tracks and ppl w/ strollers run into them...and there's that ackward silence of how is the other person going to react?! But last Dec. DH and I went to WDW w/ my little cousin and we had a stroller for her. after the parade, it was JAM PACKED, and we couldn't get anywhere w/ her in the stroller (w/out running over anybody)...so we pushed the stroller to the side and abandoned it...DH just carried her thru the crowd instead.

I know that strollers do come in VERY handy, but it's disappointing when ppl don't use their common courtesy.

 

[Mike]

Originally posted by paulamom
The next day we had reservations at California Grill (Easter Sunday) at 7:30. We got the perfect table by the window with a lovely view when the resturant started filling with smoke. Mass caos as you can imagine trying to get on the elevator to leave after they anoused not to worry but you could only have cold food (as the smoke was increasing) . I got my children on an elevator but DH didn't get down for about an hour.

Sorry but this sounds strange to me. How does it take an hour to get out of the building? Was everybody waiting for the elevators? Didn't anyone think to go down the stairs?????

 

[Stitch Inside]

Originally posted by floridafam
While I understand all of the frustrations with strollers I find it funny that only 2 people have expressed shock that someone got in an elevator during a possible fire.

This is far more dangerous and should at least be worth a few responses.

Maybe I'm having a bad day, which I am, but I've never heard of anyone killed by a stroller at WDW.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

floridafam, I thought the same as you when I first read the original post, but I trust that Disney would not have let anyone on the elevators if the fire was anything more serious than a localized kitchen fire which billowed some smoke into the restaurant.

But I'm also curious as to what happened with her DH while he was MIA?

 

[DisneyDude61]

I could be wrong, but I think there is only one elevator that goes up to the 15th floor where the resturant is located. That would account for the long delay in getting down. I don't know anything about stairs, but when we were there last july, they had a private party and locked up 2 of the 4 elevators for those guests, and the rest of the hotel was stuck using just 2 elevators. the wait was horrible, and we couldn't find any stairs.

 

[beastlyprince]

Originally posted by DisneyDude61
I could be wrong, but I think there is only one elevator that goes up to the 15th floor where the resturant is located. That would account for the long delay in getting down. I don't know anything about stairs, but when we were there last july, they had a private party and locked up 2 of the 4 elevators for those guests, and the rest of the hotel was stuck using just 2 elevators. the wait was horrible, and we couldn't find any stairs.

There are stairwells on each of the four corners of the Contemporary Resort Tower. These stairwells can be reached by exiting the California Grill and walking across the 4 observation platforms on the roof.

The stairwells each have exit-only doors on each floor. Unless you're lucky that one of the doors didn't close completely, you would have to walk all the way down to ground level.

 

[Sammie]

The OP stated the restaurant filled with smoke. This does not necessarily mean a fire. She also said they could order cold food. What this means to me is they had a problem with the exhaust fan for the grill. I have been in restaurant when this happens. The places suddenly fills with smoke from the grill, but there was no fire. But they could not continue to grill without the exhaust.

There are definitely stairs, no building is without them.

 

[Anne MN]

I use to worl in "the largest retail mall in the US" (look at my location and you should figure it out)

As for the elevators, there are signs posted in all elevators that say something like do not use if building is in alarm. What people do not know is that 9 times out of 10, the general public will NOT hear (or see the strobes) the alarms. (they do not go off in the public areas unless they are effected) take the fireworks in camp snoopy, those set off the fire alarms every night! they are just bypassed(just that roof area) for about 7 minutes, the time it takes for show and the vent system to pull 99% of smoke out.

Most elevators can be shut down, but someone needs to do this. what usually happens is that 4 officers respond to the area and check it out. ( the fire dept is automatic, they get the alarm same time) if they find no signs, fire dept is cancelled. ( over half of the officers were volunteer fire persons)

As for rules with security...
it is private property.. they can trespass and eject. if more is desired (obvious assult) the local police dept is called. I imagine that there is a substation somewhere in the underground tunnels there. I know there is one at the "mall" and the way the system works is that the person who was assulted, robbed, hurt, etc has to be the one to sign the complaint. shoplifting is up to the owner or rep of the store. (I know, someone STEAL at disney, NEVER) so there must be some police people on site during park hours somewhere.

 

[lilboo]

Originally posted by Sammie
The OP stated the restaurant filled with smoke. This does not necessarily mean a fire.

I also assumed it was just a localized kitchen fire, not an all-encompassing, towering inferno. I'm sure if it had been, an evacuation protocol down the fire stairs would've been executed by the staff.

But that stroller altercation! I'm just speechless!

 

[trip]

Originally posted by MaryKatesMom
People can be so rude!

You don't step in front of a truck and expect it to stop on a dime, why do people step in front of a stroller carring 100 pounds of toddler and not expect to be hit? I had someone step in front of me on the sidewalk of Main St. and in an effort not to do some ankle damage I swerved and the wheel caught the edge of the curb sending me into the street. It was hard to keep it upright and to make matters worse the family of the child who stepped in front of me glared at me!

Everyone needs to pay attention where they are going.

Are there alot of 100 pound toddlers?