Saving rows of seats for others in the Walt Disney Theater: Enough Already!!!

[darkwing818]

This thread has had an overwhelming amount of support against "Saving multiple seats in the Theater". And yet things like the smoking change & what folks should wear to dinner usually have folks on both sides of the coin posting responses. Over 2,000 people have read this post & yet there has not been one person saying that it's OK to save a whole row of seats, yeah!! . Clearly we Dis folks have our act together.

 

[momof2n2]

This thread has had an overwhelming amount of support against "Saving multiple seats in the Theater". And yet things like the smoking change & what folks should wear to dinner usually have folks on both sides of the coin posting responses. Over 2,000 people have read this post & yet there has not been one person saying that it's OK to save a whole row of seats, yeah!! . Clearly we Dis folks have our act together.

Or maybe seat-savers are afraid?
I've only done one cruise 10+ years ago & don't recall this at all. IRL we save seats at church, but no one seems to care. I can see saving a seat or two if you're a full cabin and one person has to be the last to shower, etc. Or if a parent wants to wait until the last minute to bring in the 2 year old. But common sense seems to say if you need to save a whole row maybe your party should have worked to get there earlier.

 

[rounderjd]

On a similar note, it drove me crazy seeing more pool loungers "saved" around the Quiet Cove pool on the Magic than there were people in the pool or at the bar. Surely there can't consistently be THAT many people conveniently in line at the washroom.

 

[Scoobypop]

This thread has had an overwhelming amount of support against "Saving multiple seats in the Theater". And yet things like the smoking change & what folks should wear to dinner usually have folks on both sides of the coin posting responses. Over 2,000 people have read this post & yet there has not been one person saying that it's OK to save a whole row of seats, yeah!! . Clearly we Dis folks have our act together.

I thought the same thing. I figured it was about time one of the entitled folks came on and said, "what, like you never drive 5mph over the speed limit?"

 

[cats mom]

This thread has had an overwhelming amount of support against "Saving multiple seats in the Theater". And yet things like the smoking change & what folks should wear to dinner usually have folks on both sides of the coin posting responses. Over 2,000 people have read this post & yet there has not been one person saying that it's OK to save a whole row of seats, yeah!! . Clearly we Dis folks have our act together.

Sadly the worst culprits on one of our cruises was a group of Dis-ers. About 30 minutes before every show 3 or 4 people would show up to save 2 full rows of seats. At least they went for a side section, instead of center, but they were always the same 2 rows right down front. A few people from the group would trickle in as time went on, but the majority generally showed up 5 minutes prior to, or even after, the start of the show. What REALLY made me angry was the fact that not once during the entire cruise did I see every seat they had saved full. They would try to spread out so only single seats were left, but there were some shows where I think there were almost as many empty seats in their saved section as ones with inconsiderate butts sitting in them.

 

[TheLanes]

This thread has had an overwhelming amount of support against "Saving multiple seats in the Theater". And yet things like the smoking change & what folks should wear to dinner usually have folks on both sides of the coin posting responses. Over 2,000 people have read this post & yet there has not been one person saying that it's OK to save a whole row of seats, yeah!! . Clearly we Dis folks have our act together.

No one has the gall to admit they save rows of seats. They know they are completely in the wrong, why tell the world? They know they are so wrong, they usually make their kids do the dirty work.

 

[Dug720]

I don't recall encountering this on the Dream in July... Of course we are perfectly fine sitting in the rear section (we've all seen enough shows to know that often the better seats are NOT in fact in front - in the rear there's usually more of a rake in seating AND you can see the whole stage rather than just a little at a time). It also seemed to eliminate the talking and noise around us issues.

But I thought the thing was not only no seat saving but that people were supposed to move into the middle of their row to sit down and fill in from the middle out. We did have to climb over people every night who were camped out on the ends of the rows, but that was it.

 

[barbarasc]

This also happens in the area saved for folks with disabilities and/or in a wheelchair. The rule is 1 seat for the person with the disability and 1 seat for their guest and I can't tell you how many times I have had to tell people to move and then their rude comments follow them having to get up.

This past June on the Fantasy my daughter (in her wheelchair) and I were sitting in the reserved area during the Pirate Party and people thought Oh Look SEATS, really can they not read the sign posted at the roped off area? I felt so bad for the CM she had to ask people to leave the area and those guests were less than kind to her.

 

[Zeppelin]

The problem mainly exists in the center first few rows. We like center seats a few rows back and arrive approximately 30 minutes before showtime. Never a problem getting seats in this area for the three of us. My DH might stop in the shops and I'll need to save one seat for a few minutes. But he knows its very rude to show up at the last minute. Never had any issues with one seat.

It's these hugely obnoxious people... Last cruise was grandma... That think their entire extended family is entitled to the second or third row by arriving 5 minutes before showtime. Me and those around me that also arrived 30 mins prior talk about how Disney really needs to enforce their own policy.

So many nice people arrive early and should be seated in a prime seat but to avoid confrontation avoid the seat saver and look elsewhere. I've yet to see someone politely say seat saving is prohibited and just sit there.

All Disney needs to do is place a single CM in this front section. It's certainly not difficult to spot the culprits.

i'm gonna disagree with this...this issue we had all last week were the aisle seats in the last few rows of the first side section (if that makes sense)....our habit is to enter the theater on the left and sit in the section on the left, for whatever reason....while i'm sure you're correct that it happens often in the middle section and front rows, don't discount the rudeness of people throughout the theater...

 

[texasgirl29]

There is a NO seat saving policy. When we were seated in the theater a family of three came in and sat down in an open area in front of us with many more than three open seats. A person seated there said they were saved, the gentleman said that isn't allowed and remained there. I couldn't have done that but I'm glad there are some that can

Disney should just make an occasional announcement over the speaker system leading up to the shows start that; there is NO SEAT SAVING allowed. I can see if you are doing it for your spouse and a child or two because they may be doing a bathroom break before the start of the show. But if you're a large group, NEVER!!!

HA! As if an announcement would do any good! Just got off the Magic in the Mediterranean and the audience talked through the cruise director's intro every night. On family of 15 sat in the third row every night -- parents on the outside, kids on the inside -- and kids ran back and forth during the performance. Very rude crowd.

 

[castlegazer]

They asked one of the waiters to help them save the seats and he just smiled and didn't say a word. This made me laugh and when the older girl looked back at me I told her sweetie, he's not going to help you save seats because it's against the rules to do that. He smiled a little bigger and walked away.

Why does DCL do this? I have seen this happen many times in the Theater and wondered the same thing. Why is it the guests responsibility to stop this from very obviously happening? Why doesn't DCL do anything about it?

It's in such small print on the Navigators and I can't remember hearing it in the Theater (doesn't mean they don't announce it - just that I didn't hear it).

I truly wonder why they don't take a bigger stance on this because it makes a bad experience for some guests.

 

[liv908]

Just was on cruise last week and used the movie theatre and Buena Vista theatre for shows. I gladly didn't witness people saving seats since that would be wrong.

Must admit during movie people behind me having conversation - how rude. They want to talk then leave the theatre if they are not focusing on movie.

 

[Yokelridesagain]

They announced the "no seat saving" thing on the overhead during the run up to the performance on each of the cruises I've been on. Of course, it was openly ignored.

 

[mayesq]

We did end up saving seats for each other. The problem is that my kids wanted to see the shows, but also wanted a chance to see some of the coveted characters that were only available for limited times. Unfortunately, sometimes it was 15 minutes before a show was starting. So, I went ahead and saved seats. But it was just me, hubby and our two boys. Not a whole row.

 

[lbgraves]

Regarding people sitting at the ends of the aisle, we get there so we are near the front of the line when the doors open 30 minutes before the show. We prefer to sit on the aisle. If I am there 40 minutes before the show and all the members of my family are present, we are going to sit on the aisle. We will get up to allow others to get to the middle seats if needed.

 

[jlemieu1]

Been on the Dream twice and both times we were with late dinning. Sat up in the balcony and have never seen an issue with seat savers.

 

[TheLanes]

Regarding people sitting at the ends of the aisle, we get there so we are near the front of the line when the doors open 30 minutes before the show. We prefer to sit on the aisle. If I am there 40 minutes before the show and all the members of my family are present, we are going to sit on the aisle. We will get up to allow others to get to the middle seats if needed.

I think moving towards the middle is meant more for places like Disneyland, with the Captain EO show or at DCA, for the Bugs Life and Muppet shows. Large amount of people moving in and out of theatre at once...

 

[MassDisLovers]

I think moving towards the middle is meant more for places like Disneyland, with the Captain EO show or at DCA, for the Bugs Life and Muppet shows. Large amount of people moving in and out of theatre at once...

However, if DCL instituted this policy at shows it would be the end of the Seat Savers!

 

[Justacruiser]

I think this happens primarily with groups of multiple families. Usually all related to each other. I was in such a group once. There was was one of our families that never showed up until time to start, and yes they are ALWAYS late for everything. They did not sit with us becuase we refused to save seats! My DW and I always arrive by 20 minutes until the performance. And, we always get our desired seats, 2/3 of the way up on the right side isle. But it is because we arrive early. The extended family know, you want to sit with US, be on time. Otherwise talk with you afterwards. They weren't happy, but THEY could have shown up on time.

There are some within the larger family dynamic that arrive on time. They need to tell the other family members that there is a policy and the late party is putting the burden of saving seats on them. Inapproprate and self serving behavior should not be tolderated by the on time families. Cause, you do that the first night...... you are doing it every night of the cruise.

I just set out the ground rules and that how I operate. Dinner, the same thing, I ain't waiting more than a couple of minutes.

I had the same philosophy with the 4 families we went with. Three of us hung out, the others just hung.

To help us out, they should have "please do not save seats" on the side screens beginning when the doors open. Then us folks that see the violation can just point at the screen. There is a audible message that talks about reserve seats and cameras but it isn't played until 10 minutes prior to the show.

 

[Moxin]

I make sure to lick each seat that I want to save.

Problem solved.