Seats on the bus

[KSDisneyDad]

People....I have over 30+ stays in WDW, since '99. I primarily use the buses, boats, monorails. I did drive once, last April, for a few days, but still took the buses from our resort. I have to say, that in the vast majority of the bus rides, this has yet to be an issue. I have not seen all that many pregnant women standing up, I haven't seen any little old ladies swaying to and fro, I haven't seen any moms with death grips on their poor 2 y/o toddler while trying to hold onto a seat back. The vast majority of times, if someone sitting sees someone who needs that seat, they hop up and offer it. Sometimes it's accepted, sometimes it's not. If you read these posts you would think that the bus aisles are full of tottering pregnant women or elderly folks or moms clutching their children...and that just isn't the case.

Way too much drama going on here.

You're right. It seems like we like to take one instance and extrapolate it out making it seem like a bigger issue than it really is.

I have seen it a few times, but the vast majority of times, you're right, someone offers a seat to those who may "need" it more.

For me, this thread is just a small diversion after a stressful work week. I'd rather be standing on a Disney bus (and I don't like Disney bues) than working right now!!!

 

[maxiesmom]

I have seen it a few times, but the vast majority of times, you're right, someone offers a seat to those who may "need" it more.

In my own experience, you are right. A few years back I took my mom and dad to WDW. Mom had (and still has) knee problems, and she wore a wrap around her knee. There was not one time that we got on a bus that someone didn't offer her a seat if one was not already available. Not one! Sometimes she took the seat, sometimes she didn't. If it would have been dangerous for her to stand, there is no way I would have let her on that bus to begin with. But when they saw her knee wrapped up, someone always offered her a seat.

 

[dzorn]

ITA with everything you said.

Well peeps, it's been a very interesting thread, but we're off to Orlando in the morning and I must get ready. I will, ahem be thinking about ya'll when I'm on the bus.

Have a good trip!

Denise in MI

 

[KSDisneyDad]

If someone wants to offer their seat to another, than they are free to do so. Just as others are free to keep their seat. Do what you are comfortable with doing, and stop expecting everyone else will hold your same point of view. Because not everyone will. And try to stop looking down on those who have a different viewpoint. Ain't one of us who has superior enough morals that they should be held up as a model of what the rest of us should do, all of the time.

I hope this wasn't pointed at me but that you meant "you" in a general sense. I have said ad naseum (in this thread and the numerous others just like it) that I think these threads are good as one learns that not everyone thinks like you (in a general sense ) so one should set their expectations accordingly.

Although I believe that giving up your seat is the "right" thing to do, I don't expect others to think the same way. I just do what I think is best in the situation. But in doing so, I am making a judgment. Acting is a judgment just as much as inaction. In nearly everything we do and don't do, we are making judgments including posting on these threads.

 

[Rip]

But my point is you do not know who needs it.

If a woman is 9 months pregnant at disney then guess what shes healthy, if not then she would not be at disney. If she felt she needed a seat then wait for another bus.

But I do have issues and so does my DH and my DD none of which you would know by looking at us.

Denise in MI

Oh, the freaking irony.

You're doing backflips to justify behavior that you seem to know is ultimately selfish.

 

[BrerVixen]

We just returned from a wonderful 8 day trip and Disney didn't disappoint. However the some other attendees did. I just wonder what self respecting able bodied 20 or 30 something sits comfortably in a seat while a sleepy 4 year old or woman holding a sleeping 2 year old has to stand.

This really grinds my gears. I am 29, and from the look of it, look pretty healthy and fit/active, but I have a chronic condition with my facet joints in my lower back, which makes standing for long amounts of time very, VERY painful. (you can imagine what fun this is in Disney!) I got one woman who had a child gave me DAGGERS all the ride home. I felt like confronting her, as she clearly couldn't see I was in pain. But I didn't, It was none of her business!

I stood on the bus many times on my last trip, and was in AGONY. Especially when there was a man behind me using me to balance on my banging on my back all the time.

Don't judge a book by its cover.

 

[Rip]

I don't think anyone should be expected to give up their seat. Anyone can wait for another bus. One evening I was holding our sleeping 5 yo and a nice man offered me a seat which was not necessary but appreciated. The only thing that bothers me is parents who allow their children that are small enough to sit on their lap to take up a seat while on a full bus (and strollers or bags as well, but that's without saying I think). More than once my 5 yo started to throw a fit because he wanted to sit next to grandma and I told him in no uncertain terms that the bus was full and he would sit on her lap so someone else could sit. End of discussion. To me that's the only truly rude thing. There's just no justification to make someone else stand when the child could be on a lap. I'm sure someone can come up with an exception, I'm not saying there aren't scenarios where there is a good reason, but to me that's just common courtesy.

Why should that kid give up his/her seat, then? Maybe I have an issue with my lap and can't have anything over 5 lbs. sitting on it?

This makes no sense, either whomever got the seat first shouldn't be expected to give it up, or they should. Your opinion isn't logical in the least.

Actually, there's no polite justification for someone able not to offer their seat in the previously mentioned circumstances.

 

[dzorn]

Oh, the freaking irony.

You're doing backflips to justify behavior that you seem to know is ultimately selfish.

How am I doing back flips? You should not get on a bus and expect people to move for you. Have personal responsibility. If it is standing room only and I or a member of my group cannot stand on a moving bus we wait for another one to assure we have a seat. On a good day we can stand no problem other days we need to sit.

Oh and BTW we do give up seats on occasion but if we choose not to then that is our choice. We waited our turn just as everyone else should.

How is planning appropriatly for my family so they are not a buren to others selfish? Expecting someone to get out of their seat for you is selfish.

Denise in MI

 

[maxiesmom]

I hope this wasn't pointed at me but that you meant "you" in a general sense. I have said ad naseum (in this thread and the numerous others just like it) that I think these threads are good as one learns that not everyone thinks like you (in a general sense ) so one should set their expectations accordingly.

Although I believe that giving up your seat is the "right" thing to do, I don't expect others to think the same way. I just do what I think is best in the situation. But in doing so, I am making a judgment. Acting is a judgment just as much as inaction. In nearly everything we do and don't do, we are making judgments including posting on these threads.

Oh yeah, not you in particular at all. Just a general you. Sorry about that!

 

[BigYellowShoes]

i always give up my seat if someone is holding a small child or baby. I look at things this way. Yes she should have been paying attention. Yes she should not have boarded knowing there were no seats left and waited for the next one. Yes, she probably should have known her 2 year old would fall asleep. Yes to all those things. People bring up that she should have done. But once she's on the bus and it's moved away from the pick up area that's it. She needs a seat. It doesn't matter how she got there. It doesn't matter why. It doesn't matter if she did something wrong or rude, or inconsiderate. It doesn't matter if i'm tired or a bit sore. She's holding a 2 year old and if something happens and that 2 year old goes down the wrong way, it's all over. All concerns about she shouldn't feel she deserves a seat. She shouldn't have got on, etc etc are secondary at that point. She and the baby need a seat. So anyone able bodied should be giving it up. Common decency requires it.

exactly!!!!!!

 

[lakelandgal70]

You will be raked over the coals for this one. Just FYI.


And you don't know that the people sitting were "able bodied" or not. You don't know if they had an invisible disability.


And quite honestly, it's a line for the bus. You wait your turn. If you want to be ensured a seat at the end of the day, rent a car

In a perfect world, yes, someone would offer up their seats. But quite honestly, the people sitting waited longer for the bus than the people standing, and they have every right to occupy the seat that they waited for.

You couldn't have said it any better! I guess I was one of those selfish people who didn't offer their seat. But trust me it was better for those around me that I was sitting. The man across from us was kind enough to get up and offer his seat to a lady with her sleeping kid though.

 

[suemom2kay]

I loathe the buses, I really do. We rent a car.

Git up horsey... Git up!!! I'll beatcha 'til you git goin' now come ON!!!

 

[suemom2kay]

and the wheels on the bus go round and round round and round

Hey!!! I was gonna say that!!!

 

[Rip]

How am I doing back flips? You should not get on a bus and expect people to move for you. Have personal responsibility. If it is standing room only and I or a member of my group cannot stand on a moving bus we wait for another one to assure we have a seat. On a good day we can stand no problem other days we need to sit.

Oh and BTW we do give up seats on occasion but if we choose not to then that is our choice. We waited our turn just as everyone else should.

How is planning appropriatly for my family so they are not a buren to others selfish? Expecting someone to get out of their seat for you is selfish.

Denise in MI

No, you don't need to sit, you've admitted that. That's the whole "irony" thing I mentioned. You want to sit, and that's your right. Just realize that there are a great many people that find it rude when you're more able or less inconvenienced yet still decide to let mom hold her infant while standing, or granny grab the hand rails while her knees are throbbing. Again, you absolutely have a right to sit there as you were there first. They have a right to consider you rude and selfish. And they do. That's what gets these threads going so far - people with your attitude in general can't stand the fact that many other people in the general public consider that behavior rude and selfish, although the tide is gradually turning in your favor.

Then again, I'm a sexist, ageist, handicappist hind-end. I never sit unless everyone else has a seat first.

Oh, and the backflip comment had more to do with the idea that "if she's at Disney, she must be healthy", yet most of the excuses about not giving up your seat to someone that may "need" it more than you have revolved around the whole hidden disabilities thing. Maybe the 9-month pregger chick has one of those on top of carrying around an extra 30 pounds.

In the end, it really doesn't matter. This board is not reflective of reality. I've yet to actually see this behavior and I've had more trips to Disney than I can count. The only thing I've ever seen similar was a time when, at the last minute, a group of people with 2 of those motorized carts pulled up after the bus and they allowed the entire party of 12 to board first, and once they were done and everyone else was allowed on I actually had to ask one of the ladies to pick her bags up off the seat so that my wife could sit and hold our kids. She gave me the stink eye, but she moved her crap. I suppose it was selfish of me to think she should have (1) waited in line like everyone else (no, I don't have a problem with letting the people in the ECVs on first along with a chaperone, just not a fan of letting the other 9 people on too) and (2) and most importantly - thinking that you should have enough sense to hold your damned bags rather than putting them in a seat when there are people standing up.

 

[GoofItUp]

Wow. I don't usually visit this board, but thought I'd see what was going on. Nineteen pages on giving your seat up on a bus? Wow.

I've been to Disney several times -- enough that I'm starting to lose count -- and have used the buses all but a time or two when we stayed off-site. I've never seen most of the things mentioned on here. (People waiting for another bus so they will have a seat, people not giving up their seats to children & such.) DH and I have given up our seats numerous times, particularly for small children. (We'd rather not have them swing like monkeys from the handrails in an effort to hang on.) Since we've had kids, I've also been given seats time and time again so my little ones would have a place.

I'm with you OP. And I'm really, really surprised that this can be a topic of debate for 19 pages. Kind of cracks me up.

I'm sure I probably won't make it back to this thread, but thanks to so, so, so many of you who have been kind to offer me a seat. And, when my boys are old enough/tall enough to hang on to those handrails, the favor will certainly be returned.

And I might peek back in to see just how many pages this can be discussed....

 

[etemplet]

I rarely sit in a seat if a lady is standing on the bus or a child that needs a seat. Many times I have remained standing even though there were empty seats, because a lady was standing or someone more elderly than myself. However, on our recent trip, after the 6th day or standing in lines, standing while riding the bus, standing waiting for the bus, I sat my sorry butt down and didn't care what anyone thought. I was tired. Some much for Southern Chilvary. LOL YMMV.

 

[cbg1027]

We just returned from a wonderful 8 day trip and Disney didn't disappoint. However the some other attendees did. I just wonder what self respecting able bodied 20 or 30 something sits comfortably in a seat while a sleepy 4 year old or woman holding a sleeping 2 year old has to stand.

Most people were wonderful and I watched many a 60 something express their sadness about their inability to offer up their seat. As usual it was just a select few and we certainly didn't let in ruin our trip. Just wanted to encourage all future Disney travelers would think twice before sitting on the bus.

Why should I give you my seat just because you have a tired child? You made the decision to have a child, you made the decision to bring them to Disney. It's not my responsibility to ensure you get a seat, nor does it make me rude to not give my seat to you. I waited in line for this seat, and you had the same opportunity as me to do so.

If there's an elderly person, then yes, I will give my seat to them. They didn't make the decision to be old, that's out of their control so I feel more obligated to make their life easier. But you made the CHOICE to have kids so you can deal with your tired child. Not my job to make it easier for you.

 

[KellyNY]

The recommendation to take a cab is always amusing to me:

From WDW's official website under Resort Benefits:

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/planning-guides/in-depth-advice/resort-transportation/



Save time and money. How does paying for a cab save you money?

.

Yes it will cost you, general you, but so will vacation itself. I am not bying this excuse. Your money maybe important to you but are they more important then your family needs and you would reather rely on strangers help that may never come then spending.

For example, if a family boarded a bus and the Mom was pregnant and holding a sleeping 2 year old and the Dad demanded that someone give up their seat for his wife, that would be rude and disrespectful. If the next family got on the bus and the Mom was pregnant and holding a sleeping 2 year old, but did not expect any special favors, is it fair to stereotype that family based on your experience with the first family?

.

So you say you can not assume someone is a jerk because you do not know his reasons to remain in his sit. Got it, but this very thought is a pure jugement of this particular person, something you refuse to admit, because you look for ways to justify his supposably wrong in your view action, while in reality nobody needs to justify themselves at all.

 

[DisneysPrincess25]

I will be in disney with my bf next week. He's 25 and just had knee surgery recently. So we will not be giving uP seat for others. Sure everyone will see us as a young couple in our 20s but they don't know my bfs condition. Just because he's no longer on crutches doesn't mean the problems are gone. He still has pain and goes to physical therapy

 

[Jey12]