SLLLLLOOOOW Moving Tourists?

[Figment1964]

Maybe it's just me, but this seems like a small thing to be concerned about.

Three of my 4 boys have special needs and what I wouldn't give to have slow walkers be the concern that bothers me. I have to worry about so many other things that if I have to be behind someone moving slower than I am, so be it, I'll just be glad I'm moving.

 

[ThunderMTexpert]

don't take it to heart, anyone- when this was posted, it OF COURSE discluded people who need special medical care, asthma being part of this, or people with disABILITIES. i just meant ppl who whip out their maps in the midst of main street- and pause for a conversation in the pathways- thats all, folks! peace, dude-

 

[lnh'smom]

ThunderMTexpert - I'm you! I realize people have various reasons for walking slow. That is fine. What I hate is when people are walking slow 4-5 people across so that those of us who walk a little faster don't really have the room to walk around them. Especially when the slow walkers act as though they are offended that you walked around them. This is not just at MK, anywhere. I know that when my kids are walking slow, we try to move as far to the right as possible and I try to take a quick peek behind me so we don't stop suddenly in front of anyone else. I just feel like these things are a part of being polite.

 

[Figment1964]

don't take it to heart, anyone- when this was posted, it OF COURSE discluded people who need special medical care, asthma being part of this, or people with disABILITIES. i just meant ppl who whip out their maps in the midst of main street- and pause for a conversation in the pathways- thats all, folks! peace, dude-

Nah, no problem here...just a different point of view.

My point wasn't that my special need kids are slow walkers or even that my family is slow because of a disability...it's actually quite the opposite...they are FAST and I constantly have to make sure they stay with us.

I was just saying that I would like to have something as simple as "slow walkers" be what was a concern to me. I wish I didn't have to be concerned about special diets, educational accommodations, the future of my kids, therapy/counseling, anger/aggression with 2 of my kiddos, and all the rest of the things I have to make sure are in order every day.

 

[Contrariwise]

I especially like it when they stop suddenly swing around with their arm suddenly extended to point at "the shiny" and clock people who are trying get around them.

OMG! LOL- that and the "red rover formation" just cracked me up!!!
I know I look like a crazy person veering from one side of the formation to the other, only to be stopped by the person on the end of the red rover pointing at a shiny (... veer over to the opposite side and "oh look" another shiny!)
The people behind observing this must laugh and laugh.

 

[stopgo]

Before every trip we review "Stopgo's Laws of Crowd Dynamics"

Law 1: The larger the tourists the more likely they are to walk abreast abreast of each other in a narrow walkway.

Addendum to Law 1: Size is inversely proportional to average speed. It is far better to be stuck behind a row of five tourists who average 200 pounds than to be stuck behind five tourists who average 400 pounds.

Law 2 (the "Do You Know Who I Am?" rule): In any group of twenty or more tourists at least one person will have no concept of the social grace known as "waiting your turn".

Law 3: The larger the crowd trying to exit an attration queue (por ejemplo, the monorail) the higher the probability that one of them will come to a dead stop right at the end of the turnstiles, pull out a map and try to figure out their next destination. They will also look with contempt on you if you suggest that doing this is not a good idea... even if the 300 people behind you fully agree with you.

Law 4: If the person walking in front of you is on their cellphone the volume of their voice is directly proportional to their irritation with you when they stop abruptly and/or turn around resulting in a multi-tourist collision.

Addendum to Law 4: When said tourist stops abruptly and/or turns around and collides with you... somehow it's always YOUR fault.

Law 5: The bigger the backpack the greater the chance that the wearer will turn suddenly, whacking you in the process. (see also: Addendum to Law 4)

Law 6: According to many tourists, there is no better place for a party to gather and wait/consult the park map/complain about the crowds than in the middle of a junction of several walkways/the exit from an attraction/any other high-traffic area. This slows other tourists down and forces them to appreciate the attention to detail (theming, architecture, etc.) paid by Disney Imagineers.

 

[Contrariwise]

Law 3: The larger the crowd trying to exit an attration queue (por ejemplo, the monorail) the higher the probability that one of them will come to a dead stop right at the end of the turnstiles, pull out a map and try to figure out their next destination. They will also look with contempt on you if you suggest that doing this is not a good idea... even if the 300 people behind you fully agree with you.

I'm sorry, but I love this thread
Recently we were on the tram out of the AK, and as we exited at our stop kept hearing the operator saying "please step behind the gray polls before you open your stroller" and variations on this theme. I was like "crap- where are these polls and am I past them???" looking frantically around. Then I spotted her- a woman actually held up the entire tram to open her stroller, make sure everything was set just right and slowly place her child in it. Was barely off the tram and her family of 5 was next to her watching her do it (she just needed to take two big steps forward and they could pass LOL). Completely oblivious... or at least I hope so!!

 

[Hannathy]

Add me to the list! I hate to walk slow anywhere. I will never understand why if you want to walk slow and that is your right-why do you go out of your way to make everyone walk slow. spreading out as soon as there is an opening to pass, walking 3-5 abreast blocking the whole walkway and as others have said having all 5 people hold hands and I'm not talking toddlers.
I also love when Mom stops to look at the map and Dad, Jr, Sis, Aunt Myrtle and the neighbors all have to stop and stand in a bunch twiddling their thumbs IN the MIDDLE of the walk. Just like the highway walk slow but stay to the right.

And to the poster who mentione writing the check don't even get me started on that ! Oh I have to pay I didn't think of that in the 10 minute line.

 

[Sweedee]

Our family is made of fast walkers. One of my biggest beefs last year was people standing or slowly walking in the main thoroughfares of the parks. I know that there are people out there with disabilities, inabilities, etc....but that's not who I am talking about! It nearly drove me to have a very UN-Magical Moment! My other beef about WDW has nothing to do with slow-walkers...it has to do with those that do very UN-Magical smelling things as they walk past me!

 

[BostonTink85]

I totally agree with the OP on this topic. I never understood how some people can walk soooo slow. Maybe it's from growing up with my dad who's always on the go and very impatient lol....I've definately inherited those genes.

 

[vellamint]

Count me in ..... I do try to slow down and smell the roses myself but find by the end they day my upper thighs and feet actually start to hurt from doing the "behind the slow walker" shuffle!! LOL

 

[Safari Queen]

I'm a pretty fast walker AND claustrophobic, so I feel trapped when I can't move easily, even if I'm not in a hurry. So I don't ruin that good "I'm on vacation at WDW" feeling, I make it a game to see if I can bob and weave between people and get where I'm going without having to shuffle along. The ones who make me crazy are the families who walk in a blockade -- side by side, filling the walkway completely so you can't get past them. I call them the people who live alone in the world!

 

[Luv'sTink]

I normally walk fast, however what makes me angry are the people who are in such a hurry they jump in front of my moms scooter so she has to constantly stop to let them go because THEY think they are so self important I hate walking so slow behind her because she has to go as a snails pace or hit some jerk! She paid her money to be there too. Or the people who jump in front of a stroller likes it doesn't matter. At Disneyland a guy actually jumped over a stroller and knocked it over! No one needs to be in that kind of hurry, it's ridiculous!!!

 

[Contrariwise]

...what makes me angry are the people who are in such a hurry they jump in front of my moms scooter so she has to constantly stop to let them go because THEY think they are so self important

To be fair, those scooters are kind of hard to judge (speed, space needed, etc.). The trick is to position yourself in front of her and clear the way! I've seen a lot of accidental trippings. Personally I just try to stay far away from them- bobbing and weaving around a scooter is just asking for trouble

On a side note- I'm always surprised by people coming out of the large theaters trying to beat the crowd just completely ignoring the scooters and trapping them into corners. I had to push parked strollers out of the way to help one man who was stuck- people just kept sliding past him like he didn't exist. In that case everyone just needs to accept their fate- we're all screwed for the 10 minutes it takes for the crowd to naturally disperse. After that though, I'm gonna need to pick up the pace.

 

[vellamint]

To be fair, those scooters are kind of hard to judge (speed, space needed, etc.). The trick is to position yourself in front of her and clear the way! I've seen a lot of accidental trippings. Personally I just try to stay far away from them- bobbing and weaving around a scooter is just asking for trouble

On a side note- I'm always surprised by people coming out of the large theaters trying to beat the crowd just completely ignoring the scooters and trapping them into corners. I had to push parked strollers out of the way to help one man who was stuck- people just kept sliding past him like he didn't exist. In that case everyone just needs to accept their fate- we're all screwed for the 10 minutes it takes for the crowd to naturally disperse. After that though, I'm gonna need to pick up the pace. [/QUOTE

YES YES...that happened to a woman in a wheelchair after the afternoon parade at the Animal Kingdom....I literally became a traffic cop in order to get people to allow her to move at all!!! RUDE RUDE!!

 

[Ava]

I live in New York City and I hate Times Square for this very reason. I avoid it at all costs, but if I must go there I inevitably get trapped behind the group of 20 tourists who decide it's a good idea to stop suddenly in the middle of the sidewalk & look up at all the big tall buildings & shiny lights. It's just a building, freaking MOVE! Or if you have to stop, MOVE OFF TO THE SIDE. I don't get why it's so difficult for some people to realize that they are in the way.

I also hate people who walk side-by-side, taking up the whole walkway so no one can pass them. I've run into people who were taking up way more than their share of space, because I refuse to either stop to let them pass or squeeze myself up against a wall. But in NYC you just curse at each other and keep walking, lol.

 

[taximomfor4]

I have been to WDW with kids (and stroller), without kids, and without kids with mom in a scooter. I completely appreciate what the complaint is...but I will also say that things are not always what they seem. I have found myself trapped by people jumping around our family in their hurry, NOT allowing us to pull all 6 of us off to the side. Many times. In fact, one of those times, people were streaming around in AK. We were slowly getting edged diagonally till we were almost off the path completely. A man jumped over the front of the stroller (which my toddler rode in while the other 2 young kids held onto either side), knocking my son over (ds was walking alongside, holding on to the stroller). My family could NOT get over to a decent place to stop, in fact I could not even get around the front of the stroller to pick up my son for quite some time (seemed like forever) as he sat on the HOT blacktop, screaming from the burning his legs were getting and blood ran down from his split-open knee. People even swore at us as they streamed around me, the stroller, and ds screaming on the ground for help. As I leaped my own stroller, his hand got stepped on TWICE by people who were angry at us for slowing down traffic. I was holding my ground and holding up traffic the best I could, so I could squeeze in and get ds. VERY heartbreaking, being a foot away but unable to help your scared, hurt child. And I bet the people streaming by on the other side of the stroller had no idea why we were stopped. The stroller with dd in it most likely blocked their view.

The man, btw, turned and looked back at ds on the ground and kept going, met up with a big group of (??) family members. He was still there with them after we ran ds to first aid, got him cleaned up and bandaged, and came back to that part of AK (Africa). He was eating ice cream with the group.

Oh, and I am a hurry-hurry type person when unencumbered, trust me. BUT I WILL block traffic if people have hemmed in a scooter (happens ALL THE TIME). I make a mini-blockade till the scooter-rider can get back on track.

 

[Luv'sTink]

The trick is to position yourself in front of her and clear the way!

She prefers I stay in back so she doesn't hit me when someone stops in midstride and I have to stop quickly! In other words she loves me and prefers to hit a jerk J/K

 

[proudmomof4]

I have to say I am in both worlds on this issue. I am the fast walker and will walk with a purpose until I realize my DH is not by my side, so I move over to the side so I can stop and look for him, and then I find him standing in the middle of the walkway looking up at something with no clue that he is in everyone elses way. I have tried many times to teach him and dear children to move to the side ("do not stop in the middle to tie your shoelaces!") but to no avail.

I like to slow down and enjoy my vacation sometimes too, I just find a nice shady bench and sit and watch the people go by or not go by as they stop in the middle of the walkway.

 

[Amyg]

I know it's childish- buuuut: Everything shouldn't be a joy-walk- If we need to get to someplace..

I hate to "run" people over but sometimes, not EVERYTHING'S the scenic route, you know? What to do for the quick-paced challenged?

(I'm not the only who feels this way, I hope! LOL- I know my sister will back me up!!)

Ugh! I'm the same way, I seem to always be in such a rush to get places and my DH tells me "Slow down, the main thing it that we're together and we can enjoy each others company". Ack! Guess it IS Disney and I should slow down and enjoy! Hehe!