Spoiled Magic

[maddhatir]

O.K., O.K., I'll admit it, I DID put my hand in front of her camera any chance I got. At one point she tilted the camera back to try and get her husbands reaction to the parade in the back of the crowd, every time she did I made sure to cover the entire lens. I couldn't not do ANYTHING

good for you-- this way she will never forget you!

whenever she watches her video of disney-- you will be there to haunt her!

 

[tony609]

Thats my biggest problem at WDW. (SOME) People with kids feel they have more rights than people without kids. My friends and I go all the time. If we want to watch a parade,fireworks etc..we line up early to pick where we want. Sombody always 'pushes' or 'shoves' their way in,blocking our view.Kids or no kids we have right too! Ok off my soap box.

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

This is an easy one for me!

Just last week, we drove to WDW using our navigation system instead of any maps. I saw that it was taking us into WDW on "Cast Drive". As many times as I've driven there, I don't ever remember that road.

Would you believe it took us in the back road of Disney, where the castmembers arrive for work? I saw where the buses were services and things that I know guests aren't supposed to see.

I was busy complaining (which is sooo highly unusual for me ) to my DH that he'd ruined the magic for DD7, who'd never been, when I looked out my right-hand window to see Space Mountain about ten feet from me! I was literally in the car, right behind it. It looked HUGE!

That was kinda cool!

It wasn't until later, that we realized that we'd breezed right by any security, including the security at the Wilderness Lodge, because it also took us in the wrong road for that too. So much for safety...

 

[timandlesley]

DH and I took my mom and his parents to WDW in Feb. We stayed at BCV and both mom's had ECV's. We had breakfast ADR's at Crystal Palace at 8:05 one morning. We arrived at the bus stop at 7am sharp. The bus came around 7:15ish and there were only a few other people waiting with us and a few people already on the bus from I guess the Yacht Club. The bus driver loads the ECV's and is strapping them down and this rude lady asks him real loudly. "How much longer is this going to take?" The bus driver tells her "just a few minutes" and continues strapping down the first one. He starts on the second one and she sighs real load and says. "You know we have reservations for breakfast, we'd better not be late! How much longer is this going to take?" and she sighs loudly again. The driver tells her he's just about done. (It only took him about 5 minutes to strap both down.) Meanwhile she's sitting 2 rows behind me and I can hear her muttering and mumbling about ECV's on a bus and that they should have a special bus so it wouldn't hold everybody else up. This is the point where I was ready to throw down. I turned around and asked her what time her ADR was. "8:30 AND WE BETTER NOT BE LATE!" she says. I told her nicely, although I wanted to scream. "Well ours is at 8:05 and since we have 35 minutes to make ours I'm sure you'll make yours." If I would have been thinking I would have told her to be thankful that no-one in her family needed one. I never think that fast. While it did not spoil our day it did tick me off on our first day. Thankfully the mom's were deep into conversation and didn't notice anything.

Oh my gosh! I can't believe that, how terribly rude. I have overheard people like this too and it makes me so angry. Good for you for at least saying something, I hope she got the point!

 

[Tigger2252]

Our last trip we had this happen at each thing we waited for! We had been patiently waiting for over an hour, and at the last minute people rush the rope. I actually did say something at Animal Kingdom (I had been sitting on that darn little rock for over an hour). A couple of women who "didn't speak English" jumped right into the middle of us as the parade started. I think my look spoke volumes because they moved behind us quickly. The other thing that kept happening was fathers that would march up at the start of the parade or show and hoist their kid up on their shoulders so little "Junior" or "Princess" could see the parade. Never mind that my family has been standing in the sun baking, we did it so you and your kid could get the best seat! And I won't even get started about the guy and his wife that kept sticking their heads into my video shot of Tarzan. I finally had to put the camera away it got so bad. Wow! I didn't realize I was still mad after 4 months. Thanks for letting me vent!

 

[oneangel]

I am from the St Louis area, and am a mother of three children. I stopped taking my kids to parades just for that fact. We sit there two hours early to get good seats, then at last minute, a mother with 10 kids comes up and tries to shove her kids and her in front of us. I have too big of a moouth to deal with this. We were down to disney about 2 years ago, and a family that didnt speak english cut in front of my kids for a picture. I mean come on, I was so mad, i was very verbal about it, and when they put their kids up on this statue for the picture , I had my kids run up there and jump in their nice pretty picture. Boy were they mad. Now we will be down in May, it all sounds so fun, until I think of the huge crowds, what a way to ruin a vacation. I hate rude parents!!!!

 

[Brier Rose]

One Dec. we were in Epcot and had gotten a seat between America and Morroco 45 min. early for the Tapestry of Dreams Parade.

About 2 minutes before start time, this CM escorting a bunch of people that had just gotten out of the Candlelight Processional brought the whole line of people right in front of us, and told them to stand there!

Mind you, we were ON the curb, so they were standing IN the street in front of us, and would not move. DH stood up to ask the CM how he could just let these people stand in front of us like that, and this lady in the group starts in on my DH telling him to just calm down (he WAS NOT acted upset), and that they just wanted to see the parade! Well, no kidding...so did my DS who was now crying because he couldn't see anything! They couldn't have cared less.

Another time, we were returning to Splash Mountain to use our fastpasses, and a line of people were standing at the fastpass return WAITING for their return time.

It was time for ours so DH holds our fastpasses up for the CM to see (what we were told to do), and we proceed in front of the line.

This lady starts yelling at us. Very ugly, and just would not listen when we tried to explain to her we WERE NOT cutting in front of her!

OK..one more! We had gotten a FP for Jungle Cruise, and when we came back the stand-by line was VERY long. We were breezing right through the FP line when this guy starts yelling...HOPE YOU ENJOY YOURSELF YOU BUNCH OF JERKS!
Then we get further up the line and he's yelling STILL, and now talking about us to the other people in line and pointing!

About 5 minutes later we got on the boat, and looked up to see him staring at us. He still had a good oh 30 min. wait or so. We just waved and smiled as the boat pulled away!

 

[dixipixi]

This didn't happen to us, but we observed it on our last trip:

We were at the MK and had just walked off Splash Mtn. as the parade was finishing up in that area. We noticed some teenagers that kept walking around this guy, getting in front of his video camera, waving, and shouting things like, "Hi, Mom!" We thought they were all together, but we saw them later around the castle and the guy was screaming at them.

DH gets to talking to a man next to us (he turns out to be the uncle of the teens). He said they were trying to watch the parade and had a few little ones with them (it was a big family gathering). They had also sat there for a while to get a good view of the parade. Just as it was starting this man gets in front of them in order to tape the parade. When they asked him to move, he apparently got pretty rude and used some really nasty words.

Well, the teens got up and decided to "ruin his video". They didn't stop there, they followed him for over an hour in the park doing just what we had seen earlier. I thought that was a good idea. Maybe he learned that jumping out in front of little kids is not the way to tape a parade!!!

 

[timandlesley]

One Dec. we were in Epcot and had gotten a seat between America and Morroco 45 min. early for the Tapestry of Dreams Parade.

About 2 minutes before start time, this CM escorting a bunch of people that had just gotten out of the Candlelight Processional brought the whole line of people right in front of us, and told them to stand there!

Mind you, we were ON the curb, so they were standing IN the street in front of us, and would not move. DH stood up to ask the CM how he could just let these people stand in front of us like that, and this lady in the group starts in on my DH telling him to just calm down (he WAS NOT acted upset), and that they just wanted to see the parade! Well, no kidding...so did my DS who was now crying because he couldn't see anything! They couldn't have cared less.

Another time, we were returning to Splash Mountain to use our fastpasses, and a line of people were standing at the fastpass return WAITING for their return time.

It was time for ours so DH holds our fastpasses up for the CM to see (what we were told to do), and we proceed in front of the line.

This lady starts yelling at us. Very ugly, and just would not listen when we tried to explain to her we WERE NOT cutting in front of her!

OK..one more! We had gotten a FP for Jungle Cruise, and when we came back the stand-by line was VERY long. We were breezing right through the FP line when this guy starts yelling...HOPE YOU ENJOY YOURSELF YOU BUNCH OF JERKS!
Then we get further up the line and he's yelling STILL, and now talking about us to the other people in line and pointing!

About 5 minutes later we got on the boat, and looked up to see him staring at us. He still had a good oh 30 min. wait or so. We just waved and smiled as the boat pulled away!

Geez!!! I sure hope that wasn't all in the same trip, how HORRIBLE!!!!

 

[TommyTutone]

I know I am going to stick my neck out here, but I have to ask: is it reasonable to expect a flawless view of a parade (or other crowded event) for the sole purposes of videotaping?

I have only one major experience where my son performed in a Christmas play in an already too crowded auditorium (not enough seats for the audience) and I, along with a dozen other excited parents were all getting in the way of one another to get the 'perfect view'. It created a lot of animosity, and I myself just turned off the camera halfway through since I was so focused on the shot, I was missing out what was important, seeing my son perform.

That is not to say that it is okay for people to just block a child's view for a parade, but seriously, is videotaping it THAT important, especially if you go every year (or multiple times a year)?

 

[rileyroosmom]

We were walking to get in the line to see Buzz Lightyear. This woman was very briskly walking and passed me on the line and pushed my ds7 out of the way to pass him. I admit I went a little crazy. I yelled at her about how sad you need to push a kid out of the way to get to a character first. She of course said she didn't push him and I was crazy. My ever calm husband told me to calm down and not make a scene. She really annoyed me, I guess I'm still annoyed almost 2 years later!

I too had a woman push her kid in front of my kids during the afternoon parade parade at MK. My kids were right against the rope. I had the stroller pushed right to the rope with my daughter in it. I watched the woman slowly inch closer untile her kid was now in front of my stoller. I wa so mad again! I took my daughter out of the stroller and stood her in front of my son. I wa so distracted by this woman it really ruined the parade for me. Just made me so mad. We stood in the baking sun for probably 45 minutes. She comes along 5 minutes before start time and does this. We all want to see, if you don't get a good seat, plan accordingly for next time, don't feel entitled to our spot!

My last complaint was the "non English speaking" family at ITTBAB. We were snaking through the line. Now maybe it's just me, but when walking in a very wide que, I size up the people around me and make sure to stay behind them so when we get to the narrower section, whoever walked the wider path in front of me, stays in front of me (does that make sense?) Anyway, as we are walking the families' kids are walking ahead (as most will do) these parents never called them back and instead tried to keep up with them. This couple in front of me also saw what was going on and we were talking to each other how rude this family was. This family kept looking at us, but never stopped trying to get in front of everyone. In the end, when you are all bunched really tight before entering the theater (I hate the cattle drive it turns into, always panicked my kids will get trampled or separated from me) this family was so close to the door that the "cattle drive" ran over them and they did not get into the theater first! I was happy, childish I know, but some people......

 

[DisOrBust]

I have also been in the Spectro nightmare and frankly I won't ever watch it again. My DD was tired and the other asleep in the stroller so we sat on the hub 1.5 hrs prior while DD#3 and DH went to eat. WE were pushed pulled jumped in front of the whole 9 yards. 5 minutes before parade time a group of teens pushed in front of us and I told them staight out "OH No you don't" ! The breaking point was a women in a MK wheelchair was trying to get thru the crowd of 15 people deep that was COMPLETE grid lock when the roped off walk way was literally 10 feet to her right. Did she really think I should run the kids over in front of my stroller?? She eventially used the walk way after several people pointed it out to her. She and the 8 family members she had with her used the walkway and made it without any problems to the "Handicap seating area". I told my DH no way EVER do I do Spectro again!!

 

[bicker]

I rather wish that Disney sold "perfect views" of parades, of Fantasmic, of Illuminations, etc., on DVD. I doubt that would prevent individuals from doing as Tommy alluded to, though. Regardless, first-come/first-served is the only viable approach to this. If you're willing to wait the extra time to get a front-row view, then you deserve a front-row view, whether you're a child or you're an adult with a video camera.

 

[cmonroe]

I've been part of this board for a couple of years. I can't tell you how many threads I've seen started with spoiled magic because of something bad happening at a parade. I wonder if Disney has ever put in any thought as to how they can manage this. I mean no insult to CM's on this board, but in my experience, there is little they can do in these matters. Unless there's physical confrontation, it's he said, she said about who was there first, etc.

Happily, I'm 5' 11" 245 pounds, so I rarely have people pushing in at parade time.

Again, though, this seems to be a consistent problem and imagine it will continue until an imagineer can think up a way to deal with it.

 

[cmonroe]

I have also been in the Spectro nightmare and frankly I won't ever watch it again. My DD was tired and the other asleep in the stroller so we sat on the hub 1.5 hrs prior while DD#3 and DH went to eat. WE were pushed pulled jumped in front of the whole 9 yards. 5 minutes before parade time a group of teens pushed in front of us and I told them staight out "OH No you don't" ! The breaking point was a women in a MK wheelchair was trying to get thru the crowd of 15 people deep that was COMPLETE grid lock when the roped off walk way was literally 10 feet to her right. Did she really think I should run the kids over in front of my stroller?? She eventially used the walk way after several people pointed it out to her. She and the 8 family members she had with her used the walkway and made it without any problems to the "Handicap seating area". I told my DH no way EVER do I do Spectro again!!

Agreed DisOrBust,

That is where I have seen a majority of the problems. Spectro more than any others.

 

[bicker]

Again, though, this seems to be a consistent problem and imagine it will continue until an imagineer can think up a way to deal with it.

I believe they have, and Fantasmic! at D-MGM in Orlando is the resulting answer. Unfortunately, like any major improvement, it costs money and space.

 

[grimley1968]

All I can say after reading all this is:

I'm glad we're not into parades! I won't wait more than 30 minutes for an attraction, much less a parade we've passed by countless times, on our way to attractions that have little to no wait, with all the other WDW guests jostling for the perfect parade-viewing spot.

 

[maddhatir]

I only want to see Spectro b/c everyone says how great it is.

i dont even remember if i have ever seen it before.

DH and i also are not parade goers- we refuse to wait for a parade - if one is starting we will try and get a glimpse-- however, we would NEVER even THINK about butting in front of someone! if we cant see- then guess what- we move on! if someone has been there for an hour waiting- then they certainly deserve to be right up front! sorry no butt-in-skis!

I have a feeling we are going to do the usual when waiting for Spectro to start this sept-- we will look at each other and say- eh! who cares-- lets ride some rides while all these people are fighting over their parade spots!

 

[cmonroe]

I believe they have, and Fantasmic! at D-MGM in Orlando is the resulting answer. Unfortunately, like any major improvement, it costs money and space.

Bicker,

Burlington, Mass?! I'm work right down the street in Chelmsford!

I don't follow your answer though. Fantasmic is really a show. The problems they have with parades are that they are just that, they're parades. I guess I was envisioning them some how organizing the sidewalks in a way to fix the cutting issues.

Unless you were suggesting they do away with the parade as a whole?

 

[bicker]

The problem WDW has with parades, Disneyland has with Fantasmic. The solution was to build an arena, for something that had previously been presented to folks standing in crowded, narrow pathways. Controlled access. Specific seating. The point is that the best way to avoid mobs is to not create a mob scene.