Strange People last week at WDW!

[Poohbear123]

Young Adults if you want to call them that, on A bus to Epcot! They were about 16-18 years of age, and thought it was "funny" to sit in the back of the bus and make farting sounds. I said as I got off the bus in front of them, "Gee your Parents must be proud!" And walked off.

 

[Beth E. (NJ)]

I hate when people abuse the Pixie Dust. When I was at WDW last summer with my daughters we had a pixie dust moment. We were walking toward Soaring to get fast passes when a teenage boy came up to me and asked me if I could use his. He said they had already ridden Soaring and no longer needed the fastpasses. He had 2. The problem was that there were 3 in our party.

We went up to the CM at the entrance and told her what happened. I asked her what I should do. She reached into her pocket and pulled out an extra fast pass for us.

So 2 pixie dust moments in one!

 

[maddhatir]

I cant believe as many times that I have been to Disney I have not encountered really strange people. I will however, keep an eye out for them in Sept.

Since many of you on the boards encounter them.......they have to be out there, maybe I just "repel" them. I do sometimes have a look like "I can’t tolerate your stupidity! so don’t even get close to me"

I did read somewhere on the boards a good place to find "irritated" people and I think I am going to sit on the bench and just watch for them......it is right at the Walt and Mickey statue in the MK- people are trying to get pictures while others are walking in front of them etc-- ahhh- that outta make the day interesting!

As far as the guy making excuses to get in front of the line.....
Last December DH and I took our 4yr old niece to Disney. She is not one to stand in lines patiently, and we were waiting in line for The Magic of Disney Animation in MGM. She started to get antsy and I asked the CM if we could wait away from the line until they let in. she sd OK and when it came time to let everyone in, she escorted us to the side of the building ( ) and told us someone would let us in......there was another family there with 2 kids- the mother started asking us questions about our niece (who she thought was our child) and what it was that stopped her from being able to wait in line. What it seemed like was maybe HER child had a health issue that would stop him from being able to stand in line (maybe A.D.D or something?)- However, not physically disabled. She had made special arrangements for her vacation just because of this (I was not really sure what she was talking about) but then a CM came and opened the door and we were escorted to the FRONT of the stage for the animation part of the show.

I felt bad like I was "abusing" the system, but all we wanted to do was to keep her occupied away from the line.

 

[playwright]

I'm glad this thread came up. We had some interesting, if you will, experiences, that I hesitated to mention because I didn't want to sound like a complainer. Overall, we had a wonderful trip and great memories for the kids. I'm so happy we went. But I'm going to vent anyway because hopefully it's more interesting than how much I enjoyed riding It's a small world again... speaking of the picture taking. We only get to WDW every 5 years and the most recent trip (May '06) was probably our last ever. I would've had a great picture of the kids in front of the castle, and this woman walks by, either oblivious to the fact that I was taking a picture or not caring, so we have a picture of an unidentified hunchbacked scowling woman and my kids in the background. It wasn't like we were disrupting people by taking a minute to take a pix - so much for the Christmas card. 2001 trip I was able to get great pix of the kids with the sword in the stone in front of the MK carousel. Shamelessly copying my neighbor's idea, I wanted to get similar pix 5 years later at the same spot. There was no one standing in front of the carousel, and I asked the kids to stand by the sword to get the picture. Suddenly a toddler around 18 months - 2ish runs up and stands there looking at the sword and my kids. I guess some people would think "aw, isn't that cute", but I expected the parents to say "come here, sweetie, the lady is trying to take a picture" (which is what I would've done)but they stood there and said absolutely nothing. Maybe they saw nothing wrong with he/she (I'm guessing he, but it was hard to tell) being in a total stranger's picture. Maybe they thought the baby was going to have a meltdown if they asked him/her to move for a second (which is all the time it would have taken me to take the pic, I have a little digital and I'm very quick with taking pix) It's not the baby's fault, he/she is too little to know better. I felt like saying something to the parents like politely asking if their child could please move for one second, but a) it was a baby, not an older child and b) I didn't want a confrontation. My kids were getting antsy to get on the rides. So I snapped the picture anyway, with the back of the toddler's head obstructing the sword in the stone. It's not like it's the end of the world, and I guess I can edit the picture somehow, or we could've gone back to that spot later, but I thought the parents should've asked the child to move. (I was surprised at the number of parents who allowed toddlers and preschoolers to roam freely and unsupervised throughout WDW, disrupting people, IMHO, but that's another thread) We were there first before the other family came along. If my kids wanted to look at something, and there was another family there first, especially if they were taking a picture, I'd ask my kids to patiently wait. My kids aren't perfect angels, but I'd never let them run up and be in another family's picture. I'm sure some folks think I'm overreacting, after all, it's "just a picture", blah, blah, blah but what would you have done (just curious) if you were our family or the other family.

 

[playwright]

While I'm on a venting roll, here's another story. While DS and I were waiting to see the characters in Toontown, there was a family on line ahead of us with a twentysomething (In appearance anyway) man and woman (I guess Mom and Dad) and 2 boys (I guess, there were quite a few androgynous looking kids) about 5 and 3. The younger one was running all over the place, playing with the ropes, etc. and holding up the line. The mom seemed amused by this and the dad did nothing. So we finally get to see Mickey. The Dad snaps a pic with the 2 boys. Then mom wants to get in. So he decides to snap another pic. When he tilted backwards to presumably get a better shot, he accidentally hit my son in the head with his camera bag (which was on his left shoulder). We weren't in his way, in fact my son and I had backed up so that he could get a good shot. My son was just standing there patiently. My son said "ow" and started rubbing his head. I expected the dad to turn around and say sorry, and ask my son if he was ok. At that point I wasn't angry, because I figured it was accidental. But either the dad was oblivious to the fact that his bag had hit my son, or he didn't care. He just did nothing and the family went on their merry way. I had felt like saying "excuse me, your bag just hit my son" but I couldn't get the words out. I don't like confrontation, and I guess I was intimidated by the fact that he was male (shame on me) and at least a foot taller than me, as was his wife (or girlfriend, whatever). They actually looked like models and appeared to be well-heeled (in direct contrast to me, lol). I felt like I should've stood up for my son, though. They also were not speaking English (I don't know what language it was), which doesn't necessarily mean that they can't speak or comprehend English, but I didn't know how to speak to them. My son was a little shaken up but he was better when he got to see Mickey. It's not like my son was seriously injured, but he could've been. I know the dad was focused on his family, but when I am in line, or taking pictures, I make an effort to check out who's around me, to make sure that I'm not blocking anyone's view, or whatever. DH and I (not tall by any means) are always the ones turning around at shows to make sure that other people behind us - especially children - can see. I'd like to think that he didn't realize that his bag had hit my son, but I think he should've been more sensitive to others and more aware of his surroundings. WWYD? Would you have said anything to him? To the mom? (I felt like saying something when they were holding up the line by letting the little one run around.)

 

[epcotfan]

Speaking of idiots, we were in line for Soarin' on May 8th when we encountered one. We had fastpasses for about 7:40 pm. We got into the fastpass line and made our way through the queue. Ahead of me was this really tall guy kinda weaving back and forth. He was by himself. When we got to the part of the queue where the castmember actually collects your ticket the guy tries to give the castmember his room key. The CM says, "Sir, I need your fastpass" The guy shoves his key at the CM again. The CM explains it isn't a fastpass and he needs one to use the fastpass lane. At this point I can smell the alcohol oozing of off this obnoxious drunk. He starts telling the young CM that he is being rude and that he spent enough to go on this holiday, blah, blah, blah. Finally the CM tells us to go ahead and I see another CM intervene. If she hadn't I think I would have gone to Soarin' entrance and told someone to call security. We were a little worried as I thought this guy was going to start throwing punches. As we waited to enter the ride I saw a Disney Manager come by. I have a feeling this guy was escorted out of the park because he never entered the line. I have a feeling he would have puked if he'd ridden from the way he was weaving around.
This is the most recent "strange person" incident I can recall. But over the last 30 or so years I've seen plenty of freaky behavior.

 

[maddhatir]

They also were not speaking English (I don't know what language it was), which doesn't necessarily mean that they can't speak or comprehend English

say no more..........i think we have all been there!

 

[Sleepy]

Fogive me for not knowing the laws, but I thought I read somewhere that legally, a hotel cannot kick someone out of they want to extend their reservation.

 

[delilah]

I am not sure if this was rude, exactly, but it was bizarre. My son will not ride Star Tours, so, my husband and I got fast passes for it, and took him to activities that he would enjoy. When it was my turn to ride Star Tours, I got into the fast pass line, which was moving quickly. I was actually quite a long way behind the group in front of me. Finally, I caught up in line, and there was a young man, he was about 6 ft tall with razor stubble, looked to be at least 16, if I had to guess, just behind me. He asked me in a whiny, ill-tempered tone of voice why I was trying to keep him away from his family. From my recollection, I entered the line alone, I was no where close to the group in front of me, and he hadn't actually caught up to me to ask me politely if I would let him pass. I decided he was a little bit , and tried to avoid him and his family the rest of the ride.

 

[barkley]

Fogive me for not knowing the laws, but I thought I read somewhere that legally, a hotel cannot kick someone out of they want to extend their reservation.

i've not worked in the industry for about 20 years, but when i did we regularly had people try this (hot napa valley property-they would call trying to get 2 or 3 nights of our lowest rate room, did'nt want to pay for the higher priced ones-end up booking one night only). if they did'nt vacate in time (if we had space in a higher priced suite) and the person with resis. showed up to check in, we would put the new person in the suite (but honor thier lower rate) and then leave a voice mail message for the "stay-over" guest that due to their failure to check out we had extended their stay in their existing room until the next check-out day at the higher suite rate. we had plenty of guests balk at getting charged as much as double (and some contested their credit card bills) but our confirmation notices and the check in papers had legal writing "failure to timely check out may result in additional fees in excess of the contracted rate"

if someone just plain would'nt leave and we were faced with having to turn someone away we either tried to get them (the new check in's) a suite (comp'd) at a comparable hotel, or we could call in the local police to report the other folks for trespassing.

 

[AnaheimGirl]

Suddenly a toddler around 18 months - 2ish runs up and stands there looking at the sword and my kids. I guess some people would think "aw, isn't that cute", but I expected the parents to say "come here, sweetie, the lady is trying to take a picture" (which is what I would've done)but they stood there and said absolutely nothing. ...what would you have done (just curious) if you were our family or the other family.

I would have politely pointed out to the parents that I was trying to take a picture and asked them to move the child away. It doesn't have to be confrontational if you are nice about it. Sometimes even when people see you, they don't really "see" you, or it doesn't register that you have a camera in your hand. This has happened to us many times, and the parents always get embarassed and apologetic that they didn't realize we were trying to take a picture.

When he tilted backwards to presumably get a better shot, he accidentally hit my son in the head with his camera bag (which was on his left shoulder)...WWYD? Would you have said anything to him? To the mom? (I felt like saying something when they were holding up the line by letting the little one run around.)

I would have figured it was an accident, he didn't realize he did it, and so didn't realize he needed to apologize, so I wouldn't have said a word. If they were well dressed and speaking another language, they were probably from another country, most of which don't have the personal space issues we Americans do. Meaning small bumps are not considered a big deal to them.

As for the kid holding up the line, as long as they walked up to Mickey immediately after the prior family left, and other people weren't cutting in front of them when they left a little dead air space between them and the family before them, I wouldn't have felt they were holding anything up, so I wouldn't have said anything, either. If they didn't walk up to Mickey when it was their turn, I'd have politely pointed out that it was their turn. Most people appreciate that, as well.

I'm curious about the castle pic, though. Since you have a digital camera, did you not realize immediately that the woman was in your picture? If you wanted it for Christmas cards, why didn't you just take another shot? That's one thing I love about digital cameras. For pics like that, we'll usually take several in rapid succession, to be sure we get one where everyone looks good. Then it's easy to delete the bad ones.

 

[playwright]

Hi Aggie,
My mistake when I wrote the post. The castle pix was from the last trip, before I had the digital.

 

[GraysMom]

We were at WDW May 21st-28th and saw some really strange people:

#1. At the POP guest services Sunday (May 28th) there was a man demanding that he be allowed to stay four more nights. He was yelling...

2. On Thursday at the Fast Pass entrance to Splash Mountain a man and two kids came up ...

3. As we were getting on Dinosaur a young lady behind my mom started making comments about rude people...

4. Then there was the lady in Magic Kingdom wearing just a long lace (see through) blouse with a bikini...

Anyway there were lots of strange people last week at WDW.

OMG! You could make great scrapbook pages with these stories !

GraysMom

 

[WIcruizer]

#1. At the POP guest services Sunday (May 28th) there was a man demanding that he be allowed to stay four more nights.

I would bet this man assured his DW "Don't worry, when we get down there I'm sure it will be no problem to add 4 more nights." Well, it didn't work and now he had to go tell DW, not a pleasant conversation when you're on vacation.

I'll also add this reminds me of the idiots I see every single time I'm ain an airport. Look, flights are late...and cancelled...and over-booked. Someties it's the airline's fault, sometimes it is not. Yet no matter what the reason is, people fly off the handle and make demands that are ridiculous.

3. As we were getting on Dinosaur a young lady behind my mom started making comments about rude people...

What I would LIKE to say: "Trust me, you'll know it when I step on you ok?!?!?!" What I WOULD do is laugh at her. Maybe not the most mature thing to do, but people hate it when they're upset and you just smile and chuckle at them like they're nuts.

2. On Thursday at the Fast Pass entrance to Splash Mountain a man and two kids came up ...

Sorry, but I do think that's pretty creative. Nothing I would do, but hardly a WDW felony. I think the problem is more with WDW policies, which I've always believed should be more strict regarding things like this.