Waiting to see Disney parades - a lot of selfish people!

[lisag1]

Hi following on from Bonzo's thread about people leaving towels down. Yes we witnessed this when we were there in November. But we had a "little run-in" with a an American woman as we noticed a spot that was empty. Got ourselves into position complete with 2 buggies and all of a sudden the lady next to me got all aggresive and said that she was "holding" this space for her friends who were in a coffee shop!!!!! Well I was spitting feathers as we walked away, here was a grown adult holding "spaces" for a party of 6 adults who aren't actually there and we have 3 small children in tow!

Never mind, thankfully not everyone is as selfish is that.

Rant over......

Lisa

 

[Wendy WDW]

I don't see a problem with anyone saving a couple of spaces, whether they are for adults or children. I do agree with you that saving six spaces is far too extreme.


This is not referring to your scenario Lisa.....What I don't agree with is why should anyone with children be allowed to push in to the front of the crowd especially at the last minute? We have seen this time and time again and to be honest it makes me really angry especially as we have stood waiting patiently for so long. We have let many children sit in front of us but we have seen parents join them too...seems very unfair as we all pay an entrance fee.

Another rant over!

 

[thefatman]

I know how you feel Lisa,
the other worst thing I find is when you've sat there an hours or so all patient waiting for the parade/spectro etc and just as it starts someone just plonks their kids down in front of you, totally ruining the perfect video shot you'd planned. Next thing is the CM on duty in the area tells the kids they can't sit on the road and have to get back on the curb and you get looked on as the wrong do-er for not letting the kids take your places.

Snap Wendy

 

[BevS97]

We don't like to wait for parades, we'd rather do something else and come to the parade at the last minute - most of the time we found we could get a reasonable view by just going to a less popular place - at one parade in DLP we stood in the rain whereas everyother person was crammed along main street trying to hide under cover.

Bev

 

[Aprilimgoing]

we had a similar incident in seaworld of all places. Dh & I postioned DD so that she could feed the dolphins is the dolphin lagoon area.
You know what its like there sooo many people and choosey dolphins!. Anyway there was an american women with what sounded like a very strong New York accent, standing next to dd, when the dolphins came an took the fish from dd, aggressive american women elbowed dd and told her to "shove outta the way so i can feed them"...She then proceeded to shout and scream at the dolphins because they would not take the fish from her (im not surprised the only thing I wanted to do with the fish was ***********). I stood between her and dd and gave her a long cold paddington type stare. She then started shouting about the British coming to her country bla bla bla.

I suppose at the end of the day it takes all sortd to make the world i just wish they would stay at home, and not push their own rudeness and bad behaviour onto others

and i believe that the world would blah blah blah and another thing blah blah blas



Oh feel so much better now!

 

[debatha]

Lisa

mmm..sometimes it can be a culture shock in WDW. This is the main complaint I hear about WDW from friends and colleagues.

One of the things that bugged me was when the characters came out and the parent took ages getting the kid to strike the pose...once again it was not the Brits. Then when they are finally done they finish with a "good job buddy" yeah great it only took 15 mins.

Also, does "Excuse me ma'am" = Outta my way with a shove??

I was shocked that no-one got up for my Mum who is 70+ on the monorail..mind you, that happens in London too.

Maybe it's because we Brits are so nice

Deb

 

[debatha]

Lisa

mmm..sometimes it can be a culture shock in WDW. Rudeness in the parks is the main complaint I hear about WDW from friends and colleagues.

One of the things that bugged me was when the characters came out and the parent took ages getting the kid to strike the pose...once again it was not the Brits. Then when they are finally done they finish with a "good job buddy" yeah great it only took 15 mins.

Also, does "Excuse me ma'am" = Outta my way with a shove??

I was shocked that no-one got up for my Mum who is 70+ on the monorail..mind you, that happens in London too.

Maybe it's because we Brits are so nice

Deb

 

[lisag1]

At the MVMCP parade there was a couple of people in wheelchairs and nobody was taking any notice. We were sitting on the curb by the entrance and gladly gave up our spaces for them.

Actually hope I'm not going to be too controversial here but I've found over the years now that the friendly "have a nice day y'all" is gradually fading....... Especially found this with shop assistants/waiters etc basically anywhere were there is customer liaison.

Does anyone else think this???? It certainly makes me mad when you're expected to tip someone and they they've been rude or stand-offish and you feel they haven't really deserved it.

Oh god, what've I started?????

Lisa

 

[lisag1]

I've got another one!

What about when you're trying to video parades/fireworks and someone just CAN'T STOP TALKING! One women took a call on her mobile and when we played the video back home all we could hear was this woman rabbiting on and on and on for about 10 minutes! AAARRRGGGHHHH!!

Lisa

 

[Aprilimgoing]

actually lisa i agree with you.........When we first went back in '91 the service and friendliest was musch more in evidence than it is now.

I suppose so many people from all over the world can afford to go now the idea that you ahave to attract tourism dissapeared. On our last visit in 2000 we found that many of the CM were very surly and uninterested however there were many who were very helpful.

On our last visit in 2000 (think i might have mentioned this before somewhere) we went to Damons Ribs, excellent food but the service was terrible, our deserts arrived before we had finished main course, drinks did not arrive ect. At the end of the meal the bill arrived and we paid, plus a small tip (i know but you do feel obliged) ANyway when checking the bill afterwards I noticed a little bit of small print that stated
"for the benefit of our foriegn visitors we have included a 17% service charge". I was furious, this was only out on foriegn guests bills not americans, and there ws no mention of service charge being on the menu, plus they had put tax on the service charge!. I went back in anf complained, the manager just shrugged his shoulders went to the till and gave me back my tip money and the tax.

Deabatha!

I agree totally, i also think excuse me mam and a push seems to be the same thing.


I will be interested when I go in April to discover whether post sept 11th the service ect has improved bearing in mind that they are trying to encourage tourism back to the us. Mind you us Brits seem to go anywhere regardless of problems. Stiff upper and all that!

 

[debatha]

Lisa...it's the cheeky scousers abroad!

I would only tip if I get ok to good service if I thought it was crappy..I wouldn't tip, simple as.
My brother who works for a big hotel chain said the Brits have got a name as poor tippers and maybe that's why they don't get great service.

I totally agree with you about "Have a Nice Day" mentality that the Brits think they are going to get...mmm, I don't think so.

My sil who is American kept saying last year to us how polite she thought we were to people when we were out and about.
I think that it is just a different attitude and you can see this when you post on the US Boards they are just more "direct". To me if I was getting dd's photo done and other kids were waiting, I would be hurrying her along, but my I know that my even my brother's attitude would be "we've paid our money, this is what we want and we're not bothered about who is waiting". I also realise this is a sweeping generalisation.

Last time I was in Florida we had this conversation round the pool one night and the Americans that were said they did have to agree that they found it was the Americans in the parks that were rude and the Brits to be polite. I wouldn't even call it rudeness really..just that...urggh pushiness!

A large American lady in a wheelchair ran Ellen over near TTBAB when she was 7, she REALLY cried and the lady didn't even look up at Ellen, the pusher kep pushing her and said "Hey, I'm real sorry".. Lisa, I gave her down the banks I went right up to her in the chair and said to her that if she was going to apologise at least done it with some sincerity, etc etc.
Most of the complaints I hear from people who have been to WDW is about rudeness.

Deb

 

[Wendy WDW]

I'm back again!

Have you ever been in any of the sit down theatres or pre-shows and Americans and foreigners (ones with funny accents ) talk loudly all the way through it.....grrrrrrh! I have tried my polite version of SHUTUP to my not so polite version - which sometimes works and sometimes I get a look as if to say WHY?

I totally agree with you Lisa that the 'magic' has faded...I think you would have to be pretty blinkered not to. We saw a mixture of lovely friendly CM's to darn right miserable ones and "do we have to help you ones" in December.


I could go on and on and on......

 

[lisag1]

You know the business about tipping? What is the average wage for waiting on staff and cleaners etc. Do they actually get nothing but tips?? The only reason I'm asking is that the only pet hate I have about tipping is when you are spending quite a lot of money to stay in a Disney property and you have to pay a tip per day for the cleaner, bar tender, bell-boy etc. I mean, it really all adds up doesn't it??

Sorry about all my negative posts but I'm still worried about the problem with Cameron and his school and it's probably being reflected in my posts!!!

Lisa

 

[BevS97]

Hi Lisa -

the tipping thing is a cultural difference - I know I find it hard to grasp too, but to American's it's just second nature to tip everyone.

As I understand it, wait staff do not get the minimum wage and a certain amount of tips is figured into their salary, so they are taxed etc on a certain level of tips.

as for cleaners, bar-tenders and bell-boys, I'm not sure. I tend to leave a small tip for the cleaner at the end of the week (in the US) but would never tip the cleaner in the UK; I would never think of tipping a bar-tender; and we make a point of carrying our own bags and parking our own car so that we don't end up having to deal with the bellboy or valet parking.

Once when I was on vacation with a friend of mine in New York City, the bell boy asked if we wanted help with our bags, so we said 'Great, Thanks' when we got to the room the guy was hanging around for ages and we couldn't get rid of him, eventually he left and we realised that he was expecting a tip, so I dashed down the corridor and gave him a dollar which I imagine was not the appropriate rate! I find the whole process excrutiatingly embarrasing and would just rather carry my own bags!

Bev

 

[BONZO]

Lisa,

As I understand it there is no such thing as "Minimum Wage" in the US, therefore for people in the "Service Industry" wages are pants - hence the culture of tipping.

This why you see a load of "Hiring now" signs everywhere.

 

[BevS97]

Bonzo, there is definitely a minimum wage, when I worked at McDonalds many years ago it was $4.25/hr - I would guess it's more than that now, but probably lot a not.

BUT waiters are exempt from the minimum wage laws - there are probably other jobs that are exempt too.

I've just had a look and the minimum wage is $5.15 (or was in 1997) but the minimum wage for 'tipped employees' is only $2.13 - it hasn't gone up a lot since I was making minimum in the late 80's.

Bev

 

[debatha]

This on the back of Bevs post

Tipping. Bev was saying she found it embarassing...me too!
for the same reasons.

I actually PHYSICALLY don't like handing it to the person...I find it embarassing and I too would rather struggle with bags then hand the money to someone, not because I am mean, just the actual mechanics of it. Does anyone understand this. When I read about the Disney Cruise, I thought it was better going in envelopes to people than handing the cash. I would hate to be on the receiving end as well. (I'd like to get the money but I would hate to be a Bell Boy or something and handed it.

When I leave a tip for the servers I leave it on the table and for some reason seem to dash out, btw, I think I tip probably more because of it.

I bet a lot of British people don't like it.

Anyone else

 

[BevS97]

Debatha - that's exactly what I mean, It's all some kind of wierd ritual - you see the american men and they have the money kind of secreted in their hand, and then they shake hands and hand it over, as if they are trying to pretend that it isn't really happening, I just hate playing games like that, if there was a sign that said

'Bags Carried - one dollar per bag'

then I would be quite happy to decide if I wanted to spend that or not (and probably would spend it sometimes) and quite happy to say to the guy, right I've got 4 bags, so there's your $4, but I just hate the whole ritual about it - like we are supposed to 'know' what to pay, and how to do it.

Bev

 

[BONZO]

Bev,

Thanks for the info - I knew someone would know the answer.

In general terms we leave say a dollar or two per day in the "Mosekeeping" envelopes for the maids and restaurant tips on the table.

The only people I physically handed a tip to was the bell hop and valet parking.

I can appreciate the concerns that others may have and it does take a while getting used to it, but ....when in Rome......

 

[UKDEB]

About parades:

I find waiting for parades to be SOOOO stressful for all the reasons already mentioned. We had a really bad experience at MGM one year and in 6 visits, I think I have only seen about 5 parades. I really want to see them, but I can't stand all the pushing-in and arguments going on around me.

About tips:

We are excellent tippers. In fact, sometimes I think we tip too much and wonder whether they think we're just stupid and don't get it. I don't feel at all uncomfortable about tipping in restaurants, bars, or leaving money for the maid, but I do tend to avoid situations like the bellhop ones. I worry about it being the wrong amount mostly. When we have a meal I feel as though I want to say to the waiter "It's OK, I know we're British, but we're going to give you a good tip, so you can be nice to us".