What is appropriate Disney etiquette? Ms. Emily Post Advocates welcome .

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

OK, after the whole thread the thing I can't get over is that people will pick up something from a buffet and then PUT IT BACK! I am very strict with my DS and the children I nanny when it comes to manners, and even children as young as 3 can be taught the concept of "if you touch it you can't put it back"!! YUCK!

On the issue of tipping I try to determine if the person is paid "tipped wages" (around $3 an hour) or minimum wage. I know minimum wage isn't much (that would be why it is called minimum) but those people are not supposed to rely on tips being part of their wages. I imagine the mailman makes more money than I do, and he gets a heck of a lot more holidays! I sometimes do tip people who are paid normal wages, but I don't feel obligated.

I will be very irritated indeed if I am on a dark ride and there are others with video camera lights, flashlights, etc. or there is a hat in my way at a show.

I think the bottom line here is that folks should feel free to do whatever makes them the most comfortable as long as it doesn't interfere with the rights or comfort of another guest. I wouldn't dream of saying something ugly to anyone who's behavior wasn't directly bothering me. On the other hand, if your light ruins a dark ride or your kid kicks my seat for three solid hours or you are keeping me awake with your drunken revelry I most likely will say something VERY ugly. I guess that's my own etiquette breach to work on!

 

[peacefulgirl]

I am just back ... how bummed was I when I saw a tampon thrown on the scene of Splash Mountain! Then days later, coke bottles !!! That just NOT right !!!

DO NOT THROW TRASH OR other ITEMS ON RIDES !!!!

 

[luvthatduke]

OMGosh...
I've really enjoyed this thread,
and I'm ROTF laughing while reading
the posts about kicking the seats on planes.
DH & I went to WDW for our first/only time on our honeymoon.

It was his first time flying, and all the way down
(4 hour flight) the little girl in back of us kicked his seat,
screaming, "We're gonna die!! We're gonna die!!"
(We didn't complain due to finding out how
nasty the whole family was during an altercation
when they boarded).
Then DH got very sick w/ear infection
on flight home, so now will never fly again!

 

[Nanajo1]

My only comment on the HC bathroom is: if you need it use it, if you don't need it don't. I believe in Karma . My pet peeves include but are not limited to: Not listening to the CM's instructions, Stopping before the end of a row, Not removing a crying child(we all know you can't MAKE a child stop crying), Smokers walking around the parks, particularly the ones who hold the cigarette right the level of a child's face, Clueless folks who look in one direction while walking in another, using the walkie-talkie phones where you hear ALL the conversation in confined areas.

 

[eeyore0062]

""how bummed was I when I saw a tampon thrown on the scene of Splash Mountain!"

Now, that is just TOO MUCH INFORMATION! ewwwww!

 

[LindsayDunn228]

Nanajoe, very good points!!!

Not going all the way to the end of a row is a BIG one!

 

[Angel16]

This has been a very interesting thread. Thank you to the OP. I have a suggestion I have not seen addressed here.

When you have someone shorter, smaller or in a scooter/ecv/wheelchair do not reach over them for things.

I have seen this happen numerous times. I waited at a store in AKL for people to finish looking at a selection of pins, I then moved to the area as I am a pin collector. I was there for maybe 10 seconds when a family (mom, dad and three kids) moved on in and stated reaching over my head, around my body, one little-one slide between me and the pins in front of me. I could not reach what I wanted to look at or even move with them all grabbing and moving back and forth. This was just rude. I don't understand why people are in such a hurry. The area for pins was about 2 feet wide and on a post supporting the building, so you can imagine how conjested this was. I fianlly ask them to let me out. I just couldn't take it any longer.

I have seen this happen in food courts also. Please respect people and their space and size.

 

[luvthatduke]

Angel16, excellent point - I am not disabled
but I've seen what you're describing.

It made me think of a safety issue, too,
very similar to what you're talking about.
I know people have peeves about strollers,
but please do not reach/lean/grab over a
baby/toddler in a stroller!
I cannot tell you how many times I've had to put
my arms over my child, or yank his stroller back
a foot or two, because someone just thought it
was ok to grab whatever they wanted over his head!
I'm talking waitresses w/plates, hot pitchers, full cups,
as well as people in stores - even nudging heavy items
right over him!!

So, I guess I'm just adding to your post, angel16,
that people should respect the space of anyone who
is currently "lower" than them (spacially, that is - LOL).

 

[LindsayDunn228]

Speaking of personal space....

When I went on my honeymoon last Feb. I went to AK for the first time. We were looking at the gorillas. *Reminder: I am in a wheelchair* There were a bunch of kids that decided the short woman didn't need to see anything and proceeded to step right in front of me (it was kind of a moving line facing the animals). Not only could I not see the gorillas, these kids were tripping over me. I was like "WHERE ARE THESE KID'S PARENTS?! Legalistically speaking, it my "turn" in line to see these animals, the kids were originally in front of me. It probably wouldn't have made a difference to someone standing up, but it did to me. They finally went back to the adults they were with and they didn't say a word to them. GRRRR!! By the way, these kids were old enough to know what respect is. Or at least, they should have.

Another incident at AK happened when we were looking at the meerkats (sp?). There was like a handrail in front of the glass, and a step. These teenage kids march up to me, look right at me, and proceed to stand up on that step and lean WAY forward blocking my view. I said "Excuse me, but you on the step leaning over is really blocking my view." They just looked at me. Why didn't I move, you ask? The exhibit was pretty full and there wasn't room for a wheelchair to squeeze in anywhere else.

Why is common courtesty not so common anymore?

Also, I was second the comment about reaching around and above people in wheelchairs. It's just rude.

 

[dreams4disney]

I had someone push me out of the way as I was boarding a boat for the Jungle Cruise. We had been in the fast pass line but still had a bit of a wait. Any How It was our turn to board and the CM asked My husband how many and she said she could take the two of us. The Lady in the other line said to her husband that they had been in line longer than us and as I had one foot in the boat she pushed past me which knocked me down with one foot in the boat and one foot out. Ouch. The CM looked at me waiting for me to say soemthing. I didn't. I knew the couple looked angry to begin with. I didn't want a big fight. Needless to say I was told we would now have to wait. We did not get a sorry from anyone. And I am gld we didn't get on the same boat. But We had a great time on our cruise. I didn't let it ruin the trip.

On another trip I had two teenagers Step Over the umbrella stroller and one triped as they had tried to step over it and fell on to my baby. There was plenty of walk way to walk around us so I am still not sure why they did that. DH was ver angry. I again let it go. I don't like to ruin my fun trip with others bad manners.

 

[CynJ]

Please please please - for their safety watch your children at the drink stations at the AS resorts (and any others for that matter) - too many little ones playing with the hot chocolate/coffee - and adults need to NOT reach over children with scalding coffee - wait yer darn turn. 30 more seconds won't kill you.

 

[MHG26]

I just got back from WDW so I have some new ones:

I know the whole cutting the line thing has been covered, but a new version of cutting in line happened to me this past week. So I'm walking up the single riders line for the Mummy ride (ok yah it's Universal) and you know you have to walk through a long line to get to the end of the single riders line cus it's usually very short. I consider myself someone who walks at a fairly good/fast pace. So I'm walking and this girl probably around 13 pushes past me and runs up to the end of the line. Now I know I hadn't reached the end of the line yet, but I had been walking through the maze of ropes for a minute and was almost there. Cutting is cutting... Anyway, she didn't say anything to me when I got up there and proceeded to try and bring her family up with her (aren't we in the single rider line?). Me and the people behind me were not having it though. This was a case where the single rider line actually took a long time too so I had to stand behind this girl for awhile and I was just annoyed the whole time. BTW, 13 year olds (I would have guess younger if it hadn't been for her clothes) should not be wearing tight low cut tanktops, low-rider jeans, and have their thongs showing! They shouldn't even have thongs if you ask me!

Please stop your kid from picking their nose! Every kid I was around seemed to be doing this and their parents said nothing! I know it's natural for them to do, but the only way they'll learn to not do it is for their parents to tell them to not do it. I just don't want to touch your kid's snot when I grab the hand rail after them.

My sister and I were at the Indiana Jone Stunt Show, sitting on the end of the bleachers all the way on the right side several rows down from the top. They had already moved the rows in like they always do so there was absolutely no room. There was only several inches between me and the edge of the bench and I was touching my sister and she was right next to the guy next to her. So this woman comes up and practically sits on top of me and acts like I'm rude cus I don't move over more (there was nowhere to move)! When she sat down, she literally sat on my leg, I moved over as much as I could practically on top of my sister and this woman proceeds to tell me to move over more. Luckily the people behind us saw this and told her she could move back to their row since they had room for 3 people back there, which makes me wonder why she didn't sit there in the first place. People are strange!

Don't use the single rider lines then refuse to split up from your family. I saw a woman take her small child through the mummy single rider line and I'm thinking to myself this boy is going to be terrified alone. So she gets to the front and the guy kept telling her to get on the ride and for her son to go to another car and she was refusing to be split up from him. Several cars went by with no single riders even though there were spots cus she was arguing with the guys. The worst thing was that they were blocking the line so I couldn't get past them. The guy kept telling me (I was behind the pair) to come up and take a single spot but the woman and little boy wouldn't move. I finally had to push past them. The guy kept telling them to move out of the way but they kept lingering there and kept trying to get on a car together even though they weren't assigned to it and he would pull them out of the line and put people from the real line there. I got on a car finally and they were just standing there when it drove off so I have no idea what happened to them, but that was certainly annoying to all involved.

If the CM gives you the card to hold for you to carry to the front of the line so they can time how long the line is taking, don't just toss it on the ground. If you don't want the "responsibility" then tell the CM you would perfer not to do it so they can give it to the next person or if you change your mind part of the way through, try to pass it to the person in front or behind you. I can't tell you how many people I saw just toss these on the ground. Timing the lines is important for everyone so they can provide accurate info for people riding.

OK, I know the whole moving all the way over thing has been discussed, but for some reason this happens in every single show I go to still. What irks me is that the same people who insist on stopping in the middle of the row are the exact same people who insist on pushing their way to the front of the crowd and hover in front of the door in order to be first in the theater. I guess these people think that whoever is in the theater first gets their choice of seating first or something. If they were smart they would realize that staying towards the middle or the back of the crowd (depending how many people are there) in the "holding" room before you enter the theater would allow them to get in the center of the row once they get into the theater, but I suppose logic escapes some people.

If you don't like smoking, don't sit in the smoking section and complain about people smoking. There are a million other places to go sit. Oh also, don't smoke right into your kid's stroller, I can't tell you how many times I saw this. I know you need to keep your kids with you, but I found it disturbing how people would be blowing smoke in the direction of their children. I feel bad just smoking in the vicinity of children. The worst was at MK I saw 2 women sitting there smoking and both had a child with them. They were just chatting away and one of the kids started coughing uncontrollably. The woman kept yelling at him to stop coughing. I'm thinking to myself, he's probably coughing cus of the smoke you nitwit! Not to mention you can't order someone to stop coughing nor should you be so insensitive to do so.

Oh another disturbing/funny no-no I saw this past week was people trying to scam their way into the park. A family with 2 kids were standing there arguing with the guy at the ticket machine. They didn't speak English or were pretending to not understand. The guy kept telling them that they had already used all the days on their tickets. He even mentioned the days they used and where they went. They were just holding up the line trying to pull a fast one. I was talking to a CM later on who told me that he encounters this a lot with "foreigners." He said a lot of "them" come here and are always trying to scam or get something for free or cut corners in some way like cutting in lines and whatnot. I'm sure he didn't mean all foreigners and I'm sure it wasn't only foreigners who do this, but it was funny cus another CM mentioned something similar to me after I tipped him for serving me a drink. He mentioned that I must be American cus the foreigners don't tip. Neither of those CM's probably should have said those things to me, but it just baffles me to see some of the things that people try to pull at the parks. I can only imagine working there how much they see and have to put up with.

 

[popeyeohoh]

If you requested a non-smoking room do not stand in your doorway at 7:00 a.m. smoking,coughing and throwing your butts on the walkway outside of your room. Do not cut in front of me 10-15 minutes before the beginning of a parade. I have been standing in the same spot for an hour. If your children can't see you should have come sooner.

 

[hdecker]

Do not stand in front of the ATM and yell at it. It doesn't understand, there is no one in there. Please learn how to use this device before you leave your home country. Do not scream at me in a language I don't understand because I'm trying to help you. No matter how many times you yell at it, it is not going to respond.

One thing to watch for which I consider common courtesy is - we ate at an off-site restaurant. When the bill came we left a tip on the table and went to pay the bill, after we left we had noticed that a tip had already been added to the bill. Now, the reason we left a tip on the table waas because a british couple was in the next booth over and had asked the waitress how much to tip since it wasn't customary for them, she told him and said to just leave it on the table. We went back and asked the hostess why the tip doesn't show up until you get the receipt, she said that was their policy and since so many foreigners didn't tip, this way they could be sure their wait staff got their money. When I explained the incident with the waitress and the british family she just looked at me and said "so, that
s just extra in her pocket" she wouldn't even give me a comment card and was very rude when I questioned the incident - won't go back there again.

 

[Belle1962]

Don't sit your child on the arm rest of the chair in the theatre so they can get a better view---this blocks the view of the people behind you. This happened to me and my grandson twice in a row at MGM (mermaid and Muppets--different families). They can sit in your lao, on their knees, etc.

 

[MHG26]

Oh I remember another one. We were at Who Wants to be a Millionaire and it was not full at all, plenty of extra seats, but for some reason this man sat on the stairs. The people who worked there went up and told him to get off the stairs and move to a seat, which he did, but then he goes right back to sitting on the stairs. They moved him off the stairs again. Next thing I know his son is sitting on the stairs. They move his son off the stairs and he returns to sitting on the stairs again! Lol I couldn't believe these people. I don't know what was so important about sitting on the stairs but the family was sitting behind me and it was very annoying that the people kept having to come back there and tell them to move. They were foreign, but they obviously got the message the first time when they moved back to the seat so what was the purpose in continually moving back to sitting on the stairs?

 

[secox28]

Please, Please, Please take special care when carrying your child on your shoulders. At our last visit to WDW, we witnessed a father carrying his child on his shoulders in front of the castle during the show. The child (about 3 years old) got excited and fell backwards onto the pavement and cracked his head. I heard the thump for hours after.

I haven't let my husband do that since.

And, finally: Please wipe off your childs hands before getting on a ride after the have eaten an ice cream cone! Chocolate stains are really hard to remove!

 

[secox28]

If you are on any of the WDW transportation systems (i.e. buses monorail etc.) And, you are healthy, please consider giving your seat to the pregnant lady.

Please put small children on your lap so that the pregnant lady has a place to sit.

 

[peacefulgirl]

Please stop your kid from picking their nose! Every kid I was around seemed to be doing this and their parents said nothing! I know it's natural for them to do, but the only way they'll learn to not do it is for their parents to tell them to not do it. I just don't want to touch your kid's snot when I grab the hand rail after them.

OK, I know the whole moving all the way over thing has been discussed, but for some reason this happens in every single show I go to still. What irks me is that the same people who insist on stopping in the middle of the row are the exact same people who insist on pushing their way to the front of the crowd and hover in front of the door in order to be first in the theater. I guess these people think that whoever is in the theater first gets their choice of seating first or something. If they were smart they would realize that staying towards the middle or the back of the crowd (depending how many people are there) in the "holding" room before you enter the theater would allow them to get in the center of the row once they get into the theater, but I suppose logic escapes some people.

Oh another disturbing/funny no-no I saw this past week was people trying to scam their way into the park. A family with 2 kids were standing there arguing with the guy at the ticket machine. They didn't speak English or were pretending to not understand. The guy kept telling them that they had already used all the days on their tickets. He even mentioned the days they used and where they went. They were just holding up the line trying to pull a fast one. I was talking to a CM later on who told me that he encounters this a lot with "foreigners." He said a lot of "them" come here and are always trying to scam or get something for free or cut corners in some way like cutting in lines and whatnot. I'm sure he didn't mean all foreigners and I'm sure it wasn't only foreigners who do this, but it was funny cus another CM mentioned something similar to me after I tipped him for serving me a drink. He mentioned that I must be American cus the foreigners don't tip. Neither of those CM's probably should have said those things to me, but it just baffles me to see some of the things that people try to pull at the parks. I can only imagine working there how much they see and have to put up with.

First, 13 year olds in thongs is plain wrong ... IMHO

Ok, so while on the bus, a cute lil one had bogger nose, so Dad sitting across told mom, who just looked, and with her hand, wiped it off. OK GAGGING just thinking of this ... ick! I really gagged at that and had to try to not show it, it was gross, all I could think was now she is gonna get up and use the bar !! I am a germ freak, so this stuff is hard for me ! Anyway, then the son, about 5, starts with the "see MOM AND DAD, I can pick my nose ! Dad laughs, trying not too, but does... Mom is given him the eveil eye, but he kept right on doing it. I was like ... ewww !

You making me think, when I got a coffee at the carts, I didnt see a tip jar, I didn't think they even excepted them.... are you telling me they do ?????
YIKES !!!

 

[RobinMarie]

Do not stand in front of the ATM and yell at it. It doesn't understand, there is no one in there. Please learn how to use this device before you leave your home country. Do not scream at me in a language I don't understand because I'm trying to help you. No matter how many times you yell at it, it is not going to respond.

Words of wisdom!