Disney Parks Pet Peeves
In our Essence of the Disney Magic post that discusses what makes the parks so special, we share a Walt Disney quote about it taking “people to make the dream a reality.” Clearly, he was referring to the exceptional Cast Members, as all other guests do at Walt Disney World and Disneyland is clog up walkways, obstruct views, make noise during attractions, and lead to longer wait times. 😉 (Updated December 9, 2019.)
To borrow the immortal words of Frank Costanza, I’ve got a lot of problems with you people, and now you’re going to hear about it! That’s right. I know this blog is normally rainbows, unicorns, and all sorts of other good vibrations, but it’s time for you to hear what I really think. Here, it’s time for my proverbial “Airing of Disney Parks Grievances.”
Fair warning: this post is in no way helpful to Walt Disney World, Disneyland, or other park trip planning. Actually, it’s not really helpful to anyone, anywhere at all. Think of it as a junk food blog post that you shouldn’t waste your time reading. That is, unless you don’t really care about wasting your time on the internet, in which case, read away!
Before we get going, I want to underscore that this is meant in good fun and with a lighthearted sense to it. No one is perfect. While these things do bug me, I’m sure I do plenty of things that bug others, and I certain don’t have any malice towards anyone who does these things.
Most of the time, I don’t think people are doing any of these things intentionally, or at least with the express purpose of inconveniencing others. While this could be a helpful heads up to let you know what behavior might be unintentionally obnoxious, it’s mostly just some lighthearted venting.
With those caveats out of the way, I’ll let my inner Frank Costanza (I’d like to think he’d be proud of this list…but at the same time would be its biggest offender) take over and share a few of my Disney theme park pet peeves…
Disproportionate Line Jumping – I’m a reasonable guy. If you’re a large family with a herd of small children, I get that a trip to the parks is a veritable Detrol commercial. Bathroom breaks are a frequent, time-consuming part of the theme park experience. I understand one parent taking a child to the bathroom while the other jumps in line with the rest of the pack.
What I don’t appreciate is when one member of a multi-generational party of 27 jumps in line, and then slowly the other 26 members trickle ahead of me. That’s not meeting the “rest” of your party, it’s thinly-veiled line-jumping. I never say anything to these people, but you better believe the back of their heads receive a contemptuous glare.
My rule: unless 51% of your party is farther forward, the rest of the party moves back. Fair enough?
Talking on Attractions – Again, I’m reasonable. I understand that parks are a social environment. They aren’t a library or a movie theater. Some small, quiet comments here and there are totally fine.
Now it’s everyone else’s turn to be reasonable and understand that the rest of us waited 45 minutes in line so we could enjoy an immersive attraction, not so we could hear you talk about that epic party from last night in excruciating detail as if it has all the drama of the Iran-Contra Affair.
Flaunting Disney Knowledge – Let’s level with one another: I write a Disney blog and you read at least one. We both clearly have too much free time on our hands and probably know much more about Disney than John Q Public.
This is neither a Scarlet Letter, nor is it a badge of honor. Some Disney fans don’t seem to understand this. They share their Mad Park Smartz with their friends in the parks. There’s nothing wrong with this by itself, but when it’s done in painfully loud voices that are clearly for the benefit of those around them in a queue, that’s where I draw the line.
You know what I’m talking about. This is the Disney Parks equivalent of loudly groaning when you get your swell on at the gym cuz everyone should see how jacked and tan you are.
Quoting Attractions – Continuing on the ‘talking’ subject, here’s my biggest pet peeve: quoting lines from attractions in the attraction right before the line is said in the attraction. This is a variation of Flaunting Disney Knowledge, but it’s so annoying that it deserves its own spot.
I don’t mind people quoting attractions in general. I’d like to think the wisdom gleaned from Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree can be applied to all facets of life. What I mind is people beating the attraction to the punch, showing off their own knowledge as if this gives them some sort of ill-gotten street cred. It doesn’t, and it’s annoying.
The absolute worst example of this was among the regulars of the now-extinct Adventurers Club (hey guys, wonder why it closed? I’m guessing you going every night, never buying drinks, while simultaneously creeping out non-regulars didn’t help), but just try and go on the Jungle Cruise without someone saying the words ‘backside of water’ before the skipper, or to the Haunted Mansion without someone saying ‘there’s always my way’ before the Ghost Host.
Walking Etiquette – I walk at an extremely brisk pace. I have no time for shenanigans such as meandering aimlessly. However, I understand not everyone desires or can maintain my pace, and I certainly don’t expect it.
What I also don’t expect is a convoy of 4 double-wide strollers walking side by side taking up the entire walkway so no one can pass. Treat the sidewalk like you’d treat a highway: if you know your party is slower, allow enough room next to you for a “passing lane.”
On a highway, you wouldn’t aimlessly zigzag from lane to lane without regard for traffic behind you, so don’t do the same in walkways. Likewise, just as you wouldn’t come to a dead stop in the middle of your lane when driving 70 MPH on the highway, don’t stop in your tracks to look at a map in the middle of a walkway. Move to the side first. Note that I’m calling them walkways rather than standways–that’s for a reason.
Shoulder-Children – Are you 6′ tall and want to put your kids on your shoulders for the fireworks? No problem! It’s not as if there are hundreds of people behind you who also want to see the show or anything. I really am curious as to what line of thought can justify this?
The thing is, I realize kids have a tough time seeing a show from the ground and parents have a difficult time holding them at normal eye level. This leaves them with a conundrum: put them on your shoulders or don’t. If you put them on your shoulders, they can see but you’re blocking the view of countless people behind you. This effectively says, “my children seeing the show are more important than anyone behind me seeing it.”
This could really fall under a general penumbra of “Selfish Guests” that would encompass everything from sitting in the middle seats of what clearly will be a packed theater (despite directions from Cast Members to move all the way down), throwing trash on the ground or not cleaning up the trash at your table for counter service meals, smoking wherever you feel like, waving around your selfie stick without regard for others, and a myriad of other things. That $100/day ticket is not a license to do whatever the heck you want because, “YOU PAID A TON OF MONEY FOR THIS VACATION.”
My rule: if you want to put your kids on your shoulders, do it from a location where there are not people behind you. Alternatively, choose a viewing location where there are not obstructions in front of you. Both exist, particularly when it comes to Happily Ever After in Magic Kingdom.
Stroller Etiquette – This is a challenging one for me given the propensity to actually offend, I’ll treat this one with kid gloves. Quite simply, there are exponentially more (and larger) strollers in Walt Disney World and Disneyland than there were even just a decade ago, and also exponentially more in those two locations than there are in Disneyland Paris, Hong Kong Disneyland, and even Tokyo Disneyland.
It’s not because the latter have “NO CHILDREN!” rules. Rather, it’s because guests utilize more discretion with the size and use of them, as used to be the case in the U.S. Disney Parks. (Good news! Apparently Disney management shared this sentiment, as new rules at Walt Disney World and Disneyland as of 2019 address this very issue.)
Also, if you operate a stroller, be mindful of the heels in front of you. Let’s again use the roadway analogy: strollers are like cars–yield to pedestrians. Don’t use your stroller as a battering ram to help you plow through crowds when Walt Disney World is a bit crowded!
Rudeness to Cast Members – Don’t like the quality of the beef patty in your burger at Cosmic Ray’s? Having yet another issue with your MagicBand communicating with the Mickey head readers? Think lines for everything are too long? Yelling at the nearest Cast Member seems like a totally reasonable solution.
Oh wait, no it doesn’t. At all. Front of the line Cast Members have about as much control over all of those things as the Apple Store floor employee has over the size of the iPhone. Yelling at any of these people is wholly unreasonable. What exactly are people expecting to accomplish?
Spending a lot of money on your Disney vacation does not entitle you to be an absolute dick to everyone you come across, especially those in positions who go out of their way to put a smile on your kids’ faces and make magic for guests, despite their modest wages. A good rule in life is: “don’t be a dick” but if that’s just too darned tough to follow, a lower standard might be: “don’t be a dick to people regarding situations that are out of their control, especially when they are doing their best to be nice and help you.”
Have you steered clear of my airing of Disney theme park grievances thus far? Well, I have a lot more that you are doing! You couldn’t smooth a silk sheet if you had a hot date with a babe…ah, I lost my train of thought. 😉 (I’m sorry, a lot of the references in this blog probably don’t make sense if you’re not a Seinfeld fan. Then again, I’m not so sure I want people reading this blog who aren’t Seinfeld fans.)
For Walt Disney World trip planning tips and comprehensive advice, make sure to read our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide. For those headed to the West Coast, check out our Disneyland Trip Planning Guide.
Your Thoughts…
What are your Disney theme park pet peeves? Are you so high on the magic of pixie dust when you visit the parks that nothing annoys you? What do I do that annoys you (this is the airing of theme park grievances, after all)? Feel free to vent in the comments. You won’t change anything about how other guests behave at Walt Disney World, but at least it’s therapeutic!
My 5:
1. During parades, castle shows, fireworks or dark rides, people sticking up their camera phones blocking my view. There is plenty of nice quality near professional videos on YouTube of the particular show/attraction so put the stupid phone down.
2. Shoulder children
3. Loud chanting or excess screaming on rides from high school aged kids
4. People who stop in a crowded walkway to take selfies
5. When you stake out a spot for a parade, people try to cut in last minute when cast members start clearing the walkways
If you are strong enough to hold your child on your shoulders, you are MORE than capable to hold them on your hip at eye level. I’m a very small woman and I held my then 6 yr old on my hip to watch Happily Ever After.. worked fine. And she was also at the perfect height for me to see her reactions and for us to oooh and ahhh together and make excited comments to each other every time a new character popped up.
My pet peeve is that it used to be “in the old days” that the Disney Employees really played their part when loading guests onto rides. For example, at the Tower of Terror, the employees would talk really spookey and this enhanced the fear and the ride itself. Anymore, the employees don’t play the part and don’t seem to care, and this is a real loss for the guests.
My absolute most hated pet peeve? Using your cell phone to shoot photo or video on dark rides. At this point, I rarely see anyone using their flash, (either on phones or cameras,) during the rides, but it seems as though people either don’t understand or don’t care that turning the screen brightness all the way down does not mean your screen light is not visible.
NO ONE IS GOING TO WATCH YOUR BAD CELL PHONE VIDEO OF A RIDE. So do the rest of us a favor and please stop doing it. Just enjoy the ride you just spent 30 minutes waiting to get on. It’s truly distracting during rides like Pirates or Haunted Mansion, and anyone who does it will be getting nasty looks from me.
Jane, I have to agree with you about the scooters. The last time I went to WDW I had to use a scooter due to one knee being recently replaced and the other one completely trashed and needing to be replaced in the near future. Everyone has to work their way through the crowds as best they can but I found many walkers paid absolutely no attention to to my scooter. I was trying to be extremely careful to go slowly and safely and not follow closely behind someone, but if a walker abruptly steps sideways right into my path I can’t stop on a dime. One woman did exactly that and then gave me a truly hateful glare because the scooter bumped her. Not all scooter problems are caused by the scooter.
This is when I would have profusely apologized and said, “Iʻm so sorry are you Okay? Iʻm not use to driving these things and I canʻt see to find the stop on a dime feature. Iʻll try to be more on the lookout for people stepping in font of me. Have a great time today.” But I am snarky like that.
That’s ok. I get snarky with the idiots who say things like “Gee you are so lucky to drive everywhere on that cool machine, and not have to walk like the rest of us.” This happens often. Now I just say be careful what you wish for; you too could win the disease lottery!
Totally agree!
That was awesome!!!! I read your blog because you call it like you see it and usually they’re pretty close to my own thoughts about things in the Magical World, or not so Magical World, of Disney. I have never commented on your blog before, but when you called out “those who shall not be named” for “acting like a dick” I literally spit up my coffee and laughed so hard I think I pee’d my pants. Those were almost my exact words used on our last trip to Disney World in November. I called someone out for being horrible to a cast member who had nothing at all to do with his plight. I said, “Shame on you, you self absorbed ENTITLED prick”. A family of 27-ish were in the Test Track single rider line and demanded to all be seated together on the ride once they got to the front. The cast member explained they were not in the appropriate line and it wasn’t fair to all those who had waited their turn for the past 90 mins. The guest lit the cast member up, it was jaw dropping. So once his kids were out of ear shot and on the ride, I lit him up like a Disney Christmas Tree, backed by all the other guest behind me. Thanks for keeping it real!
I was at the Magic Kingdom this past August and had to sit through the most annoying ride of Pirates of the Caribbean. The family in the row in front of me clapped their hands and sang the song as loud as they could through the whole ride. Unfortunately there were young children in the group so they clearly won’t be learning any etiquette from their parents. Oh, and the cherry on top? One of the girls had light up ears on which she kept on, lit up for the whole thing. I wanted to be hit by a cannonball.
I also wish they would ask people to kindly remove their mickey ears at any theatre shows.
I never thought about the mickey ears at theater shows! Makes sense now that I think about it. 🙂 I will definitely remove them and ask my group to do the same. Hopefully others will follow. 🙂
As a 20-something without kids who generally goes by myself or with (1-3) friends, I have zero tolerance for the strollers or the shoulder-sitting. (And yes, I realize that I’m opening myself up to criticism from people who would say that Disney is for families, not for me, but I go out of my way to be kind to everyone, CMs especially, and to be as unobtrusive as possible.) I will admit that I have been a quoter…but I limit it to very very late at night or at DVC events where everyone is doing it and the cast members are in on the joke. It makes for good stories and interactions sometimes.
Perfect list! These are precisely the things that bug me the most, and the things that make me mumble curses (not obscenities, but hopes for warts to grow on noses and taxes to be audited) when I’ve been repeatedly assaulted. Thanks for the vicarious venting.
Pet Peeve? – How is Disney Orlando allowed to throw 35,000 paying guests out of the Magic Kingdom at 5:00 pm so they can charge 35,000 new people to enter for “Mickey’s Magical Christmas Party”?
nailed it!
The same way they can throw out 35,000 people at 9:00pm. That’s what time the park closes. On party days, the park closes at 5:00pm. Choose another park that day!
People feel the need to point everything out to the little ones on its a small world. Let them take it in themselves. It can be overwhelming enough without having to look here, see that. Chances are they have NO clue where you are pointing
Related: the parent who spent the entirety of Na’vi River Journey pointing to every. single. animal. and exclaiming “Look! That’s an Avatar-[insert animal]!” Obnoxious on multiple levels, and I honestly cannot comprehend why that person felt the need to incorrectly identify a slew of aliens for their child at full volume.
That was the one and only time I got to ride NRJ on that trip, too, so double super thanks for that one, stranger.
That’s what happened to me on my first and only time I got to ride avatar. This mom yelled close your eyes every time before something scary was going to happen. It almost became constant. It truly took away a first time experience I will never have again.
As an older person who must walk with a cane due to a degenerative nerve disease, I’m astounded by the lack of courtesy displayed by others. On buses, I’ve encountered numerous Millennials with young children who just sit and stare at their phones — ignoring their children — and don’t offer me or any other elderly or disabled person a seat. My husband will often ask if they’d mind letting me sit. The most common response is, “My kids are tired.”
As for strollers, any normal, healthy child over the age of three should not need a stroller. If your child gets tired walking around a theme park, then your child is not getting enough exercise at home. A normal child will have more energy than an adult, but only if the child isn’t being raised by parents who let TVs and electronic devices raise their child. If your child really can’t walk all day, then you need to take the child to the hotel to rest. We had triplets, so strollers were really unmanageable. Our kids never sat in a stroller by the time they were three. We’d take them to the parks in the morning, go back to the hotel for a nap after lunch, then come back later in the day.
i’ve noticed this too on my mom’s behalf. i ask every time for someone to let her sit if there isn’t something open, thankfully they usually oblige.
I’m sorry to disagree, but I use a stroller with my children to age six, and with my Asberger’s spectrum child age 7, and it is entirely necessary. I am very crowd conscious, though. The problem is not travel within the parks; it is the fact that when we depart, there is still quite a distance to walk to transportation and a long wait in line for transport, followed by the trudge to the hotel room. It has nothing to do with exercise. Adults are tired; how can we expect a child to be any less so?
What are you disagreeing with? It doesn’t say no one should use strollers. The only point is dont bring monster truck size strollers that exceed the size limits and dont run people over with them. If your not one of those people there is nothing to disagree with.
To Jeff, Tom didn’t say no strollers but I believe she’s disagreeing with Suzanne who said no child over 3 should use a stroller. I’m with momma rose on that one. My kids were completely stroller-less by 5 but it all depends on the kid. I’m all for encouraging kids to get in the exercise but if I’m exhausted after a day walking in the parks, my 3 yr old would be even more exhausted. I say if you need one, use one but be courteous:)
Agree!
If you’re following a touring plan you can and should use a stroller with older kids, provided it’s a reasonable size. If the choice is an extra hour waiting in line or using a stroller, choose the stroller.
My kids (3/5/7) can hike 4 miles in the mountains, the older 2 much further, and the oldest can backpack on a short (3-day) trip, carrying his own pack (granted it’s pretty light since he’s not quite 50 lbs) but a day in the parks will do them in. We bring a stroller. We are conscious of others, and park it a lot, but we certainly use it and will bring it on our next trip. We take breaks. We don’t rope drop and stay until closing every day. And they still are physically exhausted. It’s not purely an exercise thing! It’s the physical strain, the standing, the heat (we are notherners), the mental energy required to deal with all the excitement in a proper manner – it all adds up and they just need to sit and ride sometimes.
I agree with the bus thing, but would point out that parents holding sleeping children usually try to cram as many on their laps as possible. I’ve had a stranger next to me let my kid sleep on her so we could give a seat up for someone. Don’t judge everyone. I’ve also been standing, pregnant, holding a sleeping kid (my husband was standing with the stroller and other child) and had some young-ish person sucked into their phone the whole time. On that trip another passenger called out that phone-addict. I would say that overall, passengers on the bus are pretty courteous. We can let the few bad apples ruin the trip or be thankful for all the nice people out there.
My little mama is 78 and I have to ask people daily to allow my mom to sit. I’ve asked people to hold their child so my mom can sit. I’ve given up my seat many times to allow mom’s holding sleeping kids a seat. People surprise me, ( not really) they line up 5 kids, mom and dad taking up 7 seats and it never crosses their mind that they could hold a couple kids and the kids could double up or dad could stand. Chivalry is long dead. I won’t sit if elderly people or moms holding kids are a a standing
Just came back from Disney World people are still using huge strollers and nobody stops them what a disaster when they bring them on a crowded bus
I agree about the strollers. I was there a few weeks ago and it was bad.
Can I add purposely overacting PDA for ride photos. Half of the ride photos in my last purchase of the memory maker had photos that were not appropriate to print and save for my family because of what other people thought was a funny photo. Come on!
I was in Disney World the week before Thanksgiving and let me tell you that the amount of motorized scooters was a MAJOR issue! One was going so fast that if I had not been pulled out of the way he would have hit me. Another one was blowing his horn the whole way through Adventure land, there were too many people. Everyone was moving just not fast enough for this man. Then I can’t even tell you the amount that would hit my chair and push me into the table while I was eating!
Someone is going to get hurt and it feel that it needs addressed by the park.
I use my own scooter because I cannot walk. I try to watch my speed and be courteous, but my biggest problem is unattended little ones. By that I mean little kids who are walking way ahead or behind their adults, running in random circles, or who think it’s funny to jump in front of me. I had no accidents last trip, but for sure some near misses. My scooter is small and agile, but cannot stop on a dime. If you stop abruptly, you might get an accidental bump.