“Top” 10 Worst Guests at Disney World
Walt Disney once said that it takes “people to make the dream a reality.” He’s right. Cast Members are the magic, and even guests make the parks come alive. If the post-reopening period at Walt Disney World taught me anything, it’s that an eerily empty Magic Kingdom loses its novelty really quickly.
However, it’s also fair to say that Walt Disney hadn’t yet encountered all types of guests. Something tells me eBay pirates loading up on Loungefly and Spirit Jerseys weren’t a thing back in Walt’s day. Although he was a visionary, Walt might also have some trouble wrapping his head around TikTok dance routines. And anyone who only used rotary phones might have a tough time with iPadography and selfie sticks.
Suffice to say, the overwhelming majority of guests add a lot to the experience at Walt Disney World…but not every single guest. Some are the magic, but there are sometimes a few who detract from the magic. To that end, we’ve put a list together identifying the worst types of guests at Walt Disney World. Consider this part venting and part “cautionary tale” so you know what types of behavior to avoid.
With that said, no one is perfect 100% of the time. Not you, and certainly not me. Try as I might, I have been guilty of certain entries on this list. Perhaps it’s something in the Florida air (humidity) or water (swamp stuff).
Or maybe it’s the tremendous weight of planning and executing a “perfect” Walt Disney World vacation that has incredibly high stakes due to the monetary cost and convoluted systems and processes, glitchy apps, chaotic crowds. Even if you’re trying your best to have a great day, from time to time, that stress can overwhelm even absolute angels.
I offer this caveat because I’m not a fan of call-out culture nor do I like the idea of putting people “on blast” even if it’s in a just for fun venting post like this one that uses abstractions rather than specific instances of behavior we’ve seen recently. So breathe a sigh of relief–you aren’t going to find a hidden-cam ‘mugshot’ that I snapped of you that one time, against your better judgment, you let loose and did the “pee your pants challenge” for clout at EPCOT.
In short, while these types of guests do bug me (and others), I can recognize that nobody is perfect–including me–and I certainly don’t have any actual malice towards anyone who does these things. If anything, I think most of the problems lie with Walt Disney World for making a visit to the parks so stressful. But that’s another topic for another day.
Fortunately, 98% of guests on any given day are great–just happy to be at the Most Magical Place on Earth. Unfortunately, the bad often stand out more than the good, so even that 2% of guests can be annoying if you’re unlucky enough to cross paths with them.
With that out of the way, here’s our list of the worst types of guests at Walt Disney World…
The Ones Whose “Vacation Cost A Lot” – Did you know that a trip to Walt Disney World costs a lot of money?! Some angry guests feel the need to remind others of this when their bad behavior is met with resistance, seemingly oblivious to the fact that everyone’s vacation cost a lot of money. (I guess it’s possible that they’re right, and Walt Disney World’s top demographic is lottery or giveaway winners.)
This type of guest is an interesting case study, of sorts, as they’re one of the few that actually vocalizes the sense of entitlement that is an animating feature of all the worst types of guests. This guest is vocally oblivious to other tourists also spending a lot of money to be there, whereas most of the other types act in a manner that reflects that they don’t know or care that their behavior negatively impacts others.
The Flashers – No, we’re not talking about the infamous incidents that occurred that gave Splash Mountain its R-rated nickname and made it controversial back in the day. Get your mind out of the gutter!
Rather, we’re talking about guests who use flash to take photos on dark rides or their flashlights to record videos of fireworks. Not only is this rude to other guests because your flash destroys the illusion that the Imagineers created with carefully considered show lighting, but it makes your photos look like garbage for the exact same reason. When it comes to videos of fireworks, it accomplishes absolutely nothing–the subjects are too far away (and light themselves). All it does is illuminate heads in the crowd, which probably wasn’t the goal.
This is a good example of giving other guests the benefit of the doubt. In today’s era of ubiquitous smartphones, it’s so easy for a setting to be enabled and the user not know why–or understand how to turn it off. This one is usually less about selfishness, and more about user error or confusion. (Confession time: I still remember accidentally firing my flash on Pirates of the Caribbean in 2009. It was in a boat of my photography buds, making it even more mortifying. I have since accidentally turned on my phone flashlight twice during fireworks, but immediately turned it off both times.)
The Line Jumpers – Few things grind my gears like this, especially watching it unfold in slow motion. The first parent and child politely pass me to catch up to the rest of their family. No big deal, nature calls and kids need to use the toilet at unpredictable times. Then person 2 passes. Then 3, 4, 5, and 6. Just how large is this multigenerational party and were any of them in line in the first place?!
Cutting in line isn’t cool. It’s one thing when it’s the aforementioned bathroom break situation. That I can understand. But sending a “runner” from your party of 12 to hold a spot for the other 11 in line? Absolutely unacceptable and reflects the entitled attitude that your time (and the saving thereof) is more important than everyone else. It defies common courtesy and fairness. Congress should pass a law that requires 51% of your party or more to be present before getting into line. Isn’t that why Walt Disney World has a Hall of Presidents in the first place? To sign stuff like that into law?!
The Ones Who Don’t Want To Be There, And Want Everyone To Know – Walt Disney World is not for everyone. We get it. If that wasn’t clear before, the non-stop parade of not-so-thoughtful “think pieces” about Disney Adults and Childless Millennials have made that much very clear.
For whatever reason, this has spilled over into the parks themselves, with countless badly-designed Etsy shirts that proudly proclaim the wearer does not want to be there. I will never understand this. I do things that I don’t want to do from time to time, but at least I go in with an open mind…because why not? If I’m going to be there anyway, why not make the most of it and try to expand my horizons?
I wish people would realize that vocally hating something other people enjoy, especially in that venue, is not cool, edgy, or provocative. It’s dull, dumb, and pedestrian. (This applies to places beyond Walt Disney World, with the only exception being Minute Maid Park. 😉) You spent money on a shirt advertising something you don’t like? Congratulations on the announcement that you’re bad with money, I guess.
BONUS: Other Shirts with a ‘Message’ – Fun fact about me: I have never changed my vote or views based on a bumper sticker, yard sign, or t-shirt. Come to think of it, I don’t know anyone who has. Whenever I see a political or social opinion broadcast on a t-shirt, I am annoyed and also left wondering: what’s the point?! As society has become increasingly polarized, these shirts have gotten worse–with some being hostile or implying the threat of violence towards anyone who disagrees.
It doesn’t even matter if I “agree” with the shirt. This type of attire doesn’t belong at a place that’s about fun, fantasy, and bringing people together. (Some might even say this is a good philosophy to keep in mind when discussing Disney in the comments sections of your favorite blogs!)
The Passholes – Hello, sense of self-loathing! Despite being one at Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and beyond (in typical AP fashion, had to squeeze in that humblebrag before some self-deprecation!), I am aware of the fact that my people are not beloved by other guests, some Cast Members, and perhaps even the company itself.
In fairness, APs are not nearly as much of a pain in the neck at Walt Disney World as we are at Disneyland. There, we camp out for hours waiting for nighttime entertainment, snatch up all the limited edition merchandise, flaunt our knowledge, and just generally loiter about like Disneyland is an old-timey version of the Grove or Galleria. At Walt Disney World, we’re mostly harmless, just getting in long lines for Figment and Orange Bird stuff.
Perhaps our biggest offense is premature spieling, which is loudly reciting lines ever-so-slightly before the attraction narrator (so everyone knows that WE know the script!) and sharing our encyclopedic knowledge just a little to loudly while chatting with friends (so random strangers can also benefit from our expertise). We also tend to think that Walt Disney World and Disneyland would be nothing without us, and have a meltdown when the company or other guests even suggest that might not be the case.
BONUS: The Ones Who Pillage & Plunder– Even on a normal day, attempting to navigate Walt Disney World’s gift shops is an uncomfortable proposition. It’s exponentially worse when new items are released or restocked, as eBay pirates dock their ships and storm the stores. There is no merchandise–not even limited edition Figment or Country Bear collectibles–that I want badly enough to deal with this category of worst guests at Walt Disney World.
If you’ve never experienced the eBay pirates pillaging and plundering, how unpleasant it is cannot be overstated. I’d rather watch back to back showings of Beauty and the Beast: Sing-Along than visit the Emporium on those mornings. These eBay pirates are rude, aggressive, act entitled, and seemingly love to embrace their role as villains. They’re probably deserving of their own category, but this list is already at 10 entries and I assume most of these “guests” are Annual Passholders, so we’ll include them as a bonus entry here.
Bloggers, vloggers, and social media influencers also deserve our own dishonorable mention here. (Sadly.) To my fellow blogging brethren: You know what you did.
The Ones Who Have Never Walked in Public – America is a car culture. Most of our country is suburbia or rural, with few densely-populated and walkable downtown areas. Nowhere is that more apparent than at Walt Disney World, where many visitors encounter their first instance of bona fide urban design, and have trouble navigating it.
Ironically enough, the core problem is that they don’t observe the traditional rules of the road, which actually translate quite well to walking around public spaces. Instead, they seem to observe the Central Florida rules of the road, which (in my experience) are “anything goes!” Zig-zagging all around, changing multiple ‘lanes’ with zero notice to take an off-ramp, traveling in convoys that are 5-wide and block all other ‘lanes’ of the walkway, moving exponentially slower than the speed of traffic? In the parks and on Orlando roads, it all goes!
This is actually another great example of totally innocent behavior. No one walking this way is doing so to be selfish or because they’re entitled. It’s almost always because they don’t live in a city and Walt Disney World is the first quasi-urban environment they’ve visited. This probably does not rise to the level of the “worst” guest, but it does drive me crazy. (Very much a “me problem,” I realize!)
BONUS: The Mall Walkers – Turnabout is fair play, and if the above type of walkers are one of the worst guests (probably not), then so are their counterparts. And admittedly, this is me.
Not only do I always walk briskly or “with a purpose” (even when I have none), but I’ve been known to “mall walk” around World Showcase. If ever you’ve wondered why this blog sounds like it’s written by a curmudgeonly old man, it’s because I have the spirit (and interests, apparently) of one.
The Party Animals – We are far from teetotalers, but the drinking teams, bachelor/ette parties, and other groups in World Showcase at EPCOT sometimes can be a tad too much for a family-friendly theme park. For those of you who want to relive your glory days by attending an open air frat party, this might sound appealing. However, those days are long behind us, and we suspect many families don’t want their kids in that environment.
For what it’s worth, I don’t see party animals being an issue anywhere except EPCOT. Someone having a bit too much might happen from time to time at Magic Kingdom, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom, but it’s uncommon. By contrast, it feels like there’s a “drinking culture” represented in World Showcase, in addition to all of the global ones.
The Parents of Shoulder Kids – Rule #1 of the WDW Complaint Club™️ – It is never the child’s fault. Just as kids aren’t the ones that gave themselves participation trophies, they are not the ones that raised themselves. That applies both figuratively and, in this case, literally, over the heads of their parents.
Kids have a tough time seeing a show from the ground and parents have a difficult time holding them at normal eye level, which creates a conundrum. If you put them on your shoulders, they can see but you’re blocking the view of countless people behind you. The alternatives are them having a difficult time seeing from ground level or you struggling to hold them at eye level, but putting them on shoulders effectively says, “my child seeing the show is more important than anyone behind me seeing it.” It’s basically the non-verbal version of proclaiming, “my vacation cost a lot of money (but yours didn’t, somehow).”
The good news is that this is actually a false choice. If a parent cannot hold their kids at eye level, it’s not a matter of either them not seeing or blocking the view of people behind them. The everyone wins alternative is choosing a viewing location that is less crowded (e.g. Fantasyland or Japan) and or where there are not obstructions in front of you (e.g. on a bridge or against a railing). Both exist for the fireworks in Magic Kingdom or Harmonious in EPCOT.
The Meltdown Parents – It’s presumed that many childless adults can’t stand kids or are overly sensitive to their bad behavior. That couldn’t be further from the truth for us. (Taps sign on Rule #1.) Both of us are pretty good at filtering out crying kids, and view rambunctious behavior as a sign of excess energy that just needs to be burned off by playing. (It’s better than kids being glued to a screen!)
It’s the parental meltdowns that are the real problem. Ostensibly fully-developed adults who should be able to “use their words” to communicate and verbalize their emotions. However, adult meltdowns are all too common, with grownups becoming irrationally upset when things don’t go perfectly as planned or their efforts are under-appreciated. Often this begets the meltdown of a child who cannot do what they want, or has been forced to tour at a whirlwind pace, when really, they’d be perfectly happy to just play in a splash pad for an hour.
Lashing out at a child–especially on a trip for the kid–is never okay, and we’re not defending those who do it. BUT (you knew this was coming, right?) we have noticed a visible increase in these adult meltdowns as Walt Disney World vacations have increased in price, planning has become more convoluted and confusing, and sharing images of the ‘flawless family vacation’ on social media has become commonplace. The amount of pressure to have the perfect Walt Disney World trip is absolutely immense, and it’s easy to see how even the most level-headed parent can crack under that from time to time.
As we’ve said many times before, there is no such thing as a perfect Walt Disney World vacation. It bears repeating that you will make mistakes. Itineraries will get derailed. Dining and Genie+ plans won’t all work out. This also means that the pressure to plan a perfect trip is entirely optional, because there’s no such thing. Paradoxically, every imperfect trip can be perfect in its own way if you let it. You’ll be much better off with the memories of having a laugh at things not going smoothly than you will with the scars of screaming at your kids.
The Ones Who Never Worked a Day in Customer Service – I have seen enough and heard enough horror stories to consider Cast Members true saints. Even with the increasingly common complaints about poor guest service, my reflexive reaction is that it’s because Cast Members have been beaten down and had their spirits crushed over the last couple of years. That the dynamic would improve if guests were better-behaved (part of the reason why this post exists in the first place).
I’m also very aware that I could not last a day dealing with guests. I worked in “low stakes” fast food, retail, and other customer service jobs in high school and college. The way I was treated over submarine sandwiches and supermarket stuff suggests to me that things must be much worse for Cast Members working at multi-thousand dollar vacation destinations. I was also younger, more patient, and had no good alternatives to taking the abuse. I wouldn’t stand for that same treatment today.
This is why I’ve written repeatedly that all Americans should be “required” to work for a year in a service industry so they “learn” how to treat others. For me, this doesn’t seem like something that actually requires learning–you should just know to treat others with respect because they’re your fellow humans and it’s the right thing to do. But I think a lot of people don’t realize this for whatever reason. Perhaps they consider those in customer service roles to be “beneath” them or the jobs to be “easy” because the pay is lower than their wages.
Of course, this is not true. I could never be an accountant or neurosurgeon, but I also doubt that I could be a housekeeper, janitor, or crowd control Cast Member. Not because those jobs are beneath me–all work is deserving of dignity and none of it is beneath anyone–but because it all involves incredibly grueling manual labor. I simply don’t think I could keep up day after day.
I’m know I’m rambling here, but the core point is that the worst guests who are those who are mean or rude to Cast Members. Those guests really suck. Many Americans feel that high prices buy them a certain level of entitlement or that “the customer is always right” includes the ‘right’ to be rude. Those notions are utter hogwash. Courtesy is a two-way street, and if you don’t give it, you should not expect to receive it. Rant over.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts…
Which types of Walt Disney World guests do you think are the worst ones? Think that line cutters, rude guests, inefficient walkers, parental meltdowns, passholes, or entitled vacationers are the worst? Agree or disagree with the entries on our list? 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! Hearing your feedback–even if you think that bloggers are the worst guests–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Wow! All of these comments are so familiar. They happen outside Disney too. Unfortunately, we have so many people that don’t even know how to be nice anymore. It’s sad and also very scary. My biggest Theme Park pet peeve is the line cutting. I grew up near Disneyland and it was common practice there to send 2 people in line, then right before they get to the ride railed area, a bunch of friends/ family would climb over the rope, giving us a dirty look as they did so, just in case we were going to say something. I never really saw much of that until the last few years at WDW. I wish they would put up signs at the beginning of each line entrance saying “All members of Your Party must Be Present to Enter the Queue. As a courtesy to all of our Guests, no line cutting is permitted.” Maybe we need to teach people what it’s like to be respectful. If someone needs to leave the line to use the bathroom, they should make a line CM aware and they can escort them back in the queue upon returning. Also, if Disney didn’t require us to be on our phones so much to book rides, reservations, etc. then maybe people wouldn’t be on their phones and they would pay more attention to their kids and their surroundings. Disney has definitely exacerbated this problem.
We always had “at least 51%” of our party in the line but often times, due to the location of wheelchair/scooter parking, would rejoin our party after parking my disabled Veteran dad. He hates driving the scooter through the lines and won’t unless absolutely necessary. So, I will escort him to the location and back in line or park the vehicle myself, allowing him to join my family and walk on as I can quickly catch up.
the main problem I have with visitors to disney is that large families walk side by side down the pathways and dont move over for others to get through OR people that stop in the middle of the pathway instead of going to the side .
I’m amused by your political t-shirt comment! Back in 2016 I took my kids for the first time to Disney World from the UK, my 6 year old had just become a confident reader and in typical small child with extra loud voice fashion was reading everything thing he could – including lots of Trump and a few Clinton t-shirts. I’d never talked politics with my kids (all under 10 at that point), but it appears some British culture is genetic rather than learned because the conversation went something like this:
6yr old – Mum, what’s a Trump and a Clin-ton?
Mum – They are politicians names honey. The US is having an election soon.
6yr old – A politician? Are they stupid? Who wants to wear a t-shirt with a politician on it? Do their parents let them out dressed like that? That’s just embarrassing.
Needless to say we became some of those route marching people with another destination we had to get to very quickly. We did also have a chat with him about considering other people’s feelings and only using kind words once we could keep a straight face.
I agree a lot here. Visiting often we tend to just walk past many of it without noticing. However, there’s one area Disney is to blame this time. While I did what you said and just picked my 7 year old up to eye level. We were trying to catch a last viewing of Enchantment before it goes away, as we won’t return in Oct 2023. We got all we expected to do in the day done by 7 or so, and decided to stake out a seat where we could get the kids to see the castle and get out when it was over. We were behind partners where CM’s taped off the walking paths. In the past those lanes were always kepted open and cm’s ensured they were clear for emergencies and safety etc. This time with about 15 minutes before the show they allowed all those walkways to be filled in. Not only creating a time square nye type enviroment where you couldn’t excape, but totally destroyed the view for the small ones. Maybe Tom you may know, when did they stop keeping open walkways in that area. I know we were there in January and the taped off walkways were clear. I have never seen them allow for a total mob area in the middle. At the end we scurried to the handicapped area while trying to get out, luckily the cm’s saw my kids having a rough time and allowed us to ride it out in the area before moving us into the hub grass. No sooner did we get there that a huge fight broke out involving the sheriff and security to break up. The mob made it almost impossible to get any staff or sheriffs there. I voiced my concern with guest relations, they gave me a case to follow but they should always have control, and it just seemed like they decided to let control go.
Could I get ‘parents who take their obviously sick and contagious kids to the parks’ as an honorable mention? Did we live through the same pandemic?
I think a lot of these people are on the Disney Wish with us right now!!!
I loved the comments about people that don’t know how to walk. I think some of it is that there is so much to look at, you can’t help but stop and take it in. I noticed this a lot while driving my ECV. I really have to be a “defensive driver.” While I really didn’t mind them stopping, it frustrated me when someone would stop suddenly in front of me and glare at me if I bumped into them. The other problem with driving an ECV was the amount of times I ended up with a bookbag in my face or knocked against my head. I love taking a bookbag to carry all my stuff too, but people need to be aware of that large mass coming out of their back.
As for getting kids up to eye level, I would lock the stroller wheels and have my son stand on the stroller seat with my arms wrapped firmly around him. My husband would also hold on to the stroller and put a toe under the wheel to make it extra secure. My son was then at adult eye level and my arms didn’t feel like they were going to fall off.
Great tip about the stroller! We will have to try that!
Every reader of this article has been each of these people at least once in their latest Disney trip. Its just being human. You’re exhausted, dehydrated, stressed, sleep deprived, hungry, concerned about money, bothered by strangers, annoyed by your children, etc. And then you have to navigate an entire city that is supposed to be your vacation. If we can all just be a little more understanding, helpful, kind in it all, then we’ll all be better for it.
Don’t forget about the people who film entire rides or shows with a tablet or phone. It’s worse than putting a kid on your shoulders, in my opinion, at least the kid benefits in that situation. It makes me livid after standing in line for a ride to have to see it through someone’s screen.
Yes! One of my biggest pet peeves, also they will never watch this! Who watches crappy cell video of dark water rides??? Even if they post it somewhere no one wants to watch this.
Preach. And I get it, if it was the year 1982. But here, in the year of our lord 2022, you can watch any attraction in 5K surround sound at any time on Youtube. No need to make your own personal recording!! Live in the moment!
I guess we were very lucky on our 5-day trip to WDW in mid September. I never saw any of the people you described. I can’t say that there were none, but we were not around them. I did see a few upset small children, but no major catastrophes. Actually, I’ve never understood why people insist on bringing infants and toddlers to Disney World. But I wouldn’t class those parents as bad guests, just a little misguided.
As to your entitled guests, I may fall in there – but not intentionally. I purchased a 9-hour VIP tour – very expensive. But we got to use the Lightning Lane on 20 attractions at MK and HS in that time. I did feel some sense of “guilt” as we walked past the folks waiting 20-60 minutes in the standby lines. I knew that they couldn’t afford the VIP tour fee. But I never said anything to anyone in those lines. For all they knew, I was just a Genie+ user.
I totally disagree about the comment that those who zig and zig are innocent.
Countless times last month did we have people who would walk through or ‘cross’ in between our family members (and we were all tight together). we would have to actually stop short and sometimes twisting a knee which ended up being painful. It was VERY deliberate. It goes to show that Disney is the ultimate gathering of ‘me matters, you don’t ‘ mentality. It’s similar to every other encounter in today’s lack of civility wherever you go except more people.
The crowd levels, rude guests, rude cast members, broken down attractions and filthy restrooms were a major factor for us going to customer service and selling back our MNSSHP tickets that was supposed to be the highlight of our trip. I guess they won. We left our vacation angry, frustrated and extremely disappointed. I feel frustrated and disappointed for my 5 year old daughter whose first trip was supposed to be special. It was anything but.
I don’t believe that Iger is going to ‘fix’ all these things that irritate guests and impact guest satisfaction. After all, wasn’t many of these unpopular decisions somewhat in motion before he appointed Chapek?
Agree with all of these, but the one that bugged me the most on my first trip in September 2007, were all the Captain Obviouses that felt the need to loudly comment how hot it must be inside the costume of whatever character we were seeing. We were there for my daughter’s 7th birthday – I do not want it pointed out to her that these are costumes, not real characters, yet every line we were in, many people announced this information to anyone within earshot.
Also, couldn’t agree more with political tshirts, etc – these things don’t belong in family fun places like Disney and I don’t know why people wear them b/c as you said and I’ve always pointed out to my kids – nobody’s opinion has been changed b/c of someone else’s tshirt.
Once saw a mom with a little boy sitting outside of a bathroom. Bit was probably 6 years old and obviously doing the peepee dance. He kept saying he needed to go and the mom was all into her phone. This was before Genie+ so it wasn’t that. Mom kept telling the child to wait a minute for probably about five minutes. He then wet himself right outside the bathroom. She started to get upset and blame him. Then, in the middle of the park, she stripped him down naked and started to fish around for a change of clothes while continuing to blame him. Poor kid. How does that not stick in your head! All she had to do was take 60 seconds off her phone to take him to the bathroom. She could have even multi-tasked!
Oh my gosh. I saw a similar situation in front of Peter Pan. The little boy was trying to get his mom’s attention and she was ignoring him. He just pulled down his pants in the middle of the pathway and relieved himself. The mom didn’t even notice right away and then she just stood there and watched him.
The worst Disney guest I’ve encountered was a couple in front of us in line for PPF. There was a woman in front of them holding a baby over her shoulder so the baby was facing the couple right infront of me, and the mom was marching forward. Any chance the couple had when they felt there were not cameras, they would vape. Then the woman vaping exhaled the vape into the baby’s face. I was very distressed with this and just had no clue what to do because they also didn’t speak English. We were on the ride quickly enough and I guess they did evade the cameras becaue nothing was done. Now I think if I could go back I would have said NO, until they figured it out! They probably would have understood that, but the husband was also a big dude, and my daughter was with me and I didn’t want to upset her or start conflict and this all happened in about 2-3 minutes. I still cringe about it, ugh.
In the last couple of years, the irritating guest that has become more prevalent, are those who believe the rules – both Disney’s and common courtesy – do not apply to them. One super egregious incident occurred recently – a couple with a baby and stroller got in line for the bus, not with the rest of the people waiting, but with the scooters waiting to be boarded. TBF, there was one scooter, and one stroller as a wheelchair with a red tag. Perhaps they saw the stroller/wheelchair and thought that was how everyone with strollers boarded, assuming they didn’t see the four or five families with strollers in the regular line.
They boarded while the bus driver was busy securing the scooter, so he didn’t see them. Then the guests started boarding. They were seated in the back section, and they had disassembled their stroller, placing the seat portion of it across two seats, leaving the frame on the lower part of the bus for other people to deal with. As the bus filled, and all the seats were taken, leaving many people standing, I was about to say something, when the lady sitting next to me spoke up, asking them to move the stroller seat so people could sit. Another lady agreed, saying, “yes, it’s bad enough that you cut line in front of everyone else, but now you’re taking up seats while people are standing”
The mom exploded in rage, cursing at the two ladies, saying she could do as she [darn] well pleased. Then she started taking video of the ladies, saying she was going to post it on TikTok and make them famous Karens. Eventually the dad told mom to calm down and be quiet. I think he realized their faux pas, and was embarrassed, but mom kept going, using extremely vulgar language to shout at the two ladies and making threats to them. No, the bus driver did nothing, either not hearing any of this, or not caring to deal with it.
There are a,lot of parents who think everyone should change because they reproduced.
Blessedly very few of the people I have encountered at Disney are like that.And I am childless by choice. It is usually parents who are the problem, not the kids. Parents don’t pay enough attention to their kid needing a nap.or a chance to run around and blow off steam or not reeling them when the kids are obviously misbehaving,running into people, knocking us down, or shrieking at the top of their lungs. Bad parents, not bad kids.
As a reproducer and now grandma myself, I say ” right on” to your comment. All the way!!! Too many moms on cell phones!
While I agree that every single one of these types of guests is incredibly awful, I would also like to give a shout out to the guests who make me smile and add to the experience. I will never forget the man in bus 60s who shouted “I’m off to never land!” as his ride on Peter Pans flight started, or the girl who had a moment with Tiana, who noticed she was wearing a tiana shirt. Guests like that make a great day even more memorable.
The people who go to Disney without kids can get irritating when you are waiting on a particularly long line for a childrens ride.
I will happily agree to stop going on children’s rides when the parental delegation agrees to stop taking their kids to places clearly not intended for them. 😉
I would like to respectfully disagree. The rides at the parks are for everyone. I may be an adult, but I will stand on line for the carousel or a dark ride like I did when I was four. I think one of the nice things about Disney parks is that they don’t differentiate between children’s rides and adult rides. There is no “kiddie land” like at some parks.
What can be a problem is the parent who thought bringing a three year old on the haunted mansion was a good idea and then is surprised when the kid is screaming as soon as it gets dark! What did you expect ?
For James
Deal.with it. Adults have paid to get in too. They have as much right to.enjoy those rides as children. Most of us don’t complain unless somebody’s offspring run into us or shrieks. YOU are part of the problem, not the solurion.
And I turn into a large child at Disneyworld. Sounds like you think only kids and parents of kids should have rights. If adults aren’t causing problems (and being in long lines aren’t a problem even if your offspring must wait in line like everyone else),leave us,alone. Too bad if the lines,are longer.
Suggestion: Don’t go at peak times and wait till your kids,aren’t toddlers.
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I may have done this to get a rise out of you 🙂
I LOVE these types of articles on your site. Appreciate the news/practical info (always interspersed with great commentary) too, but this kind of creative article is so much fun to read.
We just returned from WDW last week and I’m positive we encountered every single one of those people. You did miss the one that was the absolute worst for me though…the parent that is completely oblivious to what is happening around them while they are sucked into their phone. I can not tell you how many lines we were in with kids crawling through and around people, playing tag with their siblings and even one that was running their tongue along a railing in line (ewwwwww). We also had a small child behind us in the Winnie the Pooh line that I’m convinced was coughing up a lung! I’m all for kids having a blast in WDW, but by all means don’t irritate other people while doing it.
Thank you. I am willing to bet that at least one person here whining g about adults being in.line for rides he consider for kids only was one of the parents you described.
Sleep deprivation can have a huge impact on our ability to regulate our emotions for sure. I have 4 kids (teens and pre-teens last time we visited) and can definitely say that trying to maximize time in the parks to the point we’re there from 7:30am to 11:00pm does wonders by day 4 or 5. Interestingly, the most peaceful, least breakdowns trip we’ve ever had was December 2020 when park hours were reduced.
All that to say, I think most have good intentions and then exhaustion kicks in and next thing u know the dark side emerges.
The again I don’t think the person who videoed with flash on the entire Navi river ride our first time, washing out all effects, was sleep deprived… just rude. 🙂