A few weird things we saw people do on our trip

[mum4jenn]

I'm sure the mob attacks didn't help his state of mind any either.

And really don't be fooled by what he would post on here. I have read posts he has made on other sites and he can get down right UGLY and hang with the best (or worst) of them. He played the poor me card pretty well on here but on the "no holds barred" sites...he could and does hold his own.

 

[EchoThree76]

OK...I have to put my two cents in about and OLD OLD subject. Someone said that those people shown 'cooling off' in the cinderella fountain are probably just doing a custom in there country. Very well....But they are not IN there country. Would anyone from the US think of doing things they do hear in another country? No. This is something i learned when i was young! When we ever went to someones house I was respectful and followed THEIR rules! Its disrespectful and show a total lack of concideration for everyone!!

 

[micki7337]

I have one for you last Christmas season we went to WDW and went to the MVP and waited for the late parade. it was a little chilly and I went for some cookie and cocoa while on line this little group of tourists we all know the group with the guy carrying the flag. Well, this little group 20 people crushes Thru the line and cuts in front of every one and well free food must not happen much from where this group was from because they took all the cookies that they could even when the CM told them to slow down and leave some for others. then they suddenly did not understand what the CM were saying. Finally they left and I got the group our cocoa and headed beck and low and behold the group was trying to take over parts of the parade route that were reserved for the physically challenged and thanks WDW CM's for their removal. nuff said.

 

[Clotho]

OK...I have to put my two cents in about and OLD OLD subject. Someone said that those people shown 'cooling off' in the cinderella fountain are probably just doing a custom in there country. Very well....But they are not IN there country. Would anyone from the US think of doing things they do hear in another country? No. This is something i learned when i was young! When we ever went to someones house I was respectful and followed THEIR rules! Its disrespectful and show a total lack of concideration for everyone!!

Yes, but my friend you are assuming that they KNOW it isn't common in our country!

Imagine this: you go to another country and you pay for something at a convenience store on the corner. When they pull your change out of the till, you reach out and take it and leave. Normal everyday transaction right?

Yet everyone behind you in line gasps, and the counter person looks a little stunned. HORRORS!! What could you possibly have done to offend them?

Well, in much of Japan, that is considered incredibly rude. In "polite society" one doesn't exchange money hand-to-hand. Money is placed on counters to exchange, and you never take it directly from someone's hand. But what if you didn't know that? Wouldn't you hope people would be understanding that your country does things differently? I certainly didn't know that, but my friend learned it when she went to Japan a couple years back, thankfully a friend warned her. But what if you didn't have a friend living in Japan to tell you this?

Did you know the whole "standing in line" thing is also pretty rare in the rest of the world? I would hope that most people from other countries would clearly see that we "queue" here, but in most other countries, that just ain't the case. Just try to get on a train in any orderly fashion while in some countries (or in New York! LOL)! It's every man for himself! And if you think the baby-strollers-to-the-achilles trick is something we in America (or in Disney ) invented, try traveling in parts of Europe, linke in Italy where a stroller is a tool to get around others in the amorphous groups they consider "queueing". My hubby has some great stories while waiting to get on a plane in Paris. Ugh! Don't even get me started on some parts of Asia and the Middle East. Just try to get people to line up neatly in India!

Here is a cute article about the French and their seeming inability to stand in lines, clean up dog poop, and other facts and fancies! It's all cultural experiences, ya know? http://www.expatica.com/fr/life_in/feature/queue-jumping-and-other-parisian-skills-26290.html

And from a BBC article:
"Students told not to queue jump
Students from abroad studying English in Scarborough are to be shown a video on how to behave.

Called "Enjoy Yourselves in Scarborough", the 16-minute video contains advice on how not to antagonise the locals.

Gareth Jones from Scarborough Borough Council says: "When it comes to something like queuing for a bus there's a right way to do it.

"And when you go into a shop you shouldn't barge your way to the front.""

And skip down to "International Attitudes" in this Wiki article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutting_(in_line)


Anyway, just a little global perspective!

 

[rayelias]

Yes, but my friend you are assuming that they KNOW it isn't common in our country!

Yeah, but if you're walking around WDW all day, passing several fountains at your resort, at the front of EPCOT, at several countries in World Showcase, and don't see a single person knee deep in ANY of the fountains, it would make sense that it's not "normal" to do so.

Pretty common sense to me. If you're not familiar with the local customs, do what the locals do.

 

[pilgrimr]

Pretty common sense to me. If you're not familiar with the local customs, do what the locals do.

And it does not hurt to ask either. I was not there and did not see it, but I doubt that a cm would have said it was okay had they asked.

 

[Clotho]

Yeah, but if you're walking around WDW all day, passing several fountains at your resort, at the front of EPCOT, at several countries in World Showcase, and don't see a single person knee deep in ANY of the fountains, it would make sense that it's not "normal" to do so.

Pretty common sense to me. If you're not familiar with the local customs, do what the locals do.

If I happened to always walk past bathrooms when no one was in them, I wouldn't assume no one ever went to the bathroom around here.

NOT seeing someone do something is really hard to suss out, customs-wise. Much easier to see what people ARE doing, than to try and determine that just because you aren't seeing it, it isn't done. And again, it may be so common to them, it didn't even occur to them to wonder, or notice that others weren't. Or maybe they DID see others dipping feet in a fountain--I mean, we're seeing these people do it right here in that photo, right? Who is to say there weren't other people at that very fountain when they arrived doing the same thing, and when those folks left, these folks walked up adn partook of the relaxing and cool water.

I am just saying try to be a little more compassionate and not jump to conclusions and judge people as some kind of 'dirty ignorant heathen' just because they don't see things or do things the way you do. The world is a very very big place, and the American Way isn't the Only Way.

 

[maxiesmom]

I am just saying try to be a little more compassionate and not jump to conclusions and judge people as some kind of 'dirty ignorant heathen' just because they don't see things or do things the way you do. The world is a very very big place, and the American Way isn't the Only Way.

Good point! People are so quick to judge sometimes.

 

[orangekid13]

there's a lot of narrow minded generalizing ethnocentrism in here... and not enough cultural relativism... look up the terms if you're not familiar

saying you find something weird and that it bothers you is one thing, making assumptions about international travelers is another. the one thing I hear over and over is that the easiest people to pick out in foreign countries is Americans because they're loud and they stand out like a sore thumb when they're outside the US, so people in other countries can say the same kind of things about us in broad generalizations, and I bet nobody likes the idea of that, so why is it ok to do it to them?

 

[rayelias]

If I happened to always walk past bathrooms when no one was in them, I wouldn't assume no one ever went to the bathroom around here.

NOT seeing someone do something is really hard to suss out, customs-wise. Much easier to see what people ARE doing, than to try and determine that just because you aren't seeing it, it isn't done. And again, it may be so common to them, it didn't even occur to them to wonder, or notice that others weren't. Or maybe they DID see others dipping feet in a fountain--I mean, we're seeing these people do it right here in that photo, right? Who is to say there weren't other people at that very fountain when they arrived doing the same thing, and when those folks left, these folks walked up adn partook of the relaxing and cool water.

I am just saying try to be a little more compassionate and not jump to conclusions and judge people as some kind of 'dirty ignorant heathen' just because they don't see things or do things the way you do. The world is a very very big place, and the American Way isn't the Only Way.

Would you be OK if someone decided to cop a squat right down the middle of Main St, USA?

In some parts of the world, it's the custom to drop trou and let 'er go. You wouldn't see anyone else doing that in WDW.

It's also perfectly acceptable to walk around topless in some parts of the world. You wouldn't see that in WDW, either - wouldn't you find it odd if one or two foreign tourists decided that, out of the 100,000 fully clothed people, it might be acceptable to show the world your goodies?

If you see tens of thousands of people walking around and zero of them publicly bathing, chances are it's not acceptable.

 

[PrincessBride010103]

Would you be OK if someone decided to cop a squat right down the middle of Main St, USA?

In some parts of the world, it's the custom to drop trou and let 'er go. You wouldn't see anyone else doing that in WDW.

It's also perfectly acceptable to walk around topless in some parts of the world. You wouldn't see that in WDW, either - wouldn't you find it odd if one or two foreign tourists decided that, out of the 100,000 fully clothed people, it might be acceptable to show the world your goodies?

If you see tens of thousands of people walking around and zero of them publicly bathing, chances are it's not acceptable.

 

[Loverly]

Actually nope, I had no idea. I had heard about the guy who went to the Cinderella dinner at GF and his thing with Suzy and Perla, but I never would have made the connection with the guy I saw with the doll. And serioulsy, I really don't try to judge, but you just can't imagine being on a completely deserted Main Street in the dark and seeing that guy.

He posted alot, and I mean a lot of pictures of himself holding stuffed animals or dolls with various characters at WDW-it was mainly on the CB board.

 

[maxiesmom]

Pretty common sense to me. If you're not familiar with the local customs, do what the locals do.

So your saying that instead of putting their feet in a fountain, they should wander the parks cussing at their kids and throwing trash on the ground. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

 

[MAF]

And really don't be fooled by what he would post on here. I have read posts he has made on other sites and he can get down right UGLY and hang with the best (or worst) of them. He played the poor me card pretty well on here but on the "no holds barred" sites...he could and does hold his own.

I know what you mean. It baffles me that people are percieving this man as some sweet innocent child. Over at wdwmagic, once I defended him from a few posters who were saying things about him. Pretty soon he was pm-ing me and cyber stalking me over there. He is nothing but a pot stirrer and a troll looking for attention. It's actually kind of sad.

 

[Clotho]

Would you be OK if someone decided to cop a squat right down the middle of Main St, USA?

In some parts of the world, it's the custom to drop trou and let 'er go. You wouldn't see anyone else doing that in WDW.

It's also perfectly acceptable to walk around topless in some parts of the world. You wouldn't see that in WDW, either - wouldn't you find it odd if one or two foreign tourists decided that, out of the 100,000 fully clothed people, it might be acceptable to show the world your goodies?

If you see tens of thousands of people walking around and zero of them publicly bathing, chances are it's not acceptable.

I guess I would argue that those customs tend to be common in third world countries, and likely those folks wouldn't come to Disney. But then again, apparently we have heard of people letting their kids pee in public places, and they weren't all foreigners--plenty of Americans have been spotted letting their kids pee and poo off to the side of ride lines! So it's not a cultural thing entirely, eh?!

And again, I reiterate, they may very likely have seen multiple examples of people dipping their feet in fountains around the parks before they decided to park theirs in this one. How do you know it was ignorance and not just following suit? You don't. So the next logical step *for me* is to just shake my head and dismiss it as either a cultural misunderstanding, or in a broader sense hardly anything to get really worked up about! I would let it go....

 

[fuji]

Biggest clue that we don't bath our feet in fountains at WDW, There was not a 10-30 min.wait for a turn.

 

[Poohbear123]

I know what you mean. It baffles me that people are percieving this man as some sweet innocent child. Over at wdwmagic, once I defended him from a few posters who were saying things about him. Pretty soon he was pm-ing me and cyber stalking me over there. He is nothing but a pot stirrer and a troll looking for attention. It's actually kind of sad.

WOW! I thought at first he was a little off, and than sort of felt bad for him, and now I hear this....should have stuck with my first instinct! OK, on to the "weirdness of WDW!"

 

[DisneyFan32WI]

I can't believe this thread has been read over 61,000 times. If only the people in the fountain knew and could actually see how much controversy they have caused!!

 

[pjwelch]

I can't condone other people's faux pax, but I wouldn't let them mar my time at Disney. Although the line cutters do irk me enough to at least say something. Foot baths not so much. I woudl probably just laugh at those people. Not laugh with laugh at! I'm also eye roller and love it when you see someone else rolling too!

 

[Dina]

I once saw a woman get out of the pool, and lay her baby down to get the swimsuit off and some dry clothes on. Anyway, she took off the swim diaper, and instead of using a babywipe to wipe the baby's bottom, she walked over to the pool with her naked infant, and dipped the baby (up to the baby's waist) in the pool for a cleaning.