A bit of a silly ettiquette question

SamfordSusie

Earning My Ears
Joined
Nov 8, 2017
Hi all,

Forgive me for what is probably a very ridiculous question!!!

I hear often how polite Japanese culture is for queuing and lines. Sounds great! Is it appropriate for people to queue on behalf of a group? ie sit and 'claim' a spot for parade watching, or join a queue for a ride and have others catch up later?

Also - I always hear about 'rope drop' and how people sprint for Fast Passes BUT lately Crew Members have been discouraging people to run with signs etc. Has this changed people running or are these directions ignored?!

Sounds really silly but I'm just curious! We planned our whole trip according to the crowd calendar and to visit on a low crowd day - but it has now been updated to be an 'orange' day of crowds on the Crowd Calendar. We aren't used to crowds and we are wondering the best way to 'manage'!

Thanks :)
 
Just to clarify - no, I didn't think it was either. I was just reading elsewhere and it seemed to say this is what people commonly did? So I wanted to clarify
 
Claiming a spot for the parade should be okay since the Japanese like to use "leisure sheets" (plastic sheets for sitting on the ground). So the space of that sheet would be "claimed". I think it would be okay if one person was holding the space with one sheet (not multiple sheets though). BTW, they sell them at TDR in various designs - an inexpensive, compact, and lightweight souvenir. :)

Queuing for others, most of the time you'd have to bypass other people in the line to join your group - which would be especially rude. I don't recall ever seeing this in Japan (DL and WDW, on the other hand... :sad2:).

The CM with signs telling people not to run and people ignoring them is not a new thing. I remember reading about it when I first started researching TDR (which was over 2 years ago) and I don't think it was new then. It seems to be the odd exception to Japanese rule following.
 


That does make more sense, thanks. Maybe I misunderstood what they were saying - it seemed so counter to what I had heard about Japanese culture and 'rules'.
 
SamfordSusie, I would agree with Wanderlust on all three points. Given how crowded Tokyo Disneyland gets, and how much the Japanese like making things into a group effort, you can expect that groups will send someone to reserve a spot for the parade while the others do their thing. However, they would clearly indicate their 'turf' with a single leisure sheet, and not try to claim space for, say, five or six other people.
I have not had any Japanese try to get ahead of me in a queue, claiming that their friends up ahead were saving them a spot. (Two Russians tried this on me once, and their alleged friend was not even in view. I wouldn't let them pass, and the Japanese who were ahead of me seemed to back me up by fanning out to physically make it difficult to get past them.)
 
I'd echo what everyone else said.

I've never experienced any "groups" trying to push past us in line to join friends ahead in the line. I just don't see that happening in Japan - it would be counter to their inherent politeness and respectfulness.

As for the parade - I have seen people politely waiting on their leisure mats. But, they only claim the "space" of their mat (approximately four Japanese people). And someone is always with the mat. They don't use strollers, bags, etc to try and claim additional space. And they don't leave the mat unattended. In my experience, viewing the parades doesn't pose any real problems as the first ... four or so rows of people will sit down. That means the people behind them can see easily and everyone's viewing experience is better. I learnt that lesson the hard way when, during a parade, I stood up because my leg was starting to cramp and I was politely asked (with hand gestures) by a cast member to move "back" to the "standing" area.

As for running - they have used the signs every time I have been. And people obey them (unlike Shanghai Disney and to a degree, LA Disney). By all means - walk very fast (the Japanese are awesome at power walking), but don't run. I don't think I've ever seen any "runners" in Disney Japan (except for foreigners).
 


Thank you :) That makes a lot more sense. There are only 2 adults and a child in our party - hopefully we have lots of fun!
 
Cast members will remove unattended mats and items after a short amount of time.

I've never seen anyone try to catch up to their party already in line.

It is okay for one person in the group to retrieve fastpasses for the entire group, though.

The don't run signs have been around for many years. I visit the parks 1-2 times a year and sometimes people run and sometimes they don't. So strange! The only two times I've seen just about the entire crowd run was back in 2010 when Monsters was new and once when Toy Story opened. So maybe the running only happens when there's a new attraction?
 
I’m so glad this was asked, because I was confused about advice for one person to run for fast passes while the rest headed to queu up for another ride.
So the fast passer is just missing that ride then, versus expecting to join the group in queue?

I’m not one for holding spots in line, unless a little needs a potty break, but it seemed like that was what a lot of the advice was alluding too. Glad to clear that up and not commit a faux pas at the park. :)
 
I'd echo what everyone else said.

I've never experienced any "groups" trying to push past us in line to join friends ahead in the line. I just don't see that happening in Japan - it would be counter to their inherent politeness and respectfulness.

As for the parade - I have seen people politely waiting on their leisure mats. But, they only claim the "space" of their mat (approximately four Japanese people). And someone is always with the mat. They don't use strollers, bags, etc to try and claim additional space. And they don't leave the mat unattended. In my experience, viewing the parades doesn't pose any real problems as the first ... four or so rows of people will sit down. That means the people behind them can see easily and everyone's viewing experience is better. I learnt that lesson the hard way when, during a parade, I stood up because my leg was starting to cramp and I was politely asked (with hand gestures) by a cast member to move "back" to the "standing" area.

As for running - they have used the signs every time I have been. And people obey them (unlike Shanghai Disney and to a degree, LA Disney). By all means - walk very fast (the Japanese are awesome at power walking), but don't run. I don't think I've ever seen any "runners" in Disney Japan (except for foreigners).

I have definitely seen Japanese runners at rope drop. I grabbed this video from one of my first trips:
 

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