Have You Ever Had To Confront Another Guest's Poor Behavior?

[shawthorne44]

If they kicked people out of the park for peeing outside of a toilet or line jumping, it wouldn't happen.

 

[bsmcneil]

I thought about this thread for a few minutes last weekend. I live in a college town and due to a terrible season, had gotten free tickets to the football game. I took my kids. At the end, my oldest wanted to get near the sideline (we were pretty close already) to say good job to the team and while we were there, a guy was drunkenly shouting at the players and - more often than not - the coaches. He was 22-25, white, and just shouted at how they couldn't even organize their huddles without being [expletive] morons.

So, I turned to him and suggested he calm down, not yell at 18-22 year olds (or their coaches), and not cuss. He explained to me that we were in public and therefore he had a right to say any [expletive] thing he wanted to. I genuinely think that if I engaged him for 30 more seconds, he would've taken a swing at me - but I walked away (as did, by that point, the players and coaches - though he stayed and yelled some more).

So, as we left, my oldest asked what I said - which I shared. And then they (the oldest) asked why I said anything to the guy.

And all I could say was that it wasn't right for him (the drunken guy) to be treating the players and coaches poorly and while they were bound to keep quiet and go about things, if you could safely say something to someone to try to stop them from doing something wrong, you should. I have no idea if I did the right thing by trying to get this guy to stop. Mostly, I felt like he was being abusive to teenagers and young adults (and the coaches who were slightly older) and that was a crappy thing for anyone to endure. But it also made me think about moments like those that happen at WDW. There are definitely times I have and would step in - and the calculation about safety is ever-present in my mind.

 

[MomOTwins]

I feel this way too, and have historically gotten bent out of shape about this many times, but in recent years I've just started letting it go. It seems like more and more people think it's acceptable, and that anyone who minds is the rude one. I still don't like it, but I think it might be a societal shift happening, and it's just not worth getting upset about.

If it was me, though, I would still go back to my group instead of expecting the whole line to let my group come to me.

I will say, in my experience it is not always clear in these cases whether in the jumble of people trying to get in the line entrance (1) the people trying to catch up were slow and fell behind by being too slow; or (2) the person in the middle unintentionally cut in front of someone.

If someone is cut off from their family a few people back, its fair to assume they entered the line around the same time and aren’t gaming the system by sending a “runner” ahead to wait and joining later. More likely some people inadvertently “shuffled” themselves in not realizing they were splitting up a family, or maybe one person walks a bit slower due to injury or disability and created a slightly larger than normal gap between people in their family group.

I save my interventions for when it is pretty clear there is not an innocent explanation. E.g., people trying to slip in line when there is a gap in the outdoor queue to allow theough traffic (eg the outdoor queue for FOP), or “rope hoppers” who cut in front by slipping over or under the rope while others round the corner (seen thus many times at the bus stops, and in the queues for EE and TOT).

 

[blbrodger1]

In some cases, Disney does not even know how to handle crazy behavior. Last night, I saw the most disturbing thing. There was a family of 5, with 3 VERY young girls, with the oldest looking to be about 8 years old at the most...(I'm a teacher, so I can usually determine age fairly well.) Anyhow, the mom had paid for LL for the Railway for the 3 girls, but the parents did not have it. Mom was at the LL scanning in her daughters with her phone. Looks like the girls didn't have a phone or magic bands. The cast member says they'll have to scan something again at the second stop, so mom gives them her phone. The cast member asks how old the oldest girl is and mom says 14!!

We followed in directly behind the girls. People in line are staring at the girls and the situation. Every cast member along the way asks them where their parents are and asks their age...the answer changes every time...

I let the girls walk in front of our family after the pre-show doors open. Then the girls ride and are just one boarding row down from our family.

But they didn't come out of the exit. So we waited a few minutes. One of my daughters says that she thinks that she recognizes the Dad sitting on the ground outside of the exit. I almost say something to the Dad, but my daughters are not 100% sure.

The girls finally come running out of the ride and the man turns out NOT to be their Dad. They're kind of looking around, so I go up to them and ask them where they're supposed to meet their parents. The girls said "at the exit" and were confused, so I asked them to come with me to the front of the ride. I left them with the same LL cast member and don't know what happened beyond that, but the whole situation was odd and I was kind of in disbelief.

 

[Disney loving Iowan]

In some cases, Disney does not even know how to handle crazy behavior. Last night, I saw the most disturbing thing. There was a family of 5, with 3 VERY young girls, with the oldest looking to be about 8 years old at the most...(I'm a teacher, so I can usually determine age fairly well.) Anyhow, the mom had paid for LL for the Railway for the 3 girls, but the parents did not have it. Mom was at the LL scanning in her daughters with her phone. Looks like the girls didn't have a phone or magic bands. The cast member says they'll have to scan something again at the second stop, so mom gives them her phone. The cast member asks how old the oldest girl is and mom says 14!!

We followed in directly behind the girls. People in line are staring at the girls and the situation. Every cast member along the way asks them where their parents are and asks their age...the answer changes every time...

I let the girls walk in front of our family after the pre-show doors open. Then the girls ride and are just one boarding row down from our family.

But they didn't come out of the exit. So we waited a few minutes. One of my daughters says that she thinks that she recognizes the Dad sitting on the ground outside of the exit. I almost say something to the Dad, but my daughters are not 100% sure.

The girls finally come running out of the ride and the man turns out NOT to be their Dad. They're kind of looking around, so I go up to them and ask them where they're supposed to meet their parents. The girls said "at the exit" and were confused, so I asked them to come with me to the front of the ride. I left them with the same LL cast member and don't know what happened beyond that, but the whole situation was odd and I was kind of in disbelief.

Oh geez I guess this will be something that may occur too frequently now. How irresponsible of those parents. Disney may have to look into this if it keeps happening.

 

[shawthorne44]

...And all I could say was that it wasn't right for him (the drunken guy) to be treating the players and coaches poorly and while they were bound to keep quiet and go about things, if you could safely say something to someone to try to stop them from doing something wrong, you should. I have no idea if I did the right thing by trying to get this guy to stop. ...

I think it was the right thing to do. If we all just sit around and watch, people think that is normal and OK thing to do. Look in this thread there have been a couple of comments about the bad stuff becoming normal accepted behavior now. Even though he didn't stop, I bet you helped the players and coach feel better. You stepping up helped to tell them that this guy was just a loon and it wasn't them.

 

[MomOTwins]

We followed in directly behind the girls. People in line are staring at the girls and the situation. Every cast member along the way asks them where their parents are and asks their age...the answer changes every time...

That’s concerning. A child must be 7 to ride alone or if under 7, accompanied by someone 14 or over. If they were giving different answers, the CMs should have immediately taken them out of the ride queue. I’m not sure if you are saying they kept up the ruse or if without the mom they admitted to not meeting the age requirements. Regardless very messed up that the parents not only send their kids on alone but were also not waiting at the exit. But way worse IMO if the CMs were given an answer by the girls that acknowledged they were under the ages to ride alone and did not remove them.

 

[blbrodger1]

That’s concerning. A child must be 7 to ride alone or if under 7, accompanied by someone 14 or over. If they were giving different answers, the CMs should have immediately taken them out of the ride queue. I’m not sure if you are saying they kept up the ruse or if without the mom they admitted to not meeting the age requirements. Regardless very messed up that the parents not only send their kids on alone but were also not waiting at the exit. But way worse IMO if the CMs were given an answer by the girls that acknowledged they were under the ages to ride alone and did not remove them.

Yeah, the girls gave different answers to different cast members at different points in the line (after the intro show, at the inside room, and before boarding. I think that the cast members tried to do the best they could by asking the girls' ages, but I didn't know the rule about age 14...interesting that that was the age that set off my radar.

 

[Dug720]

and would from time to time, pour the remainder of their beer into the pool so the kids could play with the cans in the wate

Adding this to the reasons I despise pools - especially public ones. This is not as gross as not being bothered to get out of the pool when the beer kicks into the bladder, but it's up there.

 

[karen4546]

I thought about this thread for a few minutes last weekend. I live in a college town and due to a terrible season, had gotten free tickets to the football game. I took my kids. At the end, my oldest wanted to get near the sideline (we were pretty close already) to say good job to the team and while we were there, a guy was drunkenly shouting at the players and - more often than not - the coaches. He was 22-25, white, and just shouted at how they couldn't even organize their huddles without being [expletive] morons.

So, I turned to him and suggested he calm down, not yell at 18-22 year olds (or their coaches), and not cuss. He explained to me that we were in public and therefore he had a right to say any [expletive] thing he wanted to. I genuinely think that if I engaged him for 30 more seconds, he would've taken a swing at me - but I walked away (as did, by that point, the players and coaches - though he stayed and yelled some more).

So, as we left, my oldest asked what I said - which I shared. And then they (the oldest) asked why I said anything to the guy.

And all I could say was that it wasn't right for him (the drunken guy) to be treating the players and coaches poorly and while they were bound to keep quiet and go about things, if you could safely say something to someone to try to stop them from doing something wrong, you should. I have no idea if I did the right thing by trying to get this guy to stop. Mostly, I felt like he was being abusive to teenagers and young adults (and the coaches who were slightly older) and that was a crappy thing for anyone to endure. But it also made me think about moments like those that happen at WDW. There are definitely times I have and would step in - and the calculation about safety is ever-present in my mind.

Most college first string are not teens and Have probably heard a lot of bashing if their season was so bad that they had to give away tickets.
This “white” 20 something year old probably should have just been avoided.
Sometimes it is best to avoid confrontation.

 

[Disney loving Iowan]

I was just watching a Disney news vlog and he was talking about how many instances there have been recently with guests abusing the cast members. This is just crazy. Too many people fighting with each other and abusing the CM's too. What the heck is wrong with people? People just need to calm down.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

We were at Disney's California Adventure last week, sitting at an outdoor table eating ice cream. A family of four came up and sat down at the table next to us. They started looking around and gathering unused chairs from other tables. More and more chairs kept appearing until three rows were surrounding this small table. Then more people started showing up. Then more people...then more. There must have been at least 16 by the time they all got there. I surmised it was a set of parents, their kids and spouses, and a bunch of grandkids. Each family showed up with ice cream and started filling the chairs to eat it. The were slightly obnoxious and kind of loud. I decided one of the adult daughters was likely the default ringleader. She was looking at the app. and announcing wait times for rides they hadn't done yet. If someone tried to offer an opinion, she would talk over them and shut them down. It was kind of entertaining to watch the family dynamic, until one of the adults suggested they immediately get in a line since the wait time was down. The ringleader pointed out that some of them were still eating their ice cream. The other person said, "So a few of us can get in line and the rest can join later when they're done." I'm thinking, "OK, this is where this scene goes from entertaining to annoying." To my surprise, the ringleader spoke up and said, "What? Three of you are going to get in line and the rest of us are supposed to cut in to join you? That's really rude to the other people in line! We're not going to do that! When everyone is done, we can get in the line." I was thinking, "Wow! That was awesome! You keep that family in line!"

 

[kevtlas]

I'm not one to hold my tongue, but must admit I am much more patient when on vacation, so it does take a little more for me to speak up when visiting. That said, I've definitely had to have words with other guests on occasion.

 

[keishashadow]

Yesterday when exiting toy story, Saw a woman walking a ways ahead of us, suddenly slap her maybe 6 y.o, son, hard in face after shaking him aggressively.

That’s some seriously sick stuff. A very big woman, she had drug the kid off the path/trying to hide behind the decor to ‘discipline’ him

I was stunned. Nearest CM was alerted in area, not sure if the did talk to her or not. Disney has cameras everywhere. I hope she was apprehended, Security dispatched in time & CYS called.

Didn’t help that some guests ahead of us were lol & egging her on. The child was having what appeared to be a meltdown/temper tantrum. Certainly, doesn’t justify any of it