Not our finest moment as a family..whats yours lol

[marmalade]

Fun Topic !

Our family's "finest moment" came at DHS, during Star Wars Weekends 2010. We usually get to parks at open and take a break around noon, but on this trip, we decided to stick around for the parade and lined up about 45 minutes early, staking out a great spot so I could photograph it. It was scorching hot, and both my 4 year old and 10 year old were feeling it, whining and complaining about everything.

Two minutes before the parade starts, as the cast member closes down the path, a group of 4 British tourists (obvious from the accents) shoves right in front of my 4 year olds stroller, completely blocking his view, having to push the rope forward so they could "fit". I ask them to move and the woman, apparently drunk, starts screaming that the cast member told them they had to stand there. Her husband, a burly guy who looked like a soccer hooligan, looked embarassed, but did nothing to control his wife, who continued to scream as if this was all my problem.

When it became clear they wouldn't voluntarily move, I reached over a grabbed toy lightsaber from a vendor, and smashed the woman over her head in an effort to knock some sense into her. Her husband rears back and takes a swing at me, which I duck to avoid. He hits the man next to me, an off duty cop, square in the face. The cop, filled with rage and overpriced beer, tackles the hooligan into a crowd of rowdy frat boys. Pretty soon fists are flying, stands are getting knocked over, and uttter chaos reigns. Just then, the parade rounds the corner, and the 501st, seeing chaos, rears into action, jumping into the fray to restrain people. Long story short, 14 arrests, 2 years of ongoing litigation, and I have scars on my fist from the front teeth of the hooligan when I knocked them out of his skull.






hehe - just wondered who read these long posts. All of this really happened except the preceeding paragraph; I just ended up yelling at the woman until her husband, a very nice guy, ushered her to the back of the four deep crowd with an apologetic nod of his head.

 

[litlpixie]

Fun Topic !

When it became clear they wouldn't voluntarily move, I reached over a grabbed toy lightsaber from a vendor, and smashed the woman over her head in an effort to knock some sense into her.

hehe - just wondered who read these long posts. All of this really happened except the preceeding paragraph; I just ended up yelling at the woman until her husband, a very nice guy, ushered her to the back of the four deep crowd with an apologetic nod of his head.

You had me at "lightsaber"!!!

 

[appleorchard]

Oh, wow, do I feel better about March 5, 2012 in the MK now. My DGD's first trip with her parents and me. She had a major meltdown over who knows what, would NOT stop, but MY meltdown was even worse! I've been waiting for 4 years years to take this kid to Disney! I was trying to mutter under my breath, but I know some of my, "This is an absolute sin" "She needs her bottom smacked"(she's never been spanked in her life, especially not by me lol) and "She's too young for this, we shouldn't have even come" and "We should just go home" remarks must have been audible.

To anyone who heard us dragging the screaming child out of the MK at 11:30 in the morning, I sincerely apologize! No one dared catch my eye, because I probably looked like my head was going to spin off.

We want so much for things to go well, we put way too much importance on every single thing. And my son in-law was being a pain, but we're leaving him behind when we go back in August lol. HE wasn't ready for Disney either.

 

[Bob NC]

What was your moment?

We usually try to get our 'blow up' moments out of the way while we are packing for the trip.

 

[shalom]

this year we are talking about making t-shirts for myself and DDs that say "It's not vacation til somebody's crying" and one for DH that says "It's not vacation til I make somebody cry".

That was vacations with my dad. Which is why I never understood what was so great about vacations until I was in my 40s and hubby's boss gifted us with a week in a timeshare.

Haven't had any meltdowns in the park so far, but reading this thread I fear this is because hubby hasn't gotten to the parks yet. He's usually pretty laid back, but for some reason restaurant prices start making him psycho after a couple of days, and he will randomly blow right before we order. Something about the combination of five hungry kids and one hungry husband just isn't good. Add in Disney prices and things are likely to get ugly.

We'll be hitting Epcot as a family for the first time next time we're in Orlando, and I've been fervently hoping all goes well. This thread is doing absolutely nothing to calm my fears.

hehe - just wondered who read these long posts.

I admit I only read the first sentence of your second-last paragraph, though.

EDIT:

We usually try to get our 'blow up' moments out of the way while we are packing for the trip.

I have my meltdown the first day of the vacation before we've gotten anywhere. Then I'm usually good. Although there is that one time I started the day by accusing a perfect innocent of line cutting at SeaWorld.... Apologized instantly (I swear I was half asleep and dreaming), but I'm sure that really made her day.

 

[kaligal]

On our first trip to Disney, we made the rookie mistake of not giving the kids enough of a break. Well somewhere around Morocco and way past lunchtime, pretty much everyone had a meltdown. Kids fighting and crying, dad saying "is this what I spent 5 thousand dollars on" and me saying "omg what did we do" Luckily, we came upon the Tangier Cafe where we sat down, had lunch and regrouped. From that point on we learned to pace ourselves. We still refer to it as not our finest moment as a family We can laugh about it now lol What was your moment?

I think you experience is more the rule than the exception.

 

[disneydee6]

I guess this happen to everyone! Our happened on the line for Toy Story Mania.
After a long trip, our last day at DHS, DDad headed back to BC for a swim after seeing the 50 min wait that we were about to go one, and thank goodness he did.
My sister, for some reason we love her, can be critical. She is really one of those people that you need in small doses, and we were all staying in one room all week. The entire trip we dealt with her, "You're wearing that?" and "I don't think you should eat that." She has no problem criticizing you, but when you get back at her, she gets NASTY, insults below the belt.
So on the line she looks at my sister and goes, "You are ALWAYS slouching. Stand up straight." and makes a move to force her to not slouch against the wall. My younger sister was NOT having it and screamed, "Do NOT touch me." and my DMom started on her about how critical she can be. It turned into a a screaming match between the two of them, and the people on line with us slowly made several feet of space between us and them. My younger sister, who the argument was initially about, and I tried to diffuse the fight, but it did no good. We would say, "You two are embarassing yourselves." and they would scream at one another, "YOU HEAR THAT?! YOU ARE EMBARASSING YOURSELF!"
After a VERY long line, we forced them to ride together. It didn't end the argument, but postponed it until we weren't around PEOPLE! lol

 

[ladyjubilee]

We can laugh about it now lol What was your moment?

I made two little mistakes last year. We went left to Adventureland and not right to Tomorrowland. There's very little air condition in Adventureland...and my very heat sensitive son (who is autistic) didn't do well. Now in all our vacation photo's I look like I lost a boxing match with a tiger so when people look at our photos and ask "What happened" I tell them to ALWAYS take the Right Path.

Then I made the big Bad Mommie mistake. We ride river rides all the time at out local parks. My son enjoys them. Well, it turns out that Kali Rapids isn't like our calm local rides, and the CM were in a hurry to get us loaded so we didn't even get snapped in properly.

Needless to say, my son panicked...hopped out of the seat and tried to jump out of the ride. I caught him and held on....only he held on too--by his teeth. A lady riding with us (bizarrely) announced, "this isn't quite right". Um, yeah, I kind of noticed that lady! Looking back my mother says it was just proof that we don't have to worry about attachment issues or disorders with my son--as Kali Rapids proved, he is VERY firmly attached

Plus, it was a good reminder to find out EXACTLY what a ride does before we ride it.

 

[Susieo]

On all of our trips, it is always me who melts down....first trip our DS hadn't been sleeping and we were all exhausted. We went to Whispering Canyon Cafe for dinner and he started crying right after we placed the order for drinks. I held him for awhile and our waitress was so great, setting up two chairs for him to lay across and covering him with napkin "blankets" and rubbing his back. She was so nice and thoughtful to him, my tears just started flowing. I felt like an idiot and kept apologizing but couldn't stop crying....so she sent back to the kitchen, had our meals wrapped up for us, even dessert so we could get back to our room and have a quiet dinner! So awesome of her!

Next year the meltdown was on the bus to AK....I got so unbelievable motion sick that when we finally got off the bus I started crying and laid down on the cement right outside the bus until my head stopped spinning! Found out when I got home that I was pregnant with out second son, so that must have contributed to the hysteria....!

Last year, no meltdowns!!!

 

[RCMommy]

Two trips ago while staying at Pop our daughter had a complete meltdown in our hotel room. It was check out day, things were hectic and she let loose. She tends to cry rather loudly shall we say and carry on like someone is torturing here. I was horrified that the people next to us were going to call security or the police because they were convinced we were abusing this child! I didn't want to open the door and walk out to give them a chance to peek out the curtains and see us !!! lol

okay, so is anyone thinking at this point.......OMG, I was next to "those" people ???!!!!

Mind you if security did come I probably would have volunteered to leave with them for some peace !!!

 

[andieb0602]

Mine actually isn't as worse as it could have been but I'm still embarrassed about it. Tuesday of our trip was MK day and it seemed nothing went right. The kids got cranky early on and we decided to hit The Chapeau before leaving so we could have our ears personalized before we left and then pick them up before dinner at Crystal Palace. I used the Disney Parks app when we couldn't find it on Main Street and I kept telling DH that it showed it was back near where Frontierland and Adventureland met. We couldn't figure out WHY it would be back there. 2 hours later we discovered I was following the parade route and we had been across the street from The Chapeau before we left Main Street.

We head back to the resort and get cleaned up. We left the resort with plenty of time to make our ADR but it took 45 minutes for a MK bus to come and we wound up being 30 minutes late for our ADR. We decide that the next morning we will have a relaxing breakfast and get to HS when we get there. I'm the last one in bed and wake up around 7:30 the next morning to go to laundry while DH and the kids continue to sleep. We eat breakfast at the resort and get to HS around 1 pm. We're try to find the Voyage of the Little Mermaid on the map and I told DH that it we needed to "go this way and to the right". (Remember what happened with my map skills yesterday.) He doesn't let me finish and explain further - just says that "this way" is not a direction. I freak out on him, start crying, throw the map on top of the stroller and tell him to screw off - I'm going back to the resort. I walk off leaving him and the kids to soldier on without me.

I went and got me a cold drink and walked around on my own for about an hour feeling sorry for myself. DH called me to tell me they were in line for meeting Jake and was wondering if I could bring the kids' autograph pillowcases because he left them in the stroller. Nothing was ever said about my blow up.

In my defense I am the planner and am the last one in bed and the first one up. I'm allowed one blow up a trip. It usually means I just need a little time to myself.

 

[litlpixie]

o man, now where are Disney photogs when these meltdowns are being experienced in the parks? What funny conversation starters those Photpass pix would be!

I thought of another "not so great family moment" but it wasnt a fight/meltdown- it was when we pulled up to Epcot on a resort bus and my daughter tripped and FELL out of the bus like a drunk! She was FINE- all but her ego, especially because we (her loving family) were almost peeing from laughter. I think the people around thought we were the most unsensitive and twisted bunch of people! Its been 3 years since that happened and as I sit here and type this Im laughing all over again

 

[pilesoflaundry]

I tend to be the one that meltsdown. I am an evil cranky wife in the heat. I finally learned not to go in June or July if I don't want to be left on the side of the highway

My youngest was a real prize during our first trip, she's 4 and I refused to get a stroller becuase she hadn't used one at home in a long time and I find them unnecessary for older kids. Getting dh to slow it down a little was hard, he had been before and generally walks fast through everything ( we lose him in museums) but it was my first trip and also the kids, they want to look at every little thing. I'm sure at some point we said some not so happiest place on earth things to each other. Our trips in the fall were so much better!

 

[reginaastralis]

hehe - just wondered who read these long posts. All of this really happened except the preceeding paragraph; I just ended up yelling at the woman until her husband, a very nice guy, ushered her to the back of the four deep crowd with an apologetic nod of his head.

I could see this happening at SWW though!

Our moment ... also Epcot, and it's also not horrid ... but not our best. I convinced my bf to get aps for my birthday, and was thrilled. DD is 7, and we hadn't been to Epcot since she was about 4 ... and my boyfriend hadn't been since he was a kid. So it's the three of us, and my kid sister; we're standing at the ticket counter exchanging my boyfriend's voucher, when my daughter loudly proclaims that she "has to" have a stroller. Right now! She sat her happy butt on the pavement, and refused to move. Seriously?! I was more than livid, and it started the day on such an awful foot. She spent the entire day whining and complaining that she wasn't having "any fun", that she was angry we had to go to Epcot and that there was nothing for her to ride. She wanted nothing to do with the plan, except absolutely freak out.

We left her at home with my mom and went back two days later. You can't get a do-over of your birthday, but we tried. When we got home, she asked where we had been, and we told her that we'd gone back to Disney, and lord, you would have thought you had told her we had killed Santa. She was so upset. However, on our subsequent Disney days, she's been an angel, because she knows we aren't kidding when we tell her she'll sit her hiney at home.

 

[jrtoastyman]

I'm sure I have a noteworthy low moment, but nothing immediately springs to mind. I can tell you what someone else's low moment probably was, though:

A few years ago, my wife was coming off of foot surgery when we went to the parks. She was a real trooper to even try to do a Disney trip with a bum foot, but on day 3, it caught up with her and she just needed to take a break. I spy a bench near Haunted Mansion, and start leading her as she hobbles over to sit down. When I get to about 15 feet away from the bench, this woman swoops out of nowhere, plops herself down right in the middle of the bench, and looks up at us with this smug look on her face. Could not believe it. We actually left right after this.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

My husband is king of the "I spent alot of money on this trip and you are all going to enjoy it". He says that alot during our trips when we get worn out due to him dragging us all over and we get grumpy. I can remember when I had one meltdown because the kids were tired and cranky, I was tired and cranky and he wasn't helping with the kids and he wouldn't slow down. I'm sure the people who heard me giving him a piece of my mind thought I was the meanest wife in the world.
It's better now that I have gotten him to realize how nice it is to take a break in the afternoon.

Plus I mostly go solo now which I love. I prefer to go with just me or just me and the kids and leave him home.

We've also lost our son when he was 4 and once when he was 6 in the toy area of the DTD disney store. And we lost him at the Emporium in MK. He was a runner and wouldn't stay with us. He didn't even know he was lost. I found him each time without involving any CM's.
He is 16 and still wanders off but now he's got a cell phone so we can call him.

My favorite DD story is her first trip when she was 2 years old. She had a complete screaming, falling on floor, kicking tantrum in the Emporium because my husband said she couldn't have a stuffed Minnie Mouse. I don't know why he decided she couldn't have it. But I didn't want to give in to her tantrum so no Minnie Mouse. I just stood over her and told her to let me know when she was finished.

After about 10 minutes, she got up and was done. In the meantime we were surrounded by CM's who thought I should have done more but I didn't want to get hurt hauling her out of the store. She kicked hard!
I was furious with my husband and didn't speak to him for the rest of the day.

I'm sure there are more but I just don't remember them all.

 

[ChocoKat]

The more I read the thread and find out how many people have had meltdowns at Epcot the more vindicated I feel... why? I used to call Epcot: "My nemesis park" due to all the walking and the sun, heat that would make us cranky and testy.

After some work and experience though I like it just fine.

 

[carmiedog]

I sincerely apologize to the family we sat next to at 50's Prime Time Café back in 2007. It was our first trip with kids and even with scheduled breaks we ended up overdoing it. Our 2yo had a meltdown and I was so at wit's end (trip with in-laws...is that a good excuse? ) that I just let her cry it out right there under the table. If I would have been in my right mind I would have carried her out of the restaurant instead of disturbing the poor people next to us. I am so sorry!!

 

[ttintagel]

We left her at home with my mom and went back two days later. You can't get a do-over of your birthday, but we tried. When we got home, she asked where we had been, and we told her that we'd gone back to Disney, and lord, you would have thought you had told her we had killed Santa. She was so upset. However, on our subsequent Disney days, she's been an angel, because she knows we aren't kidding when we tell her she'll sit her hiney at home.

That was my mother's method for dealing with public misbehavior, too. And she only had to do it a couple of times, total.

 

[Hoosier37]

My kids both had a huge meltdown while waiting for the parade/castle show/Wishes at MK. It was our third day, we were all exhausted, and my 8 year old DD was crying because she left her new plush Stitch in the resort room and my 11 year old DS was crying because (let's see if I can explain it) he had wanted one of those glow-in-the-dark things they sell but felt bad that he wanted it when it cost so much .

Anyway, I had two kids bawling their eyes out and yelling with that beautiful castle behind them changing colors. DH's face was going all mottled and I knew we were going to have A MOMENT in a minute that would make me cringe for years.

So. I whipped out my DSLR, focused on my tantruming children, and said "Let me get a picture of two kids crying their eyes out in the Happiest Place on Earth!"

It struck everyone funny, my kids started laughing and so did DH, and one of my favorite pics of the whole trip is my teary-eyed, exhausted, laughing kids with the castle all lit up behind them .