What was the biggest Disney meltdown you've witnessed?

Perhaps the worst meltdown of all was when DD (now 11) was 2. It was the Year of a Million Dreams, 2007. We had just walked into Epcot and she was throwing a massive temper tantrum in her stroller. I was trying to avoid upsetting our large group of 11 by steering her off to the right just inside the gates and parking her facing the wall. I was so stressed and overwhelmed with her tantrum that I completely blew off the CM that approached me and asked if I could follow her for a minute. She looked at me oddly and said it would only take a minute. I still declined. After DD calmed down we went about our day. A few hours later it occurred to me that the CM who approached me was part of the Dream Squad and I missed out on a dream prize! Seriously?! Of all times for DD to throw a mega tantrum. We love telling DD that story and wondering what our prize would have been and I still kick myself for not following the CM!

Our "dream prize" turned out to be limited edition lanyards. I am thankful we got them, but was prepared for a night in Cinderella's castle or all day FP!
 
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Um...it was in 1998, and it sort of involved me. Well, it definitely involved me. We were waiting in a long, hot corral line to ride Splash. No FP as of yet. There was a large group of French teenagers in front of us, getting larger by the minute as they let their friends climb over the ropes to join them in front of us. Everyone in line was grumbling, but nobody was doing anything. THEN these kids all lit cigarettes right in front of a no smoking sign and stood in line smoking and laughing at everyone grumbling. I didn't see a CM anywhere, so I tapped the girl directly in front of me and said "the sign says no smoking" while pointing to the sign. It wasn't a language issue either, No Smoking signs are universal. Well. She took a deep drag on her cigarette and blew the smoke in my face while her friends laughed. Now, South Philly Millie came out of me, and I very nearly punched her in her smug little face, but instead I got out of line (leaving the rest of my party), and got a CM, explained what was going on and brought her back to the line with me. I had about two hundred people backing me up and besides they were there still smoking and carrying on. She pulled them all out of line and I never saw them again. This last bit sounds made-up, but everybody clapped. That's my meltdown story.
 
I saw two women almost come to blows at the bus depot at Art of Animation after one group ducked under the ropes and cut in front of the other group.
I saw two men actually come to blows at the bottom of the TTA escalator. I realize that ride can bring out violent tendencies in people :rolleyes: but I believe one of the guys was a line cutter (see a pattern here), and well things got a wee bit out of hand.
 


This happened while trying to get a bus from HS to MK. My friend and I had been waiting about 5 minutes when we realized we were in the AK line instead and quickly moved over to the correct one. We noticed several groups doing this after us as the signs were slightly confusing. 40 minutes later in the hot sun a MK bus finally arrives. As the group ahead of us is loading a mother and son jump in and push their way onto the bus - cue loads of yelling from the waiting crowd.

Their excuse? "We were accidentally in the wrong line!" Thankfully the bus driver listened to the lot of us who had corrected our mistake earlier and asked them to go to the back of the line. The woman grudingly got off the bus yelling and screaming at those of us who remained behind.
 
It's perfectly fine to not agree on it for sure.

In the original person's quote though they said the child screamed for 45 mins when the parent ignored the child. I'm sorry but ignoring the child for that long obviously didn't work. It just made the behavior continue. A few mins sure..45..eh no. Imagine that happening in a restaurant? I'm betting that many patrons would turn their attention to the parent(s) some might even say something. My experience is not going to be the same as others for sure but I've never seen praises from people in places like a restaurant where the child is screaming and screaming and screaming and the parent is ignoring. The fact that the original person's story took place in an airport at least in my opinion doesn't change my viewpoint on it.

In your example I understand the social pressure that mom had but at the same time it's likely she exhibits this behavior at home too away from social pressures. The child may tire the mom out like that everywhere knowing that the mom will eventually give in (ever seen the Family Guy episode where Stewie is like Mom, mommy, mom, mom, mommy, etc and Lois just suddenly screams at Stewie?..that's kinda what it reminds me of). Just my opinion here, I'm not so sure it's just easily explained away by it being in public though yes for sure you may be more aware of what your child's behavior is.

I don't mean to belabor the subject here either.
I do agree that there is two ways of ignore. To your second point ignore to prove your point as a parent is awesome to an extent. But there is a point where it can become too much given your surroundings.

Well I do agree that if you give in to your child all the time when they are young you are more likely to do it when they are older. But no I don't agree with "the child will be a very disliked young person". There are many people in this world that get their way all the time but are not disliked by those around them; many times it's because of how that person goes about getting their way.

I see it actually in both situations in public. There are obviously parents who ignore because other things are important and then there are parents who are showing they are the boss not their child and thus do not give the child the attention they want. In both cases though there comes a point where enough is enough.

No one regardless of your parenting style should have to listen to a child scream for 45 mins without a parent attempting to do something. That could mean taking the child away from the luggage claim for a time to give them another talking to if ignoring them didn't work after a bit. Your luggage doesn't need to be picked up the second it goes on the carousel. In a restaurant no one should have to listen to a child screaming and screaming for a prolonged period of time-next time a child does that around you take a look at the other patrons and I'm sure you'll find at least some glaring at the parent wishing they would get the child under control or take them out of the restaurant for a moment.

But not being a familly unit, in your sentence, doesn't mean let the child make everyone else around them suffer for a prolonged period of time and like I said that sometimes can lead to worse behavior as they try harder and harder to get their parent's attention.

A parent can/should teach your child to think of others too and their experiences and how their behavior can negatively affect others. My parents did not hesitate to take me out of that restaurant, out of that store, just out of the situation if need be and give me a talking to. But honestly we'll just agree to disagree here no worries :D.
I'm sorry, but, this is an from awhile ago and I haven't been checking this particular thread. So let me address it quickly. Ignoring to let a child know that this is unacceptable behavior is a very effective way of dealing with this problem. However, if that doesn't work they need to be removed, physically if necessary, out of the environment that caused the problem to begin with. And when removed it is done with a quiet reserve that doesn't allow any room for discussion until everything has calmed down. No special treats, no desired alternative activities, like pool or games or TV or electronic devises.

I will guarantee anyone that has the ability to realize the responsibility that goes into child raising a much happier future, with calm acceptance that no means no. One will think they went to heaven, it is that much better. Children need to know who exactly is in charge and although discussing is a wise direction to take, it isn't always the answer.
 
I'm sorry, but, this is an from awhile ago and I haven't been checking this particular thread. So let me address it quickly. Ignoring to let a child know that this is unacceptable behavior is a very effective way of dealing with this problem. However, if that doesn't work they need to be removed, physically if necessary, out of the environment that caused the problem to begin with. And when removed it is done with a quiet reserve that doesn't allow any room for discussion until everything has calmed down. No special treats, no desired alternative activities, like pool or games or TV or electronic devises.

I will guarantee anyone that has the ability to realize the responsibility that goes into child raising a much happier future, with calm acceptance that no means no. One will think they went to heaven, it is that much better. Children need to know who exactly is in charge and although discussing is a wise direction to take, it isn't always the answer.
Honest to gosh I'm sorry but I really can't figure out if you are agreeing with my statements or not agreeing with my statements. Sorry I'm having a hard time following your comments with what I said.
 


I have two- both at Disneyland.
The first, my Dad had taken us to DL and we stayed in Garden Grove at the Embassy Suites. It was back when most hotels still had shuttles. We were on the shuttle one morning and this mom was really giving it to her tween daughter about eating breakfast. Now that I am a mom, I get it. The kid was probably giving her mom attitude and the mom knew if she didn't eat- things would get worse. But the whole ten minute ride, the mom was yelling at the kid to eat her muffin. She kept saying, "If you don't eat your muffin, we can not go to Disneyland." We still tell each other that more than 10 years later!

The second... my sister, husband and I were doing Mouse Adventure at DCA. Mouse Adventure is a scavenger hunt meets Amazing Race thing that Mouse Planet puts on a couple times a year. Well- I was feeling uber competitive and wouldn't agree to stop for a decent meal- just granola bars on the run. My sister got a "tad" bit hangry and screamed at us that she was quitting and this was not fun and she was going back to the hotel. I am pretty sure everyone within 50 feet heard her! We had to go back to the official check in area so we could declare her done and change our number to two people. She was fuming the whole time. Needless to say..... we didn't place!
Not a meltdown, but a quote we still use from someone we saw at CBR many moons ago. We were eating breakfast at the food court, and there was this family sitting next to us. We overheard the dad tell his son "you ordered the most expensive thing on the menu, now you eat it." We looked over and the son had ordered a danish pasty with the jelly on top :rolleyes2 The father was willing take his family to Disney for vacation, but apparently the ordering of the jelly danish broke the bank! Now whenever we go out to eat somewhere, we always say "you ordered the most expensive thing on the menu, now you eat it." Felt bad for the child, but the father gave us something to use over the years :D
 
Not a meltdown, but a quote we still use from someone we saw at CBR many moons ago. We were eating breakfast at the food court, and there was this family sitting next to us. We overheard the dad tell his son "you ordered the most expensive thing on the menu, now you eat it." We looked over and the son had ordered a danish pasty with the jelly on top :rolleyes2 The father was willing take his family to Disney for vacation, but apparently the ordering of the jelly danish broke the bank! Now whenever we go out to eat somewhere, we always say "you ordered the most expensive thing on the menu, now you eat it." Felt bad for the child, but the father gave us something to use over the years :D
No way was a jelly danish the most expensive thing on the menu. Surely this was supposed to be a parenting trick?

I'll do that now. "Daddy was frugal with his steak and eggs, Squeaks. You wanted a Buttered. Croissant. You'd better eat it and like it, I'm not sure we'll be able to make your tuition now!"
 
Mine: Went into the Lego store in DS with my crew. DH split off with 2 of the kids and I had the other 2. After we paid, we left to find DH. I (foolishly) went out the same way we had come in. I walked around the store 2x, nothing. Could not find him and my phone was dead.

Finally I found him, leaning against the store, he had been obscured by the giant Lego statue. I tore him a new one because I was freaking out about being unknowingly separated and having no way to contact him, all because he had to go out a different way.

Then we went into World of Disney. I went to the CM to ask where the ears were, turned around and he was GONE. He had done it again to me, less than 5 minutes after I had just had a talk with him. Only this time, I had all 4 kids, so I was dragging them around the insanely huge ridiculously planned store to find their father.

That was the night we arrived. I was a tad hot under the collar.
 
My two year old son. We were headed back to our room For a nap. His older sister started dancing around him. He Cried and screamed over and over "no dance, no dance Hailey". This made her want to do it more and the husband starts filming of course. I broke it up and calmed him down.

:dancer:
 
One time in Epcot, we were passing this family-- mom, dad, and their three kids. Anyway, the mom was yelling to the kids "your father doesn't want me to be happy!" One of the kids kept saying "he does too, don't say that mom!" Wow, I felt bad for those kids and have always wondered what the rest of their vacation was like. I think how much time, planning and money go into a Disney vacation and then have these parents ruin it for their kids :sad2:
 
Ok, so here's ours from this last week at Disneyland Paris. Of course there were the usual marital meltdowns involving miscommunication and lack of listening skills, but this is the one that completely cracks me up.

DH in his mid 40's has always been afraid of doing coasters and drops. He loves speed, but is terrified of drops. He hates the feeling in his stomach. Over the last few trips to WDW we have slowly worked on this. He loves BTMRR, and 7DMT. And he worked up the courage to do Splash at the end of the trip which is the biggest drop he's ever done. He didn't like it, but he decided that he enjoyed the ride so much he could 'stomach' that one drop. I had also loaded him up on meclezine for the whole trip which helped.

So on our recent trip to DLP he researched and decided he was going to get brave. Reviews for RNRC were that it was speed more than drops. I've been telling him upside down loops don't give you the same feeling, just speed force which he can cope with. And he considered ToT. To prepare him for everything we thought doing the much tamer Toy Story Parachute Drop would be a good start.

He watched it, psyched himself up to do it. Knew how he should breathe to cope. He was shaking a bit, but he was ok. It pulled us up to the top and all of a sudden this 46 year old man is a 5 year old terrified child. He grabs me and says (having the worst panic attack I've seen) 'This wa a mistake, this was a big mistake. OMG this was a mistake'. I thought if he could he would have literally crawled out and off the ride. I honestly believed he'd scream down for them to stop it.

So we drop, and I tell him to breathe out. He says that works but wants to try holding his breath because that's what everyone tells you to do (honestly breathing out works better as you're not fighting with your diaphragm), so he does and says 'darn, your way works better'. Third drop, then final drop (which pauses extra long). I'm seriously worried for him. I think this is our whole trip ruined.

We get to the bottom and he turns and says 'That was awesome, I want to do it again!!'

He did that once more and he also did up doing RNRC 3 times (he still shakes before each time), but couldn't get him to try ToT.

But after that meltdown at the top of Parachute drop I'm so impressed he rode anything else LOL
That's a great story! Lol, I don't mind roller coasters at all, but I do not like RNRC one bit, so I'm the opposite of your DH!
 
I don't have any specific stories, but whenever I am in a park with my cousin, who is currently a Cast Member, and we pass a child screaming/crying or a parent yelling at a child we'll look at each other, say "Happiest Place on Earth", and laugh.
 
I don't have any specific stories, but whenever I am in a park with my cousin, who is currently a Cast Member, and we pass a child screaming/crying or a parent yelling at a child we'll look at each other, say "Happiest Place on Earth", and laugh.
Our go-to phrase for such an occasion is "That is NOT magical."
 
Several years ago I was in line to check in at OKW. Older Man and Woman are at the counter talking with CM.

The next thing we know the man is SCREAMING at the CM that he wants room XXX, that's "HIS ROOM" and they should throw the people they have in the room out... He goes on to claim that Disney had no right to allow anyone in "his room" CM tries to deal with the situation... manager shows up. Idiot guest then screams "if you don't give me MY ROOM, I am going to come over this counter and break you legs". He then lunges to try to reach over and grab the CM. Manager says something and the next thing we know all of us are being quickly escorted out of the lobby area and taken to the restaurant where we are given a soft drink with apologies. Local cops show up. We are let back in the lobby.

As I leave to go to my room I see the jerk in the back of a squad car and overhear a manager telling the woman that "DVC management will contact you tomorrow regarding your membership". I figured there must have been more 'scenes' when the police showed up.
Must be a fun guy to travel with. I wonder how many of these meltdowns we've been talking about, resulted in "banned from Disney" punishments :stir:
 
One of the many reasons why I hate parades and avoid them as much as possible. The funny thing is that there are places, obvious places where you can stand and watch the parade completely in the open. No one ever seems to think these spots are good, but, you see everything and no one is pushing or shoving. I'd tell you were they are, but, then I'd have to kill you! :) Hint: Not very far from where the parade starts. Same parade just a different location.:D
I'm with you on this, also not a parade person!
 
Probably one of the most haunting experiences of hearing a knock down, drag out fight happened at the Grand Floridian in another hotel room about 3am one morning in 2011.

I woke up to shouting. shrieking and sobbing that went on for probably 5 minutes before I made a call to the front desk. I waited that long simply because my husband and 3 children were soundly sleeping. How they kept sleeping, I still do not know, but I am grateful.

Within a few minutes I heard security at the door. It was a couple having a horrible argument and I was so stunned at what had happened, I couldn't sleep for several hours.

Upon leaving our room, and departing on the monorail I happened to notice an ambulance at the back of the hotel next to our room. I realized something was terribly wrong but our family was going to the Magic Kingdom, and there was nothing I could do in the monorail with my family so we kept with our plans.

Finally the children were tired about noon and I was exhausted so we went back to the hotel to rest. I made a beeline for the Concierge and they couldn't tell me anything even after explaining what I already knew.

She simply told me sometimes things happen and it's not always a happy ending.

I still think about what happened to that couple.

I don't fault the Grand or WDW at all. If anything, they did as much as can be expected to assist but not alarm other guests.

But that was an experience I hope to never have to go through again for anyone's sake.
 
The first time we took our boys to Disney it was 2003 Dinosaur was pretty new. I remember out front of the attracton it had a cute dinosaur thought ok. My oldest son has Aspergers. So I thought well I'll ask the CM what the ride is like. He said Oh its a bumpy ride in the dark...ok . Needless to say by the end of the ride my son was hysterical ....the lady in front of me turns around and tells me what a horrible parent I'am and I need to read before putting my child on a attraction such as this.....Oh heck noooooo Nope No and NOOOOOoo you didn't. Security had to be called...they are probably still talking about me :mic:
 
The first time we took our boys to Disney it was 2003 Dinosaur was pretty new. I remember out front of the attracton it had a cute dinosaur thought ok. My oldest son has Aspergers. So I thought well I'll ask the CM what the ride is like. He said Oh its a bumpy ride in the dark...ok . Needless to say by the end of the ride my son was hysterical ....the lady in front of me turns around and tells me what a horrible parent I'am and I need to read before putting my child on a attraction such as this.....Oh heck noooooo Nope No and NOOOOOoo you didn't. Security had to be called...they are probably still talking about me :mic:
Luckily, no one called us out on ASD meltdown in WDW, largely cos as one point, all of us were crying simultaneously.
I do remember informing one older gentleman in the supermarket who was behind me and my ASDing 6 yr old in the checkout line.
DS (6) was complaining that the cheese we had bought as welsh cheese had a label on it that sad it was made in England (I know, you have to be an ASDer to get why this matters). The checkout assistant was lovely and was trying to explain to him about labelling laws (we were regular visitors)
The guy behind us said "Some of us have things to DO! Hurry UP!"
So, I turned round and told him "When you can get an autistic child all the way round a supermarket, buy all the things you need and not disturb anyone with screaming, then, you can complain about asking questions at the till!"
I am not proud of myself. We have a badge now for such occasions.
 

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