Disarming Rude People at WDW (aka, how not to let rudeness "Harsh Your Mellow")

[tonyolily]

I said something last year during the parade. We had been waiting for about 45 minutes. Two of my kids were sitting and two were standing behind them with me. Right when the parade was starting to pass us a lady and her two kids just pushed their way in front of us. I actually heard the lady tell her kids to just push their way through. They kicked my two kids that were sitting down. I tried politely to tell her that I didn't appreciate the way she just pushed her way in front of us and kicked my kids. One of my three year old's was actually crying because they had kicked/pushed him off the curb and into the street.

I was getting upset, but I still politely asked her to move back behind us or even beside us so my kids could see. I told her we had been waiting 45 minutes and that getting a spot early was a good idea for her to do next time. She said she never would be that stupid to wait for a parade. She said that if they had to push their way in to see the parade then that's what they were going to do. She said she paid to see the parade too. She told her kids that they were not going to move, and they didn't.

Wow. You have out of this world patience. I don't know how you handled that so calmly! For someone to dare mess with one of my kids...

Unfortunately, I have seen parents act like that during the fireworks too. What I tend to do if rude or mean people like that are standing near me is smile, try to move away from them & do the best I can to keep my kids close to me. It's really hard sometimes, but the thought that my kids are watching the way I react to those situations keeps me in check!

Unfortunately, that lady's kids are probably going to end up in prison.

 

[RMulieri]

Now if someone is rude to me .....I smile and tell them to have a nice day.If someone pushed,stepped on on purpose,or otherwise bodily injured my kid...there will be confrontation( however accidents happen and apologies are always accepted)

 

[Carrickdisfan]

Hi

We are from the UK and have been going to Disney for many years and I must say I do find rudeness becoming more evident. I don't believe it is ignorance I just think it is bad manners. We are normally very reserved however I now would not let people off with being rude. I find that the cast members have very little authority therefore guests play on this. This happened a couple of years ago when I was watching the 3pm parade in MK just behind where the wheelchair users sit. A female (wouldn't call her a lady) blatantly stood in front of one lady in a wheelchair and when a cast member asked her to move she just stood her ground and nothing was done. Can the cast members not request that security escort these people out? I also find many people speak loudly and everyone hears their thoughts. We don't need to hear other people's thoughts - they should speak normally to their families. Some people cannot also accept that they are in the wrong. Of course we all know of the people who do not speak in English and pretend they do not know that they are being requested to move - classic case of someone standing beside these people who understood them saying 'if we let on we do not understand English they will leave us alone'. There is no excuse for rudeness anywhere and when we first started going to Orlando I was very impressed by the good manners of the everyone especially the children however unfortunately this seems to have declined a little. To give people the benefit of the doubt we all get excited and perhaps do not behave as we normally should.

 

[MontanaZoo]

I usually makes these faces in sequence and act like I can't believe people are so incredibly dense.

My problem is that I do roving at the local zoo as a volunteer and part of my job is to politely make sure that people follow the rules. Instead of "OMG don't let your child stand on top of the railing at the edge of the tiger exhibit!" I say politely "hi, is your child having trouble seeing the tiger, this viewing spot will work a lot better, could you move him there? Thanks." I automatically find myself slipping into this role at WDW too.

We also have strollers made by the same company as the WDW strollers....I think I should train my DNiece 11 that's going with me in March how to avoid stroller bashing (if that's at all possible). We should practice. She was horrified to hear that I've been hit by strollers at Disney World.

 

[savannahjean85]

I ignore it if the rudeness is towards me, but if it is towards a CM I always make a point of telling them, "You are are doing a good job and that sometimes people are just rude; but thank you for making my trip magical!"

 

[funkbucket007]

I don't typically get people being very rude to me (I'm 6' 4" & 250 lbs.) but instead of saying anything back to someone who is rude towards me or my family, I'll usually laugh in their face & they get so infuriated that they walk off.

 

[Thats_for_Shore]

Cutting is the other thing that makes my blood boil and I will not hesitate to open my big mouth then either

Line cutters......aaaargh!!

I was waiting in line for Soarin with my DS8. Well, you know they have those interactive screens where you fly like a bird or pop balloons or whatever.

Anyhow, the family behind me was between screens, so their kids weren't getting into the action. I very nicely let the kids get in front of me so they could play with the screen. Well, when the line started moving, the parents joined the kids and got IN FRONT OF ME!

I was amazed, but didn't say anything, because I figured, it's not like there's one ride cart and they're taking my spot -- we'll probably be on the same ride.

And then, somehow, they got in front of another couple. They were inching their way to the front of the line!!

As we got to the front of the line, the CM actually had to tell the kids not to hang off of their little podium thing. They were literally climbing up the CM's podium, and the parents were doing nothing about it!

Well, of course, they got on the ride sooner than I did, because the CM let them through, and then filled the rest of the ride with fast passers. I guess the CM didn't want to have to deal with those kids anymore and was trying to get rid of them.

But it made me angry that these people were butting in line. My blood was boiling, but I decided not to make an issue out of it, because I didn't want to set a bad example for my DS.

 

[te2077]

we just let rudeness go. We figure if they want to have a miserable trip fine, but they wont ruin ours.

This time is my first time at disney I witnessed an almost fight. We were sitting in the front seat, behind the driver on the Magical Express bus back to the airport. There was someone's little kid (maybe 2-3yrs) crying in the back of the bus. It wasnt a big deal but, the woman across from us yelled at the woman in the back to put her kid on her lap so that they didnt have to hear her kid yell all the way back to the airport. Then the husband of the woman across from us continues to yell back to them to take care of their kid etc etc. Well the husband from the back of the bus came up and sat right behind us. They were yelling at each other. All I thaught was OMG there's going to be a fight and we have nowhere to move. I was really afraid as my brother that is 15 is very fragile from being sick. Thank God that the bus driver stepped in and told them to calm down.

The funny thing was those nasty people who yelled back at the mother ended up being on our plane as well.

We figure if you go to disney, you're going to hear crying kids. Its just a part of it. I cant imagine why a grown man and woman (who have thier own kid) would hollar about a little little kid. You would think that they would have run into this situation when their child was that little. It was really too sad and I could tell the mother in the back felt awful. We just gave her a nice smile as she left the bus. I didnt say anything to the woman across from us as I didnt really want to hear her complain all the way back to the airport.

 

[jenn-n-okla]

Alice was rude to me at Disneyland several years ago. I caught on - eventually - that it might be part of her characters "attitude" - there was a comment on this particular character on the boards a long time ago and some people mentioned the same thing about Alice's character. (Just like you expect the villains to behave a certain way.)

In the movie, Alice has a bit of an attitude also. Of course, I don't know exactly what she said to you. My "Alice" was walking around with the Mad Hatter and gave me a smart remark when I asked if I could have my picture taken with them. (Basically, the answer was no and then they kept on walking and talking with each other and ignored me.) I did see them stop for a child - so maybe she is supposed to be in character for adults but softer for little kids?

It was a bit of a shock since most characters are so accomodating.

I visited last year (2007). Alice was rude to my 5yr old special needs daughter who had pushed her own Oxygen and carried her autograph book to the line herself. Alice told the group she was leaving for her break at the exact moment my daughter got to the front. I completely understand needing breaks and the attitude with adults, but with a child and a special needs child at that, well that was just rude. My daughter remembers it and has said she doesn't want to see Alice this year when we go.

 

[MassJester]

I had an evening flight brooked from Orlando to Boston. It was scheduled to get me in late, but allowed me to make the most of my day at WDW. When I got onto the flight, there was a parent with 2 young children behind me with the other parent in the seat across the aisle.

The kids were over tired, and there were a few melt downs on the flight home. No one said anything, but the antics were long and loud.

When we arrived in Boston, their mother said to me, "I hope the kids weren't to bothersome, we had them up at the crack of dawn and kept going all day long."

I assured her that I wasn't annoyed at the children, after a day like that their disposition was entirely understandable. I did add that I was, however, disturbed by the obvious bad parenting that set the children up for failure.

 

[jenn-n-okla]

We had an incident with a smoker. We were waiting in line for the bus to take us from MK to our hotel when a man lights up right in front of my daughter who was using Oxygen. It was late evening and as you know it can take up to 30mins to wait for the bus, so everyone was tired and cranky. I kindly but loudly said " Sir I would appreciate you not smoking near my daughter as we do not care to be blown up. Oxygen is flamable". He quickly said sorry and put it out, but did get out of line and light up in the back area. The look on his face was priceless. My mother was in shock as were several other guests waiting near us.

 

[DisneyTigers]

I had an evening flight brooked from Orlando to Boston. It was scheduled to get me in late, but allowed me to make the most of my day at WDW. When I got onto the flight, there was a parent with 2 young children behind me with the other parent in the seat across the aisle.

The kids were over tired, and there were a few melt downs on the flight home. No one said anything, but the antics were long and loud.

When we arrived in Boston, their mother said to me, "I hope the kids weren't to bothersome, we had them up at the crack of dawn and kept going all day long."

I assured her that I wasn't annoyed at the children, after a day like that their disposition was entirely understandable. I did add that I was, however, disturbed by the obvious bad parenting that set the children up for failure.

You say you wanted to make the most of your last day at WDW, well, so did they!! It's not bad parenting, it's making the most of having to check out of your hotel at 11am, plane doesn't leave until late, no place for "down time," etc. From your post, I assume you don't have children and have never been in such a situation...until you have kids, you have no right to judge ANYONE'S parenting skills!

 

[MassJester]

You say you wanted to make the most of your last day at WDW, well, so did they!! It's not bad parenting, it's making the most of having to check out of your hotel at 11am, plane doesn't leave until late, no place for "down time," etc. From your post, I assume you don't have children and have never been in such a situation...until you have kids, you have no right to judge ANYONE'S parenting skills!

I have no objection to their making the most of their last day--it's just doing at other people's expense that bothers me. The result of their decisions was entirely predictable, and therefore flawed.

 

[a Really Bad Egg]

...I pretend to throw dust on them and say, "oooo someone needs some pixie dust..." That usually just makes them mad.

 

[bosstoboss]

You say you wanted to make the most of your last day at WDW, well, so did they!! It's not bad parenting, it's making the most of having to check out of your hotel at 11am, plane doesn't leave until late, no place for "down time," etc. From your post, I assume you don't have children and have never been in such a situation...until you have kids, you have no right to judge ANYONE'S parenting skills!

Bravo!! Well said!!!

 

[BabyPiglet]

We've never experienced any kind of rude guests at WDW. Ever.

I say, if you aren't looking for rude people then you won't find any rude people.

After reading these boards, people go to Disney with the thought that there will be all kinds of menacing, abusive people everywhere. It's simply not true.

 

[CoachBagFanatic]

Rude and ignorant people do not set right with me. I truly try to hold my tongue but it doesn't last for long especially when my DS is involved. You would think in my 40 some odd years of living on this planet that I would finally learn not to get into confrontations. Nope not me. I was raised by a Marine and was taught to take nothing from no one. I have learned though to say thinks like "have a nice day in spite of yourself" when I run into rude people.

Now, have bodily harm or injury come to my DS like it did in June 2007 when he was purposely struck by this woman's empty stroller. The gloves were off at that point. We were leaving MK and DH and DS were walking slightly ahead of me so I was watching them. Sure enough this woman rammed my DS in the leg. Now mind you she could have gone around him as there was plenty of room. I guess he was not walking fast enough for her and she did not want to move. I stopped her as he almost fell because she caught him off guard and we had some words (no cursing). She was very nasty in the beginning of our conversation and needless to say her attitude changed toward the end of our conversation. A CM even saw her do this as he came up to us and asked if we wanted to have someone look at his leg. Told him it wasn't necessary as she did not break any skin but I thanked him very much. DS did bruise but not too bad.

I know sometimes I feel like I am lowering myself but I can't help it when my DS is involved. I don't curse but I do get loud. I can thank my father for that one.

I so like the Pixie Dust comment. That's great.

 

[DisneyTigers]

The result of their decisions was entirely predictable, and therefore flawed.

huh?

 

[DisneyTigers]

Bravo!! Well said!!!

Thank you!!

 

[MassJester]

huh?

The parents may have had the stamina for a long day at the parks followed by the airport experience, but that was clearly beyond their toddlers ability.

To spend the extra hours in park at the expense of their ability to enjoy the day seems selfish to me.