Other guests who ruin the Magic...

[LISAMWDW]

[QUOTEBetter yet - how about bringing little fashion glitter powder with you then you can do it for real! You can buy cosmetic glitter or glitter powder at places like Claires boutiques. A little bit of glitter would most certainly make the littler ones smile and forget about the near tantrum they throw.

But yeah - I'd say look out on tossing stuff on strangers.
][/QUOTE]



That is a great idea!

 

[graygables]

All I can say is wow! You need to spend a week with special need children. Until you live life with a child with special needs, and yes I'm speaking of autism/aspergers, don't go around judging parents and their child. Meltdowns happen, just like ice melts in the heat. Sometimes you just have to wait till things cool down. I also notice you are unregistered, apparently you don't want anyone to know who you are and how judgemental you are.

Now back to our regularly scheduled tantrums!

For the record, I spend 24/7 with special needs children. I homeschool my 2 Asperger's and bipolar DDs so I know ALL about those kinds of meltdowns/behaviors, which may be why I know to carefully look at the situation before I do say anything. If someone else's brat (not special needs child) is causing a problem that is impacting MY child (yes, the brat yelling at the parent with absolutely no response upsets my child), then you betcha I'm going to speak up. If my DD has a meltdown, I remove all 75 pounds of her from the situation, I don't just sit there and let her disturb the other people around me. Honestly, the majority of WDW meltdowns that I have witnessed (and there have been a LOT) usually stem from too-high expectations on the part of self-involved parents/kids.

 

[thatduffgirl]

Years ago, when I was 18 or 19, I was a hostess. A family of four walked in on a busy night, and there was one table open. I took them to the table, gave them their menus, and started explaining the specials. As I was talking, some people got up from a booth and left. The husband asked if his family could have that table. I told him they could sit there after it was clean and then excused myself to get the bus person. When we came back, in seconds, they were sitting at the dirty table. Ok, no problem. We started cleaning around them. Once the table was clean, I gave them menus and started explaining the specials again. The husband interrupts me saying, "What the h-ll's wrong with you? Aren't you normal?" I thought it was a joke, and smiled. Then, I kept explaining. He yells, "I said, are you normal?" I looked at him in shock. He says, "When you cleaned the table, you got some water on my daughter." I tried to apologize, but he jumped up, called me a b-tch, said he was going to have me fired, and told me to get my manager immediately. I burst into tears and couldn't even talk to tell the manager what happened. My manager's family was seated in the restaurant having dinner, and they told her what happened. She kicked the family out, but the man came up the next morning still trying to get me fired. You will have people like this everywhere. You can't let them get to you. I didn't get fired, and the man was told not to come back. We later found out he even called the corporate office about the "incident." It was nuts.

And this type of garbage is exactly why I pray I will never have to return to the food service industry.

 

[sarahknowles]

It's much more disturbing for me to see an ADULT lose their cool, rather than a child. I really hate to watch bad parenting in action. I was sitting on the monorail one time next to one family, and the father was just digging into his young (5-ish) son, saying all sorts of cruel things. Sort of like the following:

One of the most disturbing things I've ever heard said at WDW was a parent telling a crying child about 4 or 5 years old, "Mickey Mouse told me that he wishes you would just go away! He doesn't want you to ever come back!"

It just made me sick. Literally ruined my whole day. I wanted to smack him in the face. But what can you do? I can understand a child misbehaving, but when the adult is the problem it really makes me mad!

 

[Corinne]

I think just about every one of out trips we see something like this....but when I read the op's comments I remembered a time in particular where a young teen was completely wigging out at her family telling them she hated them, etc. at the top of her lungs. We were in in line for Splash, and the behavior went on for quite some time. I felt so bad for her family.

Last year, at the AK, we were exiting the gorilla trail when we heard a CM in a VERY angry and firm voice telling a "guest" , "This COULD NOT HAPPEN here" ! What was going on? The "ADULT" was attempting to allow his young son (2? ) to relieve himself in the bushes! Nice.

 

[MomNeedsVacay]

I think that the only time I interupted a situation b/t an adult and a child at a theme park, was b/c the mother kept antagonizing the son. I would say the boy was 11 or 12 y.o. and the mom was pestering him to get on this large, "stand-up" rollercoaster ...which by most people's standards is a scary looking ride. Anyway, the boy was near tears....the Mom kept yelling at him, "What are YOU? A G.D. baby? You won't ride a good G.D. ride? What the hell am I paying for....you are a disgarce.... I am so embarrased.... Okay, I'll give you $20..... No? Not for $20????? You're no son of MINE!!!!".... The woman was ranting, SCREAMING over and over in his face. And he just stared at the ground- shaking. I finally said, "Wow...he is turning down 20 bucks??? He must really not want to ride it. Maybe you should start off with the log flume and regular coaster...then work your way up to this one..I think this one IS scary. Aren't theme parks about having fun, afterall??? You should really only on the rides you like...Have a nice day!"
I otherwise would NEVER interupt any parent and child conflict. I don't think its appropriate in most cases. JMO.

 

[MsTinkerChele]

I see some parents that should get smacked at the world. ie: chapersones of the cheerleaders

 

[kimberh]

Kimberh: when were you there? Sounds like it could be the same jerk. We were there Feb. 25-March 2.

This was last Aug. Must be more than one.

 

[kimberh]

There is nothing wrong with admitting that your best just isn't good enough or isn't working. If a child is throwing a temper tantrum they have not been taught the proper skills to express what they want or are feeling. This is a reflection on the parents not the child. I raised 4 children and not one of them was ever spanked, they were taught from an early age respect and manners. They have all completed college and are starting families of their own. I NEVER had one of my children throw a temper tantrum in public or in private because i gave them what most parents don't. RESPECT. Most parents feel their children are property and that they can control them into behaving, you cant control another person, child or adult. Teach a child to respect others and themselves and they don't feel the need to lash out.

I have raised 4 children too, We have great respect in our family, Have there been some meltdowns along the path to growing up? Yes! There are different personalities with children, maybe just maybe you have mild children. I am a strong parent, so is my husband, that still doesn't mean that we have not had a meltdown in the family or on a vacation. You should write a book with your parenting secrets.

 

[GoofyBaseballMom26]

My mom says that teenagers are hard to live with so we'll be ready for them to move out when it's time for them to go to college! QUOTE]

ITA!!!!!!!

 

[islandmum]

Slighty OT but I was on the beach a few months ago (we go every other day) and my boys were playing happily.

A woman came up to me with the words: " I live here and I really think that you should cover your kids up, they will burn and you shouldnt have them in the sun - wat kind of parent are you throwing them out in the sun on vacation?"

now - the island I live on has only 91 white people living on it ... she sure snt one of them! And I have ived here since the boys were 9 weeks old, they wear factor 60 suncream, do no more than 15 hours a week in the sun and they NEVER burn because I take care.

the woman was not to know this but her intereferance - and most obvious LYING (using her "living here" as adding weight to her argument") was out of line. I told her I lived there, had never seen her before and how dare she comment on something she knows NOTHING about.

dont get involved people - unless its a clear cut situation such as abuse.

A smack is NOT abuse - one smack on a clothed bottom I will do very occassionally ... and it works.

 

[AJKMOM]

Back on topic- we had a man step over my children's carriage so he could cross a crowded walkway that wasn't moving so he could get some picutres of something at AK. I looked at him and said "Are you kidding me?" He got all annoyed at me meanwhile his ding-a-ling was in my kids' faces!!!:mad: It wasn't like we were blocking anything by stopping, we had nowhere to go, everybody was at a standstill because Devine was wrapping herself around something. Believe me- we did not want to be stuck there. We had had enough of AK that day to begin with and were trying to get out.

Couldn't pass this up: where is that pewter rattle when you need it? Too bad your kid didn't take a swing at his ding-a-ling, that would have given him some manners.

 

[MyKidsMyBusiness]

All children have meltdowns. We as parents choose how we are going to deal with it. I do not need some stranger getting into my business. The tantrum is by far worse for the parent, trust me. No one can be more bothered, aggrevated or embarrassed then the parent. My 5 year old flips out on occasion and having teenage siblings will use some "choice" words. Its not ideal, but we handle it. I think some adults hold children to a higher standard then the adults themselves. We all lose it at times, kids will be kids.

 

[Katiebell]

Just a funny thought...have you noticed that Disney sort of celebrates the rebellious, defiant teen girl?

Triton:I consider myself a reasonable merman. I set certain rules, and I expect those rules to be obeyed.
Ariel: But dad, I...
Triton: Is it true you rescued a human from drowning?
Ariel: Daddy, I had to...
Triton: Contact between the human world and the mer world is strictly forbidden. Ariel, you know that! Everyone knows that.
Ariel: He would have drowned!
Triton: One less human to worry about!
Ariel: You don't even know him!
Triton: Know him? I don't have to know him. They're all the same! Spineless, savage, harpooning fish-eaters, incapable of any feeling...
Ariel: Daddy, I love him!
Triton: No! Have you lost your senses completely? He's a human, you're a mermaid!
Ariel: I don't care!
Triton: So help me, Ariel, I am going to get through to you; and if this is the only way, so be it!

Sultan:But, Jasmine, you're a princess.
Princess Jasmine: Then maybe I don't want to be a princess!
Sultan: [Exasperated] Ooooh! I... I...
[to Rajah]
Sultan: Allah forbid you should have any daughters!
Sultan: I don't know where she gets it from. Her mother wasn't nearly so picky.

Princess Jasmine: How dare you! All of you, standing around deciding my future? I am not a prize to be won! (She storms out.)
Sultan: Oh, dear. Don't worry, Prince Ali. Just give Jasmine time to cool down. (They exit.)

Princess Jasmine: At least some good will come of my being forced to marry. When I am Queen, I will have the power to get rid of *you*.
Sultan: Well, now. That's nice. All settled then. Now, Jasmine, getting back to this suitor business... Jasmine? Jasmine!
[the Sultan notices that Jasmine is running out of the room, and runs after]

And then most everyone who has a daughter on Disney boards refers to her as their little princess Hmmm... So...who knows? Maybe the teen girl in the original post was being forced to marry an icky old man? Or maybe she was being denied the love of her life because he is a different species?

Seriously...she could have been being forced to ride something she really didn't want to. Or to pose with Goofy, pretending he was her prom date. As others have suggested, she could have been PMS'ing, just stressed beyond belief, or be autistic/have asperger's, ADHD, or who knows what else. We see little tiny slivers of other people's lives, and really don't know what's happening. Even if I see a kid who really appears to be an out of control brat, as long as they aren't affecting me directly (throwing food at me, bumping into me, so loud that I can't hear a show, etc) then I just thank my lucky stars that I'm not the one who is responsible for dealing with that particular child at that particular moment, and move on. I've had my share -- as most parents have -- of dealing with my kids who were behaving less than perfectly in public.

Misbehaving adults? Obnoxious, loud, swearing, rude, mean adults? Different matter entirely. They are the ones who deserve the Disney Den of Discipline! I think they should be locked in a dark room with Cruella, Ursula, Scar, The Wicked Queen, Jafar, and Maleficent!

 

[rebelbunny]

I'll come back and read the rest later- but I have to add-

I've taught my kids to keep an eye out for other Disney Meltdowns.
I let them know they're not the only ones who get tired or cranky.

If we see a particularly fierce one- and you know you have seen some FIERCE meltdowns as WDW-

I whisper to my cranky kid:

"See, it's not as bad as THAT, now is it?"

 

[Mrs. Jane]

gee I was thinking about the adults..I usually like the children, its the parents that annoy me... like the mom who litterally pushed her way in front of my family pulling her two children with her so they could have a better view of the fireworks. Of course we couldn't see but she didn't care. Children learn behaviors from the parents...

 

[Teacher03]

Years ago when my kids were small, we went to the Aloha dinner show at the Poly. Mickey and Minnie were there, and at one point, a CM announced that the kids could come down to meet them. We made our way to the line, we were next, and a woman literally pushed her 2 boys in front of us. My oldest daughter stumbled backwards from the push. I was steaming mad, about to open my mouth, but my husband, who is always as cool as a cucumber, gave me a look to say "let it go." When we got back to the table, I started giving my husband the business, and he pointed out that obviously the woman didn't care, she knew what she was doing when she gave us a push, it wasn't her children's fault, and our kids and I would have been upset the rest of the evening if I would have gotten into an argument. He was right, as usual. I stewed over it for a while, but soon got over it. Unfortunately, there are rude people in the world, including Disney.

 

[themudd4]

This is not about me punishing my kids but someone thinking they could get on them at MK...Someone trying to ruin the magic for the rest of us.
June 06 me and my DD12 & DS6 (ages at the time) were using fast passes for Stitch. The people in the line were standing sort of single file even though it is a large open area to "gather" in before entering the doors. There was no where for us to really stand and the CM asked twice for everyone to fill all available space, no one listened to him. So when he let the group behind us in (a man in a wheel chair and his family, he told us to just follow them (which took us to the side of where everyone was standing. No problem, we did. Then I thought I heard someone on the side of me kind of smarting off about people cutting in line but didn't really pay any attention to it (I knew I hadn't done anything) next thing I know my DD is grabbing my arm and saying mom that woman is yelling at us. I turned around and this woman is ready to rip into my DD for cutting in front of her. She didn't realize she was with me I don't guess becasue when I spun around she stopped and just looked at me real funny. I still not really sure what is going on said "can I help you?" She starts telling me how this girl has just walked right in, in front of everyone is is trying to cut in line. then she turns back to my DD and starts telling her she is going to have her kicked out of the park... At this point my magic place on earth face turned nasty and I went off on this woman...I told her that if she wanted to address the issue I wasn't 12 and she could address it to me, that she did what she was told by the CM and that if all she had to do with her time was pick on kids that are doing as they were told then she was the one who needed to leave the park. Then her husband jumps in telling me I am a horrible parent to be teaching her to cut in line and that my entire family were idiots...before I could even open my mouth...and believe me I had a few choice words at this point...the man in the wheel chair told this man that if he would have listened to the CM then I would not have been sent this direction to begin with so if anyone was an idiot it was him and his family. Then the man in the wheel chair wistled for the CM and asked him if he would address the situation with these trouble markers. They ended up getting mad and leaving the line...

 

[HdnMickeyGrl]

Back on topic Two stories:

1. I think some people lose all sense of peripheral vision when it comes to their kids. I'm 27, my mom is 50 and we love Disney. We love the atmosphere and everything that goes along with it. We also love meeting Disney characters in the parks. But there have been many times, too many to count, when parents (grandparents, aunts, uncles or people otherwise responsible for small children) ignore the adults who are standing waiting for their turn with the characters. They just shove little Timmy or Janey right in front of me and my mom. Now, if they asked or said t"his was Timmy's favorite character can he go ahead" I'd probably say yes. I've moved many times and let children in front of me at parades. But please don't be so rude and pretend like I'm invisible. This doesn't happen so much anymore because most of the time there are ropes or some semblence of a line to get to the character but there are occasional times when characters pop up and cause a people swarm. Remember adults are people too.

2. This is not an observation of people ruining the magic. This is an explanation of me possibly ruining the magic for other people. Three years ago my mom, my mom's best friend and I went to WDW in May. I had applied to numerous law schools and, at that time, was waiting anxiosly for responses. I had my cell phone in the park so my husband could call me to tell me about any mail or phonecalls from the schools. One day, while we were at MGM, my husband called and left a message. It can only be described as a Saturday Night Live skit where you can't hear anything that someone said except for a few key words. I don't know why the quality was so bad but all I could make out was he name of the school I really wanted to get into. I tried calling my husband back but missed him and he called back, missed me and left me another garbled message. I still couldn't make out what was going on. Did I get in? Had I been rejected? I was frantic. I think we exchaged 2 more phonecalls so I had received 3 completely uninteligable messages. I tried my husband one more time. I was standing out of the way to the side of a restaurant (I think it was HV or PT) Finally he picked up. "Where the he** have you been?!" was the first thing I could think of and came out rather loudly. Right then I looked up and a man was pushing a stroller about two feet away from me. He gave me a sort of sohcked look and walked away before I had the presence of mind to apologize. As it turned out my husbands messages were simply that he hadn't heard anything about any school including the school I most wanted to get into. My mom and mom's best friend chastised me a bit for the exclamaition but at that moment I had reached a point where I had lost my mind a bit. I'm not trying to make excuses. Just thought I'd use this thread to apologize if you happened to be that guy pushing that stroller three years ago in May.

 

[mmurdoch]

My ten year old can be pretty rambunctious. I'm going to try that dog whisperer tip on her next time.
I have seen people with their little ones on a leash, but I had no idea!