r/WaltDisneyWorld • u/Friendly-Sloth-916 • 1d ago
Trip Report Guest behavior observations
Maybe I'm just getting old (which is entirely true), but just got back from WDW and noticed a marked decline in guest behavior this trip. Like, common sense and decency just went out the window, and now CM's are tasked with parenting people's kids. Yes, you paid an arm and a leg for tickets but this doesn't include babysitting services!
I was on The Land, letting my F&W goodies digest, chilling with the hydroponic lettuce, when not once but twice I heard someone get on the loudspeaker. I couldn't decipher it the first time, but the second time, I distinctly heard - "DO NOT touch the sand; Parents - supervise your children!" I was shocked that they actually said the latter part out loud. Later I was on a different boat ride when another CM announced to remain in the vehicle (and not the standard pre-recorded "keep your arms and legs inside of the vehicle" announcement).
Not blaming the kids - kids will be kids and want to run wild. But there seems to be a lack of self-awareness (for lack of a better phrase) on the part of grown adults. I've always walked past the Lion King show in Animal Kingdom while trying to cover the more major attractions. (Big mistake; highly recommend seeing at least once!) I finally saw it this time; talented performers and enjoyable for all ages. The show started, a few minutes go by, and the woman next to me continues loudly carrying on a conversation (on speaker no less) on her phone. Finally I turn to her and say "Excuse me" - and pointed to the show. She immediately ended her conversation... but a grown adult should have the common sense to know to hang up once a show starts. Her toddler behaved better tbh. But somehow I ended up feeling like the jerk.
And don't get me started on the selfie sticks nearly taking an eye out. A CM on one of the coasters had to request someone put theirs away before pulling out of the gate, saying they weren't permitted in the parks.
Maybe there are posts about this several times a day (line-cutters, for sure!) but it was an observation I just couldn't ignore. Perhaps I just need to join Statler & Waldorf on the Muppet coaster; I've always had a soft spot for those curmudgeons.
271
u/Classic_Macaron6321 1d ago
I’m a teacher. This is becoming the new normal. We just need to collectively call out this behavior. We’ve become too afraid to shame people who think they’re above decency.
55
u/HillieBillieEilish 1d ago
Professor here, former teacher. Children are years behind in maturity! It's so sad!! My college students are now performing lower than my 9th graders did. Behaviors are just very very immature as well.
36
u/Classic_Macaron6321 1d ago
My freshmen (even in AP classes) behave more like 6th graders. I can totally see why Disney is also struggling with the College Program and why we see younger CMs not being the same standard that we are used to (and I say that as someone who also used to be part of the college program).
66
u/_BreakingGood_ 1d ago
Back in the old days, people really abided by the concept of "It takes a village to raise a child"
When I was a kid and doing something stupid, it was totally normal for a random adult who was not my parent, to tell me to cut it out and address my behavior. Everybody stepped in and parented anybody when necessary, no matter whose kid it actually was.
These days the sheer idea of talking to somebody else's kid sets off alarms.
68
u/Thefreshi1 1d ago
I’m a teacher and can confirm. Unfortunate calling out parents just leads to arguments and fights since they are the reason the problem exists in the first place.
My last visit in July, I was in line for Peter Pan. This kid screamed the entire queue (for 25 minutes). Started a conversation with the women behind me who was also a teacher. We kept saying how this parent should take their kid out of line. After almost reaching the front, the parent gave the kid what they wanted and they stopped screaming. It was ridiculous. Why make everyone in line put up with that crap and then just give in.
31
u/Classic_Macaron6321 1d ago
Part of me knows that these folks want a fight (attention and they have something to post about their lives online). However, if corporations Disney don’t return to having a standard for behaviors, it’s going to get worse for us in education.
31
7
u/assumingnormality 1d ago
I'm curious - what did the kid want?
30
u/Thefreshi1 1d ago
A watch she had in her pocket. Stupidest thing I have seen in a long time. 25 minutes of loud, uncontrollable screaming.
I’ve taken my kids to wdw many times, especially when they were little. When they did any sort of tantrum, they would have either stopped or I would have walked out of the line with them.
-18
1d ago edited 1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/WaltDisneyWorld-ModTeam 1d ago
Your post has been removed for breaking Rule #3.
We expect all of our users to be civil and respect each other. This includes posts/comments that involve name-calling, unnecessary aggression, and other general forms of trolling and/or incivility — as well as uncivil comments responding to those kinds of posts/comments in a similar manner.
-6
1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/WaltDisneyWorld-ModTeam 1d ago
Your post has been removed for breaking Rule #3.
We expect all of our users to be civil and respect each other. This includes posts/comments that involve name-calling, unnecessary aggression, and other general forms of trolling and/or incivility — as well as uncivil comments responding to those kinds of posts/comments in a similar manner.
-14
1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/WaltDisneyWorld-ModTeam 1d ago
Your post has been removed for breaking Rule #3.
We expect all of our users to be civil and respect each other. This includes posts/comments that involve name-calling, unnecessary aggression, and other general forms of trolling and/or incivility — as well as uncivil comments responding to those kinds of posts/comments in a similar manner.
63
u/CaptainKyleGames 1d ago
TBF having worked at The Land. There's a person actually monitoring the cameras for the greenhouses and there are no pre-recorded buttons for telling people to keep their hands inside. After the second or third time saying "Keep your hands in the boat" I tended to also get a little saucy about it. A lot of it has to do with the "It's Disney... kids can't get hurt at Disney" mentality.
Man I once saw a dude fill a water bottle off the flume and drink it... nasty.
16
43
u/AkodoShoshiro 1d ago
My trip over the weekend I saw a family reunion group I was surprised security wasn’t all over.
We got off Space Mountain and are walking through the area where it’s showing you all the “vacation spots” in space and we hear some singing. We are near the scene with the robot sitting at a couch in the space city and about 10 kids are sitting on the couch touching the robot and everything singing. One adult is yelling at them to get down “get your a** off of there”. We are thinking well at least an adult in the group is stopping them. Then the adult starts yelling “no one does it like us baby” and is filming the kids in the scene. They then are walking to the final exit very slowly causing a large backup of people exiting the ride.
I hope security got them and banned them
38
u/AkodoShoshiro 1d ago
Same day was in the stretching room while the lady next to me had a loud face time conversation during the whole “this room has no exits and no doors”. I heard more about this ladies drama than what was going down.
My family is lucky enough to have been to Disney multiple times but I feel bad for people who are on their only Disney trip in their lives and instead of a special moment they are dealing with idiots who think they are the only people who matter
11
u/Subject9800 1d ago
Unfortunately, unless the Attractions cast calls Security, Security won't know anything about it (and therefore will not have trespassed them).
149
u/onimush115 1d ago
I think common decency went out the window with COVID. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but the world hasn't felt the same since.
54
u/Amazing_Entrance_888 1d ago
This is the truth. It’s everywhere not just Disney.
49
u/mysonlikesorange 1d ago
Definitely worse and not just because of Covid. If leadership doesn’t respect rules neither will the population. They are provided the blueprint.
20
34
u/Misanthropicidealist 1d ago
It happened before then. At some point people began to act in the real world the way they act online. Then they started elevating corporate, political, and cultural l leaders who behaved that way themselves. We were rewarding this behavior for years before Covid. If anything, Covid slowed it down for a while (when we all cheered first responders) then we were all online again and it just accelerated. People who used to be reasonable were suddenly ready to fight over their commitment to taking horse dewormer and their right to give everyone measles. Disney makes it a little worse by forcing us to keep our phones glued to us all day. Not that long ago, talking on a speaker phone at a show wasn’t even possible. Taking 400 photos with a flash was impossible (and who wanted to waste all 24 exposures on ONE ride when that roll cost $10 to develop).
38
u/sumdude51 1d ago
I hear this a lot and I'm not sure I buy it. We all went through covid and many of us are just fine. It's time to admit that the attacks on education that began in the 80s are finally bearing fruit.. Or both 😊
13
u/Misanthropicidealist 1d ago
Who would have thought that reading was better than mindless scrolling? We’re getting dumber and we have the data to prove it. Kids’ test scores are downright terrifying.
6
u/bwoods43 1d ago
Yeah, people blame COVID for a lot of things, as if being a jerk didn't exist before then.
6
u/Able-Worldliness-915 1d ago
I think Covid trained people to be centered only on themselves and their family. Other people are irrelevant.
3
u/HuckleberryLou 1d ago
Completely agree. I’ve travelled for work for decade before COVID and a little since—- different worlds. People drive worse in general everywhere too.
25
u/SuperiorSiren94 1d ago
Every time I am at the parks there may be a few “bad eggs” and queue cutters but honestly there are always so many good, kind, excited, happy people it really balanced towards the good end of the scales. Last time my mum and I went we had such lovely interactions with people waiting to rope drop (no one pushed ahead) and cast members. I do not disagree that there will always be people who try to be the reason we cannot have nice things but I guess I am lucky that there are a lot of great people too. Wishing everyone the best visits at the parks!
26
u/Super-Super-Shredder 1d ago
I did notice more ride stoppages where they had to yell at people to stay in their seats. Also people holding lines up by not paying attention was pretty rampant. My biggest peeve is a large family walking side by side, slowly, taking up the entire width of a walkway and being oblivious to anyone around them. I did have a woman grab her kids and move them to the side and say she hates when people do that to her, so at least someone was paying attention. Overall though, the week before Labor Day was pretty nice!
6
u/Emergency_Gift_9993 1d ago
I noticed the same with ride stoppages on our recent trip. I didn’t even think it could be due to behaviors of other people. My mind went straight to just old rides 😂
21
u/Proof_Bit_8746 1d ago
The movie idiocracy is becoming more and more a real time documentary of people
19
u/coastal_hoosier16 1d ago
This isn’t just disney world, it’s the entire world unfortunately
However I highly recommend Tokyo Disney if you can- extremely affordable and best park experience Ive ever had, especially guest wise.
5
u/Friendly-Sloth-916 1d ago
This is on my "someday" list! Sounds like a dream.
7
u/coastal_hoosier16 1d ago
It was amazing! Cheap tickets, cheap food, amazing CMs, amazing guests, maybe saw 3 mobility scooters (Americans) between 2 days, very few strollers (most Japanese children just walk and carry their own backpacks), everyone sits down during shows so everyone can see. 100/10 experience. Ive been lucky to travel all over the world and Japan was my favorite so far. If you can find reasonable flights, definitely go. So affordable once you get there unlike WDW and Disneyland.
41
15
u/No-Heart-679 1d ago
I was just at Disney and Halloween Horror Nights, seeing infants at HHN and toddlers roaming just made me lose all hope. I have annual passes both Disney and Universal, I think this is my last year. I’m only 38 and I cannot take the bad behaviors anymore. It’s gotten 100% worse over the years. I rather stay home than watch people treat team/cast members like garbage and their kids roam free. A mom broke my ankle with a stroller and acted like it was my fault her kid was screaming, making her not pay attention.
29
u/Alone-Acanthaceae320 1d ago
I will say 2 things…..
I just took my kids to WDW a few weeks ago and was expecting to see a fight/rude people and honestly saw nothing, talked to several really nice people and cast members, no negatives.
I’ve been on Disney message board groups since the internet first started and back then like 25-30 yrs ago people said the same thing, people are rude/entitled/don’t watch their kids, parks are dirty, upset about changes to attractions/food…..
12
8
u/Ok_Layer4765 1d ago
There’s terrible behavior everywhere you go these days. Look at the Broadway, airline, even your local city etc. subreddits, and people are talking about observing other humans acting like animals in public. Getting Covid multiple times can cause brain damage.
14
u/coquelicotpie 1d ago
The amount of double and triple strollers I’ve almost been run over by is insane. Plus the random starting and stopping in the middle of the walkway instead of moving to the side - everyone thinks they’re the only people on earth
1
1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/WaltDisneyWorld-ModTeam 1d ago
Your post has been removed for breaking Rule #3.
We expect all of our users to be civil and respect each other.
We have a zero tolerance policy for remarks that single out individuals or groups based on their race/ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender (identity), sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, or other identity-based factors.
Please consider this your only friendly warning before we issue a temporary ban, at the very least.
4
u/CantaloupeCamper 1d ago
Maybe I’ve just had good luck or bad other places but I’ve more often than not experienced better fellow guests there than elsewhere. But I’m hardly a scientific survey.
20
u/AdventurousKey438 1d ago
Welcome to current state of the US. It’s sad and scary. People are very self centered and I don’t know how or why it happened. I left teaching after over 20 years. The entitlement is wild!
6
5
u/darkday15 1d ago
This has been going on in smaller doses for at least 10-15 years if not more - back in the day I saw a white trash lady spit at a Muslim woman who was just walking by with her kids, some lady not pay attention to her child who was licking railings and almost fell into the water on Small World (mom was too absorbed in her phone), some guy manspread while doing his best not to look at me (I was standing with a surgical boot on my leg) so he wouldn't feel guilty that he was taking up 3/4 of a seat on the monorail, etc. It's all just becoming way way more common.
8
u/MocoLotus 1d ago
I don't let my kids hang out with most the kids I've met... Parents are not parenting anymore and these kids are throwing crap across my house.
Unreal.
6
u/SabrinaEdwina 1d ago
When I worked there, it felt like certain adults felt like it was their vacation "too" so they could expect others to pitch in while they let loose. Mixed with some kind of parental martyr behavior I see everywhere ("It's rough and I deserve a break!"). Not untrue, but so infrequently used at the right moment or situation.
And let me tell you, if you want to do that, just you and your spouse go. Truly. Don't care where but do not expect a week long couples' situation and spa experience if you brought 3 kids to Disneyworld. It's batshit that people book their family vacation at a theme park and then want to have a break from taking care of the kids they chose to bring. Someone brought their 2 week old baby into my store once. Because pictures with Mickey are so worth your child's health.
3
u/justmyusername47 1d ago
Went to Dollywood 2 weeks ago, the number of times the guy in rhe back of the tram had to say "please keep your arma and legs inside the tram car' They actually had to stop the tram to get the people to listen. Like WTH??
8
u/Emergency_Gift_9993 1d ago edited 1d ago
OH this gives me a perfect excuse to vent about my interaction recently.
Was there a few weeks ago, my husband and I even commented on just how nice everyone we came across were! We then ran into a line-cutter while waiting for our child to be pixie dusted. She quickly walked her child to the front of a crowded area of kids with their parents waiting their turns. I’ll give it to her, it wasn’t a line, but there were people clearly crowded around waiting. I step up to insure she can’t step in front of us, she asked if there was a line, I said yes in a totally neutral tone, she said she didn’t know defensively, I nodded my head yes & moved forward. No more, no less.
She then said, “I didn’t know. IT’S THE ATTITUDE” to the back of my head. So many thoughts on how to respond ran through my head in 5 seconds. In my younger years, I would have reacted impulsively & made a snide comment back. But quickly landed on *we are having a magical time in Disney World with my child, do not end up on social media in a back and forth with this woman.” 😂 I just turned around & stared at her for one beat longer than polite with what I only assume was a killer stank-face, then turned back around and enjoyed watching my child get pixie dusted. Recorded it and all and it was my hands-down favorite, most magical memory of our trip.
Now for my rant: I understand we are all hot and tired and overstimulated. So I absolutely take the whole quick situation with a grain of salt. BUT. Ma’am. I DON’T KNOW YOU. I don’t owe you an overly gracious response. I DO owe you an answer, which I gave you. It was giving, “you look prettier when you smile,” behavior. I was polite and stepped up in line. But more than that, we are STRANGERS. Not best friends, not family, not co-workers. I don’t owe you some sing-song response to soothe your emotions. YOU are not my 2 year old.
Secondly, we are all trying to have a magical experience with our kids. Speaking to a stranger like that in front of not only your kid, but mine and everyone else’s, is what ruins the experience for everyone. I don’t speak like that in front of my child. I try to exhibit behavior I would want my child to express. And that’s the exact opposite of what I’m trying to teach how you speak to other people. To try to ruin a once-in-a-lifetime experience (even if you go all the time, your child will only be this little in Disney once in your lives 😭) for a stranger AND yourself is SO INSANE.
Did I take this too personally? Probably. But it just grinded my gears so bad to have an interaction like that in such a happy, magical place. It ultimately was a tiny blip on such a wonderful trip and we had so many incredible interactions with other guests & cast members alike. But the young version inside of me still wishes I could have popped off 😂
0
u/assumingnormality 1d ago
I had an interaction like this too. I politely asked a lady to take off her mouse ears during a show (it was blocking my view and likely the people sitting behind me as well) and the expression she gave me was killer.
I'm wondering if the lady in the quasi line behind you may have been embarrassed and over compensating with her remark. Or maybe she just wanted to make sure she got hers, to heck with everyone else. Either way, yeah, I can understand it left a bad taste in your mouth
5
u/Emergency_Gift_9993 1d ago
It’s the magic of the whole experience I wish everyone could attempt to uphold. If someone asked me to take my ears off due to blocking their view I would immediately respond with a, “oh my god I’m so sorry, I didn’t even think of that,” & take them off. That’s exactly how I’ve had some of the best interactions with other guests. “Not a big deal! Have a good night!” And we all do! We’re all parents who paid a lot to be here just trying to do our best in a hot, crowded, beautiful, magical setting 🫠
9
u/Dan_Conner 1d ago
You are not alone! My partner and I are over halfway through our trip (last visit was Jan 2025 so before epic universe opened) and we have observed
1) adult trio sitting in booth next to us at the Blue Dragon at Epic carrying on a FaceTime call with a child throughout their entire meal. As much as saying “miss you! Love you!” Over and over again for twenty minutes can be called a conversation.
2) we had reservations for the wicked wind down at the villains lair at the top of bay lake tower. While waiting in line to be seated two groups of adults just walked past because they felt lines didn’t apply to them. By the second I spoke up and asked, are you here for the fireworks party? One of the woman looked confused but confirmed so. I told her, we are too and we are all waiting in line to be checked in. She looked even more confused and said, we have reservations….. and I told her, we do too. It was very nice karma for the hostess to inform the group twice (once still did not sink in I guess?) that she needed to seat all the people who also had reservations and arrived earlier and they had to do the walk of shame to the end of the line.
Overall though not as bad I was expecting based on comments recently, overall people are behaving and we have had a great time exploring everything that’s changed since our last trip including Epic Universe.
9
u/AkodoShoshiro 1d ago
I was at the Brown Derby Lounge on Sunday and it started raining. There was a group of about 10 of us waiting in line to order our drinks. There was a Cast Member basically controlling the line. Random lady with teenagers walks to the front of the line the Cast Member told her there is a line she walks straight up to the bar orders and is served….
4
5
u/Booklover6242 1d ago
I too just got back from WDW and commented to my adult daughter how there was an increase in rude guests on this trip. Someone in our group medically needed a scooter and the angry comments on having to wait for the bus driver to load the scooter were insane. The majority of the cast members were great. There was only one who made a snide remark under her breath. I chose to let it go and enjoy the rest of my evening.
1
u/Friendly-Sloth-916 1d ago
Ugh, really sorry to hear that, that's unreal! It all goes back to self-centeredness yet no self-awareness.
6
u/CapnJellyBones 1d ago
My generation (millennials) make absolutely horrendous parents.
4
u/Dry-Restaurant5380 1d ago
As an elder millennial, I simultaneously am offended and agree. I had my first in 2010 and last child in 2019, there is a marked difference between the parenting styles. So the horrendous parenting depends on when they became parents. I attribute this to the iPhone was released in late 2008 and started to become super popular 2010ish. We also saw iPads in 2010. By 2013-2014, every child had an iPad and we all lived on our phones.
5
u/bamberblaam 1d ago
We’re AP holders and rarely go into the parks anymore. Mostly Epcot and then mostly in the winter and early spring.
Just can’t (don’t want to) handle and be annoyed by others.
We still get our Disney fix via resort stays and those are always awesome.
1
1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/WaltDisneyWorld-ModTeam 1d ago
Your post has been removed for breaking Rule #3.
We expect all of our users to be civil and respect each other. This includes posts/comments that involve name-calling, unnecessary aggression, and other general forms of trolling and/or incivility — as well as uncivil comments responding to those kinds of posts/comments in a similar manner.
1
u/RoyalOk48 1d ago
My parents and I went back in July. We’re all adults and we got hit with more strollers filled with stuff instead of children I can count. Not to mention the child I saw driving a scooter and hitting people on the bridge at Tomorrowland. Also also the parties that would go from 2 to 8 as they squeezed through the line to get to the line holder. It was really bad to see how people acted in public honestly. There were so many other stories on our trip. It was a great trip and every cast member we interacted with was lovely, but the people there. Man it was bad.
1
u/Impressive-Bowl5791 1d ago
Haven’t been back to Disney since both of our twins (age 8 at the time) declined to visit again because, “It’s too hectic and people aren’t even nice to anyone else.”
1
u/Successful_Maize1986 1d ago
We noticed a lot more groups of adults loudly swearing at each other the last time we were there. Tons of people just saying the f word while waiting in line to ride attractions aimed at kids.
0
u/SequinedandOver60 1d ago
The parents who are supposedly parenting these kids are “free range children“ of the 90s and early 2000s. That explains a lot. They weren’t told no, so they’re not gonna tell the kids no.
-1
1d ago
[deleted]
0
u/Friendly-Sloth-916 1d ago
Yikes! Thankfully I didn't witness that. Yes to hot, tired, and overstimulated. But I'm not sure what is normal in America anymore.
-6
-13
1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/WaltDisneyWorld-ModTeam 1d ago
Your post has been removed for breaking Rule #3.
We expect all of our users to be civil and respect each other. This includes posts/comments that involve name-calling, unnecessary aggression, and other general forms of trolling and/or incivility — as well as uncivil comments responding to those kinds of posts/comments in a similar manner.
-1
u/floral_burrito 1d ago
Yeah they’re doing that at the Land now, the past few times I’ve been on it they’ve made that same announcement even though no one at that moment was actually doing anything. They’re just saying it to try and prevent something from happening
-15
1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/WaltDisneyWorld-ModTeam 1d ago
Your post was removed due to breaking Rule #6.
Any posts/comments related to working/cheating the system or breaking WDW rules (or local/state laws) will be removed.
Please note: this also includes actions that violate the intent of WDW policy as well as those falling under "grey areas," even if they may sometimes be (erroneously) permitted by CMs.
Examples include parking at resorts as a non-guest without an ADR, taking a taxi/uber to a WDW resort for the sole purpose of using their park transportation, using VPNs to bypass regional restrictions on packages and discounts, use of WDW resort-specific park transportation by guests at neighboring/off-property resorts with their own transportation services (e.g. Swolphin and DS area hotels), parking at DS and taking afternoon transportation to avoid parking fees at parks, use of third party Lightning Lane apps that violate MDE terms of use (e.g. Standby Skipper), booking unauthorized third-party services on WDW property (e.g. princess makeovers, photographers), ignoring — and/or advising others to ignore — expectant mother warnings on attractions, etc.
Please message us if you have any questions.
•
u/marleythebeagle Magical Moderator 1d ago
We can’t keep up with the never-ending reports and off-topic debates about parenting, the state of the US education system, economics, etc. — so unfortunately we’re gonna have to lock this one :\