Recession? Not in WDW! But the Crowd BEHAVIOR is What was So Bad

[Maleficent's Dad]

This isn't a trip report, but rather a brief review of the parks last week during President's Week.

We go during the school's February break every year - and while the weekend (Sat - Mon) of President's Day is usually crowded, it's never been this crowded and this insane for the entire week.

DHS is a park that does not handle crowds well. The insanity at the rope drop that we experienced (three times last week) was like nothing I've ever seen before. Grown adults fighting (with elbows and shoves) to be amongst the first to TSM. FP's for TSM gone by 10:15 AM daily.

EPCOT with the same craziness heading to Soarin'. Waits of over 100 minutes early in the day and never subsiding. Waits of over 60 minutes consistently for Maelstrom. We did attend the Friday night EMH at EPCOT. Let me put it this way - never again.

The MK - let's leave it at this - I'm glad we arrived early (even hit the CP for Pooh's b'fast one day) and left after lunch. That park just gets nuts.

The one day at the AK was a good one, but just as crowded as the others. EE had a delayed opening, and it made things "interesting," to say the least.

I've not witnessed WDW with such large crowds who were behaving so badly before... And before you comment on that, know this - I go only when schools are out. I have been there Christmas week (several times), as well as Easter, President's Week, and July 4th.

Worst we saw was DHS. People pushing past CM's, ignoring their directions, cutting under ropes, around designated areas, and hopping over queues. People were just so incredibly rude, disrepectful, and downright embarrassing. Folks, I'm not talking about teens - I'm talking about parents with children. Very sad.

Last week was bar-none, the worst I've experienced. And it wasn't due to the crowd size, it was due to the crowd's behavior.

Anyone else notice a decline in the civility of people on "vacation?"

[SBETigg]

That's so hard to deal with. I hate it when people behave badly. You're on vacation, so you want to tune it out, but sometimes it really does just get to you. Every vacation, I seem to run into a few people behaving badly, but not enough to make a big impact on the trip. This one sounds beyond the norm for you. Sorry for the added stress.

[mouseketeer mom]

Wow. That sounds awful!! I can only begin to imagine how you felt as you describe your week. We leave next Friday...is this what we're in for??

[Mousefever]

I'm a little scared about what it will be like during our spring break trip! I can deal with bad behavior and crowds up to a certain point. If I get overwhelmed I'm glad we can go back to our room very easily.

Amy

[Ian]

Sounds like our December experience at DHS. The mad rush to get to TSM is nuts.

I gotta be honest, though. I partially blame Disney for this.

First and foremost, they're horrendous at enforcing any sort of order on crowds anymore. In fact, they almost seem to revel in the chaos they cause sometimes. They could very easily prevent people from running to attractions (I've seen them do it successfully dozens of times), but they just don't seem to care anymore.

Secondly, by being so darn cheap with adding new attractions and keeping the parks up they've created a situation where each park basically has one or two really worthwhile attractions and those are the ones to which all the people flock.

This isn't intended to excuse bad behavior by any means. But I'd be willing to bet that people have, in general, behaved like this for centuries when there is no order enforced (the term "mob mentality" wasn't coined yesterday). I'm not sure if it's the people who've changed or if it's Disney's attitude towards crowd control.

Either way it's frustrating and is yet another item to detract from your enjoyment of a WDW vacation.

[CaptSmee]

DHS is a park that does not handle crowds well. The insanity at the rope drop that we experienced (three times last week) was like nothing I've ever seen before. Grown adults fighting (with elbows and shoves) to be amongst the first to TSM. FP's for TSM gone by 10:15 AM daily.

Unfortunately I think this pretty much is a daily occurance at DHS. It was the same way in Jan as well. Everyone takes off for TSM and gets in a giant line for FP's and are pretty much gone by 10-10:30. I was amazed...

[Boost]

Sorry to say that we experienced a bit of the same, although not in the parks...for us, it was the parking lot at Downtown Disney. After a nice day on Saturday of park hopping, we hit DD on the way home (we are Floridians). We were waiting for someone to pull out of a parking space in Lot 2 at Downtown Disney. After they backed out of the spot, we drove into the spot. After about 1-2 minutes (literally), we heard a woman LAYING ON THE HORN for thirty seconds at a time for at least another two minutes. We were looking around to see what was going on and then we saw the woman back up to where we were (she was about five cars away on the wrong side of the parking spaces); then the woman began SCREAMING in our direction . My wife was giving our daughter her baby bottle in the back of our vehicle before we were getting out, but we both got out because we thought that there was some sort of medical emergency that the woman was having. As we got out of the car, she was freaking out because, she "had been waiting for the parking spot for over 30 minutes". I told her that she was nowhere around when I found the spot and we were the ones waiting for it. She kept yelling and we got back in the car. We did eventually move because we thought that she was going to vandalize our vehicle, so we found a closer spot in Lot 1. At any rate, YES, we did witness bad behavior this past weekend....

[mickeys_princess_mom]

I hate to hear this thread. A friend at school finally went this week (he's a coach, and it's the only time of year he could go), and it's a shame these were the conditions for his family's first trip. I did warn him that this would be a crowded time, but sounds like it was just insane.

[JPL]

Sounds like our December experience at DHS. The mad rush to get to TSM is nuts.

I gotta be honest, though. I partially blame Disney for this.

First and foremost, they're horrendous at enforcing any sort of order on crowds anymore. In fact, they almost seem to revel in the chaos they cause sometimes. They could very easily prevent people from running to attractions (I've seen them do it successfully dozens of times), but they just don't seem to care anymore.

I agree I noticed back in June and to make matter worse the CMs at VOTLM were cheering guests on encouraging them to run to TSM. The only way this is going to stop is when someone gets seriously injured and I hate to say it sues them and wins a boat load of cash.

Crowd control at WDW was non-existent in December and I'm sure it's getting worse with the cutbacks taking place. Ian is right they really just don't care any more

[tink179]

I agree with the crowds being rude! We were there in January and people were awful! There was a guy behind me videotaping the fireworks at MK and was complaining about a little boy having a balloon in the air during the fireworks! Uh, the fireworks are way above the balloon! There was rude people talking during shows and rude guests at the dinners as well!Our trip was still quite enjoyable, but geez you would think people on vacation would relax and think about others around them! We can only wish that would become more the norm!

[Mousefan29]

We spent 3 weeks there in December and experienced the best crowds and the worst. Let me explain...

Christmas Eve at MK -- I expected the worst, and was surprised that we had a great time! Even though there were crowds, everyone was pleasant and cheerful. The bathrooms were clean and we didn't wait for food. Sure, there were long waits on the major attractions, but we did things like shows, parades, and trains -- and Carousel of Progress. The only madness was leaving at the end of the night, but, still people were jovial and polite.

New Year's Eve at Epcot -- I expected a the worst and got it! We were there early and prepared to stay until evening, but had to leave by 2:15 pm. The crowds were so thick and the people were so rude! You could hardly walk through World Showcase, and, TWICE, we had people try to jump over our strollers, lose their balance and land on our kids! No apologies, no humility. We'll never go back there for New Years!

I can't explain the difference, both were holiday eves, but we definitely noticed a difference in people's behavior!

[Boost]

Three things:

1. What is TSM?

2. Guy grumbling about little boy with balloon - too sad to even comment...

3. We have also had people jump/stretch their legs over our kids' stroller....my wife and I have NO problem putting them in their place when it happens.

True that the parks are for everyone, but sometimes, some adults need to be reminded that some extra courtesy needs to be extended to children. Just my opinion.

[cgriff]

Also partially to blame would be those who blog or post on message boards about the absolute necessity to be at DHS at rope-drop for the purpose of rushing to TSM... If enough people recommend to park-goers a strategy meant to overwhelm an attraction, it should not surprise when the attraction becomes overwhelmed.

TSM is a superb piece of theme park entertainment, worthy of so many people wanting anxiously to experience it. It's great, positive stuff for the long-languishing Studios. But WDW does need to address the 'running of the bulls' situation that has developed around it. I think an easy fix is to use the built-in crowd control that already exists at the park --the turnstiles! --in a smarter way. When guests swipe their park admission media at the turnstile to enter the park, why not present them with the option of accepting/printing-out a TSM fast-pass right there? Replace the looney fingerprint scan with this. People will have their return time for the ride before they even enter the gate.

The only "runners" at that point would be the peeps who want to try to be first to the standby line at the attraction. The easy fix at that point is to have the Hollywood streets freshly hosed down right before opening! (Kidding!)

[cgriff]

Hi Boost, TSM = Toy Story Mania

[Goofster]

Wow...that's insane. We went the first week of february and didn't get our TSM fast pass until closer to noon!

[grumpyguy]

wow,crazy stuff...i think i'll search for a positive post now

[Marker]

Anyone else notice a decline in the civility of people on "vacation?"

Yes, I noticed, but I don't think it really has anything to do with being on vacation, or being at WDW. I think it happens anywhere.

I gotta be honest, though. I partially blame Disney for this.

Perhaps Disney could do more to prevent this bad behavior, but should they have to. Regardless of what Disney could do, the bad behavior is coming from the people, it is a choice they are making. Very likely, no matter what deterrent Disney were to put in place, they'd likely find a way around it. Also, those deterrents would no doubt have a price tag. We all know that we are in an economic climate of cut backs, not enhancements. Regardless of what deterrents are in place, people need to be held accountable for their own behavior rather than deflecting the blame somewhere else. But that's just my opinion.

...but they just don't seem to care anymore.

Maybe I'm naive but I don't believe that they just don't care. I think the vast majority, from CM on up, do indeed care. Unfortunately, to a larger extent than in recent history their hands are tied. They are restricted by legal/liability issues. They are restricted by budget issues and economic realities. If they truly did not care, then WDW would have long ago lost its place in our hearts, and its reputation for quality. But that's just my opinion.

[jeffbdw]

Seems like if they used the turnstiles to get people into the park, instead of getting them inside and then holding them like cattle at the rope, it would be more tame. We were ther first week in Feb and it was a dead week and it was still nuts at rope drop. When they pile everybody up at the rope and then drop it, they create the mob to have the mob mentallity. Turnstiles would maybe slow averything down a bit. But then you'd have a huge pile outside the park waiting to get in. Who knows?

[divinedi]

My daughter and I were there Jan. 27-Feb 3 and we also noticed the increase in rude behaviour. I know everyone is stressed out with the economy being what it is, and wanting the most for what few dollars we have left to spend on vacations, but everyone is in the same situation, we all paid the same for our Disney vacation, and it really only takes a little common courtesy. We did see a number of polite people, but it seems there is an increasing number of rude people, and yes everywhere, not just Disneyworld, but for some reason it bothers us more because this is supposed to be our 'happy' place. It's just sad, why make a bad situation (economy) worse by acting like jerks, it's just as easy to be nice as it is to be rude, and it goes such a long way to start a ripple effect of 'pay it forward' politness!

[JPL]

Perhaps Disney could do more to prevent this bad behavior, but should they have to.

Yes Disney should be responsible for doing something. Crowd control comes with the territory whether they like it or not. Unless of course the want the news story with the Headline " Boy Trambled to Death attempting to ride Toy Story Attraction at WDW" Because the longer the wait to control this the worse it will get and the fictional headline above will become a reality.