Readers' Opinions
This is a great article. I've been noticing these things getting worse and worse for the longest time. It amazes me the magnitude of people that have no earthy idea about anything it seems. The fast pass system has been in place for as long as I can remember. It amazes me how many people don't have any idea nor take the five minutes to politely ask. Or better yet take the 10 minutes to start researching their vacation.
It also baffles me that people have such a lack of compassion for one another. What makes your family's vacation so much more important than someone else's that it gives you the right to push, pull, or yell at them? Your article isn't about this but I just notice things like this happening in parks.
Yeah I don't understand how people can't figure out Fastpass. Disney has even put detailed instructions inside the park brochures and people still don't get it. I don't understand why people would stand in a 40 minute line and not at least be curious as to how they could take advantage of that "other line", where people are walking straight through. Don't they get curious about all the Fastpass kiosks and the crowds that can form around them? Yet it happens on every single popular attraction. Of course, other people's ignorance is to the advantage of those who know how to use the system :-)
Maybe if you weren’t so self absorbed you would have realized that was me who was fighting with the cast member at the Adventureland entrance and who leaped over that kid in Tomorrowland. I am awsome. And that was just my Tomorrowland girlfriend. My adventure land girlfriend is way hotter. I could come up with a way better system for Disney or just about any other lame park with lame people who keep me from showing up at like noon and keep me from getting on the best rides with no waits especially on holidays or weekends.. And don’t you say that I am living in ummm an area like like a place of imagination and not real, I can’t think of what you may call a place, or if there was a themed area like that, but what ever that place may be I am not living there.
As a castmember, I have to say sadly we are used to being yelled at for Fastpass. In reality it shortens the wait time for everyone, albeit a concept that can be hard to wrap one's head around, it is true. Merge is one of the most difficult positions to work. Fastpass return can be a challenge too, with people constantly trying to cheat their way in as well as yelling at us because we won't let them in 10 to 5 minutes early. But what surprises me is how people get angry at Fastpass distribution. Some people will go a whole week in the parks and find out the last night there that it was all free, and they let is know hoe they feel. They don't understand that it's only one pass at a time, and not considering the system as a free privilage, they say it's unfair to limit them. We also have trouble explaining to people why there are not an infinite amount of Fastpasses and why we run out, why they can't use them from two months ago and why each person has to have their own Fastpass.
What's worse is when other castmembers are the bad guest (and happend surprisingly a lot) and want us to let them cut in line, bribe and try to point out that they know we keep extra's in out pockets (which at Space Mountain WDW we almost never do btw).
No matter how fair a system Disney makes, it isn't fair, makes people wait three times as long, discriminates, is bad for senior citizens, unfair for handicap, should be gotten rid of and it should go to hell. At least that's some of the screaming I remember. (sarcasm)
I remember at the Magic Kingdom some years ago it was an angry young man who yelled at the attendant because he kept insisting it's not Fastpass if he can't get a pass then walk right up. I agree with previous posters these people are ignorant. Do they get a clue as to why other people are standing in line? Probably not.
To the first poster, sorry about what happened to your mom but sometimes it's best to take the high road. Maybe they didn't realize how 'big' they all were when taking up the seats (I'm being kind here when I say 'big'). Anyway, I hope that doesn't ruin your park experience since I love Disney.
People sometimes don't get a clue when they go on vacation. Just because you're on vacation doesn't mean you leave your manners at your house!
That's an interesting view from a cast member. I think FastPass is great. It works for me, but on my last trip to Disney World we brought my niece's grandmother and I can tell you that it doesn't work well with our elders.
My example is on Soarin'. There is a lot of walking to do in Disney World to begin with, and she was a trooper but just couldn't keep up with us whipper-snappers. It's a long walk into the pavilion just to get to the Soarin' FastPass ticket machine. So I took everybody's cards and went to get our FastPasses, but then we had 2 to 3 hours to kill. She just couldn't walk all the way across the park to do something else only to have to get back to Soarin' after a couple of hours. That was just too much for her in the Flordia July weather, so we basically just had to wait in the pavilion until our time came. That bored my niece to death.
To put a little salt in the wound (Soarin' was new and very popular at the time), out FastPasses ended up taking us over an hour in line anyway! Half the day was gone and we had rode one ride. And so that vacation went--
My complaint is about people waiting for parades. For some reason, whenever we find a good place to watch a parade, where there is only 1 row of people sitting on the curb and we decide to wait patiently behind them, as soon as the parade starts, they stand up. Nobody is in front of them, but they stand up in front of us. Then they often put their kids on their shoulders. And they are usually about 6'4". I've seen them do this in front of children and people in wheelchairs. Is it just me, or are there lots of Sasqhatches who love to stand during parades and have no idea how tall they are?
Well, manners have gone out the window and it's like the "me generation". So many people feel they are the only one. It's sad that they only think about themselves and their own family. What they don't realize is how other people think they are jerks and terrible people or they don't care. Would they act that way at home, probably not.
As a former cast member and lover of WDW I would like to take these rude people and put them in a costume for a day and see what it's like on the other side.
On the other hand I meet more nice people then butt-heads at Disney and that's why I love it.
We forget how tall we are. At 6'3", I personally don't feel "tall" at all, so unless I'm doing "Tall-People things", I simply forget. This could also be attributed to the fact that I was short until my senior year of High School...but that was 8 years ago at this point, so I don't accept that excuse of myself. I do try to keep back in crowds though so that I'm not blocking shorter people.
And as for FastPass...people are fools. Working a merge point during a busy day is easily one of the hardest front line positions to work at a Disney park. One thing I learned quickly was that it takes a special kind of Mental Toughness to work one of those. My experiences were in Space Mountain (WDW) back in 07 during my CP. Working Merge Point A and B was...well...hell to many Cast Members. I couldn't tell you the number of times I would see CMs coming back to the break room literally crying because of the things that guests would say to them. Things would range from "You're ruining my Christmas" to the most vile, disgusting things that made you wish you had the power to personally eject them from the park forever.
Having experience at both Disney and Six Flags, I have learned that ride reservation systems will tick off guests, no matter what. At Disney, people get upset because they didn't know about it, AND it's free. When they say it's not posted anywhere or there was no way to find out (and were PARTICULARLY nasty about it), they would absolutely thrilled (add appropriate amount of sarcasm) to find out that the park map they were carrying told them about the FP their entire vacation...and you can't even get to the map without seeing the FastPass and PhotoPass fold first. The general consensus from the upset guests is that if these guests are going to "cut" they should at least pay. At Six Flags, guests are upset that they are getting "cut" by FlashPass holders period. When you try to spin it and say that at least they had to pay... "It should be FREE! It's FREE at DISNEY!"
*LeSigh*
You just can't win. Don't try to explain how they're different. Don't bother with why the system you're currently using is at an advantage. You will always "lose" the conversation.
Thank you for the immature comment from the annonymous poster. Guess he's a bit too much of a chicken to share a name with us.
He was being sarcastic, Tim. He's just not very funny. Anyways, I feel for all of the cast members who have to go through Merge. Doesn't seem like much fun at all. Almost makes me wish that they had a required "How to Be a Decent Human Being" video that guests need to watch before entering a park, as I've seen too many people get angry and attack cast members before. They're affecting other guests' enjoyment too. Whenever someone talks or texts during movies, I always remind them that all the people around them paid $10 to watch this movie, and that if they want to ruin their experience, then they should reimburse all of them in full. That usually shuts them up, so I recommend using that whenever you run into a problematic guest at a park (granted, it may be a little harsh for a cast member to use). People just need to learn to be more sympathetic, because going to a theme park is all about having a good time, and no one has the right to consciously take that away from someone else.
While I agree with you Robert, the crowd control at DL is a bit out of control, especially during the parade. I am used to large crowds at WDW, but the fireworks crowd control was, in my opinion, was bad, especially the "run around the hub" thing. I will admit, however, I have no good ideas for alternative option. Come on Disney! Why did you have to make such a popular park :)
Why did you have to remind me of the horrors that is merge point and the nightly parade. About once a shift I get that "guy" that just doesn't get it waiting in standby at Jungle and he's staring me down, 3 rows of queue back, screaming his head off at me. Now, I dunno about you, but if I see that guy as furious as he is, but would you want to make the line move faster so he can get closer to you? This happened right when Pirates Evac'd and all the re-ads handed out went straight to our FP line, and our lead said hold the standby longer than you usually should so we can clear out FP line. Good! I was gonna do that anyways. Thankfully, by the time I cleared out the FP line, and ever so slowly moved the standby, I was relieved of merge point. Later on while I'm on a boat, guess who is loaded onto my boat?
I wish you had been able to tell that girl about her boyfriend's behavior and her ugly future with him. She really needed to hear it. She probably thinks his "antics" are cute now, but unless he grows up, she'll pay the price later for being with a solipsistic twit.
A number of years ago I was in line for the Indiana Jones Adventure and I became aware of a couple of Asian guys who were making their way forward in the line by pushing past people each time the line moved, a couple people at a time. I don't believe that there was a culture clash or anything of that type, just two guys who decided to try to get away with shortening their own wait at the expense of others. When they tried to push past me, I blocked them with my arm and told them "NO!," very loudly. They were startled, and looked at me with something just short of shock. I then asked the line behind me how many people had been passed by these guys. It was roughly thirty people, and I held those guys in place until all thirty were ahead of us. I then walked past the very appreciative crowd and regained my place in line.
If people are behaving badly, call them on it. Most of these egocentric buffoons know that they are doing their stunts at the expense of others, and they count on people just quietly letting it happen. Yes, karma will eventually bite these people in the ass, but there's nothing that says you can't be the instrument of their karma, right?
Shame them, point out their indiscretions. Ask them why they deserve to be ahead of you in line, or why they have to stand in front of you at the parade, when you were there hours earlier than they were. Shame is a powerful tool when used for good...
I've been a witness to countless theme park atrocities presented by park goers over the years; I would need a whole website devoted to this topic. Yet, there is one thing I witnessed in particular, though it may seem rather mundane, it sticks with me the most because it happened during the opening days of Islands Of Adventure, probably the first month after soft opening. I was waiting in the queue line for Spiderman and visitors had already start to graffiti the walls along the outside queue. I was standing behind a mother and daughter and they were reading and commenting on what others had written. Moments later, without any prompting from the daughter, good ol Mom pulls out a Sharpie marker and hands it to her daughter to further vandalize the walls.
Now the reason this bothered me so much was because, as an Annual pass holder, I had the privilege to attend the soft openings of IOA before the general public. I was in the park as workers meticulously painted minute details to every part of that park. I was able to witness the untarnished beauty of IOA. No graffiti on Spiderman, no rust on Hulk. So it is much more of an impact on me when I see IOA looking run down. This is also the reason I was completely dumbfounded when I saw this mom essentially teaching her child that is was alright to vandalize. I wonder how she would feel if I visited her house and wrote with a black marker on her walls. Just because its a public theme park and a person paid good money to get in, doesn't mean that one has the right to deface it. The utter disrespect of some park goers just infuriates me, I dont think I can even read any of the other stories as it just might ruin my day.
I have not had a lot of bad experiences with other guests at theme parks. Most of the time I am more frustrated by inattentive or lazy employees who don't move fast enough when it comes to loading and unloading ride vehicles.
However, the absolute worst park visitor experience I have ever had was at Epcot's Turtle Talk With Crush last May (2010).
Charming little Bennie dominated the experience as he obnoxiously and venomously spewed forth some of the most offensive comments ever spouted from the mouth of a human child. At the peak of his unconscionable “discussion” with the 150 year old star, Bennie finally shouted, "I'm gonna cut your throat with a knife!"
FWIW, Crush did a good job, pausing incredulously then saying something like, "Now isn't this an awkward moment?" However for the rest of the show little Satan-want-to-be Bennie kept shouting and talking despite the rest of the parents (and kids) telling him to "be quiet."
There's just no rational explanation for a kid saying what this kid said and we were suitably horrified – as were most of the attendees. Even more horrifying was the kid's parents did not step forward and pull their demon spawn away but instead waited in the shadows until the show ended, then snatched up their monster, and lurked away never to be seen again. You've gotta question how Bennie is being raised, and just hope this episode serves as a wake up call to the parents. Honestly, every kid says and does inappropriate things but it is what we do to correct them that sets the good parents apart from the bad.
I don't know what cast members are allowed to do, but I expected a lot more than what happened, which was nothing. At the very least, they should have recognized quickly that the conversation was going south and moved the microphone far from the rabid little beast. However, that probably would not have been enough to silence Bennie. More likely “little Damien” should have been escorted out of the theater, end of story.
But parents should not rely on cast members to baby-sit. Instead, they need to control their monsters. If your kid is yelling out, or making inappropriate comments, or talking incessantly, get him or her out of the theater. Fundamental rules of parenting and discipline still apply, even in theme parks. It is sad to see how the art of parenting has devolved.
Well, I hope the best for Bennie, and for his parents. If what happened was an isolated incident, then I am sure Bennie was chastised and the problem corrected. On the other hand, if Bennie continues on his current course he will either be behind bars asking for soap-on-a-rope for Christmas, or enter into politics (meaning he will still end up behind bars asking for soap-on-a-rope for Christmas!).
Bad behavior in theme parks is like impending train wrecks -- you don't want to watch, but there's just something so compelling about watching a poorly bred moron having a meltdown in front of a group of total strangers!
Not to plug a competitor, but another board I frequent which attracts Disney fanatics is replete with untold numbers of multipage threads recounting literally hundreds of hours' worth of reading about bad guest behavior.
Train wrecks, every one.
I agree with previous posters who suggested a mandatory "How To Behave Acceptably in a Theme Park" course be required to enter a park -- maybe the owner/operator could give a 10% discount if patrons will sit thru the video prior to buying tickets...?
But then again, many operators bring on bad behavior by not immediately and inflexibly enforcing their policies in the name of "good show" or "guest satisfaction." Ejecting line jumpers, graffiti vandals, and belligerent bullies from the parks would very quickly attract a lot of media attention, and the word would be on the street -- "Don't Mess with Mickey!"
My husband and I had the worst park experience of our lives at Six Flags in Maryland. First, driving into the parking lot, and while walking to the front gate, we noted several kids urinating in the grassy areas. I'm not sure why they could not have waited until they made it inside the park. Then, they opened the gates only to make you stop while inside the park to watch a lousy music number before they let you in any further. Most of the rides were shut down. I went to complain to staff about paying 55 dollars a piece to get in and having only a handfull of opperating rides. All they gave us were a few of their fastpasses. We were so upset by that point, we endded up just giving them to a family we just happened to pass by. Oh and also, one of the ride opperators slammed a ride restraint as hard and as tightly as they could on my husband and I. I promised myself that as much as I love parks I will NEVER step foot in another Six Flags park.
As an avid WDW visitor, Ive made a habit out of staying at the Grand Floridian. Now by no means am I wealthy or rich, I have grown used to the fact that the grand Floridian attracts richer clientell. In my years(approaching decades) of staying their and meeting some fellow guests, I've noticed most are nice people who are just here like anyone else, to enjoy their vacation ana dhave a good time. Then again, however, every year theres that pompous, selfish, annoying crowd, the ones that have to remind you their richer than you everytime they see you. In my years of staying at the GF ive grown accustomed to these people, but then again last year there was a family who wouldn't socialize or talk tpo any1(not even castmemebers) because they considered it beneath them. They once wore very expensive dress clothing to go to the Magic Kingdom for no reason and wouldnt sit next to other ppl on the monorail because they didn't like the crowd that they were in . while I would have liked to call them out on their pompous actions, they werent wrong as defined by theme park rules, just ANNOYING.
Then there was another incident that same year I witnessed at AK. A small child, holding a just purchased expensive suvenier, was bumped into by one of those people who spends their entire vacation videotaping everything and not paying attention to any1 else. While this was just an accident, the man acted as if nothing happened, while the child's mother saw the incident occur and very politely confronted the man and said "excuse me sir, you just bumped into my son" The man responded by saying "it's his fault he walked into me! Couldn't he see I was doing something important, he should watch were hes going." The child then turned to the mother and told her that the man had infact bumped into him. The man overheard this comment, turned to the woman and said "Wow, your teaching your kids respect real well aren't ya? Some parent!" While the mother, furious, but curtious to other theme park guests tried to ignore the situation and go on her way, I went to the woman's defense and said, in as respectable a manner as i could after seeing such idiocy,"Who the hell are you to tell her how to raise her children? i saw you, you bumped into him" Suddenly realizing he was wrong, the man responded 'whatever" and walked away from the mother in embarassment.
Sorry tim and marcus I did not mean to offend. It must just be my subversive iconoclastic nature. This bad behavior can be seen every place ( merging in rush hour traffic when individuals do not follow the one and one policy just drives me crazy). This has always been the case and will always be the case. Robert Niles is correct that the main cause is because people think they are getting screwed. I worked at Mediaeval Times so I have seen the public go bad. I was on the business end of the blowups on a couple occasions. Here is my two cents from working at an attraction why these behaviors are worst at theme parks.
I would say what makes it worst is that all people are creatures of habit and that children are especially creatures of habit and when they get on vacation they get out of their normal routine and they can tend to drive parents crazy. The driven crazy parent is (1) more tense and can much more easily go off on a poor theme park worker that (2) they will never see again (around other visitors they will never see again). However that does not excuse the behavior, just a reason why this happens at theme parks. These people are stressed out from being out of their normal comfort zone, and they have a sort of anonymity as if they were on the internet. People can be jerks there too, am I right Tim W?
The first time I visited Star Wars weekend at Hollywood Studios my friend and I got situated at the parade route for the motorcade 30 minutes early. We were right up front but had attempted to situate ourselves where there was limited space behind us so we would block anyone as my friend is 6'3. About 2 minutes before the parade got to the point at which we were standing an already sizable crowd had formed in the surrounding area. A lady with her two children showed up behind us grumbling about not being able to see. She then instructed her children to squeeze in between my friend and I and stand in front of us. When the kids attempted to push past us my friend turned and explained to the lady that we had been waiting here for 30 minutes and had no intent of giving up our spaces. She proceeded to scream at us about how they were just children and we were being incredibly rude. My issue here is three fold: 1st: Don't show up 2 minutes before a parade, especially a special event one, and expect for you or your family to get front row seating. 2nd: Don't instruct your children in the bad habit of simply taking what they want without asking. (Had the woman asked if her kids could sit in front of us we probably would have said yes.) And 3rd: Don't use your children as an excuse for your own rude behavior and inability to plan where you need to be and how much time you need to get there in advance.
That was three years ago and it still makes my blood boil.
I get that Disney is a family park, but I have no children and pay the same amount to get into the park therefore in this situation your kids don't really get preference over me.
@James Rao
From what I remember, Cast Members were never allowed to "parent" the child, which includes but not limited to telling the child to stop or what not to do. Instead, we are to ask the parents to handle the situation in a way to where we're not saying "Do a better job at watching your little hell raisers." If that doesn't work, we would then need to call security to come on down and basically repeat what we've just said to the parent.
Now, when I've had similar situations happen while on my boat, where I get some little hecklers, I usually change up my line of jokes so that way they don't get to the punchline ahead of time. If they're still being little demons, I usually comment that if you don't have a microphone right in front of their mouths, they shouldn't be speaking, or I'd say "Oh, you think you can do a better job? Why don't you come up here and finish my job so I can take a break." And usually that shuts them up.
I think the Fast Pass system is one of the best things Disney ever came up with. It's awesome. Those people who will not take the time to figure it out I also appreciate because that means one less person using the system and hopefully another fast pass for me after I use the one that I am allowed at a time!
People who have really inappropriate conversations loudly enough that people with in a mile's range have to hear it are a pet peeves for most parents I assume.... and for people who just don't want to feel like your trying to force your time at the park on them instead of them letting them have their own experience. Especially if you have kids there, it's very frustrating to overhear the loud inappropriate conversations. Some teenagers tend to do this do to a lack of maturity(which is why sometimes I think family's might get aggrivated at teenagers running rampant unsupervised at amusement parks, but sadly there are adults who do this too. I don't want to hear you on your cell phone telling your friend "that b*** don't know what the f**k she be talk'n bout" and such as that eithor (if that is the only way you know how to communicate, maybe you should stick to texts while in a crowd of strangers). If you have to make rated R comments, know your surroundings.... and atleast don't talk loud like you are on a reality TV show and you think everyone wants to overhear it.
As someone who works in the service industry, I was shocked at my first trip to Disney how nice most people were.
Maybe It's from I'm from New England and used to rude people, but there were fewer rude people at Disney than anywhere I've been.
There is a bullying epidemic at schools, taught the children by the parents. The louder you are, the more likely you'll get what you want.
Bottom line, fewer rude people at Disney than I'm used to.
Thanks, Albino, sounds like the cast members involved could have done a little bit more than the nothing that they did. But as I wrote previously, the onus is on the parent to...uh...well...be the parent! Makes sense!
We often get the same response at Universal Studios / Islands of Adventure when using our room keys as Express Pass. The dirty looks from poeple who have been waiting for two hours to ride Spider Man or the Hulk are priceless...
Most of the guest understand how Express Pass works but there are always a few who start complaining loudly. Sometimes people towards the back of the line see us go by 3-4 times while they are still waiting. This is usually the last day when we need to get our fix before heading home.
They don't realize we pay a premium to stay on site and all the benefits that come with it. They would rather complain loudly and make everyone uncomfortable.
The root of the problem has to be that some guests just do not prepare for these vacations to theme parks. Now, if you are willing to pay $60+ to be at a great park and not care how long the lines or how those with special priveledges get to the front of the line, then fine. I remember going to Universal two summers ago, during a crowded time. Because I read up on my material (including some helpful info from Theme Park Insider), I hardly waited for more than half an hour in ANY line in either park. It doesn't take long, but the longer you prepare, the less stress there is when you are actually trying to have fun.
P.S. Can we make a private theme park for us prepared and knowledgable guests? I have a feeling we would all get along swimmingly.
Or the people that have the butler or other person from a group SAVE a spot inline for them because they are to danty to wait in the 100 degree summer sun.
I forgot to mention, if anyone is looking for the music from Universal (CD they released in 1999), I bought a sealed copy off eBay and ripped it to my computer in .mp3 format, complete with cover art.
If anyone is interested, let me know and I will zip them up and host the file on my website.
On the bad manners issue : I think it's a sign of the times everywhere now. People aren't always courteous wherever you go but it's particularly sad when you experience bad behaviour at places like Disney. If you can be stroppy and rude here then there really is no hope for you is there ?. Disney try to cater for all tastes in entertainment , organise everything for your enjoyment ( including crowd control ) and yet there are always those that find fault or moan. I'd like these unfortunates to consider the task that faces Disney on a daily basis. The vast numbers of people in the Parks at peak times wanting to get on the most popular rides or eat at their favourite diner or get the best position for the parade.
I think they do a fantastic job. Dissenters at MK should be marched to the stocks next to the Liberty bell and have rotten tomatoes thrown at them ( by us ! ).
Holiday World - several years ago. Female patron in 'inappropriate' swim attire. Pat Koch and security offered to help her find something appropriate at the gift shop. She decline the opportunity. She was escorted from the park -- with her whole party -- and given a refund at the door.
Gotta love Holiday World. Everyone wins.
While I recognize that there are rude people everywhere, including at Disney parks, I have to agree with the person who said that rudeness is minimal at those parks. This is especially true in comparison with other theme parks, such as, for example, Six Flags parks, which always seem to be wall-to-wall dirtbags.
Not only have i seen fellow guests act rudely toward the cast members, hosts, etc. but towards other guests. The most glaring experience my family encountered was several years ago at Disneyland when we choose (poorly) to eat dinner at the River Belle Terrace. After getting our trays with real (and heavy) platters of food we were confronted by a lack of open tables at which to eat at. This was just before 7 pm and there were people, usually one person holding a whole table to reserve sitting for the Fantasmic show at 9 pm. NONE of them would let us sit down and consunme our meal, after speaking with the cleaning crew (who informed us they couldn't tell these people to leave or not hold tables until after the food locations were closed) we ended up sitting on the planters balancing our food in our laps. At the end of our evening I stopped at the Guest Services office to make a comment about the situation at the River Belle. While i was in there a woman next to me was loudly complaining about the cancelled Fireworks show, demanding her money back and passes for another day. The cast member helping her asked for her tickets which showed they had been at the park since the morning and it was after 11pm at this point, the cast member offered her passes that would be valid after 7pm so her family could enjoy an enevning at the park and possibly see the fireworks. She loudly demanded to know if he could guareente the show would go off at it's scheduled time and he explained that he could not since the weather conditions may not be favorable. She told him he was lying and that it was all a poorly planned way to get peoples' money to get them to come back to the park. She refused the passes and continued with her tirade. I walked out side and waited to see if this show was going to continue and it did with security escorting this "lady" out of the park and her rather vitrolic spoutings getting worse with each step toward the exit gates. I folowed and heard the security tell her she was not welcome at Disneyland until her language was not absuive. My husband was wondering what I was laughing at because he had been shopping with the rest of the family while I was making my comments. I explained to him what had happened and then when we got to the trams there she was abusing another cast member beacause she had to wait for the next tram. We rode on the same tram she did and she continued her tirade and exclaimed that "This is the worse place I've been too". Another passenger grumbled (loud enough for us and her to hear) that she must not be welcome at too many business if this is the worse place she has been too. It turned out to be am entertaining day and we laughed about her all the way home.
RE: Six Flags Maryland. That 6F is notoriously awful. I too am a "Merlinder" and will only go if it is for a closed event (companies rent out the whole place off season). It is a dumping ground for parents who don't want to pay for babysitters or daycare. So there are roving gangs of unsupervised children/teenagers - always. Don't get me started on the actual gangs of gang members either.
My mom was seating on a bench while waiting to enter to the Country Bear Jamboree theater. A woman seated next to her, and then her family came to the bench one by one until my mom didn't have any space to seat and had to stand up to avoid falling to the side.
I was so angry, but I didn't want to make a scene.