A few days ago Robert Niles, friend and the editor of ThemeParkInsider.com was enjoying a lovely day at the Epcot 35th anniversary when a driver of an ECV carelessly drove into him, knocking him to the ground. Fortunately, Robert seems to have recovered from this accident posting to his Facebook account:
“Cross another one off the bucket list. Got knocked to the ground by a guest driving an electric scooter at Epcot today. Guess it was my turn?”
I replied in jest that this was the last item Robert needed on a fictitious “BINGO” type game board of for him win. The other items were:
• Cut in line by Brazilian tour group
• Hot Dog stolen by aggressive Seagull
• Slow walking and texting theme park guest wrangle in front of you in otherwise open park promenade
• Knocked over by an ECV
• I also included the “Free Space” at the center of a classic BINGO board
Having started it, now I think it would be fun to see what other items we as a community could fill in the other twenty-five spaces needed to complete a BINGO card of disappointing experiences at a Theme Park. Of course, we could also include good experiences, but those are generally not as much fun to fixate over.
I’d like to add these one other one:
• Next to board a ride when it gets shut down due to lightning.
OK, so go ahead and add your own. Just please keep your arms and legs inside the game at all times and remain seated until the game comes to a complete stop.
- Ride op doesn't check restraint
- Stuck on a ride for more than an hour
- Emergency evacuated from a ride
- Stuck on a ride in a precarious position
- Stuck on a ride that requires the fire department to remove you
- Observed other guests near you making an unsafe condition
- Won a midway game but the op says you did it incorrectly and will not give you your prize
- Spent more than $50 on a game to never win the $8 prize
- Won a prize so large you had serious trouble getting it home
- Spent money on a locker that was required in order to get on a ride
- Got harangued at a new park because you don't know what you are doing yet still wearing a shirt that says, "Follow Me, I Know What I am Doing"
- Car broken into while at the park
- Stuck behind a guest that is demanding the park refund them everything and compensated for their time because they are not having the best time ever
- Park is so busy you get on less than one ride every two hours
- Security barely looks at the person in front of you who is smuggling in a 7 course meal with wine, yet forces you to throw away your protein bar.
-got money back at a theme park
OK, Jeff, I know that many of your suggestions actually did happen to you- I was there for some of them. How many have happened to you?
Where's the bad customer card?
Line Jumper
"Don't you know who I am?"
Hissy fit because minor menu variation is not available
Person who wants to take out their bad day on staff
Can't tell a staff member from a guest
Parent who can't accept its not safe for their little dear to go on ride
Parent who can't accept their little dear is too scared to go on the ride
Parent visibly frustrated their little dear is preventing them going on the good rides
Parent who abdicates responsibility for their children to go on the good ride
BoobFlash on the On Ride Photo
Can't keep hands/feet/other body parts inside the vehicle
Ignores operator/loader instruction
Fastpass/Coupon/Ticket invalid or expired
- Bird poops on you
- Speciality food item out of stock
- Barfing
- Got a Golden Fastpass (not all of these have to be negative!)
- Saw a celebrity
- Ran into a friend you didn't know would be at the park
I'm sitting on about 65% percent completion rate on the ones I called out. Although that is not to say that I haven't had a fantastic time at the same parks on the same days. I don't want everyone thinking I'm Debbie Downer. Some of mine have specifics a bit different than what I wrote, but in general they qualify...
-Old People Running Rides (slow ops)
-Massive Lines with 1 Train ops
-Getting Row 6
-Stroller Moms
-Brazilian Tour Groups
-Having to store loose items in a fluffy, fluffy, bunny filled with medicine and goo.
-Kid throwing a temper tantrum
- Missing reservation to Victoria and Albert's because you're stuck on Splash Mountain for over an hour...CHECK
Oh, Sarah...that's a bad one...so sorry.
-getting hit with a cell phone on a ride
-double stacking
-accidentally picking the entrance line where a whole family is upgrading their season passes
-someone else in your row flashes the camera, so you can't buy it
-food service people
Somebody doing flash photography on your ride vehicle
People sneezing and standing right in front of you for fireworks or a parade.
Hearing a cast member give totally wrong information/directions
Ooh, I got the "hit by cell phone" one! I've also caught someone's hat and water bottle.
...and the ride ALWAYS restarts 15 seconds after I bail.
Here's another one: Season Pass works at the turnstile but website and guest relations computer have no record of it.
This discussion has been archived and is no longer accepting responses.
- Stroller Stolen
- Threatened by another guest
- Ride reopens shortly after you bail out of the line
- Back of legs hit by a stroller
- Detained by security
- Lost cell phone on ride
- Lost prescription glasses on ride
- Queued for a ride that wasn't going to open
- Made a special trip to a park for a ride that was closed when you got there
- Visited on a "special" day that overflowed the park
- Got drenched on a ride on a day when it was too cold to be wet
- Caught an escaping item from another guest during a ride and was not thanked
- Cried at the happiest place on Earth
- Forced to make a trip to the first aid center
- Spent more than 30 minutes trying to file a compliment for a park worker
- Spent more than an hour trying to file a complaint
- When filing a complaint, had the oblivious head of a department request that you show them through their own park showing them what is wrong with it
- Charged for non-bottled tap/soda machine water
- Denied access to an operating ride
- Got a bad batch of / hated something that everyone has been raving about
- Showed up at a park when it was closed for the day
- Expensive souvenir lost or damaged on the way home
- Can't find anyone to help take your picture
- Phone/Camera battery runs out before you are done with it
- Banned from a park
- Knew more about a ride than the ride op