That's why we conclude our Orlando guidebooks with a section entitled "Focus on Kindness to Get the Most Enjoyment from Your Vacation." Here's an excerpt:
When you step inside a theme park, you’ve surrounded yourself with many of the nicest people you’ll ever encounter in your life — including many members of this Theme Park Insider community. Most of them are having a great time in a fun place that they love. Open up, be nice to people, and you can enjoy one of the best days of your life.So let the other family go into the queue first. Make room for others when you walk down the street. Thank the park employees every single time they direct you on or off a ride, take your order, bring you food, refill your glass, or give you directions. Pick up your trash. Offer to take someone else’s picture. If a ride is down, don’t storm off. Say hello to the park employee at the closed ride’s entrance, and with a smile on your face, ask for his or her advice on what to do instead.
Treat a theme park like an enemy land to be conquered, and the park will fight you back. Focus on obstacles and frustrations, and pretty soon, that’s all you will see. And while you are having your inevitable mid-day meltdown, wasting time on a public shouting match, the rest of us will be going about our day, chatting with new friends, and enjoying every moment in the park.
Of course, bad stuff happens — no matter what attitude you bring to the park. A good attitude can help you get over the bad stuff and move on, but it won't prevent you from ever encountering anything potentially frustrating during your stay.
So what is it that most challenges your positive attitude when you visit a theme park? What is one thing that is most likely to tempt you to snap and get angry?
Is it having to wait a long time in line? Or is it the other people you encounter in the park, whether they be other guests or bad park employees? Do attraction breakdowns and closures — from rides to meet and greets — make you feel like your day has been ruined? Or does bad food most likely make you feel that way? What about seeing dirty, messy or poorly maintained facilities? Is that your pet peeve in a park?
Obviously, all of these things have the potential to set people off at one moment or another. For our vote of the week, please pick the one choice that is most likely to make, or most often makes, you really have to work to stay positive when you're visiting a theme park.
In the comments, vent. Tell us about your most frustrating moments in the parks, and how you managed — or failed — to overcome them.
And if you are interested, the newly updated 2015 version of our Orlando guidebook is now on sale in Kindle (US), Kindle (UK), iBooks, Nook, and paperback formats. It's a great Christmas gift for your favorite theme park fan!
Tweet
While riding on Test Track in Epcot, a wonderfully nice woman was narrating the ride… “Now we are going into the Hot zone, we don’t like this one, Now we are going into the Cold, we like this, Now we are breaking, now we are turning…”
So when the Photo came up, you can see me sitting next to said wonderfully nice woman, flipping her off…
Another thing that always makes me mad is when I see a guest giving a cast member a hard time. Cast members work extremely hard to deliver a level of hospitality that is above and beyond what any reasonable person could expect, so when I see someone yelling an them, it just makes my blood boil.
When we witness a cast member being treated badly, my wife and I try to approach the cast member afterwards if possible and thank them for everything they do. We also carry a little notebook with us to note the names of extremely helpful or patient cast members so that we can let management know what a great job they are doing. Seeing their reactions very quickly make my anger over the rude guests a thing of the past.
This guy was complaining about the traffic flow around main street and the hub. Mind you this was in May of this year so hub re-construction is in full effect and there are many walls and tight spaces to fit a LOT of people through.
So this guy in the process of berating the employee begins questioning "Why don't you guys just push back the buildings a few feet". Calling this poor CSR an idiot and demanding the phone number of the president of Disney World.
The poor CSR was AMAZING beyond belief dealing with this guy. I have no idea who she kept her cool, me and my wife ended up walking away as quickly as we could before we interjected and just escalated the situation. But just the sheer idiocy of some guy who thinks what? The buildings are on wheels? SMH!
Honestly, other folks don't bother me much unless they are doing one of three things: cutting in line, making out in line, or wearing clothing that simply does not do its job (spandex is a privilege, not a right). But most of the time, I get along with other people just fine.
Bad, expensive food is aggravating for sure (looking at you Cedar Point - as a flagship park you should be ashamed of yourself), but this problem is generally easy to solve. Just bolt out of the park for a mid afternoon break and get a decent meal at some nearby restaurant. It would be better if all park operators focused on food the way Disneyland Resort does, but this problem is one I can handle myself.
An unkempt park is a huge issue with me. Weeds, oil smears, chewed gum and other litter showcased in some queue line like a badge of honor, overflowing trash cans, dirty tables, horrendous bathrooms, broken rides... these issues are all symptoms of an unkempt park (looking at you, Six Flags Saint Louis). If operators can't (or oftentimes won't) keep things clean, painted, maintained, and up to date, then it will indeed ruin my day.
Long lines are another issue...not long lines because a lot of people are coming to the park, but long lines because of poor ride operations. Nothing aggravates me more than one train operation on an busy morning because park planners are trying to save a buck by under-staffing rides (looking at you Holiday World and Worlds of Fun). Just run two trains - who cares if they are full? Also, slow moving operators on understaffed flat rides raise my blood pressure faster than crying babies at a funeral. Cycle rides are notorious for having one person do all the ops, and that one person is some loafer who usually hates his or her job and moves as slow as molasses loading and unloading riders. Drives me nuts! Makes me want to jump out and help, just to speed things along. And this problem isn't just a small park issue, it happens at a lot of the parks - in fact, it was very prevalent when I visited Cedar Point this past summer. Poor ride operations resulting in long or slow moving lines is probably my number one pet peeve at a theme park. IMHO, there is nothing worse than going to the park on a slow day and still having to wait forever because park operations are pathetic.
As to other people, they're getting better - even at Six Flags parks! When I go to the park alone, which is most of the time, more and more people in loading stations are noticing that I'm a single rider and encouraging me to go ahead of them. I met one of my Facebook friends on El Toro and on a recent trip to Six Flags America my riding companions on Batwing - guys I've never seen before and will probably never see again - insisted that I take the outside seat so that someone could take a clear photo of me despite the fact that the four of us had originally agreed on a different arrangement. I've had people offer to let me use their phones (my phone battery goes dead every time I visit a theme park) and I've had people strike up interesting conversations that make the time go a lot faster while I'm waiting in line.
Lack of line jumping enforcement.
But it was dirty, and I'd never really thought about the park's cleanliness before, because I'm so accustomed to Disney and Universal, but it struck a chord with me, for sure.
Just as a person should take pride in how they look, a park should take pride the same way.
1. the use of strollers as weapons. I can't tell you how many times people have pushed into me or run over my feet.
2. people who push in front of you in the parade line. I am short and it never fails the person who is tall, worms their way next to me and then pushes their body in front of me to snap pictures just as I'm taking pictures. Even if I tell them to stand behind me. They act like they don't understand English and continue to do what they are doing.
3. with that I also don't like when people walk in front of you and promptly put their kids on their shoulders. I wish the parks could find a way to resolve this. I have to say, we were so glad when we paid extra for the Villain's Soiree. The room to watch the parade and fireworks was fantastic!
4. people who don't give their kids a break from the park. We were at Disney World in October and people were lining up to watch the electric parade. I heard two sets of kids crying that they wanted to go home to sleep. It was almost an hour wait and the parents just kept telling them they wanted to see the parade and watch the fireworks first. I felt quite horrible for the kids.
5. like the guy above I hate waiting in line to have a large group meet up with their one friend. I actually said something to a group who did that to us at Universal. Needless to say it didn't go well for me with the verbal abuse back.
I'm not sure what happens to some people, because it seems that in their enthusiasm they leave their manners at the gate.
1. People who talk during the ride or preshow. I'm fine with the usual screams during a certain thrill part and even love hearing other people comment at a certain part of a ride. What I don't like is when others have endless conversations while I'm trying to hear something. Most of the time, it's the Brazilian tour groups.
2. People who move slowly in the middle of a walkway. It's worse if a group spreads themselves out in a horizontal single file, preventing you from passing. Double anger for those who abruptly stop while I'm behind them.
3. People who take no responsibility for their actions or the actions of their children. Accidents happen, but if your child keeps bumping into me while they're messing around, at least take some accountability, apologize, and tell the child that they're being a bother.
Maybe admission should be more expensive on busy days and less people admitted (Saturdays, Holidays, etc.) so as to even the crowds out. Just an idea for a solution.
OTHER PEOPLE!
Obviously, this does not apply to everyone, but I get quite annoyed when there are guests that are either violating park rules and policies or just not using common sense. You are not the only person in the park, so don't act like you are and be aware of who and what is around you. Also, don't protest when your kid can't ride because they are clearly too short and turn the flash off while on rides (or better yet, put the camera away and just enjoy). Other people can apply to employees also, and it particularly bugs me when someone who is being paid to work isn't putting in 100% and/or just doesn't care about their job and it shows.
And the long waits there typically involve excellent themed queues and the people surrounding you in line are some of the most polite you'll even encounter so it all adds up to a day that is impossible to get mad.
I do wish we could have ranked the choices from worst to least annoying.
It's not your theme park and other people have the same rights to be there. I wonder if there could be a poll to non-enthusiasts, how highly some of us would appear?
Theme parks are for all people of all walks of life; what annoys me is park who takes money at the gate but cannot up-keep the park properly. I'd rather put up with irritating individuals in a line to ride a coaster, than that coaster be shut due to poor management from the park.
I'd like to see a new park, designed from the ground up for more throughput on rides.
This article has been archived and is no longer accepting comments.
