Dear Parents ...

[puntagordabob]

Mickey is happily singing autographs and taking photos at Animal Kingdom when a Make a Wish family waits patiently at the exit to be back door-ed into the big cheese's kiosk. As he steps up to greet the guests of honor, this monstrosity came out of a mother's mouth:
Mom to MAW family: "I DON'T CARE IF YOUR KID DIES TOMORROW! IT'S PURE B.S. THAT YOU GET TO GO IN FRONT OF EVERYONE!"
Needless to say, Mickey got pissed and had the bitch and her family expelled form the park.
Word to the wise: DON'T tick off the Boss.

I love the ending of that story! Posted to facebook.

[puntagordabob]

I saw a family of six getting in line at a ticket window at TL and they had on MAW buttons. I know that GKTW does not give them water park tickets. I just went up to the window, told the person inside to cancel the transaction in progress and had the family follow me through the gate.

Stories like that make me tear up.... Thanks for sharing that!

WDW is taking a very strong stand lately on enforcing guest conduct standards. Then again, it does not help that the number of incidents are rising dramatically.

MAPO

Good to hear! I was at EPCOT Center in the fall and a couple was berating a CM at the Soarin Fastpass line for not allowing them to go in early (it wasnt 10 minutes early either it was like 2+ hours lol!). The husband turned to me to ask what I thought of the situation and of the CM ....I was surprised at the question so I answered quite honestly that I saluted the CM for doing his job and not giving in to this couple. The husband looked at me and apparently realized they were not going to get any "support" from me and walked away.

Well, to each his own. I will never understand the "adult" fascination with people dressed up in costume. I guess I am able to carry the willing suspension of disbelief only so far and then I have to return to reality.

I am glad that people can get drawn up into the moment like that. I wouldn't want to be that far out of reality.

"When the day arrives that you are too old to have fun, unable to allow the Disney Magic & Fantasy to truly enter your heart, an find that you are just an adult and NOT a child at heart...When THAT day arrives you should know that though your heart still may beat, that your Life is truly over."

WDW needs to start catering a bit better to those of us without children and/or single travelers. We no longer have a night life (do not get me started on PI closing or Boardwalk offerrings) at WDW. We emphasize children more and more in our offerings. We need to return to the philosphy of multiple types of offerings for our diverse guest population.

Now if we can just get someone to think beyond plushes, princess and pirate merchandise we just might find something that adults would like to purchase that is unique and only available at that WDW park!

MAPO

I agree! Of course the Locals in California are already treated worlds better than us locals in Florida....

[EeyoresButterfly]

These are not only my stories, but those of others as well. When "pals" vent, you'd be shocked and sickened by some of the war stories exchanged.

Not so long ago, we had a mom roll her eyes and shout, "Oh give me a break, really?! They get some kind of special pass?!" When Daisy duck stepped from her location briefly to greet a MAW family.

When I was friends with the characters, I loved working with the MAW families. Thank God I never had a family with that attitude, or if I did the attendant did a great job keeping them quiet.

IMO character attending should be considered a safety position as a big part of their job is to keep the characters safe. They shouldn't wear pin lanyards as that distracts them from their character and the guests in line. All character attendants should carry a radio with a direct link with security. Somebody causes a situation with a character the attendant can notify security to send someone ASAP.

I wish they had radios! I have been punched multiple times and the attendant never had a radio. The first time, we were out in Tomorrowland with Stitch. We were doing a kind of unscheduled thing since nobody knew that Stitch was in the Timekeeper. There was no line, just pulling in guests for autographs and pictures. It was great. We finished up with a family and family Stitch turned to the next family when the teenaged boy from the first family punched him in the back of his head. Stitch had to leave set because of the pain (it was at the base of the skull). The attendant did chase them down and informed the mom of what happened. Another time, a kid punched Chicken Little in the stomach because "he doesn't like to eat chicken." Are you kidding me?

As for the adults... I absolutely loved the adults who were into the magic. Sometimes we had more fun with them than we did some of the kids. I will never begrudge adults the chance to experience the characters.