Stupid Guest Tricks

Shorty82 wrote:But that doesn't explain all the excellent signage around Disney property making it nearly impossible to get lost.

This is what I would have said a few days back, but just this week I ran across two frequent travelers on a Timeshare board complaining about getting totally lost at WDW. One said they wandered around so much they ended up seeing all the resorts, while the other said they kept going in circles. :belt: I thought WDW was very organized and easy to get around in, but apparently not every one feels that way.

Shorty82 wrote: one time I was using my GPS to get over to Universal Orlando and it sent me to a service entrance to the resort.

Yah, we deal with weird quirks with GPS and mapping systems all the time - I prefer maps and like to check them with satellite photos ahead of time, while hubby always wants to crank up the GPS, and not only do they often miss their aim -- they frequently disagree. :D: Few weeks back his GPS wouldn't admit the B&B we were heading for existed. So I dug out a map and gave him the nearest cross street. He of course wanted to log in an address so the GPS could complain while he ignored its directions. I sometimes suspect hubby likes the GPS because it's a voice of authority that he can gleefully ignore.

i think the problems come from trying to use car rental maps, which name the roads, and the signage at the same time. Most Disney signage refers to destinations, not roads. much confusion can ensue between the navigator with map, and the driver using signs.

Shorty82 wrote:Yep, see? :D:

Looking at that photo, I wonder how many Stupid Guests headed to the Studios ignore the big purple road sign, see the green park archway, and drive over the grass...

-Rob

SnDMommy wrote:The first few signs said that, but suddenly changed to saying West Side or Pleasure Island. I was distracted with the boys for a second and didn't notice, and he didn't know the difference so he missed the turn.

I'd forgotten that! We didn't miss the turn but hubby did grumble when I said it was our turn. And the Downtown Disney example might explain one of the TS couples who got lost, since that's where they were trying to get and I'd guess they didn't know to turn in for Pleasure Island or West Side.

Shorty82 wrote:Yep, see? :D:

So it's directing us to a park that doesn't exist anymore? :D:

(And yes, I still catch myself calling it "MGM" on occasion.)

I don't use a GPS. I know I was a homing pigeon in a prior incarnation; I never get lost. I will use Mapquest (or similar) but then I will only use it to confirm what I know and maybe print out the turn by turn directions, just so I don't have to right down notes to myself.

It helps to know New York for the following. When Judy and I lived in Northern Virginia, we would visit my family in NYC once in a while. We would stay at the LaGuardia Airport Marriott as it was less then two miles from the apartments where my mother and sister lived (and still do).

If we drove, we would pick up the New Jersey Turnpike and depending on traffic reports would use one of two methods. Take the Goethals bridge, cross Staten Island, take the Verrazano to the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway to the Grand Central Parkway to LaGuardia. The other would be to cross the George Washington, cut into the Bronx for the Major Deegan and across the Triboro to Grand Central Parkway to LaGuardia.

We had one of the mapping programs suggest we take the Lincoln Tunnel into midtown Manhattan, local streets to the East Side, and take the Queens Midtown Tunnel to the BQE, etc. And we would normally get to the NYC area in late afternoon.

Anyone from 40th Street and 11th Avenue to 34th street at 1st Avenue during afternoon rush hour?

Cheshire Figment wrote:I don't use a GPS. I know I was a homing pigeon in a prior incarnation; I never get lost. I will use Mapquest (or similar) but then I will only use it to confirm what I know and maybe print out the turn by turn directions, just so I don't have to right down notes to myself.

I'm mostly like this, except I love gadgetry too much to not have the GPS on. But I trust my own sense of direction more than the GPS, so I don't just blindly follow its advice.

Remind me to tell you folks of the time my brother couldn't tell he was going north-bound on a freeway when he meant to go south.

PatchOBlack wrote:Remind me to tell you folks of the time my brother couldn't tell he was going north-bound on a freeway when he meant to go south.

If it was on 580-East/West, which runs north/south for much of its length, I wouldn't blame him.

Amphigorey wrote:If it was on 580-East/West, which runs north/south for much of its length, I wouldn't blame him.

Actually, it was on 680. Allow me to set the scene:

It was back in the late 1990's, and we were heading north to go to a little place called Virtual World. My brother was driving up 680 with me as his passenger. Now, it has been a bit of a running gag regarding my dad and my brother sometimes having problems with getting lost. I, for the most part, take after my mom in this respect. In any case, he missed the turn-off, which wouldn't have been so bad by itself. After all, it just meant we needed to get off at the next exit, and get back on going south.

However, for some reason, my brother got off...and then got back on still going north!

You can imagine my confusion at this. I asked my brother why he got back on the northbound side of 680. He replied "No, we are going south." No matter how much I insisted we had not changed directions could persuade him. It took me pointing out a sign clearly saying "680 North" before he would admit his mistake.

These days, he uses his GPS feature on his phone quite a bit.... :cat1: