Stupid Guest Tricks

Early tomorrow morning my family and I are leaving to head to WDW. We'll be staying 6 days/8 nights at Port Orleans: Riverside. Going with my uncle, aunt (siblings), and my 8 year old cousin. It'll be my cousin's first time and the first time in years for my uncle. We'll be meeting my brother and his wife, both of whom are CMs, down there.

I'll do my best to avoid being a SG and I'll keep an eye out for any SGs worth posting about here.

Big Wallaby and Cranbiz, I have your nametag names from a thread you guys posted in a while back and will be on the look out for y'all when I ride a bus. We'll be using the busses to get around mostly so I hope I'll see you both at least once. I'll try to say "hi" and mention who I am if I get a chance.

I'll be online for a little while longer here and maybe a little at my family's this evening. I'll most likely be online again after that late Tuesday when I get back to my apartment. You guys keep it real!

Have a great time at WDW Shorty!! If you see Indy plz tell him "HELLO" from me, as we met at DLR when he was a guest. If you are fortunate enough to ride with Carn & Big, plz give each a warm handshake from me. Not sure what SGT site would do without these two. ;) They do add needed humor!! Enjoy! Have Fun! Post those trip stories :)

Shorty82 wrote:We'll be staying 6 days/8 nights at Port Orleans: Riverside.

I hope you like banjo music! Fortunately, if you have me for your driver, I turn off the Port Orleans music. The bad news is that that means I am telling jokes...the whole time.

MS:

I will! I have no idea how to identify Indy in real life so it'll be kinda hard to tell him hello.

I'll shake Big's and Cran's hands for you if I see them.

They are wonderful. They add a lot to SGT, and so do manyof the other posters.


Big:

Is the music for Port Orleans that bad?

You tell jokes the whole time? Should I be scared?

Looking forward to meeting y'all! We'll be leaving later than planned tomorrow though. My cousin has braces and one of the holder thingys on her teeth broke so at 8:00 tomorrow morning she and her dad are going to the dentist to get it fixed then we'll be able to leave. It's about an 8 hour trip from here and we lose an hour due to the time change (we're in Central Time Zone).

How's it going, guys? I'm hanging out at my brother's place tonight so have Internet access.

We got to the World on Monday evening and after my brother and his wife arrived we hung out a while and decided to head to Downtown by the ferry. I had a migraine so stayed behind but started feeling better later so I met up with my family and we ate dinner at Planet Hollywood. That place was super loud and crowded and even with my bro's cast discount cost to much.

The next morning we went to the Kingdom and wound up crossing the park a number of times because my cousin wanted to keep riding Space and Splash and my aunt and uncle wouldn't listen to my brother, his wife, or I on how to best do the Kingdom even though we know the park the best. Wound up missing half the things I wanted to do (most of which my cousin would have enjoyed) and never even went into Adventure Land. She did meet Push and loved him.

Wednesday we went to Epcot and had a good time. Cousin rode Mission: Space a number of times (Team Orange) and we did Soarin' a few times. We eventually started working our way around the World Showcase. In Canada my bro excuses himself to take care of a few things. I knew he was going to find out about the Brother Bear characters as my cousin loves them and to arrange something (he's a character attendant). While he is doing that we watch O Canada and afterwards my bro gets us down on the path to the waterfall and is where the Bears come out. We hang out there a few minutes then he gets us to start heading back up to the main path. Koda comes up the path but as he was behind her my cousin didn't see him. My brother asks her to move out of the way as somebody is trying to get by and she sees Koda and is very excited. We go out behind him and my cousin gets to actually meet him, get his autograph and was even kissed by him.

We make it around to Morocco and sit down on a bench to take a break while my brother again goes backstage. A few minutes later when he comes back my cousin is in line at a nearby stand to buy a soda. He gets me to hand him my camera and take her place in line. A minute later Genie, Aladdin, and Princess Jasmine come out of a nearby gate. Genie runs on ahead because of the crowd waiting for them while Aladdin and Jasmine hang back long enough so my cousin can get her picture with them.

While going through American Adventure my brother sees Big Al and Chip & Dale down a road going to a backstage gate. We head down there so my cousin can meet Chip & Dale. Instead of a character attendant it was a training manager out there with them. My brother hangs back to talk to him a second and it turns out the characters were new. Very few people looked down this path so the characters weren't swamped with people. It was a good place to give new characters interaction with guests but not to much. In China my cousin got to meet Mulan and Mushu and enjoyed that.

We went to Inoventions a while and rode M:S once or twice more before leaving.

The next day we went to Islands of Adventure. My cousin had a pretty good time but overall I didn't enjoy the day. That's partially because I'm spoiled by Disney. I saw employees using cell phones and doing many other things they shouldn't do while working. The park wasn't as clean as it could have been and some of the ride operators were idiots.

The last time my cousin rode Dueling Dragons (she rode it 3 times that day) it took forever for her to actually get on even after getting into the chute at the end. There was nobody to direct people to a particular chute and even though there was a long line trains were leaving only half full at times. They should have been calling for single riders to fill the trains IMO. I even saw an employee in the ride's uniform sit in the last available seat on the last row (where my cousin was waiting and could have filled it herself) and ride the coaster, without even waiting in line! There was many, many people waiting to ride. I have never before left a ride area wanting to complain to guest services. Night had fallen by this time and the park was almost dangerously dark. There version of the Fast Pass, which they call an Express Pass costs a good bit of money and the basic package can only be used once per ride with Express Pass and only that day. My sister-in-law didn't feel well that day so she and my brother stayed home.

Friday we went to DAK and decided to drive. Had a wonderful time overall. First we went on the Safari and saw numerous animals. As we were headed in the direction of Kali River Rapids and Expedition: Everest we saw Ivy (the walking ivy plant). We Fast Passed Kali and rode E:E and loved it. We left for a little while in the afternoon and after running a few errands for my brother (mostly making a deposit at Vista FCU) we decided to head back to the park but when we got there it was raining very hard so we wound up going back the the resort a while. Went on the safari after we returned to the park and didn't see to many animals that time. We did see a few CMs doing some work out there as it was about 6:30 and we were one of the last trucks to go that day. Rode many of the rides and enjoyed them all.

That evening my brother, sister-in-law, and I went to the Kingdom to watch Wishes. We got there just after Spectro started so had to fight our way through the crowd and loop through Tomorrowland and Fantasy Land to make it around to the Columbia Harbour House where we wanted to eat supper. We go out to Main Street after eating but couldn't get a good spot, most of the fireworks were behind a tree.

Saturday morning my brother and I went on the Magic Behind Our Steam Trains Tour. We learned alot about the trains Disney World, and Walt. I got pictures of Main Street empty except for a janitor doing some sweeping. It was peaceful that early in the morning. We learned a lot about how the trains work, their personalities, and the like. Got to watch as the engineers went through the morning safety tests of the pressure release valves, the low water cutoff, and the e-brakes that stop the train if it runs a red signal. Zazu ought to know all about what I'm talking about from his time on the trains.

That afternoon we went to the Studios. I didn't ride Tower of Terror even though I wanted to because I wasn't feeling well but my cousin did and loved it. I did ride Coaster though twice. We saw the stunt show and enjoyed it. That evening we went to Fantasmic! but was late getting in due to my family. My bro, Sis-in-law and I knew we should get there early but nobody else would listen. When we got there they were already announcing the show was standing room only and my uncle, aunt, and cousin still stopped for ice cream outside the ampitheatre. I'm surprised they made it in personally. My bro, SIL and a I went on in and got herded down to the far left side to the standing area. A few minutes before the show started we were all tired of standing and the handicapped seats were mostly empty at this end of the theatre so my SIL talks to one of the Parade, Audience, Controllers and we got to sit down. She is working on getting a disability she has diagnosed and that's what she told the CM. Everybody else got to stand somewhere in the back.

Sunday we went to Universal for a while and, again, didn't have a wonderful day. Mostly for the same reasons as IOA. We all called the day early, though my brother, SIL, and I stayed around a while longer and ate a long lunch in the park before heading to their apartment to crash for a while. I would have been happy without going to Universal at all and stick to Disney and SeaWorld but my aunt and uncle thought it would be good idea.

In the evening my brother and I went to the Polynesian to watch Wishes from the beach and afterwards went over to the Grand Floridian as I wanted to visit it as I love its design and architecture. While wandering around I caught the last minute or so of the Electrical Water Pageant.

Haven't really seen any SGs but did hear one. I heard somebody complain that with FastPass you should have to wait in line at all. Nope, sorry lady, doesn't work that way. You will still have to wait in the last part of line where you board the ride vehicle.

Sorry I didn't get to meet you Cran and Big. I wound up staying with my brother a good bit and we drove to the parks as it was quicker.

Well, it is almost 3 am now so I better head to bed. Tomorrow/today we all are going to SeaWorld for the day. We leave for home Tuesday and I'll see you guys then.

Shorty82 wrote: The last time my cousin rode Dueling Dragons ... I even saw an employee in the ride's uniform sit in the last available seat on the last row (where my cousin was waiting and could have filled it herself) and ride the coaster, without even waiting in line! There was many, many people waiting to ride.

Now I have often rode in costume during my shift. It's actually encouraged to do so from time to time so that we can make that all of the effects are working correctly. Although I don't really know why a coaster (well maybe some Disney ones, but Dueling Dragons has no effects from what I can recall) would need this. The other thing is that at the end of training, basically if we finish early on the last day, we are allowed with lead permission to take the trainees on a ride or two.

Now with that being said I don't know that I would do it at the end of the day with a long line. If I had a trainee that really wanted to ride something that had a line at the end of the day (like Peter Pan for example) I would head there and wait for the line to finish then hop on after the last guest (or in the case of a coaster, chances are that the last train would not be filled and he could hop on that) Although that has been known to upset the CMs working the attraction.

Anyway I guess my point is that riding attractions in costume is done even at Disney but the employee (team member??) at Universal used very poor judgment on the timing of his ride.

At Splash I saw about 3-4 CM's get in a log and go for a ride. It didn't bother me, and the people around me didn't seem to mind either, at least I didn't hear any grumbling from the line.

It sounds like the Team Members took seats that would have gone empty, so I don't see the big deal. If the SGs can't figure out how to fill in the chutes, there's not much they can do unless they use cattle prods and I think that's frowned on (even at IOA).

My problem with the employee riding is that the line was quite long and moving slowly.

The area where the queue opens up and divides into the different rows was a mob scene. The good thing about having somebody directing people to rows is that the rows get filled. For instance, say a row holds 5 people. With somebody directing a group of three and a group of two will be put on a row, filling it. Otherwise rows aren't fully filled and trains leave the station half empty, severely slowing the boarding process and increasing wait times for everybody.

Had a good trip overall and didn't see any really stupid guests. Trip would have been better if my uncle wasn't so damn stuborn and apparently immune to the Disney Magic. Yesterday I made ADRs at Boatwrights to eat. My uncle had a few beers before leaving for dinner and he took one with him so he was drunk. He then proceeds to get into an argument with my brother about some of the things that happened on both sides that upset them. My aunt wound up stomping off to the room and after a few more words my brother stomped off to his car. His wife goes after him a minute later and all my uncle, cousin and I could do was look at each other. I turn in the pager and tell the hostess that something came up and we had to cancel and then went after my brother and his wife. In the parking lot I was so upset about being caught in the middle I just wanted to kick something. I talked to them and persuade them to go to DTD. My brother drove while my SIL and I took the ferry, I hadn't rode it yet and wanted to and felt a slow, relaxing boat ride would help. We had a funny captain and I liked seeing DTD from the water.

We arrive at DTD and decide to eat at Earl of Sandwich. After my brother met us he waited outside as it was hotter inside while my SIL and I ordered. While in line I step around a man who got between us and he started mumbling under his breath that we cut in front of him. We let him ahead of us as it didn't matter to us and he still complained and my SIL let him have it as she was very frustrated at the family feud a little earlier. That was the only SG I encontered.

After dinner we wander around the shops, trying to have a relaxing evening. About 11 my brother drops me off at the resort and I tell them goodbye as I knew we were leaving early this morning for home.

Sorry Cran and Big that I didn't get to meet you. We wound up driving ourselves most of the time.

Because of my uncle and aunt I wound up missing a number of things I wanted to do and some of their actions upset my brother, SIL, and me a lot. My uncle hasn't been to WDW in many, many years but he acted like he and my cousin, who's only 8 and never been, knew better how to do the parks than my brother and SIL who work there! I almost need a WDW trip to recover from our trip to WDW and do the things I want to do. My brother, SIL, and I wanted all of us, especially my cousin, to have the best time possible and if my family would have only listened and not do things without consideration of everybody else we would have.

This trip has firmed up my resolve to move down there and get a job when I get out of school. I love Disney Magic and would love to be a part of making that magic.

Apologies for the rant. My family can be quite jerkish at times, especially my uncle. I can only handle him in small doses and this week was a very large dose of him. He works offshore so I only see him occasionally and that suits me as sometimes an afternoon at my grandma's with him around annoys me.

That Universal CM really shouldn't have done that. My guess is that the lead let the kid hop on because they were buddies or something. The cell phones are the worst destruction of show qu7ality i have ever seen. I always tell my CMs to keep their cell phones away. They never seem to listen. They work 8 hours a day. Only 0ne-third of the day. Life goes on people. I do hope they get in trouble for such a thing.