Stupid Guest Tricks

As I leave the park, I decide that after all my cranky complaining, I'm glad my week came to an end this way. "It's a Small World" makes for a nice, pleasant memory to finish on. I'm feeling positive about Disney again. And then there's an incident on the parking tram.

I'm seated on the tram, ready to ride back out to the parking lot where my rental car's waiting. The driver has already blown the horn and announced that no more boarding will be allowed. Suddenly, I notice a woman 20 yards away, running toward us.

The driver spots her too. The tram is in motion now, and he screams over the loudspeaker: "Ma'am! Stand back! There is no more boarding!" But the woman can see that there's no real danger here—the vehicle is moving at, like, 3 miles an hour—and fer crissakes she doesn't want to wait 15 minutes for another tram if she doesn't have to.

The driver keeps shouting. The other passengers are tut-tutting at this rule-breaker. The tram keeps rolling. The woman is getting nearer.

As I watch all this, I start to think about the totalitarian seamlessness of Disney. The berms that hide the loading docks and the Dumpsters. The fireworks that go off every night at precisely 9 p.m. The impeccably G-rated entertainment. The synchronized rides. The power-washed streets.

"Ma'am!" the driver yells again, with real exasperation. She's just a few strides away, with her eyes on that slow-moving prize. "Ma'am, there is no more boarding at this time!"

I can't help but break into a satisfied grin as the woman hops up on the running board and takes a seat.

I can't help but break into a satisfied grin as the woman hops up on the running board and takes a seat.

Big Wallaby wrote:This writer is no different than the professors who go to Disney parks for the express reasons of analyzing it (not a bad thing in and of itself) and wanting to see everything as bad.



And what if she had fallen, been run over, and injured or killed? Would he still have smiled?

Big Wallaby wrote:And what if she had fallen, been run over, and injured or killed? Would he still have smiled?

EeyoresButterfly wrote:After readin the excerpt I have no desire to read the entire article as it will just annoy me. I really don't like people have to be very negative all the time. I loved that in the excerpt the things he listed as being bad are things that not only are we normally praised for, but are necessary for safety. I'm sure that if that woman had fallen and gotten run over or broken something he would be criticizing Disney for not stopping the tram. (Why didn't they stop the tram when she crossed the yellow line?)