Cell phones on rides (rant)

[spock8113]

I've been video recording Disney rides since 1981 and filming(google it) on rides long before that. That meant using a huge camera and separate VHS video recorder and NO movie(google it too) or video lights!
I was always courteous, sat at the back and never stuck my massive camera up in front of anyone's face or pushed and shoved to get the best angle. At that time, size mattered....it was the 80's.
I coped without being intrusive or annoying all while getting video that is fine. Some days I just left it in the room!
Seems, the smaller the recording device, the more intrusive people are and yet, almost everyone has HD video phones, so there are just more, everywhere!
NEWS FLASH: You're not the only one with a video of a ride! Just ride and experience firsthand.

Signed, Head always up, not manic, listening to people flip-fone user.

 

[made in china]

Ok, to camera head guy, but much more so to the people the OP are talking about... why? Why the need to record your entire trip shot by shot? Do you really need to capture everything? Are you really going to watch that later?

Even the overbearing moms that have to document precious little Jaden-Liam’s entire trip, from the bus ride over, to his half eaten chicken nuggets, and of course capturing the magic during the ride by spending half the ride snapping photos to where the kid probably just wants to enjoy the damn ride too.

The Facebook live recorders (who I’ve experienced on Pirates)- who on earth is this for? Is Nana-Banana Gam Gam Pee Paw really sitting at home dying to watch you live stream Little Mermaid?

And.. sorry but yeah the GoPro mounted on your head/shoulder guy- hey if you are on the Hilary step at Everest, running w the bulls in Pamplona, or bobsledding in Canada, hey, I get it. But otherwise who on earth is this for?

You know how some people are good at remembering names? Or Number? Or images? Everyone's memory functions differently.
You might be able to recall, in vivid detail, a Disneyland trip you took 15 years ago. I darn near forget what I did 15 minutes ago!
And, I have my family with me, they like it when I video them and they can go back and see their reactions.

I think, though, that the cell phone people are just habitual social media users. I used to be on FB (closed FB account 2 years ago) until EVERY SINGLE ONE of my friends turned into something other than the people I knew. I knew them decades before social media. In real life they are great people, but on social media they are intolerable. They post like 15 or more pics and vids a day, A DAY...no matter what's going on. And then their political views....holy cow I never knew they had so much angst, the filters really come off on social media. People are really miserable.

Anyway, you shouldn't be so cynical of, presumably me with my incognito gear....just because I see the world differently than you. You probably would also take issue with the bumper stickers on my truck!

 

[michmickey]

I think the biggest problem is on dark rides/and shows when people take flash photos and video. It ruins the immersion and the experience for other riders.

 

[NickMaio]

I’m sure there have been other threads about this, but I’ve never seen so big a problem with people waving phones about as on my current vacation here.

It seems that on any slow ride, or show, if we’re not sitting in literally the front row some idiot in front of us decides they have to film the ride on their phone. It’s hugely distracting and ruins the ride for me. It’s unbelievable how obnoxious people are.

Was at Fantasmic tonight, and we made a point of sitting at the front to avoid phones. I turned around once when one of the boats was going past and it seemed like a sea of phones being waved around behind us!

We were in Universal and they have a “no cellphone” rule on most of their rides / shows. It came as a real shock coming to WDW from that.

Am I the only one who finds this completely unacceptable??? If someone just wants a video of a ride there will already be 100s on YouTube without them having to ruin my experience by filming it the themselves!

Edit: To clarify, I’m specifically talking about people holding phones with bright screens up right in my field of vision on dark rides / shows.

Yup it's pretty bad lately. It gets worse every year. #whenwillitend

 

[Raineman]

I'm not sure how many people know about this, but if you have an iPhone and you have installed the latest software update, there is a setting where you can turn the screen to Dark mode, where the backgrounds are dark, the lettering is darker, etc. It decreases the brightness by quite a bit, and it's a quick tap in the settings menu to turn it off, then a quick tap to turn it back on after you exit the ride.