Is It Silly / Ironic When People Complain About Crowds...

[baymenxpac]

We always go to WDW in July. Reason being I am in education and not able to go there during off season. Yes, it is hot, yes, it is crowded but I know that coming in and I don't let that effect my visit. I'm just happy to be there.

21 days and counting.:sohappy::sohappy:

that's a great attitude to have

i think another good point is that, even if you go during the summer, you CAN work around the crowds. or at least limit your exposure to them. if you're prepared to get up early and work your way around the park in a certain way, it can be done. will you ever be alone on a ride? no, probably not. but it's not to say that just because you go during the summer, you will have to wait 90 minutes for everything.

 

[CP_alum08]

It is interesting how much crowds can actually add to the experience. Other people have mentioned it, but if you have never experienced a close to empty park, you really can't appreciate it. It almost takes some of the happiness away, strange.

I totally agree with the fact that the people complaining are usually the uninformed people! Holy cow, yes. All the information you could ever want on WDW is out there and not hard to find at all. There are still people who don't make ADR's, don't use FP (who still think you have to pay for it), etc. If you're going to take a vacation costing thousands you would think you would want to be well informed. Oh well I guess, better for us that do understand!

 

[Master Yoda]

It is interesting how much crowds can actually add to the experience. Other people have mentioned it, but if you have never experienced a close to empty park, you really can't appreciate it. It almost takes some of the happiness away, strange.

I totally agree with the fact that the people complaining are usually the uninformed people! Holy cow, yes. All the information you could ever want on WDW is out there and not hard to find at all. There are still people who don't make ADR's, don't use FP (who still think you have to pay for it), etc. If you're going to take a vacation costing thousands you would think you would want to be well informed. Oh well I guess, better for us that do understand!

This is so true. We went to WDW the first weekend after 9/11 and I swear that the CM's outnumbered the guests. While it was nice having quite literally every attraction in WDW as a walk on it was pretty creepy.

 

[WDWLOYAL1971]

Can't let crowds ruin your visit. Crowds should be expected. I've experienced M.K when it's been to capacity and still enjoyed it.

 

[mimitchi33]

On our last visit in March, since Florida kids had spring recess, I expected it to be as crowed as Christmas time, but it was not that crowded! The only crowded rides were the headliners (Soarin', Test Track, Toy Story, Everest, etc.).

"First thing you must do at DHS is go to Toy Story Mania and get either a FP or get in stand by...first thing in the morning at rope drop!" And what did she tell me? "Oh yeah that ride had like 100 minute wait time." yes...but did you go early to get a FP? "Well no we got there after lunch and there were no FP.

The same thing happened to me on my last visit, too, but it was only worse: the FPs for TSM were sold out almost an hour after the park's opening! Luckily, we had a pass for disabilities, since I have one.

 

[cowanfamily]

I was there for Thanksgiving day last year. I went in knowing that it was going to be crowded. I still had a great time.

There are to many delusional people that think they are the only ones that should be there. Alot of us get made fun because of the planning we put into our trips, but we usually leave alot happier than those that didn't.

 

[tizzo]

Not WDW-related, but along the same lines. I used to live at the Jersey Shore, which is a pretty big tourist destination in that region of the country.

Tourism's a little different in NJ than in FL, because there's less direct benefit to residents not employed in the tourism industry, there are a much smaller number of people who are employed in tourism, and there is no separation at all between tourists and residents. If, Disney were to close it's gates tomorrow, my commute wouldn't get any easier, it wouldn't be less crowded at my local supermarket, and the environment around my home would not get any cleaner - but my taxes would sure go up. Almost the direct opposite is true with respect to the impact of tourism on the average shore resident.

One of the more annoying things is the decline in general cleanliness that occurs during the summer. Think litter not only at the beach, but anywhere within 10 miles or so - in parks, along roadways, and even on people's lawns - but ONLY during the summer tourism season.

You need to have this in mind to appreciate how I felt when one day while stepping over litter on my way in from the parking lot of the local Foodtown I overheard a woman, who had just stepped out of a car with out-of-state plates, saying that this was why she hated coming to New Jersey - because it was so dirty.

So I've got to say, I agree with your manager - the last thing I felt like doing was apologizing to this woman for what, at the time, I felt was her mess (but that in any case certainly wasn't mine).

 

[britdaw]

I think it's completely stupid when people go to a place like WDW and complain about crowds. It's one of the biggest tourist attractions in the WORLD- of course there are going to be crowds. LOL

 

[Clever Name]

We always plan our trips during slow visitation periods. During our last trip in May of this year, we stayed at the CBR and it was about 60% occupied. All the attractions were walk-ons with the exception of Peter Pan, Soarin’ and TSMM. We ate at Le Cellier twice without ADR’s. We got to see the new queue at the Haunted Mansion. Yet, when I returned home from my WDW trip, I read reports on all the various Disney fan forums about large crowds at WDW. The resorts were reportedly at 90% occupancy and the wait times for the attractions were extremely long. When I read such reports, it always makes me wonder if there is another WDW resort that I somehow missed. :wave:

 

[Susan Savia]

Gotta love the off season. This past January we rode Buzz three times in 10 minutes.

 

[ArtieJim]

I think it's silly and annoying, to be honest. How can you complain about crowds when you're traveling to four of the top ten most visited theme parks in the world. Guess what, four more of the other six are? Also Disney parks.

You can't, with a just mind, complain about the fact that the parks are crowded. Not only that, they're theme parks, they'll always be crowded.

Maybe they'd prefer the crowds here, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_Park.

 

[Crockett]

Gotta love the off season. This past January we rode Buzz three times in 10 minutes.

Nice.
I think the shortest wait I've been in was for Splash right after rope drop. We rode it 2 or 3 times with 15-min being the longest waiting time. After that, things started picking up.

 

[SeaCastle]

We simply go in the off-season. There's no sense going to a park for six hours and spending over half of that time waiting in line. Though there are drawbacks to going during the off-season (and not everyone can do it), we make it a point to do so (when we went in August of 2008 we never had to wait more than a half hour for any attraction).

While the off-season has some shorter hours, it is infinitely more pleasant to spend more time in the park and on rides rather than in queues. That's just my two cents.

 

[PirateFrank]

...and they, themselves are part of the crowds?

I work in a tourist hotspot which is notorious for creating heavy traffic, especially on summer weekends. We get so many people (especially on Saturday evenings), who moan & complain about the heavy tourist traffic flooding in...and they are part of the traffic themselves. :shrug:

A former employee where I work used to apologize to folks who were disqusted with the amount of traffic coming in. One evening, the property manager overheard her being apologetic to a couple who had driven down from Ohio, and were blasting all the other people for causing traffic delays. The manager pulled her to the side and said: "Never apologize to someone who is causing the problem themselves." That is very true, and I try to keep this in mind when someone starts throwing me a fit about heavy crowds...which they themselves are a part of.

Sooo...bringing all this back to WDW. Do you find it rather silly when you hear people complain about the parks being too crowded, lines being too long, etc...and those who are complaining are part of the influx adding to the crowds & lines?

To me, it's irony. Sure, I despise heavy crowds, so we plan our trips during slower times of the year. But if we happen to hit an unfortunate influx, well, we have nobody to blame but ourselves since WE are adding to the numbers.

Make sense?

Sadly, your manager has this wrong. It has nothing to do with someone complaining about the crowds. The intent behind the complaint is that the complainer is voicing a perception that the crowd is not being handled properly....either through design of the area or crowd management by the personnel.....either way, an apology is a perfectly acceptable way for a person to defray the frustration that someone feels regarding this. I suspect that former employee that was apologizing, recognized the true meaning behind the complaint and saw fit to service the complaint in a manner that would put the complainer at ease.

I suspect, if you went to a cast member at the parks and complained about the crowds, the cast member would apologize first and say something to put you at ease. Taking the attitude that you shouldn't apologize for a person complaining about crowds, because he/she is contributing to them....forces the cast member to view the guest as a 'problem' and not as a 'guest'

 

[Crockett]

Sadly, your manager has this wrong. It has nothing to do with someone complaining about the crowds. The intent behind the complaint is that the complainer is voicing a perception that the crowd is not being handled properly....either through design of the area or crowd management by the personnel.....either way, an apology is a perfectly acceptable way for a person to defray the frustration that someone feels regarding this.

-A family drives their S.U.V. down from Ohio.

-Said family gets stuck in traffic with others piling in with their vehicles.

-Wife of said family comes into lobby raising cain over all the traffic and amount of people, why is it busy this time of year, etc...as if we should've had the red carpet treatment awaiting them.

-All the traffic she is upset about are people with the same intentions as them: Drive into tourist town for the weekend.

The manager was not at all implying we should be rude or uncaring to this woman, despite how she treats us. That was not the point. But no need to apologize to someone getting snappy over people doing the EXACT same thing they are doing. Doing so would only feed their "all about me" mentality. The correct response should have been:
"Yes mam, there is a lot of traffic out there. Must be a lot of families just like you wanting to take a weekend trip. But glad you made it, and hopefully the rest of the weekend goes well..." and so on.

You can still be exceedingly polite to someone without feeding their narcissism. If I arrive at MK and there is a 50+ minute wait for Space Mtn, I sure as heck am not going to expect CM's to apologize to me for having to wait.

 

[goofntink]

I know right,it's too hot,it's too cold,I can't believe we paid $14 bucks to park in the parking lot, the lines are to long,what you mean having an ecv doesn't mean I can get to the front of the line anymore, so we just wasted $200 bucks on renting this ecv for the week and now we can't get to the front of the line,when is the next bus coming,we've been standing here for 10 minutes,it's 3am and my kids have been up since 6 am,this is bull,what do you mean I can't get a bus to Downtown Disney from MK,yack,yack,yack,blah,blah,blah...etc,etc.

We didn't kidnap you and bend your arm behind your back and force you to come here during the busiest time of the year. Your on vacation like everyone else,your not suppose to be in a rush,and your not better than everyone else because your staying at the Contemporary. Quit complaining,Definately STOP talking down to us, or treating us like we are 3rd class citizens,we have no control over the wait times,and just deal with it.Stop expecting us to apologize or give you something for your wait. When you do that to us you go from being a guest to a pest.Also remember the person behind you in line can be blaming you for their wait too.