Waiting/Preparing & Holding spots for Parades & Shows

[BuzzLite_Fran]

Ok this is a piggy back thread from the one about cutting in line at attractions etc. I thought I would start concerning waiting for parades, holding spots for parades, and shows.

This is my question: does anyone have any horror stories about having problems from other guests while waiting for parades or shows etc?

We have been to WDW 5 times now, and each year we make it a point to go see shows and parades etc, as well as the attractions. We know as all of you do that to get a good viewing point (or in some cases a spot to sit down) you have to get where you want to be at least an hour or so ahead of time. for the parades at MK we always like to sit on main street on the curb, so that our kids and us will have an unobstructed view of the parade. I always camcord the parades etc to watch after our vacation. I cannot tell you how many times that We scoped out our spot......sat down WAY AHEAD of time, and then due to bathroom breaks etc from the kids, I have set a backpack down in place where my daughter was sitting. I always stay behind and let my wife take our daughter etc. It never fails, someone arrives and askes "Is this area taken?" which I politely tell them yes the 2 spots next to me are taken.....my family will be right back. This is at least polite by the other guest.... I have actually had situations where other guests take it upon themselves to just take the liberty to attempt to move my stuff and sit down beside me! To which I reply a little more forceful "these two spots are taken!" most of the time they are rude about it etc. Now it is not like I am holding up gobs of space here....just enough room for two people to sit.

I know this has happened to many of you out there. I want to hear your stories. I have also had my hands stepped on, and kicked in the back by other guests behind me. I have also had guests get mad because they showed up 5 minutes before the parade is to start and want to force their way in to making room for all of us sitting or standing their on the curb, which I think is really rude.

What do you think?
share your stories

 

[Jimmy Thick]

Some of these people can get rowdy like parents at a Little League baseball game.

Over zealous people waiting for parades claiming Disney property for their own have completely turned me off to wanting to watch parades all together. But I'm 6'8, so I really just have to stand.

That and I've seen them all.

 

[TTFN-Tiggger]

I have not had trouble at Disney - people are understanding. The place I have had a HORRIBLE time was universal studios. we were sitting on the curb - not even holding space and there was a family next to us. Unfortunatly for us we were near the entrance to the stage for the band for Mardi Gras night. People were trying to step over us to get on the sidewalk - even though they could have taken literaly 5 steps to the left and found the entrance to the sidewalk. They were very rude - guess that is what happens when young adults are drinking. I felt sorry for the family next to us as they had little kids - the one girl came very close a couple of times to having her hand stepped on.

 

[Master Yoda]

It happens nearly every single time we watch fireworks or a parade. The most recent occurrence was at MNSSHP last year. I had staked out a place where I could get a good frontal shot of the headless horseman as he rode past. About 10 min before the parade a family shows with a 7 or 8 year old child with them. I offer to let this child in front of me so she can see. Well mom, grandma and teenage daughter manage to wiggle there way in as well just as the horseman rode past. I have a really good shot of the back of grandma's head.:fork:

 

[DisneyChick1984]

I don't mind people holding spots for the parades. Doesn't bother me in the least. What I have a problem with is if I've been sitting there waiting for 45 minutes and 5 minutes before the start of the parade, a family come up behind me and asks if their 5'2" 8 year old can stand in front of me because "the parades are for the kids". Keep in mind, I'm 5'3". H E L L no you're kid can't stand in front of me. Sorry.

 

[BuzzLite_Fran]

I know what you mean. that is the reason we always sit on the edge of the curb and get there early so that no one can get in front of us. Although you are right some do try. I just think it is rude to not plan. I mean its WDW for goodness sake! You should know ahead of time to get to your desired spot early to see the event. But I guess that is the kind of society we are unfortunately becoming. Mind you we have had a lot of positive experiences etc while sitting next to strangers waiting for a parade or fireworks etc. A few of them we even got to know and communicated with after our vacation

 

[Nemo14]

It happens nearly every single time we watch fireworks or a parade. The most recent occurrence was at MNSSHP last year. I had staked out a place where I could get a good frontal shot of the headless horseman as he rode past. About 10 min before the parade a family shows with a 7 or 8 year old child with them. I offer to let this child in front of me so she can see. Well mom, grandma and teenage daughter manage to wiggle there way in as well just as the horseman rode past. I have a really good shot of the back of grandma's head.:fork:

....probably the same family that parked themselves directly in front of us at DD's college graduation.... This is her receiving her diploma after 4 years of hard work:

 

[drew81]

I don't mind people holding spots for the parades. Doesn't bother me in the least. What I have a problem with is if I've been sitting there waiting for 45 minutes and 5 minutes before the start of the parade, a family come up behind me and asks if their 5'2" 8 year old can stand in front of me because "the parades are for the kids". Keep in mind, I'm 5'3". H E L L no you're kid can't stand in front of me. Sorry.

I'm right there with you. I always watch DSMC near step off and even though I may have waited 30 minutes for parade people think they can show up at the last second and get the prime viewing spots. If there's space then I don't care, but it's like they try to squeeze in right near the curb and make room when there really isn't room. If they want those spots then they need to show up earlier.

And the guests who say the parades are for kids.....yeah those are like the guests who think they can just let their kids cut in line to see the characters just because an adult is waiting in front of them...they act like the characters are not for adults and only kids want to see them. :brick:

 

[MIDisneyFamily]

We have never had a problem with just walking up as the parade starts, no matter wich park it is, and get to see the parade clearly. Of course we never have ben there a Christmas, or anyother super crowded tme of year. Except the 4th of July one year, and it still wasnt too bad. I did get cut in front of once, by a little kid, i just kicked him out under a mvoing float!!

 

[sprocketfish]

The worst encounter we have ever had was at Illumination on July 4, 2006... We had staked out our location about 2.5 hours before the show started... we were just to the side of the reserved handicapped viewing area; this woman and her grown son attempted to sneak into the reserved area and were promptly escorted out... so she decided to push through the crowd of people (who had been patiently waiting) and tried to physically move me and my sisters (we are all 20-somethings) and my mom out of the way... needless to say, my sisters and I are pretty militant and refused to moved and she was forced to stay behind us though she was still in front of the other groups which had also been waiting... the ENTIRE show, she was pushing me and my sister and trying to make us move up- my sister and I stayed joined at the hip in order to keep that woman from ruining the show for more people than she already had... ANYWAY, she decided to film the show and proceeded to rest her camcorder on top of my sister's head- ON MY 21 Y/O SISTER'S HEAD... my sister promptly turned around and asked the lady to please not touch her or put things on her head b/c she was trying to enjoy the show... we were never rude to this woman or did anything besides ask her to not rest things on our heads, but we did get a small measure of revenge b/c the entire show we talked loudly in the direction of her camera and pointed at the fireworks (of course when we pointed it just so happened to be right in front of her camera, lol... I love passive aggression)... later we found out that while were in front of her doing our best to ruin her video, everyone behind her was doing their best to ruin her viewing experience (i.e. jostling her, taunting, kicking, etc.)... I don't condone direct physical retaliation in these kind of cases, but it really warmed my heart to know that both her experience and video were most likely ruined and miserable...

 

[geordie31]

hi wdw florida is brilliant compared to disneyland paris we went there for christmas 2006 and i have never in all my life met such rude people there have no concept of how to queue we had got our space for parade down main street when some guy with a buggy just sat in front of us blocking my daughter`s view whenb i spoke to him of course he just throw his hands up like he didnt understand and the cm`s werent much help florida is paradise compared to paris believe me

 

[maryt01]

my sister is legally blind and limited walking. she was on a scooter. she pulled up to the curb to allow her to be in front to view parade. there was about a 1 square foot of space between the scooters wheel and my butt. a lady stood in this small space and my s foot 11 inch sister (visuslly impaired) could not see most of the festivities. why would you stand in front of a scooter? obviously, she was capable of being obnoxious and inconsiderate. our revenge was to turn on our cell phone and try to describe to a family member that our view was obstructed by a rude person. i could tell that she was annoyed by our call. mission accomplished

 

[PeoplemoverTTA]

my sister is legally blind and limited walking. she was on a scooter. she pulled up to the curb to allow her to be in front to view parade.

Next time, I recommend asking the nearest CM about the separate areas for special needs guests in wheelchairs and scooters. That way you can avoid people like this.

In August 2006 my sister and I were really tired at MGM (I tripped and fell like a klutz earlier in the day and my leg was really sore), and we decided to sit on one of the benches on Hollywood Blvd that are lined up with the curb (there's room for your feet, then that's it - the benches are lined up with the street). We sat down literally 2 hours before the parade, enjoying some lemonade and people watching. We realized the parade was going to be soon so we were excited to see it.

All was fine until about 10 minutes before the parade. First, some man tells me his kids are going to sit on the curb. For those of you who don't know, I'll reiterate - the curb lines up almost perfectly with the bench. There was room for our feet and nothing else. Before I could say a word, my sister and I had 3 kids sitting directly on our feet (we had nowhere else to put them!). I cried out when one kid sat on my foot and contorted my sore leg, but the parents ignored me. I worried about my sister, too, who has severe arthritis and can't really contort her body around rude people sitting on her legs.

To make matters worse, this woman decides to sit down on the armrest of the bench just as the parade is starting. So she's sitting where my arm should be, leaning into me, while my foot and leg are twisted by some kid.

Look, the benches at MGM are the best places for the parade. That's why we decided to sit longer and relax so we could enjoy the parade. Instead, we were crushed, in pain, and sat on during the parade. It would have been funny the people were so rude if I wasn't in so much pain from my leg.

 

[sublimesting]

I always let little kids in front of me....always. Anyone that is not a little kid I will, in fact, push down if they try to jostle me for position or if they are jostling anyone in my immediate vicinity and I notice it. I don't shove them like on a playground but I tangle their feet up in mine and lean on them with increasing pressure until they scoot over or trip. Either way I don't care but they won't get my space. I can not abide rudeness, pushiness and idiots that think they are special and deserve whatever they can take.

Once I have moral authority over someone all passive aggressive goes out the window. If someone put a camera on my head they would be told once. If it happened again they will be relieved of their camera.

 

[dopeylove]

I love the ones who stand on top of a wall, trash can, ledge, etc. as soon as the parade starts and have no clue that adults AND children are standing behind them.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

We only ever waited for Wishes once. We've never fought the crowds for the parades. The one time we waited for Wishes we staked out our spot 1 1/2 hours early next to another family with little kids right at the end of Main St. where you face the train station. We were riiiight there. We had my DH, DC, and my 2 boys. The other family had a little blanket stretched out on the ground next to their stroller. Both us and the parents of the other family had to continually defend our territory. People sent their children to sit on this lady's blanket, one mom attempted to fold the blanket over one of the kids. It was nuts. Basically all us adults ended up standing in a semi-circle around our children/space like a human barricade. If someone pushed up on us, we shoved back. Then, as Wishes started it started to sprinkle so the jacka$$ next to us pops open his umbrella to shield himself and his video camera. Hellllooooo...people are trying to see. If you're going to melt, go inside. We made a point to turn in his direction and speak loudly about the jerk with the video camera who was too much of a weenie to take a few sprinkles. I'm sure he at least didn't have good audio to go with his footage.

 

[Laura]

We always stake out spots as early as possible. It never fails that as soon as the parade or fireworks starts someone will shove in front of us at the last second after we waited an hour.

I've seen all of them so many times that I will often ask little kids if they'd like to sit in front of me. But what I can't stand is when people shove their kids in front of MY kids. My kids are very patient and wait without complaining for a whole hour for the parades and still never get to have a good view.

On this past trip though we developed some good strategies towards the end of the trip. We started using strollers, our legs, and our jackets to kind of build a wall around the kids so that no one would jump in front of them. It almost worked, except for the families who shove their kids right up to the rope and then the kids lean all the way forward obscuring our view of the parade approaching. So we just have to keep telling our own kids "the parade will be in front of you soon, don't worry about those jerks getting in the way".

 

[Laura]

We only ever waited for Wishes once. We've never fought the crowds for the parades. The one time we waited for Wishes we staked out our spot 1 1/2 hours early next to another family with little kids right at the end of Main St. where you face the train station. We were riiiight there. We had my DH, DC, and my 2 boys. The other family had a little blanket stretched out on the ground next to their stroller. Both us and the parents of the other family had to continually defend our territory. People sent their children to sit on this lady's blanket, one mom attempted to fold the blanket over one of the kids. It was nuts. Basically all us adults ended up standing in a semi-circle around our children/space like a human barricade. If someone pushed up on us, we shoved back. Then, as Wishes started it started to sprinkle so the jacka$$ next to us pops open his umbrella to shield himself and his video camera. Hellllooooo...people are trying to see. If you're going to melt, go inside. We made a point to turn in his direction and speak loudly about the jerk with the video camera who was too much of a weenie to take a few sprinkles. I'm sure he at least didn't have good audio to go with his footage.

I know exactly what you mean. :lol:

 

[BillyBuff]

Never had a problem....yet. I'm there to enjoy my vacation and not to start fights with people. If it happenes, then I'll tell them what they have done so they'll know. Then I'll walk away. I just believe in karma.

It happens nearly every single time we watch fireworks or a parade. The most recent occurrence was at MNSSHP last year. I had staked out a place where I could get a good frontal shot of the headless horseman as he rode past. About 10 min before the parade a family shows with a 7 or 8 year old child with them. I offer to let this child in front of me so she can see. Well mom, grandma and teenage daughter manage to wiggle there way in as well just as the horseman rode past. I have a really good shot of the back of grandma's head.:fork:

LOL! Same here. I found a nice spot for a parade but then behind me was an older lady in a wheelchair. So, I let her roll up in front of me so she can watch it. Then of course her entire family follows and I end up watching their backs. Mind you I'm only 5'8" and they were all at least over 6' tall. I just said "Thank you for taking my spot. Now I can't see anything. Hope y'all have a nice vacation." and left.

 

[eroyee]

I love the ones who stand on top of a wall, trash can, ledge, etc. as soon as the parade starts and have no clue that adults AND children are standing behind them.

Oh, yeah, they "have a clue."Just being stupid idiots.......