what was the best WDW guest meltdown you've observed

[mimitchi33]

When I was four, I threw a fit over not being able to ride Figment again back when the third incarnation first opened (July 2002, I think?).

 

[NonnaT]

@winterwhite and @mimitchi33 ...
I am very grateful I am too old to now remember my 4 y/o tantrums! God is good to the elderly! Lol!
Both your stories cracked me up!
Sparkle on ladies!

 

[Brad Bishop]

Ok, this one is kinda scary. It started raining heavily at one of the parks... I forgot which one. My friend and I went inside a restroom, and as we were washing our hands, we saw a dad and his son, age 6 or 7, come in. The dad had a very thick New York accent and was angry because the kid splashed his leg with water from a puddle or something. At first we just thought, "Oh whatever, parents get mad about stupid crap all the time," but then we saw the dad lunge at the boy with a raised fist. My heart sank as I saw the boy jump back into the corner in fear. My friend and I immediately started to run toward the boy to try and protect him as I was thinking to myself, "Oh my god, I'm going to get into a fight at Disney World," but then the dad just stopped mid punch and stormed out of the restroom with the boy quietly following 20 feet behind. I turned to my friend and we were just in complete shock.

I got some grief from a female CM at The Land once. I was kidding around with my, I think she was 17 or 18yo daughter, and did the old, "Wait.. You've got a bee on your back..." <smack> -gag. Well, this CM took it as abusing my daughter and kind of made it clear that I was on the edge of being reported. I think it was the, "men should NEVER hit women"-deal but there's a huge difference between joking around with each other and saying, "You've got a bee on your back.. I'll get it!" <smack> and actually physically abusing them. My daughter was laughing because she had just done something similar to me. The girl heard the "bee on your back" exchange and it was more than obvious that it was just us horsing around. I actually thought for a few minutes that I was going to be dealing with the authorities because this CM was stupid.

 

[Squggl3]

Stories like this illustrate why we always use retractable leashes when traveling with our children. The parks get overly crowded, children are excited, it can be over-stimulating with all there is to take-in at Disney, and they can easily run off in the blink of an eye.
A similar situation happened to us at the DHS hub area back in 2011, which can easily get congested, and understandably, children can become separated. We were standing just steps from the GMR entrance when our youngest daughter took off toward the direction of Animation Courtyard. She made it almost to the entrance of Disney Junior Live! before we realized what had happened. This was during July 4th week, so the park was obviously packed with crowds. Luckily we had her attached to an extra length 110ft+ retractable child leash, so it wasn't really concerning. With one push of a button, she was back by our side in front of GMR under 2-seconds.

I would absolutely put my child on a leash if I felt the need, after going to several parks (not just Disney) and seeing how lax people are with their kids I would much prefer to see kids on leashes than running around without supervision. If you can't watch your child be a responsible parent and figure something else out

 

[NelleBelle]

We used a harness (aka "leash") with our 3-year old who wanted to be out of the stroller, walking now and ten. When is insisted on being a "big boy" and not holding a hand, I didn't panic and it allowed him a little freedom without a terrible-2-tantrum We only ever used the harness when we were in large crowds were he could easily get separated from us if he wasn't always holding a hand.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I witnessed a fun adult melt down two days ago at Animal Kingdom after park close. I was walking to the buses and a boy about 8-9 was telling his mom that they were going the wrong way to their resort bus (he was right) and she kept telling him he was wrong. So they were arguing back and forth and then she just stopped and sat down on the sidewalk with this look of I just can't take it anymore. Finally after a bit she got up and followed the boy back to the right area. I thought it was funny, I'm sure in the end she was embarrassed. And about an hour earlier I was on the Maharajah Jungle Trek and a husband and wife were fighting on one of the benches. It was pretty heated and eventually the wife said "Fine do what you want." and took off.

 

[Princess Kaylee]

This is totally wrong but a few weeks ago we we saw a family with two little boys (one in a stroller, one walking) the little boy walking took the Star Wars toy fro, the baby and the father pushed him to the ground and called him a little . Cast members had to get involved... We have seen so many temper tantrums though, kids throwing food at parents, parents dragging kids through the exit, etc...

 

[Princess Kaylee]

My personal favorite was the woman in Magic Kingdom screaming at the cast member sweeping up the sidewalk on Main Street because she had paid all this money to go to Disney World and it was raining and her vacation was ruined. Granted, it was raining very hard (there was a tropical storm that was sideswiping Orlando), but I am not really sure what the janitorial staff can do about that.

I also saw a woman at DL meltdown because the candy store didn't have any organic options.

Omg did we see the same lady screaming at the cast member sweeping water before the festival of fantasy? We saw the same thing!

 

[Princess Kaylee]

And I can't forget all the rude parade people you get mad at you when it was originally your spot!

 

[Dawg4Mickey]

Sadly the Meltdown I witnessed was with my own family. On our First Trip in 2011, I decided that it would be great to have my nieces get the full treatment at BBB and then go have Dinner with the Princesses over in Epcot. Of course part of this wonderful plan backfired as we finished with BBB and were off to Epcot but the Monorail was down so to the Ferry we went. Then of course the Monorail to Epcot was also down so then it is on to a bus. Mind you it is August and my one niece is super sensitive to itchy things, and the tag in her dress is just itching away, and nothing we can do to satisfy it, so she is starting to have a meltdown.

We get to Epcot and into the park and then She is still crying about the dress, and now the wife is getting hot (did I mention it is August) and finally has had enough, and she is like get a Stroller, and of course I did not want to, so the argument begins. In the end I lose as I did not want to ruin the trip and got the stroller. I just hope we weren't too loud in our arguing to have others notice, but I am sure they did.

 

[MagicRat]

My family enjoyably call it O-D ing or over disneying! We see it every year, people who try to cram way too much in and then throwing spontaneous fits. It is a shame that we take enjoyment at other people's madness but why do people get so crazy. The best one ever was when the Lego dragon was new at downtown Disney. This guy said to his family as we were passing by, I can't f------ take this anymore and threw his bags into the lake. The poor kids, hopefully he made things right.
Every trip you see someone who is so happy and makes you feel like this is a special place and in the same trip you see someone who makes you think that this is a place for the spoiled rich or soccer mom who is self richeous and makes it her place to make everyone miserable. What a place! Some good and some bad.

 

[KikoKea]

We see it every year, people who try to cram way too much in and then throwing spontaneous fits. What a place! Some good and some bad.

Yep. I think one of the biggest causes of problems at the World is when people just try to do too much. I understand wanting to cram in as much as possible when you are shelling out tons of money, but it just backfires and causes misery if you don' keep the right attitude. I hate seeing adults throwing fits, particularly in front of their children. And, before a kid reaches critical mass, they should be taken back to the room for a nap, swim, or down time. Wasting precious park time, some might say, but they're the ones you'll find sniping at each other, saying things they will later regret.

 

[DisneyPrincess5]

A few weeks ago, we witnessed a lady who appeared to be in her 30s berating a CM over the fact that they couldn't ride Peter Pan as the wait was too long and they had to leave the park soon. Like the CM personally sabotaged their MK experience and should've taken them through a VIP entrance to ride it before they left? WOW.

And not for nothing, but the HM stretching room thread is a pretty good one....

 

[jaklgreen]

You were very lucky then. When my sister was around 4 or 5 she would just take off. The bigger the crowd the quicker she would make her move. No parent wants to do the leash thing, but, when the alternative is a lost child or much, much worse, it is the lesser of evils. If your children stay with you without a problem, then more power to ya, you are very fortunate. There is more then one way to be a good parent.

Kids that age like to take off like little rockets. This is why I kept my kid count down to how many hands I had. LOL I am happy to say that thanks to my Mama grip of steal, I never lost either one.

 

[ninjaprincess]

We normally don't either. Just when we go to places like Disney which can often be overwhelming for small children. Our youngest daughter has always been the adventurous type ever since it was born. The leash is just a precautionary measure in case it happens to run off a good distance, like in the mentioned 2011 incident.

But in most outings, no, the leash is an unnecessary method. For our older two children, one is 8 and the other is 11 or 12 (?), we've never had to go the leash route, as they stay close enough to not warrant any concern.

We used one for my daughter only at Disney and she liked it. She would go get a picture with a character and after the picture was done she would pickup the end of the leash and give it back to me. She was not much on strollers she liked walk and she was not really a wanderer I just liked the security because there are so many people a little one can separated so easy.

 

[Gurt]

Some from many moons ago that were down to my own family,

I was 8 and my cousin 12 on our 1st visit, we were sat on the curb waiting for a parade when my uncle noticed the two of us captivated with something on the ground, so for a few minutes he watched us trying to work out what we were doing, asks my dad who informed him we were watching the ants on the floor, he then loudly informed us that they had paid thousands of pounds and flown us thousands of miles to the happiest place on earth and we could watch ants back at home, we laugh about it now, to be fair we laugh about most of them now.

So just outside of the world we were leaving a certain whale stadium when my cousin got separated from our group, once we found him he got the telling off of a life time, as my uncle is going mad at him I think he started to realise it wasn't Ant's fault and he was shouting at the poor kid unreasonably so ended with shouting 'I am only shouting because it scared me'.

The next one is mine, after a long day in the parks (we never took breaks) my tired little 8 year old self was in serious need of sleep, we had conjoining rooms and everyone was in our room eating pizza when a very loud call from a tiny little me screamed from my bed 'if you lot don't shut up I am never going to get any sleep' iv never seen a room clear so fast.

I am sure there were plenty more from back then a couple of more recent ones I remember from our 2013 trip were,

I am not sure which park we had been to that day but we were the only people (Me boyfriend & mum) waiting in line for the bus back to OKW, a family join us mum, dad and screaming over tired over done out 3ish y/o, we smiled politely, and gave them a sympathetic nod, as the bus arrives we get on followed by the family the mum and child sit towards the back but the dad stops close to the front of the bus and yells that he isn't sitting with 'stupid screaming b***h' my jaw hits the floor but it got worse, a few minutes into the journey the mum hollers down the bus that the kid won't shut up crying to which the dad screams back 'smack her in the mouth that will shut her up'! I was so shocked.

The other one I saw while I was in line for a Dole Whip was a mum trying to drag her child along faster than he was willing to go, mostly because he was playing with her phone, she starts pleading with him to hurry up and frustratingly tells his he can play games on the phone once they get in line and pulls him harder than this kid wants to be pulled and he decides he is going to try and sit on the floor, this does stop the mum in her tracks and on the floor he goes so with more pleading from the mother the kid gets up off the floor, his face all screwed up and at the same moment the kid decides in his head what he is going to do is the exact moment the mums realises what he is going to do and with all his force he smashes the phone into the ground as hard as he can, the mum goes mad about how expensive the phone is and I stand thinking to myself, it is your own fault for giving your child the super expensive phone to play with then trying to drag him across a theme park.

 

[Navy Brat]

As an AP holder over the past 10 years, I have seen lots of yelling (adults and children), but one stands out:

About a year ago, we were in line at the Three Amigos boat ride at the Mexico Pavilion in Epcot. It was a hot day (shocker) so the air conditioned pavilion was packed, and there was about a 15 minute wait for the ride. We got in line just as the two groups in front of us started bickering. Apparently, there were allegations of line cutting by the group directly in front of us, which mainly consisted of a mother shouting loudly that you would think people would be more considerate to a child with special needs. There was a young boy with her (about 3 years old) who looked at times bewildered and scared by all the shouting. The mom must have said that at least 4 or 5 times, until the group in front of her told her to zip it, and then there was pushing and more shouting. This was in line for the Three Amigos - a quiet little boat ride! By the time the shoving and yelling had started, we were at the gate to the ride, and the CMs escorted both families out of the ride (the Mom was in tears by then, still yelling about her disabled child, who looked completely terrified). Needless to say, that was one quiet boat ride after that.

As for frantic parents looking for kids, that was me in 2009. Not at DW, but at a neighboring ocean-themed park, which has a large (multi-level) play area for kids. My son was about 4 at the time, and wanted to climb through the tunnels, which were too small for me. I said okay and waited at the bottom for him, trying to keep an eye on him with about 200 other kids running around. I saw him enter a tunnel - and not come out. After about 10 minutes of frantic searching, convinced I missed him and he was wandering around the park alone, he heard my screams and crawled out of the tunnel. He had been sitting inside it the whole time, letting other kids step over him, so a constant stream of kids were coming out, just not him. Yeah, that was my bad mommy moment. He was not allowed out of my sight for a long time after that. (He's 11 now. Still makes me nervous when he wanders away.)

 

[MississippiBelle]

I have another one about myself. Let me start off by saying I don't handle extreme exhaustion well (Disney OD as I saw someone else calling it). My brother likes to stay in the parks as late as possible. So on a 3 am EMH night at MK, there we were trying to close the parks down. It was during the Christmas season, so the parks were still packed (at 3 am!!!) and I was 100% over it. My brother wanted to ride Space Mountain one last time (45 minute wait, line out the door) and I was trying my hardest to talk him out of it. Finally, before we got too far in the queue to where we couldn't easily exit, he said "okay this line is too long let's go" Praise the Lord! I 10 feet away when I heard my mom say "Are you suuuuure?" If I were any more dramatic, I would have thrown myself down on the ground and stared helplessly at the sky. I tried my hardest not to have any fun the whole time we rode it (and probably looked like a total weirdo in my attempt) and was even talked into one last ride on the Peoplemover before we left. Needless to say, the Peoplemover broke down for 30 minutes while we were on it and my mom thought it would be funny to sing Christmas carols while we waited. Karma always finds a way!

 

[DisneyJeff]

About a year ago, we were in line at the Three Amigos boat ride at the Mexico Pavilion in Epcot. It was a hot day (shocker) so the air conditioned pavilion was packed, and there was about a 15 minute wait for the ride. We got in line just as the two groups in front of us started bickering. Apparently, there were allegations of line cutting by the group directly in front of us, which mainly consisted of a mother shouting loudly that you would think people would be more considerate to a child with special needs. There was a young boy with her (about 3 years old) who looked at times bewildered and scared by all the shouting. The mom must have said that at least 4 or 5 times, until the group in front of her told her to zip it, and then there was pushing and more shouting. This was in line for the Three Amigos - a quiet little boat ride! By the time the shoving and yelling had started, we were at the gate to the ride, and the CMs escorted both families out of the ride (the Mom was in tears by then, still yelling about her disabled child, who looked completely terrified). Needless to say, that was one quiet boat ride after that.

3 Amigos ride...

That would be TOTALLY AWESOME!!!

 

[Fantasmik]

I'm going to assume he'd been having a rough day (aww), but I was in Germany recently, and a guy picked up his fresh tray of food. The container of chips fell over on the tray and a handful fell on the ground. He got so mad (at himself?) that he heaved the entire tray in front of him, causing a huge mess. He then proceeded to tell the CMs at the counter that he spilled his food and wanted a whole new order.