Settle an argument- Disney Parade

[Helpmewithteen]

Third world problem and very light hearted, but I was just interested and wondered what others think.

I work with a lady (let’s call her J) who travels to WDW alone. She’s 45 and a big kid when it comes to Disney.

She was at the Mickeys Halloween Party and was waiting for a parade to start. J said that she found a great location to watch the parade from. She was about 60 mins early and sat on the kerb to stake out her spot.

About 15 mins before the parade began a family with three children stood behind her. The children proceeded to try to stand in front of J which annoyed her, but the Disney worker moved them back off the road. Then the children now behind J started to bop her on the head with a ballon and drip water or soda from a cup onto her head.

At this point J was really getting cross and stood up to watch the parade, and loud complaints of not being able to see ensued from the children and parents.

After the parade was over, one of the parents told J that she was spiteful not letting the children got in front of her. To which J responded by calling them entitled.

J was telling us about this incident and it caused quite the debate at work.

So is J being unreasonable or not?

She was there first, they should have moved, the entitlement of some parents is astonishing these days.

Surely J could have seen over the kids heads if she'd let them go in front of her? Assuming that's the case it was a bit mean, ..but she's only one person so her moving back wouldn't allow 3 in anyway.

She got there early, she waited, she wasn't bothering anyone, and she was sitting before the kids started being little brats. J is not being unreasonable. Having kids doesn't suddenly mean you're entitled to do whatever you want (and I have 1 and 1 on the way).

She should have burst the balloon but apart from that she sounds completely reasonable.

In fairness she did say that had they asked nicely, she’d have let the little one in front, but apparently they had pissed her off 😬

She definitely wasn't unreasonable. The parents of the children were.

Of course she wasn’t unreasonable. Those parents were awful.

She's only one person. She's paid to be there! She's no less right to watch a parade because she's alone!
The kids sound diabolical.. I'd be horrified if kids of mine started pouring juice on someone's head or hitting them with their balloon!
I would have let the kids go in front of me, but their is a way to adk and also be nice about it- and this entitled family must have missed that memo!

I think she was not being U.
If they hadn't been bopping her on the head with balloons and dripping soda on her she wouldn't have had to stand up!

At disney it gets a bit like that 🤦‍♀️ you get your spot an hour before and then people come along and start shoving their way in, squashing you and its annoying! So no she was not in the wrong at all, disney or not, she was there first!

Then the children now behind J started to bop her on the head with a ballon and drip water or soda from a cup onto her head.

They sound horrific. She wasn’t unreasonable given their appalling behaviour.

I was in a very similar situation about 20 years ago when I went to WDW pre children, except I wasn’t right at the front and I hadn’t been waiting for ages. I’d got a chair to stand on like lots of other people, and some woman made her two children climb up onto it with me. I refused to get off when she asked me to because it was clear her children wouldn’t safely fit. She repeatedly shouted ‘but they’re kids’, which I felt was entirely irrelevant seeing as she wasn’t one and it was her that planned her day.

I’ve since been back to WDW with my children and have done what any sensible parent who wants to see the parade does. You give your child an ice cream, plonk them on the curb of Main Street or some other good spot and make them wait!

You can probably gather, I’m with J.

I would’ve let little kids stand in front of me so they could see as threat wouldn’t have prevented me seeing but I wouldn’t have let those kids in front of me because of their behaviour and the parents not correcting it. You catch more flies with honey.

J was reasonable. Like you say if they hadn’t pushed in she may have let children in front but no obligation. A child can see fine over a seated adult. J could have alerted staff to them hitting her/pouring drinks on her and they would probably have been removed.
Before anyone says Disney is for small children lots of adults travel for Halloween - parade has headless horseman and grave diggers and dancing Victorian ghosts it’s not all cute characters.

Ok, I’m starting to see it. My first instinct was to say ‘they’re just kids’. I imagined myself just letting them go in front, no big deal.

People are animals when it comes to the good spots at Disney.

We got a good spot for the fireworks behind some railings and a load of kids pushed in front of my son in his pushchair so he couldn't see at all.

You've got to stand your ground.

If they had behaved then I would have said it would have done no harm to let them stand in front. The fact they behaved like this was diabolical and I wouldn’t have moved either.

Although I will say adults pushing in front of young children when ropes opened (the same children who had waited patiently in a queue/ line) was one sight I could not believe when I was in Disneyland Paris. Disgusting and they got a right gobful from me so they moved back.

She was being totally reasonable.

I get to events early where it's all standing so that I can find a place where I can see (then I firmly plant myself there until it's over!). The other thing is if you let the kids infront of you and then the parents want to be behind the kids, you end up behind all of them.

She sounds like a fucking peach.

Before anyone says Disney is for small children lots of adults travel for Halloween - parade has headless horseman and grave diggers and dancing Victorian ghosts it’s not all cute characters

Oh, well that's alright then. 🙄

The children were badly behaved so the parents should have made them behave better or removed them.

Adults that stand directly in front of children at a children's event in a children's amusement park (headless horsemen notwithstanding ) are the reason I'd give crazy places like Disney the widest bodyswerve.

If it meant that much to them, they should have arrived in plenty of time like J did to bag a good spot. Rude and entitled parents with badly behaved children.

I hope you’ve explained that to the rest of your office.

The other thing is if you let kids in front you have to stand back which then restricts your side views. I hate kids squeezing in front of me when I have got a good spot and then sometimes actually grabbing their parents hands and pulling them forwards so your squeezed out.

How tall is J and how am tall were the kids?
The kids couldn't see past J but if they were a similar height then she wouldn't be able to see too.

This is like the asking people to move on a plane situation. It is unreasonable to ask organised people (whether it's time or money) to lose out because others were slow off the mark.

Oooh, I’d say J is a little shorter than me, I’m 5’5”. I’d guess she’s about 5,2”?