TR: Unbelievable story about queue jumpers at Disneyland

[robbalvey]

^ At least Jason being Rublican isn't nearly as bad as James being an...OMG....TERRORIST!!!! http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36095

 

--Robb "Is Shepp going to assume James caused that trouble too?" Alvey

[stormrider]

I have to admit that I did line cut a few times when I was much younger (seven). At Disneyland, I was about ten-twenty minutes into the Splash Mountain line when I felt really sick (now I realize I was dehydrated) and my mom actually told my cousin (who was about ten) to go with me to the fountain to get water (out of the line) and I used the restroom and returned by just saying "my group's ahead" since my mom, my cousin, and my brother saw a group at Space Mountain say the same thing.

 

When I was twelve, I also jumped ahead of a line for the 3D theater in Marine World with a friend and a man said to his kids in an obvious tone to make us guilty "I think those kids want to get kicked out of the park by security" . However, nothing happened, and looking back, I wish we were kicked out of the line (but not the park) because we would have learned and not tried it again (we definitely weren't the kind to yell back at people, and needless to say we did feel a little guilty after what the adult said).

 

Back then I didn't understand about that being immoral and breaking a park rule. (In regards to when I went to Disneyland) I just emulated what other kids were doing (and I do remember they were probably "locals"). However, if an adult tried to stop me, I would have cried and left the line But now I see that if a few people start to think that rules should be broken, and others allow it to happen, then more and more people will think it's okay to break the rules. And then order would fall apart, chaos would ensue, etc...

 

Oh yeah, commenting on the topic's incident, I know that if I were in that situation, I'd be quiet and not stand up for myself, and that's just wrong. I'll try to at least report these things next time I see them happen in a park.

 

Oh yeah, post 200!

[Coaster Sim. Fan]

Robb what type of site are you running here crazy republicans, terrorist, how know whats next....

 

I am starting to get scared coming here

[shepp]

 

You immediately assume I'm lying about the situation, and then have the nerve to say I was a problem at RRC. Maybe you need to take a few deep breaths and look at yourself.

 

-r

 

No, I didn't assume you were lying. That's really unfair. What I said, if you re-read my post, is that there are often two sides to a story. And that we humans often, whether consciously or unconsciously, add fuel to fires.

 

From everything I know about from seeing you online, you tend to be combative, though if Robb's right, in person you're a pussycat. But what if you do tend to get feisty? So, in fact, do I...often. That's not necessarily a bad thing. But I'm willing to admit that there are times when, once I've stepped back, I realize that I only made a bad situation worse. As my partner says, "Sometimes you don't realize the vibes you give off when you're angry."

 

I'm not sure how my being verbally threatened with physical violence is "ridiculously uncomparable" to having someone curse at you..but I'll take your word for it. But be fair - I did not, in fact, say or even imply that you as a Republican deserve mistreatment.

 

I do recall that, long ago and far away, when I was on RRC wingeing on about what I regarded as clearly homophobic moments onstage at HHN, as well as being verbally baited at that same event, you said something to the effect of "Stop being so oversensitive. Let go of it."

 

Know what? You were, in fact, right.

 

OK, one bad-tempered, foul-mouthed girl let loose with a common Anglo-Saxonism when she was angry. That's really all that happened, correct? I'm genuinely distressed that sort of thing happens at a theme park - to you, to anyone. But it's hardly an Overarching Symbol of the Decline of Civilization. Let it go, dude.

[dubaidave]

I dont really want to fan this flame war.

I just wanted to point out how much better this post has been handled on TPR than it was on RRC.

I think we should be thankful to Robb and Elissa for running and moderating such a well round group of respectful people.

 

Well Done.

[shepp]

^

--Robb "Is Shepp going to assume James caused that trouble too?" Alvey

 

Um, in fairness to myself, I never said or even remotely implied "caused," and was not the first person...or even the third...in this thread to suggest that perhaps Jason and his wife's actions might have taken a bad situation and made it worse.

 

And, hey, unlike other folks in this thread, I never said that being cursed at, or otherwise insulted, was justification for physical violence, comes to that.

 

K?

[krouvi]

The thing is dealing with this "trash" line jumpers may be a great risk and I think people are just too afraid to get stabbed or anything like that.

I feel sorry for you but I belive such people will pay eventually for it by one way or another.

[Nemesis Inferno]

The obvious main problem with any form of queue jumping is that it's one side versus the other...

 

Now working at Chessington, on Dragon's Fury, I was batching, and one group said that the people in front had pushed in... No what could I do?

Just assume they were correct and tell the people to go out, probably causing more trouble, considering I had no idea if it had happened?

You gotta look into what the CM sees there, and in the situation, I said because I hadn't seen anything, I couldn't do anything... Simple... However, if I were in that situation as the CM, I would've chucked her out for the swearing...

 

On the other side, being in the queue for Fury on a day off, several people had already pushed through, and I got annoyed, so stopped some kids who were then getting called over by the mum, who when we clashed in the station (got near each other), said to her kids, 'He's only a teenager, and he doesn't even work here...' Unfortuantely I couldn't grab my staff pass at that point to say, 'Oh wait I do, so shush please', but the whole 'just a teenager' thing got me, as the kids were probably younger than me...

 

Oh, and they were white... Everyone does it, I did it once when I was really little and didn't know much better, but we need people to speak up about it, not let people through, and that's how we stop it. Plus allowing workers the power to bash people's heads together...

 

But what you have to do, is try and keep a cool head in these things, there wasn't any swearing from you in your story, which is good, but I think better words could've been choosen over 'shut up', but as Robb has said, these things often give 'heat of the moment' phrases, which we often don't really mean, but come out with it, I've had that, but it's human nature...

 

But as I said, parks need to be much more 'vicious' in regard to this, more signs for example, perhaps one or two more people in queues, people cleaning could be used...

 

It's a problem that'll be around for a while... Simple as...

[Rastuso]

Yeah, it's tough to decide who's right. In this situation, 2 of the culprits immediately started leaving the line without saying anything, an admission of guilt, imho. The third who denied it was not tossed.

 

It is defnitely tough to deal with. I would hope a CM would realize there was little to gain for a family of 3 to lie about 3 boys cutting in line. Sadly, even when someone makes an issue, most people are still too scared or oblivious to back them up. I mean, I can see if it was 3 20 year-old thugs, but it wasn't. Americans are being taught by political correctness to be the doormats to the trouble-makers of the world, and that's stupid and scary.

 

The person who said these folks eventually learn their lesson is simply wrong. Each successful line cut emboldens them for more, and that was clearly leading to trouble at Disneyland.

 

The easiest way to do it, and it was being done at SFMM of all places, is to hand out tickets. Yep, that's right, SFMM was handling line cutting better than Disney, at least on Tatsu. They were handing out tickets when you entered the line, and you had to give them up when you left the large cattle area.

 

Indy is the main ride at DL, and a big draw to teens, and should be treated as such by Disney. And a long stretch of line in a dark cave is just waiting for trouble.

 

 

-r

[PKI Jizzman]

Ouch, sorry to hear such a horrible story at a Disney Park. On friday when I was in the 1 1/2 hour line (one train op) for Firehawk, there were two kids who cut the entire line. The line was controlled by an op letting a certain amount of people into the station after giving them water. Well, the ids decided to jump over the gate to the station, right after the amount of people were let through. I tried to yell at the op to tell him those 10 year old kids were cutting the line, but other people in line were telling ME to shut up! It's a frustrating one train op, move 5 steps every minute, 95* out, and there are kids cutting the line and people are telling ME to stop complaining. ...

[DerekRx]

Disneyland, like many parks lately, are becoming a "babysitter". Would these teens be acting like this with their parents with them? If so, that's pretty sad and pathetic parenting. I commend Rastus, for not only trying to teach the linejumpers that what they're doing is wrong by involving an authority in the parks, but I also think the little f bomb dropping girl should have been booted from the line, hopefully learning her lesson about using such language in a family environment. If the problem is stopped early enough, things wouldn't have escalated, and it probably would have set an example for other people observing. Rules are established for a reason and they're meant for everyone, and should be enforced for everyone; if allowing linejumping and vulgar language continues, it will just be mass confusion and chaos.

 

I can totally see how that event would ruin the day at a park, you shelled out lots of cash to be able to have fun, not get line jumped and swore at by some unruly little kids, only to have no positive feedback/satisfaction other than a lineskip pass.

 

On the other hand, Rastus is one giant doo-doo head, and probably deserved to be linejumped

[ginzo]

Yeah, it's tough to decide who's right. In this situation, 2 of the culprits immediately started leaving the line without saying anything, an admission of guilt, imho. The third who denied it was not tossed.

 

I don't understand. My experience with Disney parks is that you have to display your Fast Pass to enter the Fast Pass queue, and then they take your Fast Pass when you get to the station and board the ride. Were they not following this procedure?

 

Also, I don't understand why line jumpers aren't being ejected from parks more. Repeat offenders should have their season passes revoked.

[Rastuso]

^Indy has a really bad setup for Fastpass. The standby is all outside in the dig section. You hand over your FP as you enter the temple, so the entire insde queue is post FP. This is why it is such a problem, that jump over the rail saved the kid about a 1 hour standby wait.

 

 

^^Yeah, we'll you're a empty-headed wiper of other people's bottoms.

 

 

^^^We had a similar issue at Alice. I confronted an Asian woman waving her kids and friends up past about half the line. The kids darted under the rails, the adults were stuck behind me. We got into quite an arguement where SHE said I was inconsiderate for not allowing her friends and family to cut in front of me. Then, some other woman in line started in to me because I was complaining about it, and she said she agreed that I was inconsiderate. WTF!!!!!!!!!!

 

What sorta bizarro world am I now living in when I'm attacked for not letting people line jump. I mean, being spineless is one thing, but siding with the people cutting in front of you is simply insane. This country is spiraling out of control big time. It's a damn shame.

 

-R

[spacemountainfreeek]

Well Jason, I have annual passes to DLR and go down there constantly. The line jumping IS a problem. ( believe me I have had my fair share of 12-13 year old mexican punks cut in front of me) But I have had no problem with getting them tossed out of the line for it either. But dude, you took a turn for the worst when you argues with them. they're hispanic, they can win anything even if they are illeagle. It really does suck when the CM's won't do anything though.

>>Jake

[socalMAN123]

But dude, you took a turn for the worst when you argues with them. they're hispanic, they can win anything even if they are illeagle.

That was a very stereotypical statement. Basically, you just said that all hispanic people have bad attitudes and are disrespectful. It's true that some are, but the majority I've met are polite and kind. So, I think that comment might have been a little out of line.

 

Anywho, I to have experienced line jumping at DLR. Actually, I find DL to have such a horrible line jumping, it made the old SFMM look good! I've tried to explain to them that line jumping is against the park rules, but they just seem to blow me off. All that I can do is pretty much talk to them and tell a CM. Sometimes, they will get ejected from the line, but most of the time the CM doesn't fully process the thought and lets the person pass. This is one of the reasons I am not renewing my DLR pass this year. The nerve of some kids!

---Brent

[RaptorBoyASU]

^^^We had a similar issue at Alice. I confronted an Asian woman waving her kids and friends up past about half the line. The kids darted under the rails, the adults were stuck behind me. We got into quite an arguement where SHE said I was inconsiderate for not allowing her friends and family to cut in front of me. Then, some other woman in line started in to me because I was complaining about it, and she said she agreed that I was inconsiderate. WTF!!!!!!!!!!

-R

 

I thought Disney's policy on line jumping was that it wasn't line jumping if some of your party was already in line. It's still not considerate, but I'm not sure if it's against park policy.

 

So where's the rest of the TR. I want to hear about the rest of the trip, not just the negatives.

[ginzo]

What sorta bizarro world am I now living in when I'm attacked for not letting people line jump. I mean, being spineless is one thing, but siding with the people cutting in front of you is simply insane. This country is spiraling out of control big time. It's a damn shame.

 

-R

 

Kings Island used to have these awesome signs at all their queues which said something like, "Line jumping is not a sporting event at Kings Island amusement park, and is cause for immediate ejection from the park." The signs had these awesome cartoon drawings of some sinister-looking dude jumping line.

 

Back then they meant it! They'd chuck you out of the park for the most minor of indisgressions. A friend of mine used to get chucked out on a weekly basis.

 

I think the ultimate solution is to revoke season passes for line jumping. That'd stop the problem in its tracks. I don't understand why this isn't already standard at all parks. It doesn't take a neurosurgeon to realize that line jumping is terrible for business.

[RRollergod]

I had the same thing happen to me at Animal Kingdom @ WDW. I was in line for EE, and it was about 3:00PM. It was very hot and very busy in Asia. It was so busy they had all the switchbacks out on the midway. So as most of you know right before you enter the main que there is two cast members checking for FPs and answering questions. So I am right about to enter the main line, and two adults around the age of 30 walk pass all the switchbacks and enter right by me. So I politely say "The beginning of the line is back there*points to end of line*". As a result they say to themselves loudly as if I wouldn't hear... "Don't listen to some 2 year old honey!" Now being who I am I would have said something, but I didn't and tried to stay away from it. What surprised me is the CMs that have been there for a long time (I have ridden EE 50 times all the CMs know me and I know them) did nothing!

 

I should have sent a letter to Disney but forgot the subject when I returned home and remembered it now. To late I guess.

[Vince]

Well Jason, I have annual passes to DLR and go down there constantly. The line jumping IS a problem. ( believe me I have had my fair share of 12-13 year old mexican punks cut in front of me) But I have had no problem with getting them tossed out of the line for it either. But dude, you took a turn for the worst when you argues with them. they're hispanic, they can win anything even if they are illeagle. It really does suck when the CM's won't do anything though.

>>Jake

 

This just pisses me off. I'm hispanic, and I was having a bit of a hard time reading this and the original post. So apparently, if you look the least bit hispanic your Mexican, and we always win arguments even if we were born here or not. What irks me about the first post is when he called the girl a 'Latina Bitch'. She can't be a regular bitch, she's got to be a Latin one, too.

 

Great job there, buddies.

 

Line skippers suck, but I don't think it's right to put blame on their race or what they look like.

 

Whatever, I just needed to let go of some steam. I guess I'll just stick to reading.

[shepp]

^ Yeah, I have to say that - at the risk of seeming what one of Jason's sig lines terms a "liberal bedwetter" - the amount of not-so-covert racism in this thread really irks me, too...and I'm white.

[robbalvey]

I really don't get why people are letting the comments get to them. This is Theme Park Review - we have a user here who's screen name is "jew." We make fun of EVERYONE.

 

I like to say we are an "equal opprotunity offender."

 

We give everyone crap, so if you or your ethnic group feel singled out, let me know, and we'll start making fun of other races, political parties, coaster groups, sexual orientation, etc, more often.

 

One of FLIPDUDE's cartoons was FAR less "politically correct" than Jason's rant and no one gave him crap.

 

So why don't we get the topic back on track of what it was originally discussing? Line jumpers suck!

 

Thanks!

 

--Robb "If South Park and Family Guy can make pot shots at every race on the planet, so can TPR members." Alvey

[kraxleRIDAH]

What sorta bizarro world am I now living in when I'm attacked for not letting people line jump. I mean, being spineless is one thing, but siding with the people cutting in front of you is simply insane. This country is spiraling out of control big time. It's a damn shame.

 

-R

 

I think the ultimate solution is to revoke season passes for line jumping. That'd stop the problem in its tracks. I don't understand why this isn't already standard at all parks. It doesn't take a neurosurgeon to realize that line jumping is terrible for business.

 

Something tells me season passholders aren't the sole problem with the issue of line jumping. Did you forget people purchase one-day admission tickets too? How is what you suggested the "ultimate solution?" Just curious.

[robbalvey]

^ He does have a point. It's no secret that there is a problem with Disneyland (and other parks as well) that parents use the park as "baby sitters." Get the kids the annual pass, drop them off at the park for the day.

 

I saw it all the time when I worked at Disneyland and the passes weren't even nearly as popular then as they are today.

 

While I have zero data to back it up other than my own personal experience working at the park, but I'd be willing to put money on the fact that many (not all) of the "trouble kids" were passholders.

 

--Robb

[DATman]

Blah blah blah you racist pig blah blah blah

 

Pretty much sums up half of these posts. Let him say what he wants to say. I mean, in all honesty, most of you who call him racist would have pointed out the race in the same situation.

 

Calling someone a Latina Bitch should only be offensive to the Latina Bitch. Did he say that all latinas are bitches? No. Only the stupid one who decided to drop the f-bomb at Disneyland. I think she deserves to be called a bitch. I also think that people need to not have their heads up their asses about political correctness, because half of it is BS anyway.

[kraxleRIDAH]

^ He does have a point. It's no secret that there is a problem with Disneyland (and other parks as well) that parents use the park as "baby sitters." Get the kids the annual pass, drop them off at the park for the day.

 

I saw it all the time when I worked at Disneyland and the passes weren't even nearly as popular then as they are today.

 

While I have zero data to back it up other than my own personal experience working at the park, but I'd be willing to put money on the fact that many (not all) of the "trouble kids" were passholders.

 

--Robb

 

I had Knott's and Magic Mountain in mind too when I responded to ginzo's suggestion. I really don't think there's a larger percentage of line-jumpers that fall into the category of pass holders. I think non-passholders are just as likely to line jump as passholders.

 

If there's to be a system implemented to reduce line jumping, I don't think ginzo's proposition to revoke season passes would do any sort of improvement. Firstly, the management has to catch the line jumpers in the act -- and that's hard enough as it is for many parks since so many people get away with it so quickly and stealthily before it can be delt with. Secondly, one isn't able to know whether or not the offendor owns a pass or not, and if questioned about it, is one really going to think they'd say "Yes, I do have a pass. (Here it is, confiscate it from me.)"

 

I think in order to completely eliminate line jumping is to spend lots of money on a new technology that would completely deter the act of line jumping completely, which I don't think a lot of parks are too keen on throwing cash out on (such as a mid-point queue ticket scan). I can certainly see Disney having the resources to invest in this kind of queue maintenance system.

 

It would be like an electronic version of handing out numbered tickets when entering the queue, but with failsafe mods. Guests' admission tickets (like used for Fast Pass) are scanned at the queue entry by Flash Pass-like machines before the turnstiles allow entry to the queue. The scan records the guests' electronically numbered place in line. Halfway into the queue, there's a checkpoint with a ride host/operator that rescans the ticket. Any ticket scan that has a number that falls out of order (out of order by more than the amount of people in the same party) warrants immediate removal of its holder from the queue, forced to leave the queue through the mid-queue check-point area that would join with the attraction exit ramp/path.

 

This mean EVERYONE in the group must enter the queue at the same time to ensure "saving places" is eliminated.

 

* If a single member of the party past the halfway check-point were to leave the queue due to an urgent need to use the restroom or some sort of emergency, they can have their ticket rescanned (Queue Return) at the checkpoint and exit the queue out through the checkpoint area and are told to return to the checkpoint via ride exit path. When they return, the ride host scans the ticket and the system will read the re-scan and the person will be allowed to rejoin their party. Notice how I mentioned SINGLE member of the party. Meaning a group of 5 girls leaving their boyfriends and queue to buy lemonade slush and have a cigarette break won't be allowed to return to the same place in line.

 

Well, who am I kidding? The costs for this kind of parkwide system would be too much.