Happily Ever After ... what would you have done?

[goodevans]

Me and DH were laughing about this last night and I realised that i have never told the tale on The Dibb or asked the question ... What would you have done ?

Last May we were in MK and had strict instructions from our DD (who had been the year before) about getting the best spot to watch Happily Ever After from.
We were told to get there at least 2 hours in advance and seat ourselves on the stone ring/ledge encircling the flowerbed where the Partners statue of Walt and Mickey is. So we were sitting back to back with Walt and Mickey and facing the castle.
This really was a great spot by the way !
I have bad arthritis in knees and a back problem so it really was important for me to be seated and the floor is impossible nowadays

Obviously others knew about this tip too as we arrived 3 hours before and were the first seated here but very quickly were joined by others.

About 30mins before the show was due to start a rather large 6ft plus 20 stone + man came up to me and said "Could you budge up for me ?"

Now bear in mind that the ledge was now full of people and you could not have "squeezed a fag paper" in between us !

I obviously said the answer was no and pointed out that we had been sitting there for 3 hours to get that spot !
My DH was totally oblivious to this exchange as he was too busy talking to the young family next to him !

The guy then asked the young couple next to me the same thing and the boyfriend must have been less than polite in his refusal as the guy then said " Fine I will stand right in front of you then !"

Well obviously some sort of further exchange took place as while I was explaining to DH the guy did in fact move off further towards the front.

I thought his behaviour was really unacceptable and was curious what the majority of Dibbers thought and would have done?

What was the best way to handle this situation do you think ?

Any other tales of this sort of behaviour ?

[Weddingnyc]

We had a similar spot for MVMCP, and we shared a ledge with a lady and her kids. As the party started nobody could see the stage as a huge balloon was tidied to a pushchair far in front, totally obscuring our view. Our “neighbour” went to ask the balloon owner to lower the balloon and was met with shouting and swearing. A CM was called over and the balloon was reluctantly lowered. I don’t understand why they are sold just before the shows and parades, where everyone is wanting a good view.

In answer to your question, I probably would have done nothing, and then seethed about it for months and years afterwards, thinking of all the things I would have said, in Great British fashion

[nolypops83]

I'd have politely said no the same as you and then got a cast member involved if it escalated so they sort it out or call security. It's very simple, you want a good spot then show up early, turn up late and you get what's left. That's why I'll be paying for the dessert party to avoid the crowds. Hopefully!

[Cinderellie]

Would have done the same.
Had a similar situation myself! We were sat on the pavement edge on main street eating ice cream, chilling, waiting for a parade when a woman asked us if we could save a section of pavement for her and her family of 6!?
I politely refused (Cant stop people from sitting on a pavement!) which resulted in her huffing and puffing at us saying that it's ridiculous and during the time she was still trying to convince me to do it her family appears and they wander off elsewhere as a group anyway!

[Scotscraig]

We have come across many rude people at parades and fireworks.

The worst we had was waiting for the light parade in MK in 2012. DS was only 7 so quite short so we waited at the edge of the pavement of over and hour. Just as the parade was about to start a group of about 9 arrived with a wheelchair. They pushed behind us and asked if they could get to the front. We politely said no, we had waited for over an hour. The response we got was "but we have a wheelchair" we said sorry but you could have saved your space the same as we did. They continued to nip away trying to guilt us to move. In the end a storm started and the parade was cancelled!

We never give in to anyone. Get out your sharp elbows and guard your spot!

At DLP I even had a woman come and sit on my foot to get in front. She was very quickly moved on.

[Tinker-mum]

I love this thread Haha. I don't have a story of a rude person but just wanted to share this from our April 2018 trip.

We weren't planning on watching the fireworks in mk 1 of our nights but we ended up staying longer than planned shopping!
We were stood near the back of main street with a pretty terrible view squished like sardines.

A lady in front of us had her little boy in her arms and he was so excitable. He was born with downs syndrome and they had just adopted him weeks before.

It was the first fireworks he had ever seen and his mum was struggling to hold him and his balloon because of how excited he was!

I held his balloon.. and the hands of 2 of our kids Haha... and he ended up pinching loads of our glow sticks because we couldn't resist him!

Rubbish view, squished like sardines, holding a huge balloon that kept banging into my head.. but 1 of our best true Disney memories!

Bring on April 2020!

[Princesa]

We stopped to watch the fireworks in an area by the bridge where the lines were on the floor. We were stood right at the front as we got there early and people kept coming and standing in front of us. As we were on the line, cast members would come and move them along and tell them they had to be behind the line and so many people just tried nudging us back or stepping on our feet to try and get us to let them in front of us even through we were all squashed into the area. Rude.

[HelenLime]

Crowds do seem to bring out the worst in people don’t they!
I had someone else’s turkey leg rammed in my face waiting for shrek 4D after they pushed in front of me and my son and then stepped back to leg the rest of their party in. I literally could have taken a bite of that turkey leg - it was so close - blurgh.

[mickeyismybff]

I decided to stay for fireworks at MK one night while the rest of the family went back to crash, and the hub grass was a bit wet as it rained right at sunset. So I stood in my spot waiting for the fireworks when a family came and chose the space next to me. No problem, plenty of room. Then they asked me to sit down. I said no thanks as it was wet. They said they wouldn’t be able to see the fireworks and I said oh, everyone stands up when it starts. They didn’t believe me then decided to have a really horrible conversation in Spanish, telling their small children to do things to annoy me until I move, like unzipping my bag and kicking my feet. I guess they assumed I couldn’t understand them but my Spanish isn’t too rusty and I could understand every word. I decided it wasn’t worth it in the end since it would be easy for me to find a halfway decent spot as just one person, but I still can’t imagine telling my child to annoy someone until they moved! So weird.

At California Adventure, I camped out on a spot for about three hours before Paint the Night, and three of us just brought our dinner there and had a street picnic and caught up as we don’t see each other much. Then right as the parade started, a group came up and tried to stand in front of us on the street and cast told them they had to be on the pavement, so they tried to push us back and we’re being so rude and called my friend a horrible name. Goofy was walking by and stopped and shook his finger at them and pointed at them to move on. It was hilarious. And then the CM behind Goofy came up and said to us ‘some people just don’t appreciate camping out for your favourite parade spot, but we get it.’ It was so nice that the cast stuck up for us.

I’m not sure why some groups get so high stress about stuff like this and I try to think positively and just say to myself that people are hot and tired and overwhelmed, but sheesh. Manners make things so much easier!

[Princesa]

Oh I definitely wouldn’t have moved for the family that were out to annoy you, people shouldn’t be allowed to bully someone out. I’d also have informed them I spoke Spanish 😂