Our Top 5 Most Recent Encounters With Bad Disney Guests

If you’ve read anything I write, I frequently talk about how often I’m in the Parks at Walt Disney World. This is never to flex (as the kids would say), but rather it’s an attempt at showcasing that, in some sense, I have an idea of what I’m talking about. Because I am in the Parks a lot, I get a pretty good feel for the happenings at Walt Disney World, and recently I’ve noticed some sad changes. In my experiences lately, something seems to be shifting at Walt Disney World over the last two years. Typically a magical and happy place, Disney World has become a breeding ground for coarse behavior unbecoming of anything remotely close to what Walt Disney envisioned many years ago. Bad Disney Guests are ruining the Park experience for many.

Although bad Guest behavior at Disney World is nothing new, the frequency at which Cast Members break up fights, deal with unruly visitors, and remove individuals from Disney property has seen an uptick over the last year. We can blame a lot of the behavior on many different things, from an increasingly stressed out world to just lower standards. Still, ultimately it doesn’t matter why the behaviors continue to make life difficult for Guests who choose to do the right things. What matters is that they happen in a place that is most considered widely free of the ridiculousness you’d find in other Theme Parks. Yet, things are continuing to get worse.

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Since we’re in the Parks so often, we typically see a lot. Keeping up with the new merchandise and foods at Walt Disney World isn’t all we’re privy to. Sometimes, frequently visiting Disney puts you in the right place at the wrong time with a front row seat to dramatically unfolding events you wouldn’t expect to see at a Disney Park. Although Guest behaviors are covered extensively in the media, we thought it would be interesting to share with you five unique, and terrible, experiences we’ve recently had with other Guests at Walt Disney World. So get your popcorn ready, because we’ve got some tea to spill on some Guest that didn’t realize we were watching (or didn’t care).

Nasty Comments by Bad Guests

My last trip to Magic Kingdom saw Captain Jack Sparrow roaming freely through Adventureland at Disney World. This was a little shocking as I personally haven’t seen the character make his way through this Park like this in a while. Naturally, Sparrow was entertaining Guests and flirting a bit with the ladies. This drew a sizable crowd to his location, which insisted on following him as he headed towards the front of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. As Guests were snapping photos and lobbying for selfies with Captain Jack Sparrow, myself and seven others were headed to a Lightning Lane at Pirates of the Caribbean.

Credit: Disney Fanatic

I’m always very conscious of my surroundings at Disney World. Although it is the “Most Magical Place on Earth,” I try to remember that it’s full of people who may not be paying attention to where they are going. I try fervently not to be that individual, and thank goodness as I almost plowed right into the back of a family that abruptly stopped right in the flow of traffic to catch a glimpse of Captain Sparrow. Mind you, I wasn’t in immediate danger of running into the Guest who stopped, but I definitely had to slam on the ole’ breaks as she turned to see Sparrow, who was directly next to me on my right.

My large group split and went around the lady and her family so that we could get to our destination, but as I passed I heard her mutter to her daughter (I’m assuming), “some people just don’t know how to walk.” No ma’am, some people don’t know how to pull over instead of making an immediate stop in a high traffic area (this applies to the interstate too). Being the pleasant person that I am, although I took offense, I kept smiling and walked to the entrance of my favorite ride. However, I felt deeply that given the circumstances the comment was unwarranted. We hadn’t run into her, and in actuality, had to move around her because she decided to just stop with her strollers right in the middle of a tight walking path.

Guest Furious Over Firework’s Balloon

On the same trip as the Jack Sparrow incident we decided to stay and enjoy Happily Ever After. A large part of our party had not visited the Magic Kingdom before, and although I typically would take advantage of short wait times instead of fireworks, we found a nice spot near Casey’s Corner and camped out about an hour prior to start. Fireworks were still about twenty minutes out when a loud and boisterous Guest caught our ear.

Over in front of Plaza Ice Cream Parlor a Guest was extremely upset by a balloon that was obscuring his vision of Cinderella Castle. Now, I could totally understand this if the show had started, but as we were all packed into Main Street USA with a good bit of time to wait until the fireworks actually started, it didn’t make sense to me. It wasn’t like the Guest was simply complaining either, he was furious and using every foul word in the book. Children were visibly upset around them, and other Guests were attempting to calm the man down.

Credit: Adriana Perez TikTok

Their attempts to calm the increasingly angry man down didn’t work, and he continued on with his berating foul language for another minute or so until a Cast Member kindly escorted him away. His family stood there in stunned silence, obviously embarrassed by the Guest. The last memory I have of him is the ears on his Goofy hat blowing in a wind gust as Cast Members parted the seas and escorted him off to who knows where!

Thieving Children at Animal Kingdom

Sometimes it could be understandable that a Guest could become upset. There are certain situations where someone may become upset at a series of events that happen out of the ordinary, or they’re having issues with other rude Guests. Although I would never condone screaming and yelling at anyone, especially at Disney World, I can understand that some situations may result in someone boiling over and flipping a switch. One thing I cannot wrap my mind around is stealing! And, believe it or not, it happens at Walt Disney World.

Although yelling and screaming isn’t a crime, theft is, and sadly I’ve seen it happen firsthand at Disney World. About a year ago, my oldest son and I were visiting Animal Kingdom. We had spent most of the day enjoying Pandora, Discovery Island, and the other land offerings at the Park. I remember the details around this trip so well because it’s one of the only times we’ve ever not ridden anything. Instead, we chose to spend the day learning about animals and conservation. What we didn’t expect was to see a child attempt to steal bagged candy at Island Mercantile.

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Although it was the last thing we expected to witness that day, there we were waiting in line to buy my wife a new Loungefly when a child, definitely old enough to know better, started grabbing bags of candy and sliding them into a stroller his parent’s had left unattended. It was a weird moment at first, because I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, and by the time I could wrap my head around what was happening, Cast Members were already on the scene handling the bad behavior. Despite it being a child, Disney Security still showed up and escorted the family of four away from the store. I can only assume they were asked to leave the Park, as we didn’t see them the rest of the day.

Stinky Line Skippers

This one drives me insane. I’m all for letting people exit and return to long lines if they need to use the restroom or even letting other parties join up with someone who’s been holding their spot for a while. What I will not tolerate is line-skipping. This is one instance where I WILL NOT keep my mouth closed (you’ve been warned). It is becoming a severe problem at Walt Disney World. Many Guests report groups of individuals working their way through standby lines only to sneak over into the lightning lane queue when they have the is a chance. I’ve seen this happen several times, and usually, Disney is good about catching them.

Not long ago, we were out at Hollywood Studios standing in line for Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. We had already crashed our budget for the day and chose to wait it out compared to buying individual lightning lanes. Almost immediately upon entering the queue, we noticed a group of teenagers or young adults who climbed over the railing and snuck their way into the lightning lane queue. Like the instance at Animal Kingdom, Disney World Cast Members were all over it! They quickly jumped into action and resolved the situation without incident.

Credit: Disney and Canva

Like I said, there have been several other instances in which I’ve seen people skip lines or try and enter the lightning queues. Apparently, I’m not the only one who’s noticed the uptick either. A quick Google search will yield plenty of results and experiences of individuals confronting those pesky line skippers. Although I myself have trouble keeping my mouth closed when this happens, I definitely would encourage anyone still ready to take your concerns to a Cast Member instead of confronting issues yourself.

Inconsiderate Guests are Bad Disney Guests

A little more general in nature, being inconsiderate of other Guests during your Walt Disney World vacation not cool. It never hurts anyone to slow down and think about other people. Being conscious of things like your language or where you’re pushing your stroller goes a long way in helping to create the magical atmosphere that Disney is known for. This is especially true for Parks that serve alcohol. Recently we were doing some shopping late on a Friday at EPCOT. Due to the environment that is synonymous with the Park after dark, this is something we don’t usually do. We were quickly reminded as to why!

We live relatively close to Disney World, but far enough away that once we get there, everyone needs to take a restroom break. It’s become part of a routine, and to be honest, we sort of make a game of it while trying to visit all the bathrooms at Disney World. On this specific trip, we made a stop at the restrooms in the Germany Pavilion in the World Showcase. There was a pretty long line. Although this isn’t uncommon, it was a little weird for the men’s room. However, when learning why there was a line, things got a little interesting.

Credit: Disney Dining

There, writhing on the floor, was an obviously drunk Guest who had vomited all over the place and urinated. I immediately turned my children away, and we found another restroom to use while Cast Members and Emergency Services worked to get the man off of the ground. Although I have heard plenty of people in the bathrooms getting sick after taking a stab at “drinking around the world,” this was the first time I had experienced anything like this. I couldn’t help but think how selfish someone would have to be to get that drunk at a Theme Park whose mascot is Mickey Mouse. Meaning, around children!

So, there you have it. These are my most recent experiences with bad Disney Guests. As the standards at Walt Disney World aren’t as highly enforced as they used to be, I would expect that we’ll continue to have to deal with things like this during trips. In saying that, when a Park like EPCOT sees around 34,000 visitors a day, it’s understandable that things could get out of hand, but Disney Cast Members are doing all they can to intervene early and keep their Parks children friendly. Guest safety is a priority and Disney does a lot to maintain their image while ensuring a fantastic time for Guest. Happy Guests come back again! However, the increase in poor Guest behavior is definitely notable in the Parks.