Monday, February 8, 2010

The One with Bizarre Guest Behavior

I'm not sure what it was about today, February 8th 2010, that was so crazy, but it was definitely a day of out of the ordinary guest behavior today in the Magic Kingdom. Sure, on any given day, I may have one unique encounter with a guest that sticks out for some reason or another, but today was so strange for so many reasons that I just have to share with you. 

First off, to set the stage, I was surveying rides/attractions/shops in Tomorrowland and Fantasyland today. My first stop was the Tomorrowland Indy Speedway. As I'm approaching the ride's exit, I notice a VIP tour guide with a couple and their kid in a stroller. You know me, I stare until I can figure out who it is when I see a VIP tour guide with someone. Most of the times it's nobody famous, just someone with money who doesn't want to wait in line, but this time it WAS someone famous! If you read my facebook status already, the surprise is ruined, but it was Nascar driver Jeff Gordon! And it totally made me laugh that he was getting off of the indy speedway and I just watched all of the oblivious people getting off the ride after him and I wanted to be like "Do you realize you just were on a race track with one of the best Nascar drivers EVER?????" But I couldn't do that, OBVIOUSLY. So, while I was supposed to be asking people about their experience on the ride, I just watched Jeff and his wife stroll towards the teacups with their kid and their VIP tour guide in tow. Surprisingly, Jeff was pushing his own kid's stroller versus having the guide do it, which is rare if you ask me. 

Anyhow, my next stop is Space Mountain. Now let me give you a little background. When I am surveying rides, one of the questions we ask is "Why did you give (insert ride name here) a rating of (insert number 0-10) for your likelihood to recommend it to a friend?" 99% of people answer this question with "Because it's fun" or something to that effect. I'm not even kidding you. It doesn't take a genius to predict that people will say Monster's Inc laugh floor is funny or that they like to control the ride at dumbo. So today, when I asked a man in his 20s why he gave Space mountain a rating of 9, I was expecting him to say "Because it's awesome! And it's in the dark!" (the typical Space Mountain answer) But alas, he did not. With a total straight face he pauses, clearly thinking of his answer and begins, "Well, if you look at the ride's history. It opened in 1975 so it's a considerably old rollercoaster compared to other rides at Disney World but even so it is one of the best rides in all of Disney World, which is really saying something. The refurbishments they made too are notable. The ride is smother, the theme fits better with the whole vision of tomorrow..." and before he can say anymore, his girlfriend stops him and goes "It was fun" and I just started laughing because I couldn't help it! He did proceed to tell me more too as I did my best to remember it all. The whole encounter was simply fabulous and hilarious too because even during the longest and most thoughtful space mountain verbatim EVER, I still received the standard answer of "It was fun".

Anyways, as I finish Tomorrowland attractions, it's time to head to Mickey's Star Traders (a store in Tomorrowland). I'm standing there, minding my own business, waiting for guests to come out of the store and this guy walks out of the store looking all mad. (Clearly, I do not intercept that guy I thought to myself.) His little girl, about 3 years old, comes running after him but before she leaves the store, she grabs a bag of candy and continues out the store. They don't pay me enough to stop shoplifting toddlers so I just watch the chaos instead (I know, I'm horrible, right!?). The dad walks the girl back, puts the candy down and yells something at his wife and continues to stand next to me in the doorway for a bit. Then, out of nowhere, the wife comes over and starts yelling "Look what you started! You let her walk out of the store with candy in her hand and now you're checking out those girls! They're little girls you perv!"

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

He must be used to this because he just shrugs and goes "They're old enough and I wasn't do anything." It took all of the power in me not to let my jaw drop. It was the most insane couple ever. For the record, the wife was referring to a group of high school girls that were there for a dance competition. (There were huge groups of high school girls all over the park today due to said competition.) But wow, the wife accusing her husband of checking out high school girls, loud enough for the girls to hear it, while her daughter shoplifts was quite something to see. I did my best to look oblivious, and as soon as they weren't looking, I moved to another door haha.

My next stop was the Tea Cups, which I usually hate because I always end up watching the Tea Cups spin round and round and then feel dizzy. I always tell myself to remember NOT to watch them spin, but I always watch and always feel light headed but anyways, I have to of surveyed the teacups like a hundred times now but today was the first day I saw the Queen of Hearts and subsequently the White Rabbit take turns riding the tea cups with guests! I've heard that sometimes Alice will ride with a guest in the morning, but this happened in the afternoon and all my hundreds of times surveying there, I've never seen it happen!! It was fun and I thoroughly enjoyed watching the little girls face light up because she was riding the tea cups with the White Rabbit. So precious. 

Later on, I was waiting for guests to come out of Pinocchio's Village House and a woman walks up to me to ask me a question. She sees my nametage, which says I'm from the "Univ of Minnesota Duluth" and she goes "oooh! We're from Minnesota! Do you know the  Duluth bus joke?" I didn't and told her such and she proceeds to tell me this really corny joke that doesn't translate into writing because it's all about the stereotypical Minnesota accent, but it was fun none the less. I don't think I've ever had a guest tell me a joke before. Sure, I get lots of guests who think they're funny with their quick comebacks, and I laugh politely, but this lady was down right awesome (as are most Minnesotans! =) 

Finally, on my way from It's a Small World to Winnie the Pooh (my last survey to do for the night!!!) I hear this guy yell "Touch me and I will put you down!" Talk like that sticks out like a sore thumb at Disney so I whip my head around to see what's going on and these two grown men are in full on death-stare-mode and yelling at each other for some unknown reason and I'm like frantic- looking around for a manager or ANY other cast member and see NO ONE. So I'm like crap, crap, crap, what do I do if this gets physical!?!? But praise the Lord for wives because two women just step in and the two guys walk away from each other and all is calm again. I then proceeded to find the location of the nearest phone, just for future reference, because I don't want some guy to get punched out as I stand there and go, hmm, sucks to be him. So now I'm prepared for future throw downs but only if they happen right in front of It's a Small World again haha. 

Anyhow, today was a day like no other. I think everyone stayed up to late watching the superbowl or something and it made them crazy. Just a theory lol It's funny because the big event of the day was that Drew Brees, the superbowl MVP, was doing a parade down mainstreet USA and I completely did not care enough to try to go watch it and somehow a bunch excitement seemed to find me anyways.  

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