Seated With Stranger's Children

[BrightMorningStar]

Question:
I am curious if this is a new policy or just happened this trip?

We were in FL for a conference and went to Disney a few days. When riding Slinky and Dwarfs, I had people's children seated with me, people I did not know. I did not feel comfortable with this. I let one CM know when we were being loaded on Dwarfs and he was pretty rude in response. We live in a time where people make false accusations about all types of things, which is one reason I did not like it. Also, if a child has an issue on the attraction, like scared, vomiting, medical issue, etc, my motherly instinct would kick in, but that is not my place and the action might be upsetting to the parent.

I was in line for Dumbo alone, just because, and a mom had 2 kids with her and they all tried to cram into one elephant, but it did not work. The CM asked the mom if her kid could ride with me, to which I told her I was not comfortable with that, but I did give up my elephant to her kids and her daughter, about 8 or so, took it.

This happened on 3 different attractions. I am surprised that in all 3 cases, the parents did not have anything to say. I would never allow my children to be seated on an attraction with a stranger, male or female.

Is this some new policy at Disney to try to herd the lines through faster? I started going in 2000, even during Christmas week, and this was not an experience in the past.

 

[jeneric997]

I have had that happen to me on Dwarfs. I was a little surprised because those cars are cramped! The Dumbo incident is bazaar- why would they just assume that was ok? I think when they have loaded and things go awry, they tend to try to resolve things in ways that shouldn't happen, just to get the ride moving. My DH says he has had random kids next to him on Everest and RnR. That was very nice of you to resolve the Dumbo incident!

 

[kuhltiffany]

Yes, all space in the ride is filled to make the wait time shorter…

 

[Smugpugmug]

I've had this happen to me on coasters - Test Track, Everest, Mine Train, etc. but not on rides like Haunted Mansion or Dumbo.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I've had this happen to me on coasters - Test Track, Everest, Mine Train, etc. but not on rides like Haunted Mansion or Dumbo.

Same. I’ve never found it to be a big deal.

 

[champagne&disney]

I am often a single rider and this happens to me on every E-ticket ride. Dumbo is a little surprising but definitely on RnRC, 7 Dwarves, Everest, etc. Usually parents swap with their kid so they don't sit with me but sometimes I get a kid and it's fun.

 

[loves to dive]

I've had it happen on a lot of rides. No big deal to me but I'm a grandmother looking smallish woman so non-threatening to the kids and parents. I was in line once at SDMT and had a mother tap me on the back and ask if her little girl could ride with me. It was two parents and 3 kids and none of the kids were old enough to ride alone. I said no problem. Grammy mode kicked in and at first the little girl as a little scared but by the end of the ride I had her laughing and holding her arms up and having a great time. Had an emergency happened I would have just handled like I would have had an adult been riding with me.

 

[sponica]

The Dumbo thing was probably because they didn't have another elephant, they ask how many elephants you need when you're a party of 3.

But yeah on a E-ticket, that empty seat is getting taken.

 

[Smugpugmug]

Same. I’ve never found it to be a big deal.

The only ride that I see issues is Test Track. I use the single rider line 99% of the time and I've had experiences where the family doesn't slide down and let me in. Then when they do after a CM tells them to and I sit down, the parent gives me a death stare. Other than that it's usually fine.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Question:
I am curious if this is a new policy or just happened this trip?

Is this some new policy at Disney to try to herd the lines through faster? I started going in 2000, even during Christmas week, and this was not an experience in the past.

Neither.

WDW has had single rider lines at a number of attractions going back decades.

7 Dwarves has been filling every seat since it opened in 2014. I think Test Track has also had a single rider line since it opened in 1999. CM's at Slinky are also keen to fill every seat since it opened in 2018.

Anyone can use single rider as long as they are at least 7 years old and tall enough for that attraction. I think the only exception is the MK speedway. (It doesn't have a specific single rider line, but solo riders must be at least 54" tall, so likely a bit older than age 7.)

Of the attractions that have single rider, CM's try to fill in every available seat.

Of the rides you list, the only one that seems a bit unusual is Dumbo. I list the opening dates of the others because most of the ones you list were not open in 2000.

WDW does not tend to seat strangers together on some rides. Other rides, it depends how busy the park is. When the parks are very empty, they have a greater tendency to spread people out. Busy weeks they tend to cram people in tighter.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

For the most part, if a person is part of an odd numbered group (or in the case of Test Track, perhaps an even numbered group), you can expect someone in the group to be seated with a stranger. There is the potential situation of that being a young child. I think I can handle that for 2 minutes of the attraction. They really do try to fill all the available seats to keep things moving, so it's to be expected.

I love the way they do seating for Guardians and Tron, with the lines of 'even' groups and lines for 'odd' groups (I don't think they mean anything by it if you're in an "odd" group!!). But they do a great job of filling all the seats that way. Other attractions have that single rider to help, too. Keep those seats full.......!

 

[mickeyluv'r]

If you don't like it, don't ever go to Universal solo! I've ridden with kids on a lot of their coasters.

This is also true at WDW.

We've used the single rider queues at EE, TT, RnRC, MMRR, and MF:SR many times. (Though for MF:SR the seats are spread out.)

Even when we don't, we've been seated with youth from the SR queue, or whenever there is an odd number in our/their group.

Families do tend to try to seat their children together, with the adult sitting solo, but that is not always possible or what they choose to do. If one child is 5 and the other is 11, the parent often has to sit with the younger child.

If you are a group of 1 or 2 on MMRR, you will almost certainly be seated with another family.

 

[musicguy856]

For several years 7DMT didn't combine parties in rows but it seems they started doing it again within the past few months. I was solo and there was a father and two kids in the same cart with me. initially one of the kids was going to sit next to me in front but the CM came over and asked their ages. They both looked younger than 7 and they moved me to the row behind them with their dad and both kids rode in front of us.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

Depends on the ride. Ride that separate parties such as Guardians and SDMT that separate into “odd” and “even” lines routinely pair up two odd groups to fill out the seating.

 

[princesscinderella]

This is definitely nothing new as a family of 5 we have been riding with strangers for years in many different configurations over the years as the kids got older.

 

[georgina]

This is also true at WDW.

We've used the single rider queues at EE, TT, RnRC, MMRR, and MF:SR many times. (Though for MF:SR the seats are spread out.)

Even when we don't, we've been seated with youth from the SR queue, or whenever there is an odd number in our/their group.

Yeah, I know, that's what this whole post is about! I just mentioned it happens at Universal also. I've been going solo for 10 years. Never seen a SR queue for MMRR though, is it always open?

 

[lovethattink]

Not new. We’re a party of 3 usually. One of us always ends up with a stranger on a coaster. Adult or child old enough to ride alone.

There so many cameras at Disney. I don’t think you’d have to worry about being falsely accused of anything.

 

[Grumpy by Birth]

I really don't think any airline actually does that, or wants that. I'm sure it gets difficult when people wait too long to plan for their ticket purchase and seat assignments.

Or book "basic economy" where you don't get to select your seats and usually get assigned leftover middle seats.

 

[lovethattink]

Please stick to Disney attractions.

 

[Smugpugmug]

Forgot to add in my previous post but I was listening to an Allears video from the past month and one of the contributors mentioned that as a single rider they were sat with strangers at Navi River Journey. They said this is a very recent change as in the past they were given their own row. He also said the rows are a tight squeeze so you may be closer than you'd like with your row-mate.