Seated With Stranger's Children

[mickeyluv'r]

Never seen a SR queue for MMRR though, is it always open?

I can't say for sure, but the split is in the last room. A CM controls it by asking how many are in your party. Groups of 1-2 get sent one way and larger groups continue in the main queue.

 

[gottalovepluto]

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.

Navi is one where as a solo rider I will ride with a party of 2 but not a party of 3. During Covid I rode it alone but I'm pretty sure I shared in Dec. If they had tried to put me with a party of 3 I would have asked to wait to ride with a party of 2. Hip to hip is too close to strangers, even at Disney.

Aside from Dumbo on all of OP's rides I've been seated next to others and sometimes that includes younger kids. I would not sit next a stranger on Dumbo and am very surprised the CM asked OP to instead of offloading the family for the next ride. (OP, you handled it very nicely btw.)

 

[BrightMorningStar]

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

I do not mind other people's kids. Sadly, we live in a society where people are falsely accused of things, more than ever, to make a quick buck. I have seen it happen.

Like I said in my first post, I have been going for 24 years, this was a first for me and I have toured solo many times.

 

[BrightMorningStar]

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.

She was in front of me in line. She said 1 elephant. They thought they would all fit.

 

[gottalovepluto]

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.

Hahaha, what is it with TT? Almost half the time the party of 2 in front me plops down/starts to plop down, knowing full well I'm right behind them and surprisingly enough it's not the ones with kids. Like no, Covid's done, you ain't getting an empty seat next to you on TT anymore

 

[gottalovepluto]

Like I said in my first post, I have been going for 24 years, this was a first for me and I have toured solo many times.

You had very special experiences then, guess you were super lucky for 20 years. As you can see by all the responses from other solo travelers sitting with strangers- even with kids- is standard operating procedure for all the rides you mentioned except for Dumbo. Now you know going forward.

 

[georgina]

I do not mind other people's kids. Sadly, we live in a society where people are falsely accused of things, more than ever, to make a quick buck. I have seen it happen.

Like I said in my first post, I have been going for 24 years, this was a first for me and I have toured solo many times.

You said it made you uncomfortable and you told a CM you didn't want to do it. I have never NOT been seated with a stranger on 7DMT or Slinky.

 

[Smugpugmug]

Hahaha, what is it with TT? Almost half the time the party of 2 in front me plops down/starts to plop down, knowing full well I'm right behind them and surprisingly enough it's not the ones with kids. Like no, Covid's done, you ain't getting an empty seat next to you on TT anymore

It happens every few times I ride via the single rider line. The last time it happened, it was a family with two kids that sat in a 2 per row situation. When I sat next to one of the kids, the mom was SO angry the entire time, it was as if I was ruining her family vacation somehow. I wonder if I lived in her head rent free the entire day xD

 

[BrightMorningStar]

You said it made you uncomfortable and you told a CM you didn't want to do it. I have never NOT been seated with a stranger on 7DMT or Slinky.

Goodness. Being uncomfortable with being sat next to a kid with their parents in front of me and liking children are not synonymous.

 

[BrightMorningStar]

It happens every few times I ride via the single rider line. The last time it happened, it was a family with two kids that sat in a 2 per row situation. When I sat next to one of the kids, the mom was SO angry the entire time, it was as if I was ruining her family vacation somehow. I wonder if I lived in her head rent free the entire day xD

I have experienced that on Test Track. I guess I ruined a family photo.

 

[georgina]

Goodness. Being uncomfortable with being sat next to a kid with their parents in front of me and liking children are not synonymous.

No one IN ANY WAY implied you did not like children, only that you didn't want to be sat with an unknown one on a ride, which is what you said in your original post.

 

[Lumpy1106]

Not overselling it, this is the funniest thing that ever happened to my family at WDW;
We are in line for Little Mermaid and there is a large family in front of us that does not speak any English (relevant) and that just cannot seem to get it together. Forever more, we just call them the Little Mermaid family, and now you will know why. We follow them all the way through the queue and lose track of them right before we load.

Now some backstory;
We are a family of 5, DW and I, DS21, DD18, and DD10. We aren't squeezing into 2 shells, nor do we want to. DD18 is very introverted and likes time to herself (in real life), and wants the shell to herself. No problem, everyone in my family gets it, it's no big deal. OK, back to the load area...

My family loads our 3 shells, DD18 in the first, the remaining 4 split up in two shells. The ride seems to be going fine, but there is a commotion ahead of us. Before I even know what is going on, DS is in hysterics and is pointing to DD18 in the first shell. Little Mermaid family has COMPLETELY botched the loading and they are scrambling to find a a seat in any shell. Well, the last two people end up in DD18's shell. She's in the middle, both of the people from Little Mermaid family have her sandwiched, and they are BOTH recording the entire ride on their phones, selfie-style. Not only are they uncomfortably seated with my extremely introverted DD, but she is now plays a pivotal role in their home movies.

Anybody else this would have been awkward, I most likely would have introduced myself and talked to them as best I could, all DD18 could do was laugh, as well as the rest of my family - we were crying we were laughing so hard. They could have replaced the Little Mermaid characters with Lion King characters and I would not have noticed. Now all we have to do as a family is just say, "remember the Little Mermaid family?" and we are all back in tears with laughter.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

It happens every few times I ride via the single rider line. The last time it happened, it was a family with two kids that sat in a 2 per row situation. When I sat next to one of the kids, the mom was SO angry the entire time, it was as if I was ruining her family vacation somehow. I wonder if I lived in her head rent free the entire day xD

She probably felt you “ruined” their photo. It must’ve been their first ride and trip because wait until she gets on more rides and realizes all the people in her pictures. Lol

 

[Smugpugmug]

She probably felt you “ruined” their photo. It must’ve been their first ride and trip because wait until she gets on more rides and realizes all the people in her pictures. Lol

The worst one is Pirates where your entire boat shows up in the photo. You could easily have 15 complete strangers in your family photo.

 

[GoingSince1990]

I don’t mind it at all. Now that my kids are older (youngest recently turned 18) I enjoy seeing the excitement of a younger kid experiencing the magic of a Disney ride. It’s a fun reminder of my kids’ reactions when they were that age.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

You had very special experiences then, guess you were super lucky for 20 years. As you can see by all the responses from other solo travelers sitting with strangers- even with kids- is standard operating procedure for all the rides you mentioned except for Dumbo. Now you know going forward.

Either that or they happened to go during very slow times. If they mostly visit WDW in conjunction with attending the same annual convention every year, then they might only have been going to the parks at night in Jan/early Feb, and may well have seen WDW at slower times. It is possible.

Pre-covid, MK had fairly late hours, but winter WDW crowds would drop off dramatically at night. Many times, we were given practically our own boat on Pirates and seen large gaps between riders on rides like Little Mermaid. In the 3 pre-booked FP era, it seemed to us that many folks didn't know they could get a 4th FP after their 3 were used. I've rarely seen 7DMT not operating with full trains, but just about every other ride can get slow at night. I've even been on Rise with no wait. THAT was weird!

In 2006, when EE was brand new, we were at AK over East week. At 3pm the park was super crowded, but paper FP ran out, and 45minutes later AK was empty. It was crazy, because I think that is still the most crowded I have ever seen AK. but come 4pm, most the park, even EE, was walk-on.

Having seen BTMRR on a number of slow nights, it is also strange to see it go from having a 45 minute wait to no wait later that night, then a few days later to see it at 60+ wait. We've walked on that ride so many times that the idea of waiting an hour for it seems weird to me, even though I know afternoon waits get that long or longer on most afternoons. (Hopefully, that makes sense.) I think, "Is this really the same ride we rode last night?" there is just something surreal about the difference.

 

[BrightMorningStar]

Either that or they happened to go during very slow times. If they mostly visit WDW in conjunction with attending the same annual convention every year, then they might only have been going to the parks at night in Jan/early Feb, and may well have seen WDW at slower times. It is possible.

"they"
I am she, by the way.

We always go in the first 2 weeks of December or sometimes in May or very early June. Once in November.

 

[soniam]

I’m sorry that you were put in an uncomfortable position. It’s an unfortunate situation. Yay should be able to feel comfortable riding as a single, but the CMs are pressured to fill every seat. I don’t really know a good solution.

 

[kylenne]

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.

This is definitely new. In all my solo trips I’ve never once shared a row on Na’vi River Journey. Even with my partner we always get a row to ourselves. In Sept I rode in my own row same as usual.

 

[musicguy856]

This is definitely new. In all my solo trips I’ve never once shared a row on Na’vi River Journey. Even with my partner we always get a row to ourselves. In Sept I rode in my own row same as usual.

I've sat with others on Navi over the past 2 years. I don't ride it often but the CMs have always asked me if I'm willing to share with another party on Navi.