Placeholding for Fantasmic!

Lion Sleeps Tonight · Post by **Lion Sleeps Tonight** » Nov Wed 25, 2009 6:08 pm

A little rant, if you please.

On a recent trip to Disneyland this past Nov, I made it a point to watch Fantasmic! We knew there are two shows a night, and usually watch the second show. We'll stay near the roped entrance as the first show ends and make our move towards the center and try to get as close to the railing in front as possible.

Long story short, we get to our destination, pretty quick, and are ready to sit our group, only to be blocked by what I can only describe as 'blanket kingdom'. There was a guest that had at least two or three giant blankets placeholding the front area right in the center. There was no way the guest beat everyone to this spot if she was only going for the second show, so she must have done the same for the first show.

The guest was walking around the perimeter of her blankets, talking to other guests not in her party. Eventually the rest of her party shows up, and it's about 15-20 people all piling onto the blankets.

I was surprised and a little more than irked because to me, it's unfair. It's unfair that someone who doesn't have a placeholder doesn't even have a chance to have the best seats in the house for a great show. Granted, it's just a relatively tiny spot, but I just thought it was rude. I can understand if you're holding a spot, and the majority of your crew is with you, but when it's just one person holding a spot for 15 other people, it's discourteous.

I don't know if anyone has ever been blocked by these types of placeholders, or if anyone here does it. I can understand the benefits of putting them down so people in the group don't all have to be there waiting for an hour for the next show to start, but it's rude when like 10 minutes to show starting, the rest of the group moves into an already crowded area.

Does anyone know Disney's policy on placeholding? Do they even have one, or do they just shrug and say oh well? I feel they shouldn't allow it; you should have the majority sitting in place, to wait for the show like everyone else.

Thank you for reading

Post by **subsonic** » Dec Wed 02, 2009 2:12 pm

As far as I know, there's no policy against place-holding. I've always liked that compared to Magic Mountain where there are signs that say, "Cutting in line is grounds for removal from the park." That said, I think there needs to be common courtesy. I completely agree with you. I believe the majority of the people should be there already place-holding for a few people. I can't stand it when there will be like 2 teenagers in line and then a group of 10 others come and join them. Those 2 teenagers should just wait for their group to catch up.

Post by **Dr. Ravenscroft** » Dec Wed 02, 2009 4:39 pm

I can understand the guest, or anyone holding the space for ONE blanket, but if you are holding that large of a space you better have at least 4 people sitting on the blankets. Yes I find it annoying that people do that, but I have held space for 2 other people, but they were small (one used to be mickey). But I have to say that the blanket thing angers me because most of the time the guests that have the blankets don't need that much space.

Josh Q · Post by **Josh Q** » Dec Wed 02, 2009 5:12 pm

I totally agree. The "blanket kingdom" can be very frustrating. Holding places for that many people is extremely rude.

hackmonkey · Post by **hackmonkey** » Feb Thu 18, 2010 11:13 am

I agree with the poster. Seeing blankets taped to the ground mid afternoon bothers me for several reasons. One, it kills the decor of that area. Two, it translates as an intitlement. IMO it does not seem indicative of a family atmospshere. That is, when going to the park with small kids, it is difficult (near impossible) to sit in one place for hours in preparation for a parade or show. So any attempt at watching one of these events is done in the final 30-40 minutes before. This make shift tent city in front of the water kills any opportunity for my 3 kids to get a reasonable view. I myself do not have the kind of personality that would feel it is appropriate to mark my territory and then pry-barring my way through a crowd to get there. Anyway, no offense to anyone that does this, it is just fustrating to me.

Jacca5660 · Post by **Jacca5660** » Feb Thu 18, 2010 12:10 pm

We had this experience at IOA. We were on line for Spiderman and one guy was trying to get about 20 of his friends (20 somethings, we're in our 40's) to jump the line and get in front of everybody. My buddy and I (we're pretty big guys, we looked like two offensive line men)) told them no. They were from Brooklyn (I live in Tn but am a native Brooklynite) and thought they were going to intimidate us. We just put our arms up and told them to behave. They backed off after realizing we weren't backing down. An IOA cast member also threatened to have them removed after the ride was over.

I've never have had this problem at Disney.

NaCler · Post by **NaCler** » Feb Tue 23, 2010 2:41 pm

Jacca - Nice... being a big man myself I would have stood tall with you. Good job.

Forgive me because it's been a long time since I have been, but in DL, isn't the "seating area" for Fantasmic all the walking room around the Rivers of America in the middle of the park? Isn't this a high traffic spot were it would be hard to lay anything down in the walkway or do they block it off after a certain time each day? We don't have to worry about that in DW as the theater for Fantasmic in DHS seems like it's own park entirely.

Amy · Post by **Amy** » Feb Thu 25, 2010 4:06 pm

I am surprised the blanket holder got away with this. The last time we were at DL the cast members were constantly patrolling telling people "You can't stand there, no sitting there." It made me really appreciate DHS all the more for having actual seating for such a big night-time draw. I also don't appreciate pushy parents that get to a show or parade at the last minute and then push their children to the front. I don't mind having people ask to have their children stand in front of me. But then the parents and several other people always manage to shove in and then I can't see over them. I don't know that there is a good way to manage inconsiderate people.