I know what is or is not considered line-cutting has been discussed in other threads. It seems the general consensus is…it depends. With that in mind, I would like to ask about a couple of particular situations.
I attended MVMCP solo a few years ago. As I got in line to meet Nick and Judy, a party of two grandparents, two parents, and three young children got in line just in front of me. We were in line briefly when the grandparents asked if I would mind if the parents and young children left the line while the grandparents held the place for them so the kids could play. I told them I had no problem with it. From the line, I could occasionally see the kids playing in an open area near the front of the line. When the line came around the last switchback, the family joined the grandparents. They brought with them enough treats from the free snack area for the grandparents as well as me and a few others behind me. I didn’t feel like they cut in line and I wasn’t jealous that I had to stand in line because I didn’t have any one who could stand in line for me. In fact, I appreciated watching the children playing outside the line instead of right beside me bumping me or getting restless or cranky. When the family reached the front of the line, the grandparents and father walked on through and the kids hugged Nick and Judy while mom clicked a few photos. They took no longer than any other group and it was no inconvenience to me or any one else in line behind me.
So the question is, is having someone standing in line as a proxy considered line jumping? I’m not talking about one or two people holding the line so other people can join them. I mean trading places at the front of the line with no affect on the wait time for anyone in line behind them. I am considering this option while attending MNSSHP in October for meeting Jack Skellington. My youngest son doesn’t do lines well - especially indoor lines - he gets claustrophobic. When we did Disney last time, we rode hardly any rides because of the indoor lines and I wound up doing the Christmas Party by myself while my husband stayed with the kids at the hotel. Trading off at the front of the line would be a huge sanity saver for my son and me!
Along the same lines, what about saving space for parades? Is it appropriate for two elder members of the party to sit on the curb, resting, holding a space for the two children? Then when it gets closer to parade time, allow the children to sit on the curb while the adults stand behind them?
I think proxy line holding is borderline. I could see people getting mad about this.
Saving space for a parade is a bit different. A better choice would be to go to a less crowded area (ie Frontierland) where it doesn’t matter as much. If you’re in the hub for the parade or HEA and someone comes in at the last minute and has to literally make room because it’s so tight that’s not going to go over well.
Character greets are different to me than rides. I see no trouble with the greets. By and large they don’t take anymore time than they would have. Many people do this for the crazy long ones like Jack Skellington.
I agree. Big group photos don’t take longer than smaller group photos. And trading off doesn’t take longer, either. Neither will negatively affect people further back in line.
I would let my kids leave the line to play but they would need to play adjacent to the line, this way everyone knows they are “queueing” with us but they are just burning energy and having fun instead of causing trouble in a line.
I feel differently about parades and rides though and think for those 2 you got to stay together.
Sorry, but I’m a stick in the mud about this. If you want to ride, then you wait in the line, and I don’t care if you’re 6, 36, or 66. I understand if someone is in line and has to go to the bathroom and leaves briefly; that’s OK. But it really pisses me off when one person is holding the place and at the last minute the rest of the group does the “excuse me, pardon me” thing to meet up with them.
Our family has no members with waiting-issues. We all will wait together. But I feel like there are a lot of kids these days with hidden issues and I’d rather they not fall apart in line. Hmmmm. Maybe a DAS approach is better. ?
First, it’s clearly against the rules.
Philosophically, I’m personally not that opposed to someone waiting in line to trade out for someone else. In reality, making that distinction on the fly is so fine to the hundreds or thousands of people behind you in the line who would be “cut” that I wouldn’t do it, nor want to be involved in it. That said, if the person in front of me asked, I would probably give them the courtesy of just doing it.
This happened so many times on our recent trip. Big family photos, fine. Then it was just the kids. The kids with Grandma. Each family’s kids on their own. All the grown ups. Grandma with her kids but not the in-laws. And it went on and on!
This happened to us at the Tangled pictures. We got in line and for at least 20 minutes the line never moved and just got longer. My husband checked it out and said a large family was taking picture after picture with different groups of people in the family. There was still quite a number of people in line ahead of us, so we gave up and left the line. That was probably the longest we stood in line our entire trip.
