Fireworks is right...

Some cell phone shots:

Yesterday, Mandy and I went to Disneyland in the late afternoon so we could catch the new Halloween fireworks show featuring Jack Skellington, Zero, and a plethora of Disney Villains. It was pretty awesome and we got a great view. We were almost right in the front--right in front of the castle--probably 5 people deep. I'll post up more pics later, if and when I have a chance. =)

That show was amazing, but I have to say not as amazing as how rude the people were that were waiting for the show. It pretty much was almost ruined because of the rudeness. Seriously. Since when does Disney + Fireworks = Hostility? Sheesh!!!!

The worst bout of rudeness came when some of us in the crowd were encouraging this little 5-year-old kid, who's mother was too small to lift him up and who couldn't see anything, to move up to the front so he could see better. There was a gap where no one was standing and we figured it wasn't a big deal to make a way for him to go up there... by himself, mind you--not with a giant group of people who were gonna follow behind. Well, this lady up there went off and actually physically pushed this child back. When people started to try to explain to her that we were just trying to help him see better, she turns around and starts screaming that she's "been there since 5PM saving her seat" and blah blah blah! (Really? Because at 5PM you would have been run over by a trolly or horse-drawn carriage sitting in that exact location.)

Wow, lady. Wow. You seriously put your hands on someone else's child all for a 20-minute fireworks show, which you apparently had already seen since you were describing it to the people around you in such great detail a few moments earlier. You are a grown adult, lady. This is a child... Isn't Disneyland really supposed to be for the kids anyway? But no, you have your "rights," which means everyone needs to stay out of your way... even the kids.

Now if she had been waiting there since 5PM because someone was gonna come around passing out $100 bills, I would understand why she might lose her head (shoot, I need that money too... lol), but come on! We all--a bunch of strangers who didn't even know each other--were trying to do a nice thing for this kid, which was not going to affect this lady in any way. Just like Mandy said, I'm sorry your knees were going to be blocked from seeing the fireworks by this not-even-4 ft. child. What on earth? Talk about un-called-for and rude!

Thankfully, it turned out well for the kid. Despite being man-handled and then frightened and subequently caused to cry by this witch (guess it's fitting for Halloween), he got to enjoy the show how every kid should. Another nice elderly couple made room and both he and his mom were able to move to the front. Thank goodness there are SOME nice people in this world. I hope that lady's heart was burning with guilt and shame for how she behaved, but I doubt it. Then again she was still running her mouth at the end in defense of herself, which tells me she probably did feel guilty and didn't like it. Ha!

The sad thing is... Well, actually there are a few sad things:

1) After posting up my frustrations on Facebook, I find out that this is a regular thing during the fireworks show. People!!! It's Disneyland. We are all there to have fun... not fight each other.

2) The way in which society has become so obsessed with personal rights and self-centeredness, has caused us to become absolutely disgusting people. We have no self-control and can't even bite out tongues anymore--sadly, myself included at times. Any little thing that makes us mad and we will verbally assault a stranger.

3) People think it is okay to cuss each other out and be rude to each other in front of children. This goes back to point two, but I think it needed it's own category. What makes us think that a) it is appropriate to use foul language in front of kids (which I admit I have been guilty of in the past... shameful) and b) it is okay to completely forget that there are children around who don't understand what's going on and can become scared, all because we are offended. Wow, and then we can't understand why our kids act up and show no respect.

4) Disney himself was a man of morals and good, old-fashioned American values. I don't think he would have stood for this type of behavior in his park. He made Disneyland a place for ALL of us to enjoy and as a way to, for one day, forget about the stresses in our life. He did NOT intend for it become a battle zone!

Come on, people. We can do better than this!