Two new park developments

[WonkaKid]

Two new rules/policies I've encountered today at DL:

1. You can still request to sit in the front row of Pirates. However, you can no longer have it all to yourself. At least one other person must join you. As a result, you get splashed harder after both drops.

2. Apparently, large-scale guest pin trading is no longer allowed (although this doesn't seem to be stringently enforced). I'm told that the reason for it is that often when a trader requests a certain pin from the seated trader, they're asked go in and buy a new requested pin. The CMs I spoke with hadn't heard of this rule but a trader said she'd recently been informed of it.

 

[Sparrow78]

I'm confused... Lol did they not let people in the front row of pirates? I swore ive sat there before

 

[gottalovepluto]

POTC seating is weird... when I was there in Sept they were adamant about not sharing a row with anyone who wasn't in your party. Very adamant, they shouted it over and over and over and it didn't matter how many people made up 1 party. I mean, I get it, shoving strangers next to each other in the dark IS a bad idea but this development for row 1 of yes*... I don't envy those CMs loading POTC these days!
ETA: what's the deal with the last row? Do they ever load it?

 

[WonkaKid]

I'm confused... Lol did they not let people in the front row of pirates? I swore ive sat there before

They do. But guests can no longer ride alone. There must be at least two riders. That's new. I used to ride up front solo all the time.

 

[ParkHopper1]

what's the deal with the last row? Do they ever load it?

As water builds up in the boat it pools towards the back row...so they eventually just stop seating it.

 

[modelar7]

The back row was used for wheel chairs. never heard about asking for the front of the boat. I have never been seated with a family but one time a family got in with me and the cm took them out.

 

[Niltiac]

The back row was used for wheel chairs.

No so sure about this, because I've been seated in the back row without a wheelchair and in a middle row when I had a wheelchair. When I had the chair they had all the handicap people wait until there were enough of us to fill a whole boat and then loaded us all at once.

 

[WonkaKid]

One other note about pin trading. I'm not a pin collector/trader myself but I'm aware that there are a large number of bootleg/fake pins made and sold widely. I always presumed that CMs would not be allowed to trade for any fakes. I spoke with two CMs yesterday that were trading and they explained that while it's official policy not to accept fakes, many if not all CMs will trade for them.

 

[SteveMP]

They do. But guests can no longer ride alone. There must be at least two riders. That's new. I used to ride up front solo all the time.

They purposely put me on front solo early October. It seems to depend on the CM

 

[WonkaKid]

They purposely put me on front solo early October. It seems to depend on the CM

I think this is a new development -- like within the past ten days or so. Prior to yesterday, I was last in the park on Nov. 12. I was allowed to ride solo in the front on that day.

 

[disneychrista]

I don't mind sitting with a "stranger" when I am a solo traveller but I do not like when they try to load as many people as possible in one row. It is not comfortable to not be able to move because they want to seat 4 full sized adults in one row.

 

[WonkaKid]

I don't mind sitting with a "stranger" when I am a solo traveller but I do not like when they try to load as many people as possible in one row. It is not comfortable to not be able to move because they want to seat 4 full sized adults in one row.

Totally understand. I don't particularly mind, but my preference is to have the entire first row to myself.

Having said that, I don't like when I get on a dark ride like Snow White and then strangers get in the seat behind me. When you're on POTC, there are always going to be other riders in/on the boat. But dark rides to me feel more private.

 

[SteveMP]

I think this is a new development -- like within the past ten days or so. Prior to yesterday, I was last in the park on Nov. 12. I was allowed to ride solo in the front on that day.

Wonder what happened? Maybe somebody that has seen the Little Mermaid too many times tried something with someone they put next to?

 

[figment_jii]

One other note about pin trading. I'm not a pin collector/trader myself but I'm aware that there are a large number of bootleg/fake pins made and sold widely. I always presumed that CMs would not be allowed to trade for any fakes. I spoke with two CMs yesterday that were trading and they explained that while it's official policy not to accept fakes, many if not all CMs will trade for them.

This isn’t really new...technically, CMs aren’t supposed to trade for fake/bootleg/scrapper pins, but most will trade regardless what is offered because it’s so hard to tell which pins are fakes/bootlegs/scrappers. There is no surefire way to know if a pin authentic, so it would come down to a judgement call. The only pins that are easy to reject are non-Disney pins, but that’s a different issue. Mostly CMs will just check to make sure the offered pin has a Disney character/show/event/Park/attraction and then go from there.

 

[WonkaKid]

This isn’t really new...technically, CMs aren’t supposed to trade for fake/bootleg/scrapper pins, but most will trade regardless what is offered because it’s so hard to tell which pins are fakes/bootlegs/scrappers. There is no surefire way to know if a pin authentic, so it would come down to a judgement call. The only pins that are easy to reject are non-Disney pins, but that’s a different issue. Mostly CMs will just check to make sure the offered pin has a Disney character/show/event/Park/attraction and then go from there.

No, I know. This isn't new. But the thing about not allowing large-scale/serious traders to setup in the park sounds new to me.

 

[figment_jii]

No, I know. This isn't new. But the thing about not allowing large-scale/serious traders to setup in the park sounds new to me.

Ah, got it. From the way you phrased it it in post #8, it sounded like you thought the “no fakes” was something that was new. I thought they had been discouraging the professional traders to varying degrees for a while now. They were trying to remove the places they had been setting up, but maybe now they’re more actively trying to keep them from taking over the tables near Rancho and Little Green Men.

 

[Sith]

POTC seating is weird... when I was there in Sept they were adamant about not sharing a row with anyone who wasn't in your party. Very adamant, they shouted it over and over and over and it didn't matter how many people made up 1 party. I mean, I get it, shoving strangers next to each other in the dark IS a bad idea but this development for row 1 of yes*... I don't envy those CMs loading POTC these days!
ETA: what's the deal with the last row? Do they ever load it?

This has never been an issue for us, since we are usually a group of 3. But, do they really not seat strangers in the same row on Pirates? Is that really necessary? I mean, it makes sense to not put strangers together in a Doom Buggy. But, Pirates? Really? It's a boat full of people...

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

This has never been an issue for us, since we are usually a group of 3. But, do they really not seat strangers in the same row on Pirates? Is that really necessary? I mean, it makes sense to not put strangers together in a Doom Buggy. But, Pirates? Really? It's a boat full of people...

I'm usually alone with my toddler son and we've never had strangers seated with us on Pirates or IASW. I wouldn't mind but it's never been done.

 

[figment_jii]

Maybe this is one of those things they’re trying out in anticipation of the large crowds during the holiday times when they’re going to want to get as many guests into each attraction vehicle as possible. While I do understand the desire to fill the boats, I would not want to share a row/vehicle with a stranger. I’d be a little more understanding for things like PotC and IaSW where the rows are fairly wide or where the seats are clearly separated (like Space Mtn, Matterhorn, Indy, etc.), but I’d be quite unhappy if it happens in smaller attraction vehicles (like HM, LM, BTMRR, etc.).

 

[casagray]

As a solo traveler, I've been seated in the back row, with the resulting soggy bottom (and not in the way Mary Berry means). However, that was over a year ago, maybe it's changed since then.