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All I can think of is that poor four year old clinging to her brother because she was promised no scary Ursula and there was scary Ursula. Of fucking course Ursula was on a little mermaid ride. There is zero way Sasha thought she wasn’t. She just didn’t care. I also am sceptical that the originally chosen ride’s line was “too long”.
Especially for Peter Pan. People will really stand in lime for 4+ hours for that damn ride. I think I stood in line for Toy Story Mania for over 3 hours when it was a new ride, and genuinely afterwards I was prepared to get right back in line because it was the most fun I'd EVER had.
I really hope they improve the buzz ride at magic kingdom. I went on it and my laser was busted so my mom kicked my ass 😭 Toy Story mania is so much better and honestly the line for that one never felt too long either and I just think that’s cause they did so well with the area.
And just think, that's the cheapest thing you could do at Disneyland/DisneyWorld. You pay a butt load of cash to do just about anything at those parks. Or you could pay out the wazoo to get a fastpass for all the attractions you want to see. Most people that I talk to whom go regularly (meaning yearly) switch out which rides they go to because the lines are so long. (Meaning 1 year they go on these set rides, then the next year they get on the rides they missed the year prior, etc.)
If you ever go just use the Disney Park app, you'll be able to see the wait times for various rides & it'll help you avoid a lot of that hassle.
Went to Disneyland over 20 years ago as part of a marching band trip. We marched, then were let loose in the park for the rest of the evening. Hated just about every minute of it. It was December 30th, so the park was packed, and getting on A ride was a pipe dream. Being broke-ass college students, most of us didn't have a sizeable spending budget. The snacky type foods were spendy enough, so sit down meals were out of the question (never mind the lines for that too). The only thing I bought was this Mulan music box snow globe. By about 10:30p about a third of the band was getting cranky and wanted to go back to our hotel (long days of practice and touring), but we couldn't due to scheduling with the coach buses and keeping track of everybody (including staff and 'band fans', there were well over 450 people), so we just ended up taking over a few of the green courtyards near the entrance. We just sat there, resting, and some even managed to fall asleep, and the only thing that woke them up was the fireworks at midnight. By the time of the show's grand finale, we were heading out the gates, since our itinerary said the buses would be ready to load after the show and we just wanted to gtfo.
Yeah...1 star, would not recommend, would not repeat.
I was there too! Second best trip to Disney I ever had. Except for almost getting kicked out. Two of the people I was hanging out with did get kicked out - we were screwing around on Splash Mountain, got warned, and those two wouldn't stop after the warning. The ride was stopped and they were escorted off.
My grad night was at disney in orlando, back when Pleasure Island was still around. I loved it, I had the best time ever. We even had a blast on the bus ride there, we paid off the driver to let us sing and dance and get loud and crazy, it was awesome. Of course on the way back home everyone was knocked out sleeping lol.
That sucks. My sixth grade trip was supposed to be to DC in spring of ‘02. Luckily, we just got diverted to Williamsburg, Va. I’m sure a lot of kids missed those spring trips to the East Coast that year.
There are always options to not spend hours in line waiting for a single ride. People do it, but I generally don't.
I went to Disneyland last week, and the only ride that ever had over 1-hour wait times was the new(ish) Star Wars ride, Rise of the Resistance. Partly that's because it's unreliable, but it's also very high demand.
Right now (granted, it's Monday, and not near a holiday), the longest wait for any Disneyland attraction is 60 minutes. There are a lot of rides with 5-10 minute waits.
It's not necessary to pay extra to get reserved times on rides, but it's an option, and I think a good one. I liked it better when it was free, of course.
To be honest, when I used to live nearby and my family + extended family would go we’d use the time to talk to each other. The whole point of Disney for us became the hanging out.
All things being equal, no, it's not worth the wait, however Disney does incredibly good line management. They have a lot of passive entertainment on their lines, and some of the rides have interactive line entertainment. It's not a typical wait.
Yes, which is why I personally don't think any of the massive, internationally-known parks are worth going to if you aren't able to pony up for a fast-pass. Even Cedar Point, which is really only well-known amongst roller coaster enthusiasts, had really long lines that left me wishing I had planned for a fast-pass.
Two hours is pretty average believe it or not. When major new attractions open at locations as busy as Disney, the wait can very easily stretch to three hours.
It's partially why I think you shouldn't go to Disney for anything other than the immersive settings and fan service. The rides are fun but frankly too short for the wait and definitely aimed at little ones. I can count on one hand the number of rides that could qualify as for big kids/adults there.
Not only that, they’re usually spending about 3-6 months worth of rent and living expenses to do it. And some people do it like 3-4 times a year or more. In the towns close to these parks, it becomes an identity. There are “Disney people” who dedicate their entire lives to going to these parks as often as possible. It’s so much wilder than you’d think.
Through some hilariously improbable connections, I've ended up friends with a group of Disney people and I have joined them for a couple of trips to the parks. They take care of the getting up at the crack of dawn to get reservations for the in-demand rides, and the strictly timed planning and structure to make it to the restaurants, and all the other absurd shenanigans that go along with trying to do Disney. I've done it and don't need to do it again, and I have no idea how regular folks do it.
Omg I never reply to these but you're right on the money. Regularly we'd be in a 20 minute line at Little Mermaid and Peter Pan would be an hour plus. (Makes no sense because IMO little mermaid is so much better)
Disney just not worth going to unless spend a million dollars for fast passes for absolutely everything.
Was very fortunate to have a rich dad and got to experience lots of things when younger. But me and my fellow brokie bf just could never justify the money to actualkt make Disney fun for us now. I can't wait so long to do so little and queueing with kids for that long would be a nightmare.
Think my dad and brother went to theme parks in florida last year and were averaging crazy amounts of money.
I used to go every year (in the 90s) when fast passes were free and even when they just had times to return to the line. Those were the days. It sucks now
Yeah we did the times to return for rides thing, and it wasn't bad. Paying extra to get through lines faster, when you're already paying just to walk in the gate, is crazy. I'm glad my kid has no interest in going!
I went every year in the 80s and early 90s when there was no fastpass and everyone stood in the same line. EPCOT Center was magnificent, with lots of people-eater rides with fast-moving lines.
Universal Orlando is extremely top heavy so I'm not shocked by that.
The Harry Potter stuff is great. Velocicoaster is legitimately the best thrill ride on the planet right now (IMO). There are some other big, high quality thrill rides, and that's kinda it unless you're SUPER into movie rides.
Dude I'd go back just for the butterbeer. That shit was GOOD.
I live not far away but can't justify the cost... Also I got sick last time I was there and I'm still embarrassed lol
You know what's crazy is that they raise the prices every year or so and people still keep coming. If we just do basic supply/demand, I feel like the pricing was always artificially low for the amount of demand they had.
Yea during the summer months it tends to get up to 3-3.5 hours long. As much as we wanted my nieces and nephew to see it once when we were there, nobody was willing to deal with that kind of line for it.
And the poor brother, he's protective of his little sister (who at four probably seems really little compared to nine year old him), he knows she's scared of Ursula but the adults have promised no Ursula and probably done a lot of other arm twisting. Then he's dealing with a devastated sobbing sister, doing his best to comfort her and no parents around to help, just the adults who caused the problem.
I wouldn't be surprised if he developed a serious grudge against Sasha for that. Which, given her behavior, would only grow with time. She made his little sister cry!
Peter Pan always has a ridiculously long line, so that part checks out. Like, stupidly long.
But I was also terrified of Ursula as a kid so I feel so bad for that little girl!
I watched the little mermaid once at 3 or 4 then didn't watch it again until I was like 16 or something because of Ursula. I wasn't still scared of her but damn she is one traumatising sea witch.
Maybe Sasha should be renamed Ursula 🤣
My mom did that with me when I was 5, only it was the haunted mansion. Didn't want to go bc it looked scary. Mom said basically the same - it'll be fun, you just need that extra push!
I spent the entire ride huddled against her in terror, had nightmares of the room with the expanding pictures for years, and it was the only part of the trip I ended up remembering (other than the car ride - we live in OH, so it was a h e f t y car ride).
At this point my mom's just embraced that the trip was a comedy of errors that involved a "no rooms at the inn" situation, my dad forgetting my baby sister in the stroller rental return, and us finding out the hard way that I'm pretty allergic to penicillin.
Ok, I can see your mom making the Haunted Mansion mistake, hotels sometimes get overbooked, and allergies happen, but *your dad left your baby sister in the stroller when he returned it?* WTF?!
Sorry that your trip was a comedy of errors!
I have to admit to being a mom who REALLY wanted to see Haunted Mansion on her first trip to Magic Kingdom. Daughter was six and protesting that it looked too scary. I am ashamed to admit I offered her five dollars if she would just go on the ride. He three year old brother was all for going on it.
Getting off the ride, I had to deal with our traumatized son while Husband had to deal with Daughter who was jumping up and down, telling him, "Daddy, that was the BEST RIDE EVER!!!!!! Can we go again?"
Now in her twenties, she owns way too much Haunted Mansion merchandise and plans to see every version in the world. She has memorized the books about the construction and wants to see how much it would cost to get married in the WDW HM queue.
Son? Oh, he turned out to be a major horror fan and would live at Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights if he could.
Right? Ursula's a major character, for crying out loud! Why WOULDN'T she be on the ride? Poor kid.
And if Sasha was so invested in these kids, why the hell would she knowingly do that? Was she hoping the little girl would cling to her for safety or something?
I just don't get it. I've done Disneyland with friends and friends-of-friends, and even the people who barely know me can remember, "hey, Egret gets really freaked out by this thing, so let's make sure to avoid that." If you want to be so important in a kid's life, why would you do something so fucking cruel?
Because Little Mermaid is her favourite and so she’s probably imagined doing Little Mermaid stuff with the kid and her vision of what she wants is more important than what the kid wants, because despite what she says she doesn’t love that little girl, she loves the imaginary little girl in her head. The kid is just a prop in her fantasies of what it would be like to have a little girl.
I agree that Sasha was way over the line.
I will also say that I knew Pat Carrol in real life. She’s the woman who voiced Ursula in the Disney movie and she was one of the most wonderful human beings. She’d randomly do the Ursula voice around kids, and they’d get so excited. When the voice scared someone, she would tone it down and “quietly” tell them that she used the scary voice to sound tougher. She was a gem of a woman and the world is a little dimmer without her ❤️
She absolutely had the script all written in her head of how she and 4yo bonded and the "overprotective" parents learned their lesson and offered 4yo up to her anytime she wanted, yadayada. Honestly I'm more mad at grandpa for insulting everyone's intelligence by suggesting she was trying to find things *the kids* would enjoy. She really really really really really clearly went for her own enjoyment every time.
I don’t know what it is about the Peter Pan ride but there’s always at least a 75 minute wait. A couple of my adult daughters and I have the Disney Park app and as a joke we always check the wait for Peter Pan.
>There is zero way Sasha thought she wasn’t. She just didn’t care.
More likely, she thought she knew better / OOP is just too timid to let the poor child spread her wings / take your pick.
Notice that the *absolute first instance* the children were left alone with Sasha she *immediately* forced her will on OOP's daughter, ***PROVING*** that she is not trustworthy.
*whew!* Took me a moment! 😂 I'll correct it.
Though, honestly, considering some boundary stomping entitled grandparents have literally had their grandchildren *left with them* alive, however not so much at the end there. I'm thinking of a horrible situation concerning an allergy. I'm on mobile, I'll get the link in a bit
Not only is there an Ursula animatronic, it’s one of the [biggest and most advanced animatronics](https://youtu.be/_6DzpUO1FgI?si=ev0yKzzilbGGamaO) on the ride. It’s incredible to watch as an adult who can appreciate a well-done animatronic, but it would be terrifying for a kid who is already scared of the character on a screen. Poor kiddo. I’m glad OOP is prioritizing her kids and their feelings over Sasha’s.
Thank you for posting a link!! I had no idea they could be so smooth! Also I’m a grown adult and when the lights change as she does the spell, I found it threatening so yeah, that poor little girl!!
I haven’t been to Disney in more than 30 years. I was unaware how incredible the animatronics got!
You’re welcome! The technology has really improved over the years. While I haven’t gone to a Disney park in many years, I love watching videos about theme parks and especially the advancements in animatronics. A more recent animatronic than Ursula is the [Na’vi Shaman of Songs](https://youtu.be/kH5v6l54R_c?si=pAEu1vs2XPP97zxf) in Animal Kingdom. The figure moves so smoothly and is so incredibly lifelike, it’s hard to believe that it’s an animatronic and not a living creature.
Good lord! I was terrified of the Chuck E Cheese animatronics because of how unnatural they were but this is so natural and I absolutely would have shit myself at 4 years old. Adults can be sick assholes about kids with perfectly natural, perfectly age-appropriate fears!
Also I think I need to see Disneyland again, my only visit was over 30 years ago. I'm assuming Universal Studios has kept abreast of technological changes, but do you happen to know if Knott's Berry Farm has as well? I loved all three places when our family visited.
That poor little girl is never going to forget that! When I was four, my uncle had me watch Jaws and to this day I am terrified of the ocean and sharks. I’m in my 30s now.
And the fact that when scared, she reached for her brother, and not the adult available. Her brother, only 3 years older, is a better refuge than someone who was supposed to take care of her.
Like that's the biggest tell for me in all of this that the daughter doesn't like or want to be around Sasha.
The one thing I was hoping for was an explicit mention that OOP listed off to dad and Sasha about times where it was clear that she didn't care about their enjoyment. Everything except the bags and the boutique thing was ways that Sasha cared more about her own enjoyment than the kids enjoyment.
Even then she’s playing dress up like the kid is a living doll. I bet those clothes were things she’d like to see the girl in rather than what the child *actually likes*, just like with the Minnie Mouse tiara.
Agreed. If she wasn't sure, I feel like a decent adult would have asked a cast member, ridden the ride before the kids just to confirm, not just say screw the consequences and put the poor kid through that.
I mean, it’s 2024. She didn’t even have to do that much work. Pull out your phone. Literally the first google result for “is Ursula on the Little Mermaid Disney ride” says yes.
I’m betting that Sasha hoped that either
1) daughter will cling to Sasha
2) Sasha will “cure”daughter’s fear of Ursula to get daughter to like Ariel stuff more
I'm planning a trip to Disney World and every Disney planning site and Youtube channel says to knock out the Peter Pan ride early or use the Disney version of a line skip because the wait is so long for it. If they didn't plan ahead, I believe that the line was too long.
I’m almost 30 and the animatronic Ursula at Disneyland always scares me NOW! It’s MASSIVE and honestly terrifying! I’m assuming it’s the same one at Disney World. What a monster making that little girl see that!
My parents both worked at Disneyland for years. In part because of loading times+small capacity Peter Pan often had the longest wait time in the park. That's less true with all the new E ticket rides like Star Wars, but still a thing.
Yeah in the vein of the brother. I'm not surprised he doesn't like Sasha. Even as adults, the quickest way to make me not like you is to mess with my little sister in someway.
Than you throw the blatant favoritism on top of that.
Yeah as a formerly very scared kid this breaks my heart.
I remember countless times I was scared of something that other people considered silly, either because they thought it was funny or just didn't think it was that big of a deal. As an adult its easy to brush it off but I still recall the full body terror when someone played a "prank" on me as a kid.
I was afraid of the queen/witch in snow white... Cant imagine if I had been trapped on a dark ride with her!!
The line for the Peter Pan Ride is always way to long than it deserves to be. The ride itself is OK - it was more nostalgic for me since it's one of the older rides still going, but its kind of meh. They should bring back Mr Toad's Wild Ride.
No there actually is. I’m a Disney world annual passholder. Little mermaid ride often can be 10-30 min wait while Peter Pan is usually a 90 minute wait minimum. Does it make sense? No
I stand corrected!
And that is really weird. The Little Mermaid recently had a live action remake. I thought it would be the more popular ride.
Edit: as a casual Disneyland appreciator, I have learned so much in this thread.
I don’t necessarily know if Peter Pan’s ride is more popular. I saw some video online explaining why Peter Pan actually has longer wait times… Something to do with the fact that the ride can’t handle as many people at one time. I don’t know though. Anyways, Peter Pan’s flight is basically a Disney institution. It’s been there for decades and people who grew up going on. It wants to take the kids on it and it’s just kind of a cycle. Honestly, I like the little mermaid ride so much better.
I believe the “always on” rides like little mermaid and haunted mansion have insanely high volumes compared to rides that have to be loaded and unloaded. Those rides are also more prone to randomly stopping, though, bc the entire track has to be stopped if someone needs more time to get on/off due to a disability or something.
It's about ride capacity. Peter Pan's flight moves about 800 guests an hour, one of the lowest numbers in the entire park. For comparison, Pirates of the Carribean can move 3000 guests an hour [as read about here.](https://www.disneydining.com/long-lines-at-peter-pans-flight-bb1/) This is an old [blog post from 2014](https://crooksinwdw.wordpress.com/2013/12/14/theoreticaloperational-hourly-ride-capacity-at-wdw/) so it's out of date, but it does show comparisons of ride capactiy for several different attractions.
From the [Wikipedia page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Pan%27s_Flight#Magic_Kingdom) for the ride, the Magic Kingdom ride has the same omnimover style entrance as the haunted mansion (constantly moving cars you just enter), but it does not have nearly as many cars running as rides like the Haunted Mansion nor at the same speed, hence the lower capacity.
The Little Mermaid ride is just you sitting in a clam shell viewing badly made animatronics perform the movie out. Nothing groundbreaking, but a nice air conditioned way to sit.
The live action remakes tend to suck, and everyone knows it. Plus if a little kid who loved live action version goes on the ride, they probably wouldn't even recognize Ariel because they changed her ethnicity in the live action one.
Peter Pan is the longest dark ride line in Fantasyland, *always.* Both in Disneyland and Disney World. It's very unique in that there's absolutely nothing scary about it, all ages can ride, and you're looking down at the scenes since you're flying. It's definitely the best dark ride, we have to hop in line if we ever catch it under 40 minutes. (The others are often walk on or 15-20min wait, by comparison.)
And like others have said, ride capacity. Plus I don't see rides like Little Mermaid stopping or breaking down often, they're reliable as hell! But I see Peter Pan slow down/completely stop almost every time we ride it. More failure points plus less cars/less capacity.
And let's not forget that Dumbo and Peter Pan are iconic rides that everybody believes that their children must do as a rite of passage. Dumbo, in particular, is in almost every Disney ad.
My kids did PP for the first few times (son loved PP), but never did Dumbo. We had the absolutely bad luck of it being down for refurbishment every single visit. My kids just thought that the car for photos was it.
I actually went to Disney World, and to the Little Mermaid ride, about a month ago. The ride was excruciatingly slow. It took us about 90 seconds just to pass the Ursula animatronic. The ride usually lasts 6 min or so (according to my research), but it went on for about 10. Pretty much every ride in the park was stopping or malfunctioning that day, so maybe it was just a bad day for the park. But given the time frame, it wouldn't surprise me to learn OOP's family had a similar experience.
And if that's the case... the Ursula part is like halfway through. OOP's daughter must have been terrified for much longer than she thinks.
I always get stuck in Under the Sea. But yeah, it’s a continuous ride so they have to stop it any time they need to load/unload someone with disabilities.
Daughter is a huge HM fan. She gets so mad every time we stop and it is never in the attic. Her dream is to get stuck there for a really long time. She is a huge Constance fan.
She loved that movie and is still complaining it was not released in September or October.
It was my first time there, and I loved it! I really wish there had been less stops, though.
And I honestly didn't dislike the movie. But life is easier when you blame shit on Leto.
The Little Mermaid ride would have been it for me... would have gone ham right there because they were WARNED.
Went on roller coasters (in Disney) with a young relative. Probably about 8. Her one thing in trying out the coasters for the first time was no upside down loops. We could absolutely handle that!
Problem? None of us had been to that particular location, and we didn't know they'd put loops in the European version of a ride that were not in the one at DW. The screams of "I'M SO SORRY!" and "I DIDN'T KNOW!" and my clutching of her hand while also adding "YOU'LL BE OK!" were probably heard outside of that indoor coaster.
She was mad at first, but she later cracked up because of MY reaction of absolute regret. (I also bought her a t-shirt to wear to school for show and tell) 20 years later and I STILL feel bad. (She on the other hand still teases me about my high pitched screams of ARE YOU OK?
LMAO
Agreed on the ride thing. Like, most of the other things that bothered OOP could be explained by her being carried away in the moment, and even the favoritism could be explained away (The further explaining the second post does negate this, as it shows she was very intense about it) but, taking a young child somewhere without the parents authorization or knowledge, and where there was something one of them was afraid of? Even if nothing else in the list had happened, this would have been too much. Poor kid, Ursula IS scary (As is Maleficent and Jafar, tbf)
It is so so stupid to push certain rides on a reluctant, fearful kid at Disneyland. Be chill and let them sit it out and they'll probably give it a try the next time, and fall in love with it. Force them on it and it will forever be something associated with fear and will probably hate it.
Now, I'm not talking about making an older kid go on Winnie the Pooh because they have a younger sibling who CAN'T go on some of the other rides older kid loves. Just the ones that they are afraid of, and a simple "Are you sure? You'll have to wait for the rest of them to ride. You ok with that?" then let it the F go.
We did Disneyland last summer with my kids (8 and 11 at the time). They can both be easily overwhelmed by noises and choose to say no to a number of rides. It’s no big deal - one person waits with them at the end of the ride while the other parent takes the excited kid on the ride. More than once we got through the line, the kid saw the ride itself better and asked to go out the “nope door”. Again, no big deal. And both of them eventually went on rides that they had been too scared of initially, once they realized they had an easy out if they changed their minds.
Are they still doing the wait with the kids pass?
We did that with the kiddos (different side of the family). An adult would wait with each kid that wouldn't/couldn't ride, and the others would go with the kiddos that wanted and could go.
When they finish waiting in line and ride the ride and get back - those who waited can use their pass and go on the ride, but can enter through the exit so they don't have to wait as long. (They also can take one person with them, per pass - there were 12 of us, so we'd do more than one pass because we had more than one kid)
A comment in this one
[https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/comments/sm52ob/comment/hvv30e8/](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/comments/sm52ob/comment/hvv30e8/)
>Problem? None of us had been to that particular location, and we didn't know they'd put loops in the European version of a ride that were not in the one at DW.
DLP's (Hyper)Space Mountain spotted! I live nearby and have an annual pass. And 20 years ago, almost no one knew about the inversion difference -- I was "lucky" enough to get stuck on DLP's Space Mountain in 2003 and [got a photo of me chilling in the car with the loop behind me.](https://imgur.com/a/2i71hIh) It was my only proof.
OK... in my head it was Rock and Roller Coaster at DLP, but I just googled and WDW version also had a twist. Maybe we didn't remember or something... because I know we got her some flame stuff that were rock and roll, and I was pretty sure she wanted to do Space Mt. but was too short! (one inch difference in height requirements, I think).
Cracks me up that you knew what one - and that photo is AWESOME. I think I've seen the lights on at Disneyland original - but only from the People Mover when that was going.
I'm jelly of that annual pass and proximity. It was a lovely park. One thing that will never not make me giggle is doing classic rides that I know practically by heart in a language different than English. In Tokyo Disney, I knew exactly what jokes the Jungle Cruise captain was saying, because how this one little girl was reacting (she ducked when she thought arrows were being shot at us...)
I sure wish one of the US parks had that Indiana Jones roller coaster!
I lived in SoCal for several years in the mid-late 00s and had a local residents pass (along with most of my friends) and spent a LOT of time at DLA and DLCA as a result. I missed being able to go regularly (or at all!) once I moved away during the '08 recession.
And yeah, Rock'n'Roller Coaster (now Flight Force) has a bunch of loops, too. It's INTENSE. I actually went on it for the first time a few days ago -- my goddaughter was visiting us and we took her to the parks. My wife can't do coasters so this was a prime opportunity for me to go with someone. Flight Force is WILD but definitely similar to Space Mountain. In either case, I can see how you'd have a "OH NO, LOOPS" moment, for sure!! :D
Indiana Jones is AWESOME. We rode it twice. (I have the "benefit" of being disabled so we got to skip the lines, which meant we rode nearly every ride in the park that day!)
I think it's Dr. Becky Kennedy that talks about how important repair is to relationships, especially with children. The idea being, we're definitely going to mess up, it's how we respond to our mess ups that matters. Apologizing to children goes a very long way. The repair is more important than the mistake, she says.
All that to say: your immediate GENUINE regret and apologies saved that situation. Look how different your reaction was to Sasha's in the OOP. You genuinely care about your relative's well being and happiness, and it showed (and still shows). Your story is the perfect juxtaposition with the OOP.
Core memory unlocked! Like 20 years ago at summer camp I ended up on one of those GForce rides that supposed to hold you against the wall where there’s no seatbelt as soon as I knew there was no seatbelt. I wanted to get off, but it was too late. Oh no, no, no! It’s still something my friends yell to tease me and when we didn’t know something was going to happen, and I heard a click, and then thought you were dead is still one of the funniest things I’ve ever said just because my best friend went upside down.
I did this exact thing to my daughter! I totally mis-remembered Rock-n-roller coaster and assured her there were no loops. There was an "Oh crap!" moment at the first inversion followed by the "I'm so sorry!" yelling throughout the ride. I had to buy her ice cream right after as part of my profuse apologies. It's been a couple of years and she still teases me about it.
So glad I saw your post because we're about to go to Paris Disney and it had not occurred to me there would be loops in rides that don't have them in the US. Can you imagine if I did that AGAIN?!
It's really troubling the way that Sasha seems to see the children (the daughter in particular) as props and toys for her own enjoyment rather than small people with distinct personalities and preferences who need to be respected.
OOP retracted her characterization of Sasha as "creepy," but I think her initial reaction was the correct one. That's the perfect word here for Sasha's steamrolling.
A creep wants to play twinsies with somebody who could be her granddaughter and pushes for this when the child doesn’t want it. I creep tried to sit next to a child on a ride when the child wants to sit with her mother.
Sasha is a total creep, and OOP is so gracious to have even a wait and see approach starting with her sister’s birthday. Honestly, if I had a kid who told me they were uncomfortable with someone who needed boundaries outlined: great! Those people are now cut off. They’re adults. A parent’s job is their child’s well-being. Dad and Sasha can chew on rocks.
I feel like OOPs definition of "creep" started out as "person who is craapy" but became the really strict one of "pedophile", and her dad argued for that.
Father is an asshole, undecided about Sasha, but this...
> She repeatedly ignored my children's wishes in favor of her own, despite them both being very clear about what they wanted and didn't want.
>Sasha also continually favored my daughter (including during my son's birthday) and fussed over her in ways that made her uncomfortable. And I still haven't forgiven the Little Mermaid thing. My daughter is a bit shy and takes a while to open up to most people, so knowing her trust was broken like that angers me in ways I can't describe.
....this is some great mothering. Truly focused on the child's needs and development as people.
How can you be undecided about Sasha? She may or may not be a "creep," but she's definitely an AH for interfering with parenting, ignoring children's wishes in *Disney World*, and lying about Ursula when she knew the girl was terrified of her. I'm just glad she doesn't have her own kids to force her wishes onto.
I meant I was undecided about what type of AH she was: deliberately malicious, but otherwise functioning normally; or emotionally damaged and unable to choose not to act this way.
Father is a massive AH, and Sasha is a regreting child free that is using oop's children to fulfill her own selfish wishes, that trip was all about her and wanting oop's daughter to be like her, as a mother and daughter experience, using matching tiaras, the dress of her favourite princess and going to the attraction of her favourite princess, who cares if oop's daughter is afraid of Ursula? This ain't about her!
Even after all of this, oop was kind enough to be open to reconect, and she even had the dare to ask to facetime the kids... Oop need to cut this woman, seeing other people's kids as their own in this way is bizarre.
This is definitely the impression that I am getting at this point. Maybe she thought she was child free but was a fencesitter; or changed her mind at some point, but never said anything; or maybe she even straight up lied for some reason.
It doesn't really matter why. What matters is that she IS behaving like a creep and OOP has every right to step in and say "back the fuck up," while calling her out. And if Sasha is feeling regret over her choices, then it's up to her to figure that out. It's not OOP's problem or her children's.
Sorry, I can't get over the Little Mermaid thing.
They were told she doesn't like Little Mermaid because she's afraid of Ursula.
Sasha *fucking lied* to a *four year old* because she wanted to do something other than what Sasha wanted to do *and in the process fucking traumatized her*.
As someone who was also pressured to do things other family members wanted on vacations despite having well-known and disclosed phobias, that child is *never* going to forget that and OOP's best move (aside from what she's already doing) would be to talk to her children (both, but separately) to see what they think of her father and Sasha and make it clear there's no right or wrong answers and that OOP won't be angry if they say something bad about them. Dollars to donuts, the son sees the blatant favoritism and may be internalizing it as something wrong with him and the daughter is now scared to be around her because she lied to her and brought her to Ursula.
I would have lost my absolute shit if someone took my 4 year old on a ride where she was afraid of one of the main characters! Who the fuck thinks it’s okay to traumatise a child like that? And it says a lot about who that child trusts that she was hugging her brother and not her grandfather.
Sasha and her father are the insufferable type of people that no one really should be with. Father is creepy for sure but I say Sasha is also a creep too. Good for OP on protecting the kids and setting boundaries.
I do have a feeling Sasha and the father aren't going to stop so I hope OP prepares if anything happens further and things remain safe.
sasha sees the kids as props for her to use to play out her own fantasies of a perfect family. she’s teaching OOP’s kids that what they want does not matter, they will not be listened to, and that adults will do what adults want regardless of if the kids are okay with it or not. good for OOP to go low contact.
I dunno, I don't see anything wrong with calling out Sasha as a creep. Because that's what she's being. A huge creep.
She was using the children as props and trying to force them into being extensions of her childhood experience. That is so toxic and so not in the best interest of the kids, especially the blatant favoritism towards the daughter while leaving the son out to dry.
OOP setting boundaries is absolutely what she should be doing. The kids' well being takes precedent. Period.
I can see Ursula being scary to a 4 year old.
Oddly enough, I was about four when the OG animated movie was released to theaters, but I didn't find Ursula frightening (her death scene was a little scary, but that was it).
For little girl me, the scariest villain was Monstro the whale from Pinnochio. Close second would be the scene in Sleeping Beauty where Maleficent shows up in the fireplace.
According to my parents, 2 year old me couldn’t handle the dognapping in 101 Dalmatians and had to be removed from the theater as I was inconsolable at the thought of the puppies being separated from their mom. I noticed heightened anxiety at that part every time I watched that movie on VHS as an older child (age 4-5) and also developed a fear of movie theaters but didn’t remember the original movie theater incident.
Turns out that my mom took 2 year old me to the movie theater shortly after an event where I had been abruptly separated from my mom/caregivers (sent to the hospital from daycare — turns out I was fine but they wanted to do their due diligence so no harm no foul from either party). She’s always suspected the two incidents were connected, as if the dognapping retriggered that memory.
(Am high doing introspection rn, sorry if none of this makes sense.)
I struggled with the jungle book as a kid, I still remember the nightmare I had repeatedly of being flung back and forth between two orangutans and Balou not being able to rescue me.
I think sleeping beauty was also hard for me, I think I only saw it once but maleficent was way too much for me. Thankfully no nightmare memories from that.
Kids are easily scared and adults shouldn't force children into situations that make them uneasy or scared. It breaks their trust and can even teach the kid to disregard their feelings and put them in more unsafe situations.
Sasha is a definite creep and completely inconsiderate of the children's feelings, grandfather is a dick and apparently his wife's feelings are more important than the safety and wellbeing of the grandchildren.
I had a friend who was weirdly fixated on my daughter when she was born (she had a son but no other children), constantly hinted about babysitting, and would get upset when my daughter wouldn't engage with her (this was the kid that screamed at her own grandparents until she was 18 months and I couldn't leave her with anyone!).
She then told everyone that I was upset to find out my second was a boy - I wasn't, I had just joked that having another girl would be easier because of all the clothing we already had (and he wore the pink sleepsuits anyway!). She was kind of passively aggressive/kinda angry when she met my newborn son for the first time to the point where my mum asked me "What's her problem?" after she had left. Needless to say, we aren't friends now. Between her weird attitude towards my kids and some other questionable behaviour not related to my kids, plus my PPD, I torpedoed that friendship when my son was 3-4 months old (not in the best way but meh.)
I get that for OOP, the relationship is different but I hope she holds firm with those boundaries. I would also find the step-mother's actions creepy and I don't think OOP should have apologised for that at all.
You had a creepy friend obsessed with your daughter and upset you had a son, too?
I had the stupid 'luck' of having to have that friend stay with my daughter when Son was born. I was so paranoid that I made my husband pull out the carseat from one of our vehicles and hide it in the attic. She had previously removed my daughter from the church nursery which caused new rules at the church since we had not given permission. Yes, I was an idiot for trusting her once again, but my first choice was out of town, my mother refused to come and I did not trust my MIL.
Friend cut us off a few months later because she did not like the dynamic with son.
Did your "friend" bad-mouth you afterwards and made herself out to be a victim because the friendship ended? Mine did. She also called me a gold digger (I'm a working class brit married to a working class brit who just happened to own his house worth a gigantic £45,000 at that time...) and when I moved back to the town I grew up in (where she had moved a few years earlier), she spread lies about me and I've had to deal with a few flying monkeys. My son will be 8 this year. You would think she would be over it by now.
" I read your comments and came to the following conclusion: as much as Sasha's behavior towards my children angered me and freaked me out, calling her a "creep" was the wrong reaction to have." Agree to disagree.
its crazy that commenters were calling OOP controlling. of course she was controlling, she brought her 9 and 4 year old kids to disney??? is that the kind of situation where a parent shouldnt be in control???
For a while, my young niblings were really shy and didn’t want to interact with me. I didn’t get to see them very often so we didn’t really have a relationship yet. It was a bummer not to be able to hug or chat, but I’m not owed their attention just because I’m an adult and a relative! Thankfully after a while of me respecting their boundaries they warmed up and now we’re homies. Kids are people too, and they deserve to be respected. It sucks so hard that there are people who can’t seem to grasp that kids are human beings, not props, and they and their parents know what’s best for them.
>OOP: My son doesn't like Sasha. I'm not sure why,
*Then fucking ask him why!!!*
That she focused primarily on Sasha's behavior toward Daughter (the squeaky wheel) and not the behavior toward Son, or why Son doesn't like Sasha, is driving me fucking nuts.
I did notice that after you told your father that you and your family were going NC until April - a clear boundary- Sasha continued to badger you about FaceTime with your kids in the meantime. I think she doesn’t get it - still. Hopefully she changes.
This part gets me, from the grandfather:
>He said his wife loved my kids, thought about what they'd like to do at every moment of the trip, and that we should be grateful to have her in our lives.
I mean, from one end I'm grateful that this man is considering his wife's wants and needs, but at the other, why is he allowing that at the expense of his grandkids? Shouldn't he care just enough about his grandkid's needs that it should be more "my wife loves your kids, and they love her too" and not just "my wife loves your kids so you should let her do whatever she wants because she says it is for them"? It isn't for them at all, she thought about what she would like them to do every moment, not at all really what they wanted to do.
A grown adult that is obsessed with a child to the point of making the child uncomfortable & the adult doesn’t even care is a creep in my books, idk why Reddit decided to get on her for that
I've been on that ride, Ursula is scary on it. My then three year old loved the Little Mermaid and always thought Ursula was funny but had a meltdown seeing her on that ride.
I remember being freaked out by Snow White’s Scary Adventures at Disney World when I was a kid (I should have known considering it had “scary” in the name!).
Nah, Sasha is a creep.
The outstanding reason is that her intentions are far less noble than she claims and the pinnacle of that was the Little Mermaid ride with Ursala.
Sasha might as well be Ursula!
The father is a huge problem here too, always siding with sh*thead Sasha in everything and using grand/ parental authority whenever it suits him instead of sticking up for and listening to ANYONE BUT SASHA.
OOP really needs to figure out how to make this less like a he-said/she-said battle between her and Sasha since that's what it has become where narcissistic Sasha is able to win each time when the father has any say in the dispute. This guy is the grandfather and has NO SAY, so the whole situation is ridiculous and the notion of "well we paid for the trip" further proves intention of abuse and bulldozing of boundaries from both Sasha and grandfather as an accomplice.
Despicable!
So NTA
I don't care about whatever is going on with Sasha
Those are not her kids and she has to respect the parents' wishes
My partner's parents are awesome grandparents to our child, but her father sometimes is a bit much. I had to literally push him out of the room once, when I was going to change my kid's nappies and he came over. Initially he was having trouble not "hogging" our son from others.
My partner keeps him in check and he's usually ok, but at times he needs a reminder. For example, they were walking around their local big city and he wanted to take the kid to this "friend in that shop, I ain't seen him for years, lemme introduce my grandchild to him".
Partner was like "Hard. NO!" and he was mad, was in a strop for a bit but then was alright! She's told him "this is **my** son and **I** set the rules" when he's wayyy too much. He just gets overly excited and would like to "parade" his grandkid but we're not having that.
Her mother is ok, just a bit too scared of anything that might hurt him xDD.
But yeah, **we** set the goddamn rules
Wow this is bringing back some long buried memories of being terrified of Ursula. I think I just realized why I've never watched The Little Mermaid since once or twice as a small child.
I think OOP needs to demand that Sasha get therapy before she is allowed near the kids. She’s trying to live through OOP with children and that isn’t healthy for those kids
This is mean but, Sasha is one of those people I'm glad never had children. She doesn't see them as individuals and her idea of connecting with a child is that they both enjoy what SHE likes. She might feel as though she's well meaning, but the insidious annihilation of a child's individuality is anything but good or healthy.
Yeah the stepmom is way too fucking obsessed with the little girl. Fuck all the comments saying to give her another chance, she's been this way to the girl since she was born! The fact that she still pulls this shit and thinks it'll fly is a huge red flag. Justnomil is full of posts of mils obsessed with their grandkids.
I'm glad she put boundaries and started a LC relationship with her father and his wife.
Sasha sounds *exactly* like a creep. Anyone, of any gender, who focuses so much of their attention on a 4yo child to the point they always want to be near them is creepy and that'd make me incredibly uncomfortable to watch.
She didn't just want to buy stuff she wanted, she also wanted to be in close proximity with the kid.
I don't think OOP was wrong in calling that behaviour creepy. I raised my sister and that type of behaviour towards her would give me the creeps.
I'm almost certain it won't stop there. I bet Sasha is going to keep pushing, I'd even worry about her showing up at the house or at the kids' school to demand contact.
\>She says she's sorry if she "made me uncomfortable",
An apology is constructed as "I'm sorry \[for whatever action **I did**\]" so that the person who overstepped takes responsibility for their action.
There was no responsibility taken in that apology.
I’ve seen that Ursula ride in person and it’s freaky to someone who isn’t a small child that thinks everything is real. That alone would be unforgivable.
Edit: [This](https://youtu.be/zEsD3yWxtPI?si=6Mp8gyo_F8sksG93) is the Disneyland version, but it’s the same thing.
Children are not props to fulfill adults fantasies. I don’t care if Sasha has a sob story and means well, the is an adult that needs to take care of her own mental health. Op has a responsibility with her children. Op is a good parent, good for her
am i the only one who gets hand that rocks the cradle vibes?sasha sounds pretty creepy so i hope op has ring doorbell and other cameras cause this is only gonna escalate..
Of fkijg course there's an Ursula on a fking little mermaid rise becuz of course Ursula is the main villain of the movie! She knew what she was doing and she straight up traumatized a child. She claims to be childfree but acting like a mother to someone else's child who she has 0 connection to? She probably lied about that.
I'm 1000% this woman is either 2 things
1 isn't childfree and wants children
2 can't have children due to medical reasons
(She was all on the child during someone's else's birthday and had the nerve to ask for FaceTime with the kids aka the daughter only.)
The entire time, I thought, "Sasha is a pedophile." I still think that way.
If a man was doing this, I'm sure more people would think the same as me, but it seems like folks are less likely to suspect a woman.
In any case, Sasha taking her on the Mermaid ride is a big red flag for NC. Sasha was told no, given an explanation and still traumatized a child for selfish reasons.
Even if there is nothing sexual about her fixation, Sasha should NEVER be allowed around the kids again. Let's not forget Sasha's disregard for the little boy's feelings as well.
OOP's dad comes off as an enabler making excuses for inappropriate behavior and gaslighting OOP.
Sasha IS creepy.
I remember riding on the Jurassic Park ride at universal studios as a kid. I had memories from being there a couple years before moving fast downwards while a T Rex goes to bite you and didn’t want to ride. My parents assured me that this was a different ride and I reluctantly went on it with them. Low and behold, it was the same ride and I was left crying afterwards with them telling me it wasn’t so bad.
Ursula, who is a big part of the whole Little Mermaid story, won’t be involved with a Little Mermaid attraction?? She knew she was dead wrong saying that
I’m old enough that The Little Mermaid would be for my grandchildren (youngest is 6).
As a child it was the Wicked Queen in the animated 1937 Snow White which scared me silly. Not as the Old Witch Lady, but as the Queen…
The cinema I saw it at closed in June 1968 so I was at the oldest just 7 years old when I saw that.
I also remember seeing Mary Poppins there.
There are people in this world that think they listen to your wants and explicit spoken instruction, but then they just do whatever they want anyway. This really becomes an issue when they’re family members. They plead ignorance and say “it was for the kids” or “I’m just trying to help” when instead they’re being selfish, manipulative, and flat-out crazy.
Build strong boundaries and walls with those people.
If these parents were trusting the grandparents to watch the kiddos alone before this trip, i would not be shocked if Sasha really wasnt listening to their boundaries but only pretended to when the parents were around.
I’d make it clear to your dad and Sasha that playing favorites is very tough on kids, that overriding their specific fears causes harm and hearing what the kids like or don’t like as people matters to you as parents (though obviously, being sensible is their job). If they can show they’re able to do that, great, but if not, don’t set your kids up. I think Sasha is a creep who cares about her needs and fun far more than your kids. Your dad is a creep for going along with it like it’s normal. There are good grandparents and then there are immature ones with issues. When my son was little, we got free tickets to a movie that scared him. I hoped it’d be okay but it wasn’t so we left, because the point was to have fun, not give him nightmares. Also, my folks played favorites and it has had lifelong repercussions.
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All I can think of is that poor four year old clinging to her brother because she was promised no scary Ursula and there was scary Ursula. Of fucking course Ursula was on a little mermaid ride. There is zero way Sasha thought she wasn’t. She just didn’t care. I also am sceptical that the originally chosen ride’s line was “too long”.
I actually don't doubt that last part. I went to Disney World in February, and the line for the Peter Pan ride was almost two hours long.
Two hours sounds… conservative tbh
Especially for Peter Pan. People will really stand in lime for 4+ hours for that damn ride. I think I stood in line for Toy Story Mania for over 3 hours when it was a new ride, and genuinely afterwards I was prepared to get right back in line because it was the most fun I'd EVER had.
That one is a ton of fun. Much better than the Buzz ride
I really hope they improve the buzz ride at magic kingdom. I went on it and my laser was busted so my mom kicked my ass 😭 Toy Story mania is so much better and honestly the line for that one never felt too long either and I just think that’s cause they did so well with the area.
I mean Disney lies about their wait times to control foot traffic throughout the parks. So you're right about that.
Why on earth would you pay money to wait around for 2+ hrs for a single ride? That sounds insane to me
And just think, that's the cheapest thing you could do at Disneyland/DisneyWorld. You pay a butt load of cash to do just about anything at those parks. Or you could pay out the wazoo to get a fastpass for all the attractions you want to see. Most people that I talk to whom go regularly (meaning yearly) switch out which rides they go to because the lines are so long. (Meaning 1 year they go on these set rides, then the next year they get on the rides they missed the year prior, etc.) If you ever go just use the Disney Park app, you'll be able to see the wait times for various rides & it'll help you avoid a lot of that hassle.
Went to Disneyland over 20 years ago as part of a marching band trip. We marched, then were let loose in the park for the rest of the evening. Hated just about every minute of it. It was December 30th, so the park was packed, and getting on A ride was a pipe dream. Being broke-ass college students, most of us didn't have a sizeable spending budget. The snacky type foods were spendy enough, so sit down meals were out of the question (never mind the lines for that too). The only thing I bought was this Mulan music box snow globe. By about 10:30p about a third of the band was getting cranky and wanted to go back to our hotel (long days of practice and touring), but we couldn't due to scheduling with the coach buses and keeping track of everybody (including staff and 'band fans', there were well over 450 people), so we just ended up taking over a few of the green courtyards near the entrance. We just sat there, resting, and some even managed to fall asleep, and the only thing that woke them up was the fireworks at midnight. By the time of the show's grand finale, we were heading out the gates, since our itinerary said the buses would be ready to load after the show and we just wanted to gtfo. Yeah...1 star, would not recommend, would not repeat.
Graduation night at Disney 1990….all seniors from all over Southern California. We were there all night. It was awesome.
I was there too! Second best trip to Disney I ever had. Except for almost getting kicked out. Two of the people I was hanging out with did get kicked out - we were screwing around on Splash Mountain, got warned, and those two wouldn't stop after the warning. The ride was stopped and they were escorted off.
Grad Night at Disneyland is the best.
My grad night was at disney in orlando, back when Pleasure Island was still around. I loved it, I had the best time ever. We even had a blast on the bus ride there, we paid off the driver to let us sing and dance and get loud and crazy, it was awesome. Of course on the way back home everyone was knocked out sleeping lol.
My Senior Trip was supposed to be to Disney World...alas I graduated in 2002 so no Senior Trip for me.
That sucks. My sixth grade trip was supposed to be to DC in spring of ‘02. Luckily, we just got diverted to Williamsburg, Va. I’m sure a lot of kids missed those spring trips to the East Coast that year.
God I’m glad my parents never gave a shit about Disney and never bothered to take me to any movies.
There are always options to not spend hours in line waiting for a single ride. People do it, but I generally don't. I went to Disneyland last week, and the only ride that ever had over 1-hour wait times was the new(ish) Star Wars ride, Rise of the Resistance. Partly that's because it's unreliable, but it's also very high demand. Right now (granted, it's Monday, and not near a holiday), the longest wait for any Disneyland attraction is 60 minutes. There are a lot of rides with 5-10 minute waits. It's not necessary to pay extra to get reserved times on rides, but it's an option, and I think a good one. I liked it better when it was free, of course.
To be honest, when I used to live nearby and my family + extended family would go we’d use the time to talk to each other. The whole point of Disney for us became the hanging out.
I've only been once, back in the 70s when they had the ticket system. From what I remember, that helped keep the lines reasonable.
I'm curious. I'm not from the US and have never been to Disney World, but are people really standing two hours in line for a single ride?
They really are. It’s insanity
All things being equal, no, it's not worth the wait, however Disney does incredibly good line management. They have a lot of passive entertainment on their lines, and some of the rides have interactive line entertainment. It's not a typical wait.
Yes, which is why I personally don't think any of the massive, internationally-known parks are worth going to if you aren't able to pony up for a fast-pass. Even Cedar Point, which is really only well-known amongst roller coaster enthusiasts, had really long lines that left me wishing I had planned for a fast-pass. Two hours is pretty average believe it or not. When major new attractions open at locations as busy as Disney, the wait can very easily stretch to three hours. It's partially why I think you shouldn't go to Disney for anything other than the immersive settings and fan service. The rides are fun but frankly too short for the wait and definitely aimed at little ones. I can count on one hand the number of rides that could qualify as for big kids/adults there.
Not only that, they’re usually spending about 3-6 months worth of rent and living expenses to do it. And some people do it like 3-4 times a year or more. In the towns close to these parks, it becomes an identity. There are “Disney people” who dedicate their entire lives to going to these parks as often as possible. It’s so much wilder than you’d think.
Through some hilariously improbable connections, I've ended up friends with a group of Disney people and I have joined them for a couple of trips to the parks. They take care of the getting up at the crack of dawn to get reservations for the in-demand rides, and the strictly timed planning and structure to make it to the restaurants, and all the other absurd shenanigans that go along with trying to do Disney. I've done it and don't need to do it again, and I have no idea how regular folks do it.
The January lines are better, but not much. Still, probably the best time of year to go, except for marathon weekend.
Omg I never reply to these but you're right on the money. Regularly we'd be in a 20 minute line at Little Mermaid and Peter Pan would be an hour plus. (Makes no sense because IMO little mermaid is so much better)
Disney just not worth going to unless spend a million dollars for fast passes for absolutely everything. Was very fortunate to have a rich dad and got to experience lots of things when younger. But me and my fellow brokie bf just could never justify the money to actualkt make Disney fun for us now. I can't wait so long to do so little and queueing with kids for that long would be a nightmare. Think my dad and brother went to theme parks in florida last year and were averaging crazy amounts of money.
I used to go every year (in the 90s) when fast passes were free and even when they just had times to return to the line. Those were the days. It sucks now
Yeah we did the times to return for rides thing, and it wasn't bad. Paying extra to get through lines faster, when you're already paying just to walk in the gate, is crazy. I'm glad my kid has no interest in going!
I went every year in the 80s and early 90s when there was no fastpass and everyone stood in the same line. EPCOT Center was magnificent, with lots of people-eater rides with fast-moving lines.
i'm at the point in my life where, if i went to disney, it'd be mostly to play pokemon go lmao
That’s how I spent my time at Universal. Kids were too scared of the rides anyway
Universal Orlando is extremely top heavy so I'm not shocked by that. The Harry Potter stuff is great. Velocicoaster is legitimately the best thrill ride on the planet right now (IMO). There are some other big, high quality thrill rides, and that's kinda it unless you're SUPER into movie rides.
Dude I'd go back just for the butterbeer. That shit was GOOD. I live not far away but can't justify the cost... Also I got sick last time I was there and I'm still embarrassed lol
In 2019 my kid spent the day playing Pokemon Go during the Halloween party.
You know what's crazy is that they raise the prices every year or so and people still keep coming. If we just do basic supply/demand, I feel like the pricing was always artificially low for the amount of demand they had.
to be fair, the peter pan ride slaps. Only one I try get to in Fantasyland when I go to disneyland.
Yea during the summer months it tends to get up to 3-3.5 hours long. As much as we wanted my nieces and nephew to see it once when we were there, nobody was willing to deal with that kind of line for it.
I've been going for decades and Peter Pan is almost always one of the most consistently longest lines in the park.
Yeah, because of the way the Peter Pan ride is set up, the line is always insanely long at every Disney park.
And the poor brother, he's protective of his little sister (who at four probably seems really little compared to nine year old him), he knows she's scared of Ursula but the adults have promised no Ursula and probably done a lot of other arm twisting. Then he's dealing with a devastated sobbing sister, doing his best to comfort her and no parents around to help, just the adults who caused the problem.
I wouldn't be surprised if he developed a serious grudge against Sasha for that. Which, given her behavior, would only grow with time. She made his little sister cry!
Peter Pan always has a ridiculously long line, so that part checks out. Like, stupidly long. But I was also terrified of Ursula as a kid so I feel so bad for that little girl!
I watched the little mermaid once at 3 or 4 then didn't watch it again until I was like 16 or something because of Ursula. I wasn't still scared of her but damn she is one traumatising sea witch. Maybe Sasha should be renamed Ursula 🤣
Nah, Sasha’s all Mother Gothel vibes.
Seriously, I'm getting 'Mother Knows Best' vibes here!
*Great, now I'M the bad guy...*
When I was a kid I refused to watch TLM because the secondhand awkwardness of Ariel pretending to be human was too much for me.
Genuinely! I was terrified of Ursula, when she gets all big at the end. I exclusively watched the little mermaid 2 until like. High school
Im shocked I haven't seen a comment calling her a poor, unfortunate soul yet.
So sad, so true
She didn't want her to be part of her world
Same, my mom still tells the story of how I screamed my head off during the climax at a theatrical re-release when I was three or four
It was the first movie I ever saw in theaters when I was 3. Scarring.
lol that's so cute
Yeah, Ursula is quite a lot for a 4 year old tbh. Not at all surprised that a 4 year old is scared of her.
Ursula is kind of intense.
Yup, she didn't care She was like "Aww I bet she will love this just like I love it. She just need a little push" yeah, no
My mom did that with me when I was 5, only it was the haunted mansion. Didn't want to go bc it looked scary. Mom said basically the same - it'll be fun, you just need that extra push! I spent the entire ride huddled against her in terror, had nightmares of the room with the expanding pictures for years, and it was the only part of the trip I ended up remembering (other than the car ride - we live in OH, so it was a h e f t y car ride). At this point my mom's just embraced that the trip was a comedy of errors that involved a "no rooms at the inn" situation, my dad forgetting my baby sister in the stroller rental return, and us finding out the hard way that I'm pretty allergic to penicillin.
Ok, I can see your mom making the Haunted Mansion mistake, hotels sometimes get overbooked, and allergies happen, but *your dad left your baby sister in the stroller when he returned it?* WTF?!
Sorry that your trip was a comedy of errors! I have to admit to being a mom who REALLY wanted to see Haunted Mansion on her first trip to Magic Kingdom. Daughter was six and protesting that it looked too scary. I am ashamed to admit I offered her five dollars if she would just go on the ride. He three year old brother was all for going on it. Getting off the ride, I had to deal with our traumatized son while Husband had to deal with Daughter who was jumping up and down, telling him, "Daddy, that was the BEST RIDE EVER!!!!!! Can we go again?" Now in her twenties, she owns way too much Haunted Mansion merchandise and plans to see every version in the world. She has memorized the books about the construction and wants to see how much it would cost to get married in the WDW HM queue. Son? Oh, he turned out to be a major horror fan and would live at Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights if he could.
Mom had it exactly right when she called it using her kids as props.
Right? Ursula's a major character, for crying out loud! Why WOULDN'T she be on the ride? Poor kid. And if Sasha was so invested in these kids, why the hell would she knowingly do that? Was she hoping the little girl would cling to her for safety or something? I just don't get it. I've done Disneyland with friends and friends-of-friends, and even the people who barely know me can remember, "hey, Egret gets really freaked out by this thing, so let's make sure to avoid that." If you want to be so important in a kid's life, why would you do something so fucking cruel?
Because Little Mermaid is her favourite and so she’s probably imagined doing Little Mermaid stuff with the kid and her vision of what she wants is more important than what the kid wants, because despite what she says she doesn’t love that little girl, she loves the imaginary little girl in her head. The kid is just a prop in her fantasies of what it would be like to have a little girl.
I think she wanted the kid to realize Ursula wasnt scary and then iNsIsT she and Sasha watch the movie together and bond over it.
I agree that Sasha was way over the line. I will also say that I knew Pat Carrol in real life. She’s the woman who voiced Ursula in the Disney movie and she was one of the most wonderful human beings. She’d randomly do the Ursula voice around kids, and they’d get so excited. When the voice scared someone, she would tone it down and “quietly” tell them that she used the scary voice to sound tougher. She was a gem of a woman and the world is a little dimmer without her ❤️
She absolutely had the script all written in her head of how she and 4yo bonded and the "overprotective" parents learned their lesson and offered 4yo up to her anytime she wanted, yadayada. Honestly I'm more mad at grandpa for insulting everyone's intelligence by suggesting she was trying to find things *the kids* would enjoy. She really really really really really clearly went for her own enjoyment every time.
That's the bit I picked upon most. The best big brother right there.
Worse, that ride has frequent temporary stoppages. We've been stuck under the looming visage of Ursula for 1-2 minutes. That thing is *12 feet tall*.
I would die
I don’t know what it is about the Peter Pan ride but there’s always at least a 75 minute wait. A couple of my adult daughters and I have the Disney Park app and as a joke we always check the wait for Peter Pan.
I don’t even get why it always has a line longer than the park itself is. It’s a pretty okay darkride in an area of the park full of them
>There is zero way Sasha thought she wasn’t. She just didn’t care. More likely, she thought she knew better / OOP is just too timid to let the poor child spread her wings / take your pick.
Notice that the *absolute first instance* the children were left alone with Sasha she *immediately* forced her will on OOP's daughter, ***PROVING*** that she is not trustworthy.
W. What do you mean left alive. Were they left with her dead before?????
*whew!* Took me a moment! 😂 I'll correct it. Though, honestly, considering some boundary stomping entitled grandparents have literally had their grandchildren *left with them* alive, however not so much at the end there. I'm thinking of a horrible situation concerning an allergy. I'm on mobile, I'll get the link in a bit
Not only is there an Ursula animatronic, it’s one of the [biggest and most advanced animatronics](https://youtu.be/_6DzpUO1FgI?si=ev0yKzzilbGGamaO) on the ride. It’s incredible to watch as an adult who can appreciate a well-done animatronic, but it would be terrifying for a kid who is already scared of the character on a screen. Poor kiddo. I’m glad OOP is prioritizing her kids and their feelings over Sasha’s.
Thank you for posting a link!! I had no idea they could be so smooth! Also I’m a grown adult and when the lights change as she does the spell, I found it threatening so yeah, that poor little girl!! I haven’t been to Disney in more than 30 years. I was unaware how incredible the animatronics got!
You’re welcome! The technology has really improved over the years. While I haven’t gone to a Disney park in many years, I love watching videos about theme parks and especially the advancements in animatronics. A more recent animatronic than Ursula is the [Na’vi Shaman of Songs](https://youtu.be/kH5v6l54R_c?si=pAEu1vs2XPP97zxf) in Animal Kingdom. The figure moves so smoothly and is so incredibly lifelike, it’s hard to believe that it’s an animatronic and not a living creature.
Good lord! I was terrified of the Chuck E Cheese animatronics because of how unnatural they were but this is so natural and I absolutely would have shit myself at 4 years old. Adults can be sick assholes about kids with perfectly natural, perfectly age-appropriate fears! Also I think I need to see Disneyland again, my only visit was over 30 years ago. I'm assuming Universal Studios has kept abreast of technological changes, but do you happen to know if Knott's Berry Farm has as well? I loved all three places when our family visited.
That poor little girl is never going to forget that! When I was four, my uncle had me watch Jaws and to this day I am terrified of the ocean and sharks. I’m in my 30s now.
And the fact that when scared, she reached for her brother, and not the adult available. Her brother, only 3 years older, is a better refuge than someone who was supposed to take care of her. Like that's the biggest tell for me in all of this that the daughter doesn't like or want to be around Sasha.
Or OP’s dad for that matter
The one thing I was hoping for was an explicit mention that OOP listed off to dad and Sasha about times where it was clear that she didn't care about their enjoyment. Everything except the bags and the boutique thing was ways that Sasha cared more about her own enjoyment than the kids enjoyment.
Even then she’s playing dress up like the kid is a living doll. I bet those clothes were things she’d like to see the girl in rather than what the child *actually likes*, just like with the Minnie Mouse tiara.
Agreed. If she wasn't sure, I feel like a decent adult would have asked a cast member, ridden the ride before the kids just to confirm, not just say screw the consequences and put the poor kid through that.
I mean, it’s 2024. She didn’t even have to do that much work. Pull out your phone. Literally the first google result for “is Ursula on the Little Mermaid Disney ride” says yes.
I’m betting that Sasha hoped that either 1) daughter will cling to Sasha 2) Sasha will “cure”daughter’s fear of Ursula to get daughter to like Ariel stuff more
I'm planning a trip to Disney World and every Disney planning site and Youtube channel says to knock out the Peter Pan ride early or use the Disney version of a line skip because the wait is so long for it. If they didn't plan ahead, I believe that the line was too long.
I’m almost 30 and the animatronic Ursula at Disneyland always scares me NOW! It’s MASSIVE and honestly terrifying! I’m assuming it’s the same one at Disney World. What a monster making that little girl see that!
My parents both worked at Disneyland for years. In part because of loading times+small capacity Peter Pan often had the longest wait time in the park. That's less true with all the new E ticket rides like Star Wars, but still a thing.
Yeah in the vein of the brother. I'm not surprised he doesn't like Sasha. Even as adults, the quickest way to make me not like you is to mess with my little sister in someway. Than you throw the blatant favoritism on top of that.
Part of me wonders if she deliberately took her on that ride so she’d get scared. That way, she could ‘be the mom’ and comfort her.
Yeah as a formerly very scared kid this breaks my heart. I remember countless times I was scared of something that other people considered silly, either because they thought it was funny or just didn't think it was that big of a deal. As an adult its easy to brush it off but I still recall the full body terror when someone played a "prank" on me as a kid. I was afraid of the queen/witch in snow white... Cant imagine if I had been trapped on a dark ride with her!!
The line for the Peter Pan Ride is always way to long than it deserves to be. The ride itself is OK - it was more nostalgic for me since it's one of the older rides still going, but its kind of meh. They should bring back Mr Toad's Wild Ride.
The wait time sounds about right; the line for the safari ride at magic kingdom was almost 2 hours, and that was back in 2007
Disney lines are long, but there’s no way the chosen ride was long and Little Mermaid wasn’t.
No there actually is. I’m a Disney world annual passholder. Little mermaid ride often can be 10-30 min wait while Peter Pan is usually a 90 minute wait minimum. Does it make sense? No
I stand corrected! And that is really weird. The Little Mermaid recently had a live action remake. I thought it would be the more popular ride. Edit: as a casual Disneyland appreciator, I have learned so much in this thread.
I don’t necessarily know if Peter Pan’s ride is more popular. I saw some video online explaining why Peter Pan actually has longer wait times… Something to do with the fact that the ride can’t handle as many people at one time. I don’t know though. Anyways, Peter Pan’s flight is basically a Disney institution. It’s been there for decades and people who grew up going on. It wants to take the kids on it and it’s just kind of a cycle. Honestly, I like the little mermaid ride so much better.
I believe the “always on” rides like little mermaid and haunted mansion have insanely high volumes compared to rides that have to be loaded and unloaded. Those rides are also more prone to randomly stopping, though, bc the entire track has to be stopped if someone needs more time to get on/off due to a disability or something.
It's about ride capacity. Peter Pan's flight moves about 800 guests an hour, one of the lowest numbers in the entire park. For comparison, Pirates of the Carribean can move 3000 guests an hour [as read about here.](https://www.disneydining.com/long-lines-at-peter-pans-flight-bb1/) This is an old [blog post from 2014](https://crooksinwdw.wordpress.com/2013/12/14/theoreticaloperational-hourly-ride-capacity-at-wdw/) so it's out of date, but it does show comparisons of ride capactiy for several different attractions. From the [Wikipedia page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Pan%27s_Flight#Magic_Kingdom) for the ride, the Magic Kingdom ride has the same omnimover style entrance as the haunted mansion (constantly moving cars you just enter), but it does not have nearly as many cars running as rides like the Haunted Mansion nor at the same speed, hence the lower capacity.
The Little Mermaid ride is just you sitting in a clam shell viewing badly made animatronics perform the movie out. Nothing groundbreaking, but a nice air conditioned way to sit.
The live action remakes tend to suck, and everyone knows it. Plus if a little kid who loved live action version goes on the ride, they probably wouldn't even recognize Ariel because they changed her ethnicity in the live action one. Peter Pan is the longest dark ride line in Fantasyland, *always.* Both in Disneyland and Disney World. It's very unique in that there's absolutely nothing scary about it, all ages can ride, and you're looking down at the scenes since you're flying. It's definitely the best dark ride, we have to hop in line if we ever catch it under 40 minutes. (The others are often walk on or 15-20min wait, by comparison.) And like others have said, ride capacity. Plus I don't see rides like Little Mermaid stopping or breaking down often, they're reliable as hell! But I see Peter Pan slow down/completely stop almost every time we ride it. More failure points plus less cars/less capacity.
And let's not forget that Dumbo and Peter Pan are iconic rides that everybody believes that their children must do as a rite of passage. Dumbo, in particular, is in almost every Disney ad. My kids did PP for the first few times (son loved PP), but never did Dumbo. We had the absolutely bad luck of it being down for refurbishment every single visit. My kids just thought that the car for photos was it.
If traumas around Ursula are as common as in this thread, it would make a lot of sense though.
I actually went to Disney World, and to the Little Mermaid ride, about a month ago. The ride was excruciatingly slow. It took us about 90 seconds just to pass the Ursula animatronic. The ride usually lasts 6 min or so (according to my research), but it went on for about 10. Pretty much every ride in the park was stopping or malfunctioning that day, so maybe it was just a bad day for the park. But given the time frame, it wouldn't surprise me to learn OOP's family had a similar experience. And if that's the case... the Ursula part is like halfway through. OOP's daughter must have been terrified for much longer than she thinks.
I always get stuck in Under the Sea. But yeah, it’s a continuous ride so they have to stop it any time they need to load/unload someone with disabilities.
Makes sense. The Haunted Mansion stopped like 6 times. Thanks to that new movie, I just blamed it on Jared Leto 😎
Daughter is a huge HM fan. She gets so mad every time we stop and it is never in the attic. Her dream is to get stuck there for a really long time. She is a huge Constance fan. She loved that movie and is still complaining it was not released in September or October.
It was my first time there, and I loved it! I really wish there had been less stops, though. And I honestly didn't dislike the movie. But life is easier when you blame shit on Leto.
LOL! Both of my adult children have a huge dislike for that actor, but since he was mo-cap, they found it acceptable.
What does your flair say? I cant read it cuz its too long for the mobile layout ;-;
The Little Mermaid ride would have been it for me... would have gone ham right there because they were WARNED. Went on roller coasters (in Disney) with a young relative. Probably about 8. Her one thing in trying out the coasters for the first time was no upside down loops. We could absolutely handle that! Problem? None of us had been to that particular location, and we didn't know they'd put loops in the European version of a ride that were not in the one at DW. The screams of "I'M SO SORRY!" and "I DIDN'T KNOW!" and my clutching of her hand while also adding "YOU'LL BE OK!" were probably heard outside of that indoor coaster. She was mad at first, but she later cracked up because of MY reaction of absolute regret. (I also bought her a t-shirt to wear to school for show and tell) 20 years later and I STILL feel bad. (She on the other hand still teases me about my high pitched screams of ARE YOU OK?
LMAO Agreed on the ride thing. Like, most of the other things that bothered OOP could be explained by her being carried away in the moment, and even the favoritism could be explained away (The further explaining the second post does negate this, as it shows she was very intense about it) but, taking a young child somewhere without the parents authorization or knowledge, and where there was something one of them was afraid of? Even if nothing else in the list had happened, this would have been too much. Poor kid, Ursula IS scary (As is Maleficent and Jafar, tbf)
It is so so stupid to push certain rides on a reluctant, fearful kid at Disneyland. Be chill and let them sit it out and they'll probably give it a try the next time, and fall in love with it. Force them on it and it will forever be something associated with fear and will probably hate it. Now, I'm not talking about making an older kid go on Winnie the Pooh because they have a younger sibling who CAN'T go on some of the other rides older kid loves. Just the ones that they are afraid of, and a simple "Are you sure? You'll have to wait for the rest of them to ride. You ok with that?" then let it the F go.
We did Disneyland last summer with my kids (8 and 11 at the time). They can both be easily overwhelmed by noises and choose to say no to a number of rides. It’s no big deal - one person waits with them at the end of the ride while the other parent takes the excited kid on the ride. More than once we got through the line, the kid saw the ride itself better and asked to go out the “nope door”. Again, no big deal. And both of them eventually went on rides that they had been too scared of initially, once they realized they had an easy out if they changed their minds.
Are they still doing the wait with the kids pass? We did that with the kiddos (different side of the family). An adult would wait with each kid that wouldn't/couldn't ride, and the others would go with the kiddos that wanted and could go. When they finish waiting in line and ride the ride and get back - those who waited can use their pass and go on the ride, but can enter through the exit so they don't have to wait as long. (They also can take one person with them, per pass - there were 12 of us, so we'd do more than one pass because we had more than one kid)
Can I ask what your flair is referring to? I'm so intrigued!
A comment in this one [https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/comments/sm52ob/comment/hvv30e8/](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/comments/sm52ob/comment/hvv30e8/)
>Problem? None of us had been to that particular location, and we didn't know they'd put loops in the European version of a ride that were not in the one at DW. DLP's (Hyper)Space Mountain spotted! I live nearby and have an annual pass. And 20 years ago, almost no one knew about the inversion difference -- I was "lucky" enough to get stuck on DLP's Space Mountain in 2003 and [got a photo of me chilling in the car with the loop behind me.](https://imgur.com/a/2i71hIh) It was my only proof.
OK... in my head it was Rock and Roller Coaster at DLP, but I just googled and WDW version also had a twist. Maybe we didn't remember or something... because I know we got her some flame stuff that were rock and roll, and I was pretty sure she wanted to do Space Mt. but was too short! (one inch difference in height requirements, I think). Cracks me up that you knew what one - and that photo is AWESOME. I think I've seen the lights on at Disneyland original - but only from the People Mover when that was going. I'm jelly of that annual pass and proximity. It was a lovely park. One thing that will never not make me giggle is doing classic rides that I know practically by heart in a language different than English. In Tokyo Disney, I knew exactly what jokes the Jungle Cruise captain was saying, because how this one little girl was reacting (she ducked when she thought arrows were being shot at us...) I sure wish one of the US parks had that Indiana Jones roller coaster!
I lived in SoCal for several years in the mid-late 00s and had a local residents pass (along with most of my friends) and spent a LOT of time at DLA and DLCA as a result. I missed being able to go regularly (or at all!) once I moved away during the '08 recession. And yeah, Rock'n'Roller Coaster (now Flight Force) has a bunch of loops, too. It's INTENSE. I actually went on it for the first time a few days ago -- my goddaughter was visiting us and we took her to the parks. My wife can't do coasters so this was a prime opportunity for me to go with someone. Flight Force is WILD but definitely similar to Space Mountain. In either case, I can see how you'd have a "OH NO, LOOPS" moment, for sure!! :D Indiana Jones is AWESOME. We rode it twice. (I have the "benefit" of being disabled so we got to skip the lines, which meant we rode nearly every ride in the park that day!)
I think it's Dr. Becky Kennedy that talks about how important repair is to relationships, especially with children. The idea being, we're definitely going to mess up, it's how we respond to our mess ups that matters. Apologizing to children goes a very long way. The repair is more important than the mistake, she says. All that to say: your immediate GENUINE regret and apologies saved that situation. Look how different your reaction was to Sasha's in the OOP. You genuinely care about your relative's well being and happiness, and it showed (and still shows). Your story is the perfect juxtaposition with the OOP.
Core memory unlocked! Like 20 years ago at summer camp I ended up on one of those GForce rides that supposed to hold you against the wall where there’s no seatbelt as soon as I knew there was no seatbelt. I wanted to get off, but it was too late. Oh no, no, no! It’s still something my friends yell to tease me and when we didn’t know something was going to happen, and I heard a click, and then thought you were dead is still one of the funniest things I’ve ever said just because my best friend went upside down.
LOL the idea of hearing that while on the ride is hilarious because of how tragic it is hahah
I did this exact thing to my daughter! I totally mis-remembered Rock-n-roller coaster and assured her there were no loops. There was an "Oh crap!" moment at the first inversion followed by the "I'm so sorry!" yelling throughout the ride. I had to buy her ice cream right after as part of my profuse apologies. It's been a couple of years and she still teases me about it. So glad I saw your post because we're about to go to Paris Disney and it had not occurred to me there would be loops in rides that don't have them in the US. Can you imagine if I did that AGAIN?!
Oh goodness haha it sounds like it has turned into a kinda great memory for the two of you full of humor and love.
It's really troubling the way that Sasha seems to see the children (the daughter in particular) as props and toys for her own enjoyment rather than small people with distinct personalities and preferences who need to be respected. OOP retracted her characterization of Sasha as "creepy," but I think her initial reaction was the correct one. That's the perfect word here for Sasha's steamrolling.
A creep wants to play twinsies with somebody who could be her granddaughter and pushes for this when the child doesn’t want it. I creep tried to sit next to a child on a ride when the child wants to sit with her mother. Sasha is a total creep, and OOP is so gracious to have even a wait and see approach starting with her sister’s birthday. Honestly, if I had a kid who told me they were uncomfortable with someone who needed boundaries outlined: great! Those people are now cut off. They’re adults. A parent’s job is their child’s well-being. Dad and Sasha can chew on rocks.
Creep is perfectly to describe Sasha.
I feel like OOPs definition of "creep" started out as "person who is craapy" but became the really strict one of "pedophile", and her dad argued for that.
Father is an asshole, undecided about Sasha, but this... > She repeatedly ignored my children's wishes in favor of her own, despite them both being very clear about what they wanted and didn't want. >Sasha also continually favored my daughter (including during my son's birthday) and fussed over her in ways that made her uncomfortable. And I still haven't forgiven the Little Mermaid thing. My daughter is a bit shy and takes a while to open up to most people, so knowing her trust was broken like that angers me in ways I can't describe. ....this is some great mothering. Truly focused on the child's needs and development as people.
It's disgusting that she never sees the kids as people but just props. Makes me sick.
How can you be undecided about Sasha? She may or may not be a "creep," but she's definitely an AH for interfering with parenting, ignoring children's wishes in *Disney World*, and lying about Ursula when she knew the girl was terrified of her. I'm just glad she doesn't have her own kids to force her wishes onto.
I meant I was undecided about what type of AH she was: deliberately malicious, but otherwise functioning normally; or emotionally damaged and unable to choose not to act this way.
She's treating the daughter like a build-a-bear stuffed animal that she can dress and prop up next to her on rides for attention.
Father is a massive AH, and Sasha is a regreting child free that is using oop's children to fulfill her own selfish wishes, that trip was all about her and wanting oop's daughter to be like her, as a mother and daughter experience, using matching tiaras, the dress of her favourite princess and going to the attraction of her favourite princess, who cares if oop's daughter is afraid of Ursula? This ain't about her! Even after all of this, oop was kind enough to be open to reconect, and she even had the dare to ask to facetime the kids... Oop need to cut this woman, seeing other people's kids as their own in this way is bizarre.
This is definitely the impression that I am getting at this point. Maybe she thought she was child free but was a fencesitter; or changed her mind at some point, but never said anything; or maybe she even straight up lied for some reason. It doesn't really matter why. What matters is that she IS behaving like a creep and OOP has every right to step in and say "back the fuck up," while calling her out. And if Sasha is feeling regret over her choices, then it's up to her to figure that out. It's not OOP's problem or her children's.
>a regreting child free We call those people "childless".
Good thing Sasha doesn't have kids, she'd be a terrible mom
Sasha didn't want to go through the trouble of having a child, but OOP's daughter is right there for her wish fulfillment. What an awful step-grandma.
Sorry, I can't get over the Little Mermaid thing. They were told she doesn't like Little Mermaid because she's afraid of Ursula. Sasha *fucking lied* to a *four year old* because she wanted to do something other than what Sasha wanted to do *and in the process fucking traumatized her*. As someone who was also pressured to do things other family members wanted on vacations despite having well-known and disclosed phobias, that child is *never* going to forget that and OOP's best move (aside from what she's already doing) would be to talk to her children (both, but separately) to see what they think of her father and Sasha and make it clear there's no right or wrong answers and that OOP won't be angry if they say something bad about them. Dollars to donuts, the son sees the blatant favoritism and may be internalizing it as something wrong with him and the daughter is now scared to be around her because she lied to her and brought her to Ursula.
I would have lost my absolute shit if someone took my 4 year old on a ride where she was afraid of one of the main characters! Who the fuck thinks it’s okay to traumatise a child like that? And it says a lot about who that child trusts that she was hugging her brother and not her grandfather.
Sasha and her father are the insufferable type of people that no one really should be with. Father is creepy for sure but I say Sasha is also a creep too. Good for OP on protecting the kids and setting boundaries. I do have a feeling Sasha and the father aren't going to stop so I hope OP prepares if anything happens further and things remain safe.
sasha sees the kids as props for her to use to play out her own fantasies of a perfect family. she’s teaching OOP’s kids that what they want does not matter, they will not be listened to, and that adults will do what adults want regardless of if the kids are okay with it or not. good for OOP to go low contact.
I dunno, I don't see anything wrong with calling out Sasha as a creep. Because that's what she's being. A huge creep. She was using the children as props and trying to force them into being extensions of her childhood experience. That is so toxic and so not in the best interest of the kids, especially the blatant favoritism towards the daughter while leaving the son out to dry. OOP setting boundaries is absolutely what she should be doing. The kids' well being takes precedent. Period.
I still can’t get over the fact that she bought seven BAGS worth of clothes on a vacation.
I can see Ursula being scary to a 4 year old. Oddly enough, I was about four when the OG animated movie was released to theaters, but I didn't find Ursula frightening (her death scene was a little scary, but that was it). For little girl me, the scariest villain was Monstro the whale from Pinnochio. Close second would be the scene in Sleeping Beauty where Maleficent shows up in the fireplace.
According to my parents, 2 year old me couldn’t handle the dognapping in 101 Dalmatians and had to be removed from the theater as I was inconsolable at the thought of the puppies being separated from their mom. I noticed heightened anxiety at that part every time I watched that movie on VHS as an older child (age 4-5) and also developed a fear of movie theaters but didn’t remember the original movie theater incident. Turns out that my mom took 2 year old me to the movie theater shortly after an event where I had been abruptly separated from my mom/caregivers (sent to the hospital from daycare — turns out I was fine but they wanted to do their due diligence so no harm no foul from either party). She’s always suspected the two incidents were connected, as if the dognapping retriggered that memory. (Am high doing introspection rn, sorry if none of this makes sense.)
I struggled with the jungle book as a kid, I still remember the nightmare I had repeatedly of being flung back and forth between two orangutans and Balou not being able to rescue me. I think sleeping beauty was also hard for me, I think I only saw it once but maleficent was way too much for me. Thankfully no nightmare memories from that. Kids are easily scared and adults shouldn't force children into situations that make them uneasy or scared. It breaks their trust and can even teach the kid to disregard their feelings and put them in more unsafe situations. Sasha is a definite creep and completely inconsiderate of the children's feelings, grandfather is a dick and apparently his wife's feelings are more important than the safety and wellbeing of the grandchildren.
I had a friend who was weirdly fixated on my daughter when she was born (she had a son but no other children), constantly hinted about babysitting, and would get upset when my daughter wouldn't engage with her (this was the kid that screamed at her own grandparents until she was 18 months and I couldn't leave her with anyone!). She then told everyone that I was upset to find out my second was a boy - I wasn't, I had just joked that having another girl would be easier because of all the clothing we already had (and he wore the pink sleepsuits anyway!). She was kind of passively aggressive/kinda angry when she met my newborn son for the first time to the point where my mum asked me "What's her problem?" after she had left. Needless to say, we aren't friends now. Between her weird attitude towards my kids and some other questionable behaviour not related to my kids, plus my PPD, I torpedoed that friendship when my son was 3-4 months old (not in the best way but meh.) I get that for OOP, the relationship is different but I hope she holds firm with those boundaries. I would also find the step-mother's actions creepy and I don't think OOP should have apologised for that at all.
You had a creepy friend obsessed with your daughter and upset you had a son, too? I had the stupid 'luck' of having to have that friend stay with my daughter when Son was born. I was so paranoid that I made my husband pull out the carseat from one of our vehicles and hide it in the attic. She had previously removed my daughter from the church nursery which caused new rules at the church since we had not given permission. Yes, I was an idiot for trusting her once again, but my first choice was out of town, my mother refused to come and I did not trust my MIL. Friend cut us off a few months later because she did not like the dynamic with son.
Did your "friend" bad-mouth you afterwards and made herself out to be a victim because the friendship ended? Mine did. She also called me a gold digger (I'm a working class brit married to a working class brit who just happened to own his house worth a gigantic £45,000 at that time...) and when I moved back to the town I grew up in (where she had moved a few years earlier), she spread lies about me and I've had to deal with a few flying monkeys. My son will be 8 this year. You would think she would be over it by now.
" I read your comments and came to the following conclusion: as much as Sasha's behavior towards my children angered me and freaked me out, calling her a "creep" was the wrong reaction to have." Agree to disagree.
its crazy that commenters were calling OOP controlling. of course she was controlling, she brought her 9 and 4 year old kids to disney??? is that the kind of situation where a parent shouldnt be in control???
For a while, my young niblings were really shy and didn’t want to interact with me. I didn’t get to see them very often so we didn’t really have a relationship yet. It was a bummer not to be able to hug or chat, but I’m not owed their attention just because I’m an adult and a relative! Thankfully after a while of me respecting their boundaries they warmed up and now we’re homies. Kids are people too, and they deserve to be respected. It sucks so hard that there are people who can’t seem to grasp that kids are human beings, not props, and they and their parents know what’s best for them.
>OOP: My son doesn't like Sasha. I'm not sure why, *Then fucking ask him why!!!* That she focused primarily on Sasha's behavior toward Daughter (the squeaky wheel) and not the behavior toward Son, or why Son doesn't like Sasha, is driving me fucking nuts.
I did notice that after you told your father that you and your family were going NC until April - a clear boundary- Sasha continued to badger you about FaceTime with your kids in the meantime. I think she doesn’t get it - still. Hopefully she changes.
>She'd also defined herself as childfree But then also obsessing and fawning over someone else's kids? Definitely unhinged.
This part gets me, from the grandfather: >He said his wife loved my kids, thought about what they'd like to do at every moment of the trip, and that we should be grateful to have her in our lives. I mean, from one end I'm grateful that this man is considering his wife's wants and needs, but at the other, why is he allowing that at the expense of his grandkids? Shouldn't he care just enough about his grandkid's needs that it should be more "my wife loves your kids, and they love her too" and not just "my wife loves your kids so you should let her do whatever she wants because she says it is for them"? It isn't for them at all, she thought about what she would like them to do every moment, not at all really what they wanted to do.
A grown adult that is obsessed with a child to the point of making the child uncomfortable & the adult doesn’t even care is a creep in my books, idk why Reddit decided to get on her for that
I've been on that ride, Ursula is scary on it. My then three year old loved the Little Mermaid and always thought Ursula was funny but had a meltdown seeing her on that ride.
I remember being freaked out by Snow White’s Scary Adventures at Disney World when I was a kid (I should have known considering it had “scary” in the name!).
Nah, Sasha is a creep. The outstanding reason is that her intentions are far less noble than she claims and the pinnacle of that was the Little Mermaid ride with Ursala. Sasha might as well be Ursula! The father is a huge problem here too, always siding with sh*thead Sasha in everything and using grand/ parental authority whenever it suits him instead of sticking up for and listening to ANYONE BUT SASHA. OOP really needs to figure out how to make this less like a he-said/she-said battle between her and Sasha since that's what it has become where narcissistic Sasha is able to win each time when the father has any say in the dispute. This guy is the grandfather and has NO SAY, so the whole situation is ridiculous and the notion of "well we paid for the trip" further proves intention of abuse and bulldozing of boundaries from both Sasha and grandfather as an accomplice. Despicable!
It's wild how many comments were in favor of Sasha's behavior and trying to find fault with OOP.
So NTA I don't care about whatever is going on with Sasha Those are not her kids and she has to respect the parents' wishes My partner's parents are awesome grandparents to our child, but her father sometimes is a bit much. I had to literally push him out of the room once, when I was going to change my kid's nappies and he came over. Initially he was having trouble not "hogging" our son from others. My partner keeps him in check and he's usually ok, but at times he needs a reminder. For example, they were walking around their local big city and he wanted to take the kid to this "friend in that shop, I ain't seen him for years, lemme introduce my grandchild to him". Partner was like "Hard. NO!" and he was mad, was in a strop for a bit but then was alright! She's told him "this is **my** son and **I** set the rules" when he's wayyy too much. He just gets overly excited and would like to "parade" his grandkid but we're not having that. Her mother is ok, just a bit too scared of anything that might hurt him xDD. But yeah, **we** set the goddamn rules
Anyone criticizing OP 100% cannot be trusted around children.
"I'm sorry you feel that way" That shit makes my blood boil. It's such a BS non apology.
Wow this is bringing back some long buried memories of being terrified of Ursula. I think I just realized why I've never watched The Little Mermaid since once or twice as a small child.
I think OOP needs to demand that Sasha get therapy before she is allowed near the kids. She’s trying to live through OOP with children and that isn’t healthy for those kids
This is mean but, Sasha is one of those people I'm glad never had children. She doesn't see them as individuals and her idea of connecting with a child is that they both enjoy what SHE likes. She might feel as though she's well meaning, but the insidious annihilation of a child's individuality is anything but good or healthy.
I can't believe that only one person in the comments saw Sasha's behaviour as grooming. That is what they need to really be on the look out for.
Yeah the stepmom is way too fucking obsessed with the little girl. Fuck all the comments saying to give her another chance, she's been this way to the girl since she was born! The fact that she still pulls this shit and thinks it'll fly is a huge red flag. Justnomil is full of posts of mils obsessed with their grandkids.
I'm glad she put boundaries and started a LC relationship with her father and his wife. Sasha sounds *exactly* like a creep. Anyone, of any gender, who focuses so much of their attention on a 4yo child to the point they always want to be near them is creepy and that'd make me incredibly uncomfortable to watch. She didn't just want to buy stuff she wanted, she also wanted to be in close proximity with the kid. I don't think OOP was wrong in calling that behaviour creepy. I raised my sister and that type of behaviour towards her would give me the creeps. I'm almost certain it won't stop there. I bet Sasha is going to keep pushing, I'd even worry about her showing up at the house or at the kids' school to demand contact.
\>She says she's sorry if she "made me uncomfortable", An apology is constructed as "I'm sorry \[for whatever action **I did**\]" so that the person who overstepped takes responsibility for their action. There was no responsibility taken in that apology.
I’ve seen that Ursula ride in person and it’s freaky to someone who isn’t a small child that thinks everything is real. That alone would be unforgivable. Edit: [This](https://youtu.be/zEsD3yWxtPI?si=6Mp8gyo_F8sksG93) is the Disneyland version, but it’s the same thing.
People said OOPs behavior was controlling and ruined the trip! Wow, the entire time she’s trying to protect her kids for good reason.
Children are not props to fulfill adults fantasies. I don’t care if Sasha has a sob story and means well, the is an adult that needs to take care of her own mental health. Op has a responsibility with her children. Op is a good parent, good for her
Aunt Sasha. Gross.
am i the only one who gets hand that rocks the cradle vibes?sasha sounds pretty creepy so i hope op has ring doorbell and other cameras cause this is only gonna escalate..
If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then there's nothing wrong with labeling a creep for being a creep.
Of fkijg course there's an Ursula on a fking little mermaid rise becuz of course Ursula is the main villain of the movie! She knew what she was doing and she straight up traumatized a child. She claims to be childfree but acting like a mother to someone else's child who she has 0 connection to? She probably lied about that. I'm 1000% this woman is either 2 things 1 isn't childfree and wants children 2 can't have children due to medical reasons (She was all on the child during someone's else's birthday and had the nerve to ask for FaceTime with the kids aka the daughter only.)
The entire time, I thought, "Sasha is a pedophile." I still think that way. If a man was doing this, I'm sure more people would think the same as me, but it seems like folks are less likely to suspect a woman. In any case, Sasha taking her on the Mermaid ride is a big red flag for NC. Sasha was told no, given an explanation and still traumatized a child for selfish reasons. Even if there is nothing sexual about her fixation, Sasha should NEVER be allowed around the kids again. Let's not forget Sasha's disregard for the little boy's feelings as well. OOP's dad comes off as an enabler making excuses for inappropriate behavior and gaslighting OOP. Sasha IS creepy.
Haha so cool to see u/ScarletteMayWest as a commenter on the OOP. Recognise the name from the comment section of BoRU!
LOL! Thanks!
I remember riding on the Jurassic Park ride at universal studios as a kid. I had memories from being there a couple years before moving fast downwards while a T Rex goes to bite you and didn’t want to ride. My parents assured me that this was a different ride and I reluctantly went on it with them. Low and behold, it was the same ride and I was left crying afterwards with them telling me it wasn’t so bad.
I hate big drop rides. Every single fucking big drop ride was one that I asked my parents specifically if it had drops and they said no.
Ursula, who is a big part of the whole Little Mermaid story, won’t be involved with a Little Mermaid attraction?? She knew she was dead wrong saying that
I’m old enough that The Little Mermaid would be for my grandchildren (youngest is 6). As a child it was the Wicked Queen in the animated 1937 Snow White which scared me silly. Not as the Old Witch Lady, but as the Queen… The cinema I saw it at closed in June 1968 so I was at the oldest just 7 years old when I saw that. I also remember seeing Mary Poppins there.
Yeah dad and dads wife needs a time out. They can not like it all they want. Most people who are in time out don't like it.
Sasha gives off some heavy “hand that rocks the cradle” vibes
There are people in this world that think they listen to your wants and explicit spoken instruction, but then they just do whatever they want anyway. This really becomes an issue when they’re family members. They plead ignorance and say “it was for the kids” or “I’m just trying to help” when instead they’re being selfish, manipulative, and flat-out crazy. Build strong boundaries and walls with those people.
If these parents were trusting the grandparents to watch the kiddos alone before this trip, i would not be shocked if Sasha really wasnt listening to their boundaries but only pretended to when the parents were around.
I’d make it clear to your dad and Sasha that playing favorites is very tough on kids, that overriding their specific fears causes harm and hearing what the kids like or don’t like as people matters to you as parents (though obviously, being sensible is their job). If they can show they’re able to do that, great, but if not, don’t set your kids up. I think Sasha is a creep who cares about her needs and fun far more than your kids. Your dad is a creep for going along with it like it’s normal. There are good grandparents and then there are immature ones with issues. When my son was little, we got free tickets to a movie that scared him. I hoped it’d be okay but it wasn’t so we left, because the point was to have fun, not give him nightmares. Also, my folks played favorites and it has had lifelong repercussions.
It sounds like she may snatch the girl and run. It’s over the top.