Mega Rants - Flash Photography in Dark Rides

MegaSoulhero I recently went to Disneyland and I had such a bad time for various reasons. But something I wanted to talk about and something that has been bothering me for quite a while is people using flash photography in dark rides.

I was gonna rant about a kid next to me waiting for Fantasmic who kept on asking “How many more minutes” literally every minute and sometimes every few seconds, but this is more important. On each ride that takes place indoors, they specifically tell the guests not to take flash pictures. Unfortunately, people love to break that rule. A few weeks ago, I went on the Little Mermaid ride. Someone two shells in front of me kept on taking pictures of his kids who were in another shell and he kept the flash on. He took at least 4 pictures. His phone was pointed in my direction so the flash was really irritating. And then recently there were TWO rides in which people kept using the flash on their phones. On Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion. It’s so annoying that people don’t turn of the flash on their phones. Cast members give specific rules that some people don’t even follow. I’m actually surprised none of the cast members spoke on the intercom during the ride to call them out on it.

Not only are the flashes distracting, they ruin the experience. The best thing about these rides is the dark atmosphere inside. Especially in Haunted Mansion. I mean, the whole point of the ride is that you’re in a mansion that’s supposed to be dark and creepy. Someone’s flash can ruin the tone. It can also ruin their pictures. There are certain parts of these rides where using flash is a bad idea. It will cause the pictures to look weird. I remember watching a video of the Shanghai Pirates ride and people were taking flash pictures of a projection screen. Lol. Like, really? That will just make the pictures look even worse! That’s literally light on light! People might say maybe they don’t know how to turn off the flash or they forgot to turn it off. That’s not an excuse. If they don’t know how to turn it off, which I doubt is the case, then it’s better to not take any pictures at all than use flash photography and irritate the other guests. And if they forgot to turn it off, keep in mind these people were taking more than one picture. I’m sure they would’ve realized that the flash is on and they would’ve done something about it. I don’t know why people think it’s a good idea to use flash photography. What if there’s some kind of behind the scenes thing that they want to try to hide from people via darkness? Disney tries hard to keep secrets like that so they can give the theme park guests the best experience possible.

Flash photography in dark rides is the most annoying thing that can happen in theme parks. It needs to come to a stop. Same goes for people using their phones in movie theaters. So frustrating. I really hope I don’t see this happen again. People need to learn to be respectful.

Comments

Sorry for the unrelated comment, but I was thinking of writing a post story starring some of the toptenners and I was wondering if you have any talents or hobbies that you would consider interesting. If so, and if you want to answer, may you please do so? - visitor

I went to Disneyland a few weeks ago and this mother a few seats away kept taking flash photography on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, it really does suck when people keep doing it - Phillip873

In fact, this is a problem I’ve known about not only for Disneyland, but for Disney parks in general, that people keep taking flash photography on dark rides.

It ruins the magic.

These rides are dark, and there’s special lighting for a reason, they’re meant to take you away from the real world and immerse you into the world they represent.
For example, when you set sail in Pirates of the Caribbean, you’re supposed to be in the world of pirates fighting and looking for treasure.
When you hop aboard onto Peter Pan’s Flight, you’re supposed to be whisked off to Neverland over London.
When you ride with Winnie the Pooh, you get immersed into the Hundred Acre Woods, and see Pooh and his friends in magical detail.

When someone holds their camera up and takes a photo with the flash on, it reveals the engineering behind all of it, and makes the whole places inside look like cheesy studio sets and the animatronics like robotic props.
That’s not what people want to see, they want to see the rides look magical.
Now think about riding Space Mountain and it breaks down and the lights turn on.
Disappointing and not very magical is it.

Another reason to avoid flash photography is that some people have certain unknown medical conditions.
When someone takes a photo with the flash on, it might aggravate people with epilepsy or other related conditions.

It sucks how people take flash photography on dark rides even when they’re not supposed to.
Yet the rules say no flash photography, and people keep doing it.
Such a shame that the magic’s gone from the parks. - Gregory