Disney has officially decided to ban one of the most annoying, recent inventions that make you question your faith in humanity. That’s right, Disney has banned the selfie stick.
Now, there are three ways you can look at this – and I totally understand all of them. The first way would be to look at this reasonably. The selfie stick creates all kinds of problems for theme parks, so it makes sense that they would ban it. Not only do they create another loose article that people try to take on rides, but they create a loose article that people try to USE on rides. Cell phones raining from the sky is not exactly what Disney has in mind for their next attraction.
What about the dark rides? Dropping your selfie stick on Small World doesn’t exactly create a danger to other park guests. But can you honestly tell me that someone sitting in front of you holding up a three foot pole with their gigantic Samsung Note on the end doesn’t take away from your experience on Pirates of the Caribbean? It’s about being respectful to other guests, and Disney can’t police every possible situation. End result, they had to go to the extreme.
The second way to react to this is by going all “social media” on it. This is where you get all fired up and start bashing Disney.
“How dare they tell us what we can’t use!”…and i get that too – kind of.
I mean, I’m not a big fan of the selfie stick, but a lot of people are; and they want to take their pictures and create memories on what might be their one and only trip to these parks. They don’t just put photo ops all around the parks for no apparent reason and now they’re going to tell people they cant use something that allows them to take their own picture with ease? It does seem a bit counterproductive.
The third way to look at this, is to step back and look at the big picture (see what I did there?). Not being able to use a selfie stick shouldn’t be such a big deal. You can still take all the pictures you want. There will still be cast members and friendly guests that are always willing to help out by taking a picture of your whole group. Are you really going to stress out about not being able to take your selfie… from a different angle?
Stop worrying about impressing your Intstagram followers or sending that perfect Snapchat, and start enjoying the park.
Of course, this is just my opinion. Disney isn’t trying to tell people to stop taking photos by banning the selfie stick. They just have to do what is best for their parks and the guests that want to enjoy them. If that means no more selfie sticks, then no more selfie sticks.
