Changes coming to minimum age requirement for park entry

[ttalovebug]

No misbehaving child ever thinks they are misbehaving.

It's only my opinion, and you're entitled to yours, but I have to disagree.

There are many different kinds of parents out there, and therefore many kinds of children. My mother raised my siblings and I to say yes ma'am and sir, hold the door for others, etc. I can confidently say that, yes, I was a well-behaved child who treated adults with respect, because my mother wouldn't except any less.

Clearly, there are a lot of obnoxious kids out there, I get it. But not all kids are the same, and they're not all stupid.

 

[Prince-1]

I can't believe so many are shocked at the idea of kids entering the parks on their own. My siblings and I would sometimes go into a park without one of ourparents when I was 13, my sister was 12, and my brother 8 years old. Usually, we were not alone all day, we were just ahead of my parents. But we had the option. And we didn't go running around terrorizing adults for the fun of it, as so many seem to believe children do. We just wanted to do some rides!

I could envision a situation where a few 12 or 13 years olds staying on the monorail line resorts would want to hop over to MK when their parents wanted to chill.

I don't think this will be a huge deal in the long run, though.

I agree with your last sentence. I still think that dropping off a child under 10 is insane but the rule change simply states that achild must enter the park with someone of 14 years or older. Once inside the child can do what he/she wants. I believe thst this is a rule change that WDW can say they were proactive in case anything happens in the future. Makes them look good in the event of anything going wrong in a park.

 

[Hot Lava]

Disneyland, in particular, has always been a babysitter service for some AP's.

I wonder if they've had a problem with some pre-teens causing problems unsupervised?

Maybe they are having more issues. Maybe I am now the old get-off-my-lawn lady, but it seems more kids are more badly behaved. It seems like this would be less of an issue at Disney, given the prices, but maybe more parents are using it as a dumping ground for makeshift babysitting.

Other parks have a real issue with this. I know the 6 Flags in MD is notorious for this. Very cheap APs mean parents just dump off their kids. No supervision, and no employee in the park willing/able to do anything. I never went to that park unless it was a closed company picnic. HA! And I know of at least one company that had to change its policies for the company picnic b/c people were buying the cheap tickets for that day and then - literally - selling them on the corner to whomever. They had to require the employee be in the park and be responsible for anyone that obtained tickets from them (they also charged near regular price for anyone other than the employee).

I think Disney is hoping that with just making this announcement, it may deter a certain amount of dumping (if that is indeed becoming an issue). But I would guess that any parent doing that isn't the type to hold their kid accountable for bad behavior anyway.

Or, it could be in the course of this Magic band business (or normal course of business) a review of policies made Disney think the old policy was not too smart nowadays (more liability) and just revised it now.

 

[flavious27]

Just some common sense

 

[unkadug]

Just some common sense

Which is not so common anymore when everybody feels they are entitled.

 

[DVC4bestvacations]

No misbehaving child ever thinks they are misbehaving.

If not it's because their parental unit wasnt showing them right from wrong or setting a good example.

 

[Goofyernmost]

unkadug said: ↑

No misbehaving child ever thinks they are misbehaving.​

​

​

Oh, yes they do! In almost every case.