Wanna hear something ridiculous?

WED99

WED99

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
You have to be 16 to take a tour in Epcot now!

Don't believe me? Today my dad called up WDW to book our tours at Epcot (Undiscovered Future World and Segways) but to our surprise they told us you had to be 16 to take the tour! I find this absolutely ridiculous! I may only be 15, but I am capable of riding a Segway! Even the walking tour had an age limit, why? Fair enough if they want an age limit but anything over the age of 12 is just down right stupid.

Do you guys agree with me? And do any of you guys have any idea why they would do this?
 
D

DisneyDebNJ

Well-Known Member
Monty said:
Any tour that provides "inside info" has age restrictions. 16 is the age Disney chose, there's nothing you can do but wait.
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Yes... this ^^^ My now 24 yr old does the segway tours every year, and to the best of my knowledge its always been minimum age of 16. It was my son's thought, that at age 16, most have their driving permits (here in NJ its 17) and Disney feels atleast everyone kind of knows the rules of the road....
 
disneysince71

disneysince71

Well-Known Member
I know in NC you have to be 16 to ride a jet ski or a 4 wheeler without supervision. I am sure they are using the same type of guidelines... I am sorry for you :( Hopefully you will find something to do just as fun. Have you tried the tour at AK it looks like a lot of fun :)
 
ImagineerDude

ImagineerDude

Well-Known Member
We are planning my entire 2014 16th birthday trip around the Keys to the Kingdom. It has the age 16 restriction. I've been planning this trip since I was 12 so I think we can survive one more year ;)
 
Glasgow

Glasgow

Well-Known Member
Why are there age limitations? Blame the general public. They always do something to screw it up for the capable majority. I'm surprised its not 18 to be honest, just from a liability aspect.
 
Goofyernmost

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
Glasgow said:
Why are there age limitations? Blame the general public. They always do something to screw it up for the capable majority. I'm surprised its not 18 to be honest, just from a liability aspect.
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The theory is that they shouldn't be allowing anyone under 16 on the back stage tours because they have shown that at that earlier age the magic gets ruined for them if they go. Also they have probably experienced that younger then that lose patience with the slow pace and sometimes dry presentation.

The liability factor would definitely become a factor with the segways.
 
Timekeeper

Timekeeper

Well-Known Member
The age of 16, albeit entirely arbitrary, is a common age minimum for the purposes of renting and operating recreational motor vehicles. You'll often find the same policy in place if you go to the beach to rent a jet ski. 16 is accepted as the age at which one can obtain a driver's license, but I'm sure there are some 15 year olds who could be more responsible drivers than 17 year olds.

They have to draw the line somewhere, right? I imagine that we could all agree that allowing a 3 year old to operate a segway would be ridiculous. So where should they draw the line? Wherever the line is drawn, the guest who is one year shy of that line will end up feeling slighted.

Maybe they should implement a learner's permit policy, and allow 15 year olds to operate one with an adult on board with them...? By my guess is that you'd pass if you had to share a segway with mom. o_O
 
Goofyernmost

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
Timekeeper said:
The age of 16, albeit entirely arbitrary, is a common age minimum for the purposes of renting and operating recreational motor vehicles. You'll often find the same policy in place if you go to the beach to rent a jet ski. 16 is accepted as the age at which one can obtain a driver's license, but I'm sure there are some 15 year olds who could be more responsible drivers than 17 year olds.

They have to draw the line somewhere, right? I imagine that we could all agree that allowing a 3 year old to operate a segway would be ridiculous. So where should they draw the line? Wherever the line is drawn, the guest who is one year shy of that line will end up feeling slighted.

Maybe they should implement a learner's permit policy, and allow 15 year olds to operate one with an adult on board with them...? By my guess is that you'd pass if you had to share a segway with mom. o_O
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Sure, but they have the same age limit on the Keys to the Kingdom Tour and there are no Segways on that. It's just the age that they feel comfortable with and the age that they think will get the most out of it.
 
WED99

WED99

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I get it with the Segways, but a walking tour?! What makes them think even a 13 year old isn't capable of walking backstage without making a fuss.
 
bsiev1977

bsiev1977

Well-Known Member
WED99 said:
I get it with the Segways, but a walking tour?! What makes them think even a 13 year old isn't capable of walking backstage without making a fuss.
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Because unfortunately, there are plenty of kids you'd think are old enough to behave that don't. Plus, their parents don't seem to care how they act. Sorry, rant over.

I would venture a guess that anything that involves backstage access comes with liability issues, so that's possibly why the age limit is what it is.
 
RandomPrincess

RandomPrincess

Keep Moving Forward
How old do you have to be to work at WDW? 16? Most places don't hire younger then 16 in general. I would think that 16 to be in the backstage areas would make sense based on how old you need to be to work.
 
Goofyernmost

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
WED99 said:
I get it with the Segways, but a walking tour?! What makes them think even a 13 year old isn't capable of walking backstage without making a fuss.
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I'm sure that many are able to do so, but I'd guess that they have had some problems in the past and that is the age that they decided on.
 

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