Letting kids go alone in parks? Consider this!

[GrumpyFan]

Here's something to consider if you're thinking of letting your kids go in the park, and you're wondering if they're old enough.

Prior to our recent trip (9/6 - 9/11), I thought for sure that my two youngest (10 and 11) could handle navigating thru the parks and riding without their parents in tow was okay, so long as they stayed together. However, Sunday night at MK's EMH has since changed my mind, and might yours too.

My kids (10 yo boy and 11 yo girl) were with two others (11 yo girl and 13 yo girl), plus my wife's cousin who is 24, but she's mentally and emotionally disabled making her more like an 8-10 yo. They were all on Splash Mountain when the ride stopped. Initially, they weren't worried, but the longer they sat still, the more they became worried and anxious. It got worse when the CMs announced that the ride had been stopped due to a failure and they instructed everyone over the PA to exit their boats and find the nearest exit (unassisted). A short time later, another announcement was made instructing everyone to return to their boats immediately and wait for assistance exiting the attraction. Somewhere in between these two announcements, I receive a call from my son crying and scared, in the background it sounded totally chaotic with people screaming and laughing as if a riot or huge party was taking place.

Eventually, a castmember came and assisted them in leaving, but not before the nerves were severely rattled. Both my son and my wife's cousin were noticably disturbed by the incident for quite a while.

I have already sent off a complaint to Disney and asked that they train their CM's better on ride failures and procedures, hopefully they will read and react appropriately. But, I just wanted to inform others of our incident so they can consider for themselves whether their kids are able to handle a possible ride failure without the parents being around, before they let them go off on their own. After this incident, it may be a few more years before we let them go on their own again.

[Rodders]

That's awfull. I'm sorry to hear how upset your children were. I'm amazed that they suggested making your way unaided off the ride.

I hope that they are fine now. I would be very interested to hear what the mouse has to say about this.

[mouseketeer mom]

Wow. How scary for them..my oldest are 13 and 11. Since we are staying at the CR and the Poly in Nov., I thought this trip we would allow them some freedom to navigate on their own. (no buses, just the monorail or boat) Its their 7th trip to WDW and they know the place well. I won't allow my 8 yo son to join them yet...he's too much of a live wire., and too much responsibility for my older daughters. I know they would've been so upset by a situation like your family experienced. Would your kids want to be alone again, or has this experience upset them too much?

[SBETigg]

That's pretty scary for them. I do think under twelve is too young to be navigating the parks alone but that's my call and everyone knows their own kids. Some kids are ready for more earlier but in my area, kids under twelve are not allowed in stores and restaurants without a supervising adult so I think of it as a pretty standard rule of thumb.

Mine were allowed to roam the resort without parents but together once they were 12 and 14, but no going in pools without lifeguard or parent nearby. Only on this past trip, when they were 14 and 16 and had clearly demonstrated some maturity in handling situations, they were able to go off without parents and on their own.

I feel for yours in that situation. Disney isn't responsible for supervising your kids but they are absolutely responsible for ensuring guests a safe exit in case of ride failure. CMs should have been there to help guests of all ages exit.

[mjaclyn]

I am VERY surprised that Disney would allow guests to escort themselves off the ride. What if you were in one of the boats that was on it's way up the hill? How do you get off then? Your kids could have easily slipped and fallen or gotten hurt. How awful!

[mermaidmarian]

Disney isn't responsible for supervising your kids but they are absolutely responsible for ensuring guests a safe exit in case of ride failure. CMs should have been there to help guests of all ages exit.

I agree! When I read the OP, I thought that it was likely chaotic and thus potentially unsafe for everyone. How strange that they would announce that guests should exit their ride vehicles and work their way out of the ride, only to then instruct guests to return to their ride vehicles. That sounds like a recipe for disaster, no matter the age of the guests. I would have thought that there would be a uniform manner in which ride failures are managed - there is no room for mistakes in instruction under such circumstances.

[Scotcelebrity]

Wow, that is terible! I wasn't allowed to wander the parks without my parents until I was 13. I had been there enough already to know where evrything was. I was NEVER allowed to go off on my own I had to have someone with me, they also bought my friend and I walkie talkies. This was really helpful in the fact that we could update my parents every time we got into a line and when we needed to meet. Even though alot of kids have cells, I still think that the walkie talkies work better than a phone. I mean kids don't want to "call" their parents everytime they do something. I am really sorry for your son and your wifes cousin and I hope that it won't ruin their idea of Disney!

[madenny]

We were on Splash going up the big hill, when the ride stopped (very uncomfortable). The announcement was fairly hard to hear (due to the rats squeaking), but the announcement then was to remain in your boat. I would have been scared to death to leave our log (without any further instruction). Let us know how your concern to Disney World is handled.:coaster:

[mermaidmarian]

The announcement was fairly hard to hear (due to the rats squeaking):

The :jaw: what :eek: squeaking!?!?!

[disneynarula]

I think that might be a little too young to let children navigate the parks on their own. If the adult with them does not function as an adult then they are not an adult.

Emergency situations occur all the time. Rides break down, kids can fall and have an accident. If the kids were scared they also might not have been 100% clear on the directions given.

Children are old enough to navigate the parks when they can handle an emergency on their own.

I think a child should be at least fifteen before they wander off on their own.My parents did not let us go off on our own until I was a freshman in college and my sister was in high school. This might have been a little extreme but 10 and 11 is way too young.

I have a lot of experience dealing with kids. I was a camp counselor as a teenager and a teacher as an adult. I also ran a home day care for many years after I decided to quit my "real job" and stay home with my kids.I have discovered that the more young kids there are in a group the less they are able to make a rational descion. Safety in numbers does not apply to unsupervised groups of pre teens.

While some fault here may lay in the hands of WDW, don't you think the fact that the children were so young added to the drama?

[MarkC]

I agree that those kids are probably too young to be out on their own. It's not only their maturity-- what if they got hurt? Every kid is different but my kids were 14 before we let them go off on their own for more than a minute or two, and that was only for a short time and they had a cell phone to contact us immediately if there were issues. Glad everything turned out OK though.

[GrumpyFan]

Maybe I'm being a little bit sensitive, or just feeling guilty, but I would appreciate it greatly if you could please stop with the passing of judgement on us and our decision to allow our kids to wander the parks on their own. In light of what happened, we realize the fallacy of our decision. My purpose in posting this incident was to point out to others what can happen and allow them to make the decision for themselves.

If I may clarify, we were in the park with them, and actually on the other side of adventureland when they went on the ride, and were planning to meet up at the ride exit. When we got there the ride was still running, but soon stopped and we received the first phone call from my son.

My daughter (11yo), is very mature and I felt she was and is quite capable of handling most situations. This was hers and her brother's seventh trip in 6 years, she knows the parks almost as well as I do. From everything I've heard, she handled this situation very well, by listening to the instructions given and even trying to calm her brother and cousin. Admittedly, my son and wife's cousin should not have been alone, and that was an oversight on our part, and we'll not allow it to happen again.

[BigRedDad]

I find this very weird. I cannot see how WDW would allow them to exit a ride unassisted. I was at the MK when the person died on Splash Mountain (Thanksgiving 2001). The ride stopped, he began getting clostraphobic, he exited as instructed by the CM (on the wrong side of car), the CM asked him to go to the other side. What happened is he stepped on the edge of the car, slipped into the water and was crushed between his car and the car in front.

After that incident, I am highly certain that they do not allow guests to exit rides without CM assistance, especially children. I am not saying that you are incorrect in what was heard. I just find it highly unlikely or extremely frightening that the policies have not changed.

[GrumpyFan]

I find this very weird. I cannot see how WDW would allow them to exit a ride unassisted. I was at the MK when the person died on Splash Mountain (Thanksgiving 2001). The ride stopped, he began getting clostraphobic, he exited as instructed by the CM (on the wrong side of car), the CM asked him to go to the other side. What happened is he stepped on the edge of the car, slipped into the water and was crushed between his car and the car in front.

After that incident, I am highly certain that they do not allow guests to exit rides without CM assistance, especially children. I am not saying that you are incorrect in what was heard. I just find it highly unlikely or extremely frightening that the policies have not changed.

I completely agree, and that incident came to my mind as well. However, All 5 of the kids told me that there were two different announcements, one instructing them to get out of the boats and find the nearest exit, and another instructing them to return to their boats and wait for assistance. I heard the second announcement while I was on the phone with my son, and it was very loud, "Please return to your boats and wait for assistance".

I could understand the instruction to find the exit on their own if the building were on fire or it was a dire emergency requiring immediate evactuation, but not for a general failure like this. I was and still am pretty upset about the confusion that took place in there, and waiting for Disney's reply.

[Disney_Barbie]

The :jaw: what :eek: squeaking!?!?!

Yes, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tell me that you meant this metaphorically????

As for the actual situation at hand, I wish my parents were so leanient! I was 17 the first time I was allowed to go out on my own, and that was only because I had a friend along with me that time. I was 21 years old before I acutally walked around / went on rides / ect totally solo!

Anyway, point being, as everyone stated kids mature at different ages, ect, but your post made me think on matters slightly different. I'm a worrier and personally (not that I'm judging you) probably wouldn't let 12 yr old nephew go off walking around solo. But, if for some weird reason (that would NEVER happen cause I love all disney rides) but if I didn't want to, or maybe couldn't ride a particular ride & he wanted to go by himself, I would have probably allowed that. I guess my point is, I never would have consittered the "danger" of being alone on rides, just of walking around alone. But you do bring up a good point that situations where it's kinda scarey to be solo could happen on rides too.

[illini]

I'm so sorry this happened to the kids. I can't imagine how scary that was for everyone.

And I agree-- let's not judge on whether or not this was the right decision. I think it took a lot of courage to post this. Grumpy obviously regrets the decision, but wanted to share it to help others making *their* decision. I, for one, am grateful for the input even though it is, thankfully, not something I need to consider for quite some time yet.

[SBETigg]

Grumpyfan, I'm sorry if I made you feel judged. I meant to agree with your own conclusion that they were too young and share what has worked for us, and to agree that the CMs were inappropriate in expecting guests to know evacuation procedure without guidance.

But opening an age-related topic as a warning to others is bound to spark some debate on what is too young, don't you think? And that's a healthy debate, considering. Instead of feeling judged, I think you should congratulate yourself on sharing your experience and looking out for others. Applause to you for that!

[CaptainJessicaSparrow]

I'm not going to say anything about the decision itself. My response is about the annoucement.

The first announcement was most likely the same as the second annoucement. But there are some wild and unruly guests who refuse to waste time on a ride not moving and they will try to exit unassisted. This often happens with tour groups from visiting countries. The second, louder annoucement was most likely the CM trying to reinforce the policy that some guests weren't listening to.

I've personally witnessed this happening on Pirates. The ride had stopped for about 10-15 minutes, and the three boats in front of us just started to crawl over the other boats and proceed to the exit even though the announcement had been to remain seated. A CM came on over the PA system and very forcefully told everyone to return to their seats as the ride would be resuming.

It's possible that in the anxiety, the children might have misunderstood the instruction, as I know it can be rather difficult to hear sometimes on the ride with all the noise.

[PirateLover]

Grumpyfan, I'm glad your kids are OK. Back in 1995 my parents let my then 13 year old brother take me around by ourselves for a little bit. I was 9 AND it was our first time in the parks. We rode PotC a few times in a row, that was pretty much it.

I am sure the kids heard the instructions correctly. I could understand that one might confuse "exit the boat" with "remain seated in the boat" but if they clearly heard "proceed to the nearest exit" as reported, that's something that is hard to mix up. I have noticed the various exit signs on Splash throughout the years but if I was told to proceed to the nearest exit, without a CM instructing me, I would be scared as well and I'm an adult now! The room for human error and panic is huge as evidenced by this instance.

[BelleLovesTheBeast]

I've been on rides before that have stopped. I think a lot of confusion happens because of so many people on the ride and usually 2 CM working it.

As for the title of things to consider....people also need to remember that because it is WDW doesn't mean it's not the same world we live in everyday. Things happen....they could get hurt, lost or even worse. I hate to be at Disney and hear for a kid going missing. I was born in the 70's and my parents wouldn't let us even go to the mail with friends and no parent until I was 13 or 14.

I hope your story helps people reconsider when to let their children roam the parks unsupervised like you intended.

Hope it was a great trip other than this.

[MNNHFLTX]

Yes, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tell me that you meant this metaphorically????Lol--I think they were referring to the audio effects as you are going up the big hill on Splash Mountain. There's lots of squeaking going on, although I always thought it was supposed to be by bats.

As far as the original topic, I can only imagine how scary that was for the kids and your wife's cousin. Your daughter should be commended on trying to handle the situation with maturity. I'm sure something like that would have rattled quite a few adults too.

There's no perfect age for children to try and adventure out on their own a bit. A parent has to make the decision based on their own kids' capabilities and the related circumstances. And sometimes it's a learning process for both parents and children.

[wdwfansince75]

GrumpyFan, as with many other threads, your attempt for brevity in your first post lead many of us clever people to respond based on incorrect assumptions. Your kids were certainly of sufficient age to be allowed to ride without parents. Just watch the number of parents of even younger kids who send them off to ride Buzz, TTA and Peter Pan, among others, withour escort. I have seen groups of unescorted children on all rides, even ToT and Everest. What you did is not unusual. You have no reason to feel guilty.

As father of four, and grandfather of 6 +, I have experiended that initial feeling of guilt on more than one occasion. When anything bad (or inconvenient) happens to those we love, our first thought is how could we have avoided it. But smoothering them, clinging to them is not necessarily the answer. They must grow!

After you clarified where you were, I flashed back to times when our kids ran off to ride while we chilled. Don't know the exact ages, but I know they rode alone, with us at the exit or close by, before age 11.

Back to your original thought....we all trust Disney to carefully monitor those we place in their care. Obviously, the mere fact that they allowed your group to ride without parents indicates, as we all know, that small groups of unsupervised children do frequently get on all rides.

Perhaps the issue here is that EMH's stresses their CM staffing to the point where they use inexperienced or reduced crews to run the attractions. Calling Disney's attention to the problem may serve us all....hope they fix it by next summer.

[mickey&missy]

I'm glad everyone is ok! I bet that the person who made the first announcement was a less seasoned CM and thought that getting everyone out was the right thing to do. Another, more experienced, CM heard the announcement and made another announcement to correct it.

I don't see anything wrong with you letting them go alone. Its not like you were back at the resort! If you felt comfortable letting go on a few rides alone I'm sure it was ok. Sometimes unforeseen things happen! Don't feel guilty! Truthfully, I probably would have gotten a little upset being told to get off the log find the nearest exit with no CM around. I hope you letter to WDW gets them to review what happened!

[EeyoresBestFriend]

I'm not judging your choice, but I am surprised that you complained to Disney. It was, as you said, your choice to let them try, so to blame Disney when things got confusing, and you weren't there, seems a bit cheeky.
Take it as the learning experience it was and don't go looking to place blame on others.:shrug:

[BluewaterBrad]

Wow.........I was allowed to roam free around MK since 76' I was 9. That would have been the coolest experience ever!!!!:mickey::mickey:

[GrumpyFan]

I'm not judging your choice, but I am surprised that you complained to Disney. It was, as you said, your choice to let them try, so to blame Disney when things got confusing, and you weren't there, seems a bit cheeky.
Take it as the learning experience it was and don't go looking to place blame on others.:shrug:

Actually, I wasn't blaming anybody. I accept full responsibility for my actions in this matter and will re-consider my choice in letting my kids go on their own in the future.

In my correspondence with Disney, I stated that my intention for writing was to inform them of a potentially dangerous situation that might need to be addressed with the castmembers operating the attraction in order to avoid a repeat and possible harm to guests.

[MartyS]

My DD has a friend who is a ride operator on Splash. I copied your post and emailed it to her to show her friend. It wouldn't hurt for the ride operators themselves to know about the confusion created when the ride breaks down. My DD might have even been on the ride when it happened, she told me that she rode it with some friends after her shift ended. It was raining and the ride went "101" (broke down) and she had to walk out. I'm pretty sure it was about the same time y'all were there.

[DisneyDudet]

I am not going to pass judgement on if you were correct in sending your children alone. We have a not-so-nice park here in the Dallas area, so I had been in theme parks all my life, and have been alone there on occasion for short periods of time.

I am pretty sure that I was able to walk around or ride something separate from my parents when I was 13, but I didn't, because I was an only child.

As far as safety by Disney, I do find it strange that they told them to get out of the boats. Maybe there were some CMs at certain stations but not near your children? Also, what if the announcement was muffled and they said that there would be people coming to escort them to the nearest exit, and it was confusing? I know that the announcements on SM aren't the clearest of quality, so it is possible that some people heard one thing. Not saying they are wrong, but that it is difficult to understand.

Also, perception in times of panic are also very different. One person in the same situation in another part of the ride could have very well heard a completely different announcement.

Hopefully it was just a misunderstanding, if not, your writing to Disney was very well justified, as they need to be aware that this practice went on, and to inform the CM's that it was inappropriate.

I wonder if Main Street Jim could enlighten us on the evacuation procedures of SM and why they would make that announcement, since he was a CM there.

[GrumpyFan]

As far as safety by Disney, I do find it strange that they told them to get out of the boats. Maybe there were some CMs at certain stations but not near your children? Also, what if the announcement was muffled and they said that there would be people coming to escort them to the nearest exit, and it was confusing? I know that the announcements on SM aren't the clearest of quality, so it is possible that some people heard one thing. Not saying they are wrong, but that it is difficult to understand.

Also, perception in times of panic are also very different. One person in the same situation in another part of the ride could have very well heard a completely different announcement.

Hopefully it was just a misunderstanding, if not, your writing to Disney was very well justified, as they need to be aware that this practice went on, and to inform the CM's that it was inappropriate.


I agree with everything you said here. I myself am still surprised by the whole situation and fidning it hard to believe. Yet, I've questioned them several times about it, and they insist the announcement told them to find an exit.

I still have to wonder though, I know it's possible that they misunderstood what was being said, and/or just reacted to the rest of the crowd.

[MMouse6937]

I'm not judging your choice, but I am surprised that you complained to Disney. It was, as you said, your choice to let them try, so to blame Disney when things got confusing, and you weren't there, seems a bit cheeky.
Take it as the learning experience it was and don't go looking to place blame on others.:shrug:
I'm going to disagree with you. Grumpy is not complaining that his kids were on the ride by themselves, but that the instructions were inappropriate. I would have complained if I was on the ride as an adult and they had told me to exit myself and proceed to the exit. We have only been on a ride once that broke down and we had to be escorted out, but we were *escorted* out, not told to make it out on our own. That is something that should not happen. Grumpy, thanks for sharing your story!

[tinksmom02]

Yes, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tell me that you meant this metaphorically????

As for the actual situation at hand, I wish my parents were so leanient! I was 17 the first time I was allowed to go out on my own, and that was only because I had a friend along with me that time. I was 21 years old before I acutally walked around / went on rides / ect totally solo!

Anyway, point being, as everyone stated kids mature at different ages, ect, but your post made me think on matters slightly different. I'm a worrier and personally (not that I'm judging you) probably wouldn't let 12 yr old nephew go off walking around solo. But, if for some weird reason (that would NEVER happen cause I love all disney rides) but if I didn't want to, or maybe couldn't ride a particular ride & he wanted to go by himself, I would have probably allowed that. I guess my point is, I never would have consittered the "danger" of being alone on rides, just of walking around alone. But you do bring up a good point that situations where it's kinda scarey to be solo could happen on rides too.


I, too, would like to know about the "rats". :sick:

I'm also curious to hear what Disney has to say about what the OP's kids had to go through. Hopefully they're all doing better!

[merlinmagic4]

Thanks for sharing that with us. We will be vacationing with friends in 2009. My son will be 12 and his friend will be 13. I am sure we will take your experience into consideration when they are begging us to go off on their own! It's honestly not something I ever thought of!

I hope the bad memories fade quickly!

[Rodders]

Maybe I'm being a little bit sensitive, or just feeling guilty, but I would appreciate it greatly if you could please stop with the passing of judgement on us and our decision to allow our kids to wander the parks on their own. In light of what happened, we realize the fallacy of our decision. My purpose in posting this incident was to point out to others what can happen and allow them to make the decision for themselves.

If I may clarify, we were in the park with them, and actually on the other side of adventureland when they went on the ride, and were planning to meet up at the ride exit. When we got there the ride was still running, but soon stopped and we received the first phone call from my son.

My daughter (11yo), is very mature and I felt she was and is quite capable of handling most situations. This was hers and her brother's seventh trip in 6 years, she knows the parks almost as well as I do. From everything I've heard, she handled this situation very well, by listening to the instructions given and even trying to calm her brother and cousin. Admittedly, my son and wife's cousin should not have been alone, and that was an oversight on our part, and we'll not allow it to happen again.
From what I have read I don't think that anyone is passing any judgement on you. It seems to me like people are discussing the ins and outs of your decision. I hope you aren't beating yourself up too much about this.

IMHO you didn't do anything wrong. I don't see an issue with allowing children who you feel are mature enough to nip across part of the park to ride alone. My nephew is around the same age and I would feel totally comfortable with him and a couple of friends nipping to a ride providing I (Or my Sis) was in the area.

It really sounds to me like someone who wasn't too familiar with the procedures made the first announcement or the announcement was misheard. As I stated earlier I would be very interested to hear what the mouse has to say on the matter. I can't imagine how allowing people to walk around a dark ride would be allowed even with emergency lighting.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

I hope the rest of the trip was truly magical :mickey:

[Here we go again...]

Wow, I am not sure how my kids would react in that situation.
I was thinking about letting my DD and her friend (both 13) run around the park without us... of course we would be in the same park. This had me thinking now.

Let us know when you get a response from Disney.

[thrillme]

Kids need to grow. Part of growing means learning how to handle unexpected situations and not to panic. Good move in making sure they had cell phone. They weren't "exactly" roaming "free" they were just riding something on there own and meeting up later.

I've had to do that with my own DS because he and his cousin went to Fiesta Texas with a couple of other friends (he was 9 the others were 13 and 14) and I had his younger cousin (6) and she couldn't ride anything they did so I'd let them go off...plan a meeting spot and take her on a baby ride. It wasn't fair to her to have her wait all the time for them and it was PAINFUL for them to wait for her all the time (she didn't want to get on anything that moved faster than you could walk).

Anyway it worked out quite fine.

My DS and I rode "single" rider once when he was about 8. We were DYING to re-ride Test Track but the line was so long and we already used our fast passes and had fast passes to something else. We agreed to wait at the exit. I got on the car just after him. Unfortunately the ride broke down. I was in the middle of the ride he was on the "final run". Well I got off and he wasn't there. I panicked and talked to the CM. Before we even finished the conversation...the car behind me comes in and off he hops with a HUGE grin on his face. Because the ride failed during the final race, they got a re-ride thus putting him BEHIND me. Part of me said NEVER AGAIN for the single rider...but...we couldn't resist...

I'd just advise my son that if it ever happens again just wait in the car till either a CM comes to escort them off or everybody's pretty well gotten off. They don't have to be the FIRST ones off but they don't have to be the LAST ones off either. I vote if they follow the crowd that's on the ride with them...things will be fine. Big Brother IS watching them...there's plenty of cameras all up and down the ride. There's no reason to panic...99% of the time there are plenty of safety features to back up the ride. Just tell them that it's going to give them something cool to tell their friends when they get home. Something about getting stuck on Splash Mountian at Disney has just GOT to be a cool tale to tell.

[Scar]

I, too, would like to know about the "rats". :sick:I'm pretty sure there are no longer any rats... the snakes ate them all. ;)

[GrumpyFan]

From what I have read I don't think that anyone is passing any judgement on you. It seems to me like people are discussing the ins and outs of your decision. I hope you aren't beating yourself up too much about this.

Thanks, I'm not beating myself up anymore, although initially I was really second-guessing myself. The kids all recovered quickly and rode EE at AK 6 times back to back the very next day.


IMHO you didn't do anything wrong. I don't see an issue with allowing children who you feel are mature enough to nip across part of the park to ride alone.

It really sounds to me like someone who wasn't too familiar with the procedures made the first announcement or the announcement was misheard. As I stated earlier I would be very interested to hear what the mouse has to say on the matter. I can't imagine how allowing people to walk around a dark ride would be allowed even with emergency lighting.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

I hope the rest of the trip was truly magical :mickey:

Agreed, it sounds as if someone didn't follow procedures when the ride stopped, but, I'm having to rely on what the kids told me and assume they were right, but I'm slightly skeptical.

Just speculating here, but I suppose it's possible someone with less experience was operating Splash Mountain that night due to MK being open late the two previous nights for Night of Joy.

I'm interested in hearing back from Disney too, but I'll be real surprised if I get anything more than a generic, "Thank you for contacting us on this matter, safety for our guests is our highest concern..." type of response.

Again, thanks for your support. The rest of our trip was quite magical with the exception of RNR being down for refurbishment.

[princessM0m]

I think just that everything that can be said has been said, but I wanted to thank you for sharing your experience. I have no qualms about letting my DD-almost 8 ride a ride by herself or with others her age if I meet her at the exit. I think it's important to show your children you trust them to do this, as long as you are confident that they are mature enough. What I haven't done and what I will do on our next trip to any amusement park is review with her what to do if the ride breaks down, to follow instructions, and that usually the staff will ask riders to remain where they are until instructed otherwise. This whole thing does make me want to get her a cell phone, however...

[BelleLovesTheBeast]

If he was doing this online......could have picked up girls in the park too. Not only do you not know who is in the parks but who is working in the parks.

Police: Disney Worker Traveled To Have Sex With 14-Year-Old Girl

Fries Says He's Tour Guide On Jungle Cruise Ride

ORLANDO, Fla. -- A 27-year-old Disney worker was arrested after he traveled to a parking lot in Orange County believing he was going to have sex with a 14-year-old he met online, according to authorities.

To read the article: http://www.local6.com/news/14111786/detail.html?rss=orlpn&psp=news

[tyandskyesmom]

Hhhhhmmmm....that's something to think about!

The kids and I are going for four days before hubby meets us in the World. Ty will have just turned 9 a few days before. Skye will be 3 3/4 but she is tiny so most likely will still be too small for some rides (she was so disappointed when she could not ride BTMRR in July - short by about 5 inches!) but Ty may want to ride. I was thinking I would let him go on by himself while Skye and I waited outside if he wanted to...now, maybe not! He has been to the World many times since the age of two so I am confident that he knows as much about it as I do and has been on the rides before to so knows what to expect. I don't even know if he'd want to do that but i was just considering offering it up if needed. I never thought about what would happen if they had issues with the ride while he was on it! He does have a cell phone that he only has access to for things like that (otherwise it stays in a drawer until he has been told by me or hubby to use it!) and while he generally is more mature (when without friends!) I think maybe we'll just avoid those things until Daddy gets there!

Thanx for sharing your story, it has really enlightened me!

Oh, and I wanted to put out there that I believe that Disney has put out the age of 7 (or for some reason I am thinking maybe it was 9) as the age where children are allowed in to be without a parent. If that is true, isn't Disney assuming some responsibility for making sure that people from that age and up (because, lets face it, evacuation from any ride could be difficult or scary for anyone of any age!) are informed and provided the correct direction in all cases. I mean, this sounds like Disney error and that first announcement is most likely what caused the panic with all the riders not just the young ones so it had nothing to do with how old the kids were. I am glad you made Disney aware of the problem and sorry your family had to experience this...



109 more days!!!

[thejens]

I'd just like to also thank you for sharing. I would have let my kids go on a ride by themselves too, and it's good to have your experience to think about. I try to give my kids as much independence as is safe and appropriate, but would not have thought of preparing them for a ride breakdown! Thanks for giving all of us parents something to think about.

[pixiesmimi]

Our DGSs, ages 16 and 12, have been allowed in the past to ride alone on different rides and navigate the parks, meeting us back somewhere. I've never thought about something like this happening though. But after SM breaking down just as we were getting on it and the CM telling everyone about the cars being stuck at the top, etc., I don't think I would let them go alone again (at least the younger one.) But the oldest has been with the church youth group several times and they always let them go as long as they are in groups of two or more. So he pretty well knows how to navigate everything. The younger one is very outgoing and thinks he can do anything so we have to reign him in sometimes to his dismay. Sometimes they have no fear and this could get them hurt.

I'm sorry your family experienced this but it sure has given the rest of us something to think about. Thanks for reporting it. :)

[GrumpyFan]

***UPDATE***


Someone from Disney called me about this incident. Unfortunately, I missed the call, but they left me a voicemail.

Basically, they apolgized for the incident, and stated that safety of their guests is the highest concern and the incident has been addressed with the Excetuve VP at Magic Kingdom and Opertations management at Splash Mountain. He also stated that they would review their evacuation procedures and make sure that all their staff were properly trained.

I am surprised that they called me. I expected an email at best, but not a phone call. After 3 weeks, I had almost given up that I would hear anything back, so I'm very glad they took the time to respond.

[SBETigg]

How nice that they called! A little acknowledgement goes a long way, and I'm so glad you called attention to the evacuation procedure. I hope they get it right in the future for the safety of all guests.

[illini]

I'm so glad they had a reaction to this. I hope that they really *are* following through on it. You definitely did the right thing by letting them know.