Disney Parks banning unescorted kids under 14

[WilsonFlyer]

I need some clarification, please.

The media is reporting "unaccompanied" as in never alone in the parks.

The way I read the announcement was that no ENTRY would be allowed for anyone deemed under 14 without an older escort.

What gives? Does anybody know the answer?

I think the media is just having a field day with the premise "Disney is shooting itself in the foot with banishing its biggest audience." but maybe it's just around here.

 

[hakepb]

Wrong thread

 

[nunzia]

This --- is exactly why I still think 11/12 is too young to go around alone. Disney is not a real bubble, and they don't exactly screen people that come in and out (guests or otherwise).

I agree..I would let my tween age kids (plural, not alone)go around in the same park I was in for a limited time but I would not let them enter/exit parks until mid teen. Disney must have had enough issues where they felt this was needed, so I'm all for it. And yes, I remember those dreaded times when the kids started to pbe charged the adult price, but my pre teen kids could really pack the food away and needed the bigger portion sizes for meals. I also don't blame them for the entry age for adult price being 10..it has to change at some point so that age seems pretty fair.

 

[AmyB2006]

I remember tromping around Disney at 11, 12, 13 etc. Always with a friend, never alone. But we were respectful and didn't cause havoc.

However, we would usually find other kids our age their by themselves and then would be in a group of us, and sometimes the other kids weren't so pleasant.

I can see why they would want this rule. Especially with the (what seems like) the growing lack of respect from young people today.

 

[tigger24601]

I'm wondering how this is going to change how schools do their end of year trips. Should be interesting.

 

[Chuck S]

One also has to wonder if the Pop Warner incident at Pop Century a couple years ago aded to this decision. A fight broke out between unsupervised Pop Warner groups. At least one team and their chaperones were removed from Disney property.

 

[lilpooh108]

I need some clarification, please.

The media is reporting "unaccompanied" as in never alone in the parks.

The way I read the announcement was that no ENTRY would be allowed for anyone deemed under 14 without an older escort.

What gives? Does anybody know the answer?

I think the media is just having a field day with the premise "Disney is shooting itself in the foot with banishing its biggest audience." but maybe it's just around here.

The media? You realize that ABC is owned by Disney, right? It was the only station that even reported this "news" 2 nights ago in our local station. If you're comfortable with letting your daughter go 1 hr ahead of you, that's fine. It just seems to me that some people on here believe that 11/12 YO may be too young. Things can happen in a minute, and Disney is no safer than a local mall.

 

[kamik86]

The media? You realize that ABC is owned by Disney, right? It was the only station that even reported this "news" 2 nights ago in our local station. If you're comfortable with letting your daughter go 1 hr ahead of you, that's fine. It just seems to me that some people on here believe that 11/12 YO may be too young. Things can happen in a minute, and Disney is no safer than a local mall.

However I see no reason why a group of 11-12 year olds can't be in the local mall by themselves either. Actually at the mall I would let this group go alone (as in one parent drops them off and they see a movie do some shopping and get picked up after they are done). I wouldn't allow them alone in a disney park in that sense but I would let them be somewhere else in the park and just meet up for lunch etc.

 

[granmanh603]

Having spent a lot of time in that area, all you have to do go by the "drop off" parking area (where you can't leave your car) It's TONS of "tweens' being dropped off or picked up. Why would Disney want roaming bands of tweens creating havoc?

We run into roving bands of tweens all the time in March and Oct... Girls...Dance and Cheerleading... and boys and girls band and performers. sports what are they going to do about them? they(WDW) drop them off by the bus loads from the hotels...

 

[Deb & Bill]

We run into roving bands of tweens all the time in March and Oct... Girls...Dance and Cheerleading... and boys and girls band and performers. sports what are they going to do about them? they(WDW) drop them off by the bus loads from the hotels...

The chaperones will have to go with the kids to the parks and not just sit at the hotel at the pool having a marguerita.

 

[supersuperwendy]

My kids have been visiting WDW for most of their lives. Last summer they spent a good deal of time doing stuff with each other while hubby and I tended to our toddler. Last summer our girls were 14 & 12 and had a blast together at Typhoon Lagoon. I didn't allow my 10 year old son to go (I thought he was too young). This summer I plan to let them venture off again..this year they'll be 15 & 13. I guess my 11 year old son will stick with us again. My 13 year old goes to the gym with my husband because she looks 14 so I think she'll get into the parks no problem. So basically this new rule won't affect us a ton.

 

[BEASLYBOO]

. I really felt sorry for them and they spent the rest of the day with us. They did not get picked up until closing and this was during the summer and that was midnight.

Very nice of you. I did pretty much the same for a boy and girl 10 and 12. I think nightfall diminishes the confidence a 10-12 year may have travelling the parks/buses alone. I personally would never have wanted my son or any child for that matter, to face that kind of fear without my being readily available!

So at 12, we let them walk around the same park where we were, by themselves. At 14, with 2 or 3 friends, cell phones they had earned the freedom to come and go from the resort and parks by themselves, as long as a call, a text told when and where they went!

 

[honeymo78]

My kids have been visiting WDW for most of their lives. Last summer they spent a good deal of time doing stuff with each other while hubby and I tended to our toddler. Last summer our girls were 14 & 12 and had a blast together at Typhoon Lagoon. I didn't allow my 10 year old son to go (I thought he was too young). This summer I plan to let them venture off again..this year they'll be 15 & 13. I guess my 11 year old son will stick with us again. My 13 year old goes to the gym with my husband because she looks 14 so I think she'll get into the parks no problem. So basically this new rule won't affect us a ton.

As long as your 15 year old is with the younger ones, you'll be fine under the new rules. Someone 14 or over needs to accompany anyone under 14.

 

[La2kw]

I think it's a good policy. If parents want a babysitter, they can pay for one of the kid's clubs. There's too much that can happen to unsupervised kids these days. Also, with the new RFID crap Disney is switching over to, personal information can supposedly be accessed from those chips.

 

[tjkraz]

Also, with the new RFID crap Disney is switching over to, personal information can supposedly be accessed from those chips.

Really? What sort of personal information?