Does the "Wave Pool" give you stress?

[hogwartsdropout]

I used to love the wave pool at TL! Until the time I went when I was 13. The wave came and knocked me over. When I stood up after the wave had passed, I noticed a woman was giving me funny looks. I looked down and my bikini top was round my waist!
Now I just stick to the lazy river!

 

[Sinderelli]

But, BraveMom, I just had to say that you and all of the residents of Biloxi are in our thoughts and prayers.

 

[minkydog]

I can't stand wave pools i never go any deaper than ankle deep in them. I"m not a good swimmer and the waves frighten me. I have a great fear of large open spaces of water. Pools i can handle but I truely fear the ocean, especialy those that are so clear. I'm always afraid those waves are goign to drowned me in the wave pool or some kid goofing around is going to hold on, which has happend once and i almost didn't make it.

i'm with you. My first (and only) experience with the wave pool resulted in my being rescued by a lifeguard from the deep end where I was seriously in trouble and flailing for my life. Looking at the waves from outside the pool, it was so inviting and everyone seemed to be having so much fun. But being in the midst of waves crashing over my head and pushing my under was one of the most frightening events of my life. My DD12 isn't allowed to go out farther than waist deep, and DS10(non-swimmer)is relegated to sitting in the shallow end.

 

[BraveMom3]

But, BraveMom, I just had to say that you and all of the residents of Biloxi are in our thoughts and prayers.

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. It's hard to imagine how long it is going to take for our area to look half normal - years I know. Thank God I can still take my children and head to WDW. We went at Thanksgiving (after fearing that the hurricane would cause that trip to be scrapped), and it was wonderful to go somewhere where everything wasn't destroyed or damaged in some way! Now we only have about 3 1/2 months until we are lucky enough to be there for 2 wonderful weeks!

 

[jenrose66]

I agree; the wave pool = stress

My stress stems from the save reason you have. I worry about getting crushed. While I don't think that the 230 pound 45 year old guy will hurt me; he may break my limbs.

I try to stay around little kids, cause I know they don't hurt; and I never go that deep in the water.

 

[donac]

The wave pool is one of the reasons I don't like Tl. I live at the Jersey shore but we don't go to the beach that often. I grew up swimming in pools and a lake so the waves really worry me.

 

[BonnieA]

I do like the wave pool but it can be painful, especially when it's crowded. People DO smash into people. I've been clunked many times. Sometimes you can get a real beaner right in the skull. Not pleasant.

 

[PatriciaH]

I'm with everyone else.. The wave pool makes me a nervous wreck. When we went in May, I was in the shallow water with the baby while my DH and DS had the other kids in the deep water. A man and a little girl about 3 yr old were next to me. Then the horn blew and the man didn't know what that meant and got out of the water on one of those ledges. The little girl got knocked down and pushed up under the stone bench and couldn't get out because of the force of the water. I grabbed her and pulled her out and she's coughing and crying, scraped and bleeding all down her side and down her whole leg. The man was scared to death. It was awful! So, hold those little ones by the hand, even in the shallow water!

Oh no! That is very scary. Good thing you were quick.

 

[Idroveallnight]

I don't mind the wave pool - both DD's love it. DS not so much! Probably because he discovered at about 6 yo that if you are coming down the slide in the kids area as the wave comes in you get swept out of the kids area into the wave pool! That fraked us both out!! One minute you are smiling and laughing the next your child is being whisked out to sea... He likes it more now but we don't ever go out very far & I hold his hand. DD 17 or my mom usually hold onto DD10.

 

[vellamint]

My t-shirt idea also helps with not getting sunburned....and I agree with nervousness....

I have two kids that are fish and they go out far with their father.....
I have two nervous Nellies and they stay closer in with me!!

 

[jennpug]

I understand what you mean about stress. When we went last fall I did not want to take DD(4) in the wave pool. But she had a life jacket on, so we tried it the first time in very shallow water.

Well that was it...she was completely hooked. As soon as she heard the horn signaling the wave was starting she went nuts---squirming and fighting to get out of my husband's arms so she could dive into the wave. At first I thought I was going to have a heart attack, but she was squealing with happiness! It ended up being one of her favorite activities our whole vacation and she stayed very safe.

 

[helenm29]

Actually when I stop to think about it, the Wave pool at TL doesn't make me as nervouse as those little ledges they have all around the edge of it for you to sit or stand. It's awfully easy for little ones to get stuck under neath there.

 

[NotUrsula]

I've got to say I love wave pools; no monster gulp of seawater if you get wiped out, and I've never had a fake-wave wipeout that hurt as much as one caused by the real kind. My DS learned to body-surf much more comfortably in TL's wave pool than he would have at the beach.

However, I *do* have one real gripe -- the &*)#! tubes! Those things are a menace, and children, especially, can end up trapped underneath them in a position where the lifeguards (and anyone else, for that matter) cannot see that they are in trouble. I've been run over by people on those blasted tubes more times than I can count; they are literally sitting on you and they don't even notice. The tubes *really* should be banned from the wave pool.

I've often wished that the floor surface was sculpted in a wave pattern rather than that deliberate pumice texture. Small waves would give you traction with a lot less potential for serious abrasions. The potential for scrapes is worse in the shallow water; in the deep end it is usually not such a problem.

 

[helenm29]

Thanks for clearing up what those things are called! I just know that they shouldn't be there! just too darn dangerouse! I would also love for them to change the texture of the bottom...at least from a certain distance from the start...I've been scraped so bad that I had to have med. attention! when those waves hit, DON'T be in ths shallows because you get some seriouse scraping!

 

[delilah]

We went to TL the first time last November. My son and I liked it, and stayed in as long as we could stand it--it was actually a little cool outside for swimming. The one misadventure of our entire vacation was in the wave pool. My son had a lip bumper and palate expander, and the lip bumper was washed away by the force of the waves. I'm glad it wasn't both. One was expensive enough. So, if your kids have any removable orthodontic appliances, I would advise removing them when you go to TL, and leaving them in your room.

Now, I wonder just how often they clean out the lost objects from the wave pool, and, just what would they do with a lip bumper? Send it to lost and found? I am sure we aren't the only ones who've lost items in there.

 

[eeyoreiscool]

We don't get stressed by the wave pool but we definately don't stay there long. We tend to get bumped too much by other kids so we just leave and go to something quieter.

 

[robin714]

I'm so glad I read about this. Were making our first trip in November. My DH always tells me I look like an idiot as when we go the Jersey Shore I am the only one on the beach with binnoculars to watch my kids in the ocean. It really makes me nervous and I tell them they can't go in above there knees which is where they start out but end up over their heads.
Think I'll be taking my binnoculars on this trip.

 

[westjones]

I was nervous when we went to TL to the wave pool for the first time, and even more so after that 12 year old girl died there last year. I don't really understand what happened (and never heard a follow up), but this was enough to make me scared. Does Blizzard Beach have a wave pool like this too?

Here is the story about the girl last year:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8834609/

Girl, 12, dies after collapsing at Disney park
Autopsy conducted in effort to find cause of death at Orlando water park

The Associated Press
Updated: 4:07 p.m. ET Aug. 5, 2005


ORLANDO - Medical examiners tried to determine Friday why a 12-year-old girl died after collapsing at a wave pool in a Walt Disney World water park — the third time in two months a child has died or become critically ill at the resort.

Lifeguards noticed Jerra Kirby of Newport News, Va., on a ledge of the wave pool at Typhoon Lagoon on Thursday and asked if she was OK, sheriff’s officials said. She said she was fine and wanted to be left alone but passed out when she stood up, officials said.

Lifeguards performed CPR until paramedics arrived and took her to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Results of Friday’s autopsy could take several weeks if there is no obvious sign of trouble, said Steve Hanson, chief investigator for the Medical Examiner’s Office in Orlando. Relatives who were with her said she had no known medical problems, the sheriff’s office said.

Disney spokesman Bill Warren said the park was operating normally Friday because “there was nothing mechanical wrong” with the pool, which simulates ocean waves.

Three other people have died this year at Disney World, out of the millions who visit the park each year. Two of the victims were adults in poor health; the case of a 4-year-old Pennsylvania boy who died while riding Epcot’s “Mission: Space” in June remains under investigation.

In addition, a 16-year-old British girl suffered cardiac arrest last month after exiting “The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror” ride at the Disney-MGM Studios. She was still in critical condition Friday.

Theme park consultant Randy King, a former safety director at amusement park operator Six Flags, said he wasn’t aware of safety problems with wave pools. “There’s absolutely no telling what was wrong with her,” he said.

The parking lot outside the Typhoon Lagoon park was full on Friday. Concilia Chitati, who was visiting from Britain, called the death “worrying” but not enough to prevent her from enjoying the wave pool.

“So far, our trip has been very nice,” Chitati said.

© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

© 2006 MSNBC.com

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8834609/

 

[NotUrsula]

... I am the only one on the beach with binnoculars to watch my kids in the ocean.

Why would you be so far away as to need them? It really isn't safe for kids to swim without a supervising adult in the water with them, especially not at the shore, where rip currents are an issue. Besides, it's good exercise.

If you can't go in with them, you should bring another responsible adult who can, or don't allow them in the water at all. A rip current can take a child out deep even if he or she is only wading.

----------------------------------------
Also, on the other post re: the death of Jerra Kirby. The autopsy determined that her death had pretty much nothing to do with where she was. She died of a heart infection: http://www.orangecountyfl.net/cms/ORANGEMEDIA/countynews/stories/11-15-2005+Medical+Examiner.htm

 

[Arielle22]

I've got to say I love wave pools; no monster gulp of seawater if you get wiped out, and I've never had a fake-wave wipeout that hurt as much as one caused by the real kind. My DS learned to body-surf much more comfortably in TL's wave pool than he would have at the beach.

However, I *do* have one real gripe -- the &*)#! tubes! Those things are a menace, and children, especially, can end up trapped underneath them in a position where the lifeguards (and anyone else, for that matter) cannot see that they are in trouble. I've been run over by people on those blasted tubes more times than I can count; they are literally sitting on you and they don't even notice. The tubes *really* should be banned from the wave pool.

I've often wished that the floor surface was sculpted in a wave pattern rather than that deliberate pumice texture. Small waves would give you traction with a lot less potential for serious abrasions. The potential for scrapes is worse in the shallow water; in the deep end it is usually not such a problem.

I always thought the opposite. That anyone in the pool should have a tube. I always worry that my dd's will get tired and go under. Plus if kids are in a tube there is less of a problem if they bump into a bigger person.

The wave pool does make me nervous. When I took my niece in 1990 she was juping the waves in the shallow end and I was lifting her up as she jumped. The last time she jumped up as I was bending down and she cracked her head on my jaw. She was fine but I saw stars. It hurt for weeks. (probably should have gone to the doctor).