I there a dress code for the water parks? Should there be?

[Zeebs]

people just need to be aware of the cultural differences, neither being right or wrong. One one poor french women tried to find out recently what was appropriate by the pool at Disney the replies involved much sarcasmic and rude comments.

Some of the lack of swimsuit will be foreigners, some will be for fashion purposes, some will be for comfort.

I go to the swim parks and swimming pools with a head in the sand mentality, I don't pay attention to what others are wearing and I am hoping people aren't looking at my pasty white flabby skin squeezed into my one piece.

Go have fun, be with your family, if your son notices I am pretty sure he won't bring it up.

Kirsten

 

[mombrontrent]

I see it as a non-issue too. Alot of it cultural. Vacationing in the Carribean there have been alot of British and European people at the resorts. The men where Speedos and the women go topless. I live in Canada where it is perfectly legal for women to go around topless outside at the beach ect. However is rare that you actually see women do this here, thongs at the beach sure but rarely topless. Would I be offended or try to hide my kids from the sight if it appeared, absolutly not. Who cares really, it's a naked human body, we all have one.

 

[perdidochas]

So someone who is concerned about her young son seeing women in really skimpy swimwear at a DISNEY park....... is ULTRA conservative??????????

Your point about what you've seen in Rio is immaterial here. She's not vacationing in Rio. She's vacationing in America. At Disney.

I have a 12 yr old son and an almost 11 yr old son. I just don't see the big deal. It's a butt. Everybody has one.

 

[JoshuaShaw]

All of this, "nudity happens, deal with it" talk is a really weak argument. People have sex too, but if you saw two people going at it in public, I imagine you'd have a less than progressive attitude about it, particularly if you have children with you.

 

[perdidochas]

I agree. You may not even see any or he has seen a dozen at the local swimming pool and you don't know. I can't imagine any 13 yr old boy would like his mother talking to him about seeing girls in thongs in any way shape or form. They would probably rather strangle themselves with said thong than listen to their mother talk about a girl in a thong
And I can imagine the shades of red a boy of that age could turn if they do see a girl in a thong and his MOTHER points it out to him, Let the kid have some dignity and not have his mother discus thongs with him at that age.

Exactly.

 

[mdsoccermom]

All of this, "nudity happens, deal with it" talk is a really weak argument. People have sex too, but if you saw two people going at it in public, I imagine you'd have a less than progressive attitude about it, particularly if you have children with you.

There's a difference between nudity and sex.

 

[TenderDonkey]

Very slippery slope here. The last thing anyone wants is for Disney to judge what’s appropriate. Would that mean obese people would have to wear a tarp? Chubby girls one piece and fit girls a bikini? Same with dudes?

Times have changed, but I can assure you a 13 year old BOY has seen a naked girl before. I can only imagine if my friends and I had the internet when we were teenagers…

 

[mombrontrent]

Very slippery slope here. The last thing anyone wants is for Disney to judge what’s appropriate. Would that mean obese people would have to wear a tarp? Chubby girls one piece and fit girls a bikini? Same with dudes?

Times have changed, but I can assure you a 13 year old BOY has seen a naked girl before. I can only imagine if my friends and I had the internet when we were teenagers…

So true, no matter what a parent does to "shelter" thier kids or internet access if they what to see it (which all teenage boys do, heck all men) they are going to find a way whether on their own computer or a friends. What a 13 year old sees at Disney is by no means the worst he will see.

 

[JCJanko]

There's a difference between nudity and sex.

I think you are missing the point.

The point was there are lots of things that happen "naturally" that we would not want to see out in public. Each person's standards of decency are different.

Some people are not bothered by foul language, others are offended, and others are not offended but don't want their kids exposed to it at Disney (even though they have certainly heard the language before).

Who is right? Well, it doesn't matter. Each person can relay their feelings to Disney and they will decide what to do. If Disney decides that it will not be tolerated, so be it. If Disney decides it will, then those offended can go elsewhere.

What is NOT acceptable is the way people are attacking others for simply having an opinion.

 

[TenderDonkey]

So true, no matter what a parent does to "shelter" thier kids or internet access if they what to see it (which all teenage boys do, heck all men) they are going to find a way whether on their own computer or a friends. What a 13 year old sees at Disney is by no means the worst he will see.

I hate that I have to start a sentence with back in my day…BUT we had to work for our soft core porn! I mean you had to steal a Playboy, secure a location and then we had like 10 guys staring at the picture. Or the days of staring at late night scrambled porn.

All my son has to do is type in 2-3 key words. Life is not fair…

 

[JoshuaShaw]

There's a difference between nudity and sex.

To YOU. Those are your standards. I'm not saying nudity= the downfall of civilization, but that 1.) it's a weak argument to say that something is okay simply because "it happens" and 2.) Not everyone shares the same standards when it comes to this sort of thing. What is inappropriate for one person may not be for someone else, and vice versa. As I said earlier, I don't think a dress code would be very practical to enforce at a water park, but it's disconcerting to see how many people are getting up in arms because someone may happen to favor modesty.

 

[lostatdisney]

All this discussion seems so silly - as parents, we do our best to raise our kids, and we should not be so judgmental of other parents. We need to support other parents and not try to tell them that they are raising their child the wrong way! (Unless, of course, they are causing harm to their child.)

On the Disney cruise, we went to Orient Beach in St. Maarten with my sons (ages 15 and 17) and my nephews (ages 14, 12, and 10). We tried to stay on the family side of the beach, but we saw quite a few topless women when we walked down the beach to eat. We all laughed about it, and the kids actually kept track of how many they saw. Nothing was flaunted, and though I am very conservative, it really didn't bother me.

However - it WOULD bother me at WDW. One thing I love about Disney is that it is family friendly.

One other note - my hairdresser is married to a German man, and she told me that when they went to a German beach last summer, she had decided that she would take her top off. But when she got to the beach, the only women who were topless were the very unattractive ones, so she kept her top on. I just thought that was kind of funny.

 

[mombrontrent]

I hate that I have to start a sentence with back in my day…BUT we had to work for our soft core porn! I mean you had to steal a Playboy, secure a location and then we had like 10 guys staring at the picture. Or the days of staring at late night scrambled porn.

All my son has to do is type in 2-3 key words. Life is not fair…

I remember my mother finding all my dad's old playboy magazines under my 13 year old brothers bed

 

[perdidochas]

I hate that I have to start a sentence with back in my day…BUT we had to work for our soft core porn! I mean you had to steal a Playboy, secure a location and then we had like 10 guys staring at the picture. Or the days of staring at late night scrambled porn.

All my son has to do is type in 2-3 key words. Life is not fair…

You don't filter your home internet access?

 

[torsie24]

It's totally 100% a cultural thing. I promise we're not wearing less to cause trouble.

Until I joined these boards I didn't even consider it to be odd that a man might wear speedos or a little girl might only wear bikini bottoms and no top.

And I'm not from Spain, or south america or somewhere hot.

I'm from London - Which I always assumed was pretty much culturally the same as New York (I've never felt like a foreigner there).

Growing up on vacation and to local pool my Dad always wore a speedo, and I would always play with my friends in the paddling pool garden in summer in just bikini bottoms, or even naked.

My Mum has always sunbathed topless wherever we've gone on european summer holidays and now I do the same.

It literally never entered my head that the States might find it unusual to do any of the above, as it's so normal to us, and when we watch shows like Sex and the City, True Blood, and then films like American Pie, you guys don't come across as the type to cover up!

Needless to say I have bought more covering swimwear for my upcoming trip!

(You know what is strange, though, you guys wear a lot shorter shorts than we do! You can't buy shorts here that are like the ones Abercrombie and AE sell)

ETA - Just had this conversation with my Mum. Turns out my Dad only has speedos - so apologies if you're at AKL/GF next month!

 

[Planogirl]

You can't paint all Europeans with one big brush either. I know that my Dutch relatives would be shocked at the idea of not covering up themselves but of course they do see others who don't. It all depends on what you're used to and I think that most Americans aren't used to people not covering up.

As for Speedos, I have no issue with them personally. Some guys look kind of funny in them but of course I'd keep that to myself.

 

[TenderDonkey]

You don't filter your home internet access?

Nope he is only 5. To quote my father: “Seeing a naked girl is one thing…what are you going to do when you actually get a naked girl…”

 

[KellyNY]

It's totally 100% a cultural thing. I promise we're not wearing less to cause trouble.

Until I joined these boards I didn't even consider it to be odd that a man might wear speedos or a little girl might only wear bikini bottoms and no top.

And I'm not from Spain, or south america or somewhere hot.

I'm from London - Which I always assumed was pretty much culturally the same as New York (I've never felt like a foreigner there).

Growing up on vacation and to local pool my Dad always wore a speedo, and I would always play with my friends in the paddling pool garden in summer in just bikini bottoms, or even naked.

My Mum has always sunbathed topless wherever we've gone on european summer holidays and now I do the same.

It literally never entered my head that the States might find it unusual to do any of the above, as it's so normal to us, and when we watch shows like Sex and the City, True Blood, and then films like American Pie, you guys don't come across as the type to cover up!

Needless to say I have bought more covering swimwear for my upcoming trip!

(You know what is strange, though, you guys wear a lot shorter shorts than we do! You can't buy shorts here that are like the ones Abercrombie and AE sell)

ETA - Just had this conversation with my Mum. Turns out my Dad only has speedos - so apologies if you're at AKL/GF next month!

You will not find much of nudity in NY, it is not MIami.
As for violence on TV, has nothing to do with nudity and definitely not projected on the streets. Every TV show is rated, so you can always decide to watch it or not. BTW, True Blood and Sex and the City were originaly HBO series. Sex and the City on regular channels cut almost in half, lots of scenes are not shown.
I am not saying that our ways are better but this is how it goes here and we expect foreigners to respect it.

 

[torsie24]

You will not find much of nudity in NY, it is not MIami.
As for violence on TV, has nothing to do with nudity and definitely not projected on the streets. Every TV show is rated, so you can always decide to watch it or not. BTW, True Blood and Sex and the City were originaly HBO series. Sex and the City on regular channels cut almost in half, lots of scenes are not shown.
I am not saying that our ways are better but this is how it goes here and we expect foreigners to respect it.

You also won't find much nudity in London, but the only point I was making was that from my experience of the States, it had never occured to me that Americans felt different about swimwear to how we feel over here. And that from the nudity (violence wasn't mentioned or inferred) we see on popular American shows it never comes across to us that it's something that is an issue in the States.

I also said that I have bought more covering swimwear for Disney holidays.

So please don't think I'm trying to be disrespectful. Wherever we go we make sure to act in a culturally respectable way.

I'm giving you my honest opinion.

 

[Goofy_Mom]

To get back on track with the OP. Instead of worring about what to say to a 13 year old boy, maybe accecpt the fact that it's not going to hurt him or emotionally scar him. To make make everyone "feel better" maybe invest in pair of dark tinted sunglasses and teach him to move his eyes and not his head.