Is It True About Those Heely Shoes In The Parks????

[shellytc]

I would love to be at the opening gates if security ever started enforcing the "no wheelies" rule. Can you imagine the tirades that parents would throw? Imagine, no wheely sneakers allowed, who carries an "extra" pair of sneakers in their bag to replace the wheelies, and who really packs extra sneakers on a trip to begin with? What exactly would the parents do at that point when the wheelies are not allowed in the parks.

You don't have to change shoes, you can request the wheel to be removed and put away. That's right, I'm the proud mama of a wheelie wearing kid (who did BEG to bring his heelies to WDW and was promptly told NO). The wheel pops out and your supposed to replace it with a rubber stopper (we have ours) and then they can be used like regular sneakers. Maybe someone needs to tell the CM's this...

shelly

 

[Fly me with Balloons]

My Daughter had her foot run over in EPCOT (UK) The kid appologized, but they shouldn't have been on.

As a deam of students, I spent my days confiscating them...now, kids don't even bother bringing them in. 1st time parents pick them up after school. 2nd time, parents pick them up...in June.

 

[shellytc]

I realized after posting that this had been said, sorry!!

Anyway, we are lucky (in a way) that DS is more of a trend setter than follower. He asked for his heelies a year ago, is pretty good with them, but they are losing their luster for him. He doesn't beg to wear them very often anymore. It was just while I was packing for our trip (leaving tomorrow, yeah!!) We were picking out his clothes and shoes to bring, when he had the bright idea to "heelie" around the parks!!

I had to tell them they aren't allowed, although he will see all kinds of kids breaking the rules. He hates breaking the rules... So he won't be bringing his.

Shelly

P.S. and no he doesn't wear them to school, with or without the wheel.

 

[motherof4]

This is a very tiring debate, some of you seem to forget what it's like being a kid! I aggree they shouldn't be worn to school or public places. My 10 year old son got a pair for Christmas, I have the same size foot, got to admit they are alot of fun, and meant to be used recreationaly like skates. I think disney needs to specify rules more plainly, if it wasn't for the DIS, I would not have known they weren't alllowed, and so the general population wouldn't know! It's a fade, trust me there are other things that kids do that bug me even more!

 

[basas]

I don't like those things at all. I have seen two CM's who have stopped kids using them and told them (politely, but forcefully) that they were not allowed. I wish more CM's would do this- I almost wanted to go up and tell them how much I appreciated them enforcing the park rules! Now if we could just get more to take the same approach to smokers...

 

[Mo-Yo]

I can't's stands those darn whipper snappers with their dag-blame fancy wheelie shoes. They PLUturb me to where I almost swaller my dentures.

Seriously...they are annoying occasionally. But dangerous? Very rarely.

I wouldn't want my kids wearing them in the parks for fear their feet would hurt eventually, and they wouldn't quite be in sync with the group. But DS10 and DD8 aren't daredevils, and they have good manners, so I wouldn't worry about them bothering other guests.

They are toys and definitely not appropriate for school, but silly fads are part of being a kid. Think hoop skirts, hoola hoops, and boom boxes.

Will the real Burger Meister Meister Burger on the boards please stand up?

 

[boomhauer]

Seriously...they are annoying occasionally. But dangerous? Very rarely.

Silly fads are part of being a kid. Think hoop skirts, hoola hoops, and boom boxes.

Actually, doctors are reporting very high incidents of injuries to children using them.

I don't think a hoop skirt, hoola hoop or a boom box could cause any head injuries.

 

[Mo-Yo]

I looked into the safety issues before buying them...and believe me there are no reports of emergency rooms full of heely fatalities. The safety issue that brings the most people into emergency rooms are auto accidents. The rest is an amalgam of other inherent dangers of life on earth.

All types of injuries occur every day from walking, running, skipping, skiiing, somersaults, climbing trees, diving into pools, swimming, baseball, football, falling off a chair, riding a bike, riding amusement rides, swinging on swings, riding a segway, playing frisbee, tripping, dancing, eating, flossing, marching in a parade, falling out of bed...and even paper cuts when reading a good book.

Don't forget...it was the dreaded ball that tripped the Burger Meister, down the steps, and led to the banning of all sorts of childhood amusements in the name of order and safety.

And grandma got run-over by those flying reindeer...they should be banned, as well.

 

[Mickiethepooh]

I would love to be at the opening gates if security ever started enforcing the "no wheelies" rule. Can you imagine the tirades that parents would throw? Imagine, no wheely sneakers allowed, who carries an "extra" pair of sneakers in their bag to replace the wheelies, and who really packs extra sneakers on a trip to begin with? What exactly would the parents do at that point when the wheelies are not allowed in the parks.

Now THIS sounds like a great money making opportunity for Disney. Set up a shoe shop right at the gate. Confiscate the Wheelies till the guest leaves and IF they don't happen to have other shoes in their bag, SELL EM A PAIR!!! Yo Ho

 

[Mono~rail]

It would seem common sense would "tell" parents where these shoes are appropriate and inappropriate. Anywhere that roller skates, roller blades, a skateboard, etc. wouldn't be allowed, Heelys wouldn't be allowed either. Just because it is a roller skate cleverly disguised as a shoe doesn't make it OK to wear where ever. I would think even a goose could figure that out.

 

[boomhauer]

This would be enough for me to not let my kids wear them:

Brzezinski spoke with Valerie Poston of San Diego, whose nine-year-old daughter, Katrina, suffered a concussion when she lost her balance wearing Heelys at a mall.

"It just didn't dawn on me that they were so dangerous," Valerie told Brzezinski, adding she never thought twice about letting her girls wear Heelys.

Katrina's sister says, "My sister took a few steps, and then her foot just slipped out from under her and she just fell back."

"We both heard the big thump, terrible, terrible thump," says Valerie, "and we came running and found her on the floor crying, holding the back of her head."

 

[boomhauer]

It would seem common sense would "tell" parents where these shoes are appropriate and inappropriate. Anywhere that roller skates, roller blades, a skateboard, etc. wouldn't be allowed, Heelys wouldn't be allowed either. Just because it is a roller skate cleverly disguised as a shoe doesn't make it OK to wear where ever. I would think even a goose could figure that out.

 

[Mono~rail]

I just despise those Heelys! I wish every parent who bought these things for their kids had to walk around with them shoved up their rear ends for a week before giving them to their kids and subjecting us (the general public) to their Heelys wearing shananagans!

 

[kevw67]

My nephew has a pair. You can remove the wheels. AT that point they are just regular sneakers.

uhhmmm....no they are not regular sneakers. I see these stupid things in my Phys. Ed. classes all the time and I make the kids change into different sneakers. I absolutely refuse to let those things in my gym with or without the wheels. Watch a kid walk or try to run in them. They can't! I agree that they are the dumbest things ever invented for children to wear. I also saw them in the parks last Feb. and and came close to being steamrolled by the operators. If I do get railed by these people this Feb. there may well be Heelies hanging off Space Mountain or Rock n Roller Coaster.....possibly with the owners in them!

 

[Mono~rail]

When skating in these shoes, it forces muscles into unnatural positions to balance in such an abnormal position. Your kids can be harmed by this - not just falling and hitting their head or breaking their arm. Damage can be done by these shoes without any of broken bones.

Crippling Our Children the Heelys Way

Unfortunately, the real high risk victims are our little children. They can look forward to the following problems after prolonged use:

1) Neck & Upper Back Injury
2) Lower Back Injury
3) Hip Injury

Neck & Upper Back Injury

The natural skating position of the Heelys forces the neck to push the head outwards to balance a body that is now poised to fall backwards. The neck and shoulder muscles are strained to push the head forward to counteract gravity. However, our neck muscles were not made to hold our head out on a horizontal plane. This is a stop gap measure by our body to prevent us from toppling. Sadly, the damage is not going to be stop gap nor temporary.


Back Injury

The skating position of the Heelys compels the lumbar curve of our backs to flex AGAINST its natural curve, creating a flat lower back instead of a concave one.

To be fair - the skating can be done with a natural curve but it takes great effort; and I certainly do not see children doing it!

Fortunately, in the walking mode, genuine Heelys allow you to take out the wheel but parallel brands usually do not. Remember to always get your child to take out the wheel. Do not allow them to be lazy!

Constant walking on shoes that pivot on rollers (now that wheels have taken the place of the heels) conditions our gait muscles to walk in a manner contrary to natural stride patterns. This leads to knee, shin and foot injuries later in life.


Hip Injury

Balancing in a forward motion on one back wheel is no easy task! Hence, our children’s natural sense of balance intervenes by skating with one foot in front of the other. The centre of gravity effectively expands along the diagonal axis, creating a more stable base to balance on.

In other circumstances, this would be a beautiful celebration of the human body’s ability to adapt. Unfortunately, in this case, it is a predisposition to a life of agony.

Modern children spend most of their time seated behind desks and computer. The rare minutes of movement they have in a day will be constrained by the muscular requirements for the precarious Heelys balancing act. Their hips will be locked in an awkward skewed fashion, having to constantly compensate for the imbalance.


The Long Run

Occasional postural stress on our human bodies is not a problem. It only becomes a critical problem when it involves children in their formative years. Prolonged exposure to un-natural stressors on our posture forces our body to evolve by strengthening those incorrect, temporary function, muscles. In the absence of postural rehabilitation, this is the only defence mechanism, albeit temporary. These reinforced muscles become a ticking time bomb waiting to fail.

 

[CheshireVal]

I saw heelys everywhere during our Christmas trip. I hate them!!!!!!!!

I did see one kid in MK "busted" by a CM and told that skating wasn't allowed (the kid kept running up a slight hill to skate down while waiting for someone to come out of the restroom). After the CM told him to stop and then walked away, the mom looked at the kid and said, "I told you so."

Well, gee, MOM. Why aren't YOU making your kid act appropriately then if you knew it wasn't allowed?

 

[CamColt]

We noticed many kids wearing them in the parks from 12/21-12/29. One I even saw skating through the BW Inn (near the Bellvue Lounge)

I also saw quite a few kids purposely running and sliding on wet walkways during differnet periods of rain. I was realy hoping no one got hurt.

 

[Paula H]

They are everywhere, even at WDW. We live locally and visit WDW at least once a month. Many, many times, one of my kids have been nearly knocked over by a kid on them. I think it would go a long way if WDW just posted a sign at the gate saying "no skating, including heely sneakers." And I'm glad to see from another post that a CM did stop a kid who was wearing them. In all our visits, we've never seen a CM say a word.

 

[BamaTigger]

Well, since I read all of these posts, Im NOT looking forward to seeing these kids and heelies.

Flame me if you want, but IF some kid runs me over with those stupid things in one of the parks, Im gonna NOT GONNA SAY A WORD TO THE KID....Im gonna say A WORD OR TWO to the PARENTS. Folks are posting that it is the parents responsibility....so Im just gonna voice my opinions to the parents.


I know Disney cant stop every little rule from being broken, but THE PARENTS can act like Parents and put their foot down at some point.

I just hope I dont get run over....or I will be FURIOUS!

 

[TwilightOwl]

We saw kids wearing them all over during our trip from 12/24 - 12/30. I hate them! And like a poster above, we saw kids deliberately sliding on wet pavement at Epcot, nearly slamming into people.