Lifeguard at kids' splash areas?

[Bryan Burmeister]

We had an incident at Polynesian. My child slipped under. I ran and screamed to get her. The lifeguard looked at me like I was nuts and stood there! The lifeguards are too young! Sorry for all the Disney lovers- this has always been my biggest complaint. My message to management today- Get the sneakers off the lifeguards and be ready. I know I will get attacked for posting this but when it’s your child - you will realize lithe life guards at Disney need more training!

Wow, glad everything seemed to work out ok. Sounds like discussing whether Disney should have a lifeguard stationed or not is a moot point if that's the way they react to an emergency.

 

[zoo2tycoon]

Yes Disney has a responsibility to protect people but it is a parents responsibility to watch their children. Disney can’t babysit parents and children. A parent not watching a child in the pool area thinking a lifeguard will watch/ do they let those same small kids run through the parks unsupervised by them expecting Disney to watch them? It is the same thing IMHO.

 

[Marissaq]

Yes Disney has a responsibility to protect people but it is a parents responsibility to watch their children. Disney can’t babysit parents and children. A parent not watching a child in the pool area thinking a lifeguard will watch/ do they let those same small kids run through the parks unsupervised by them expecting Disney to watch them? It is the same thing IMHO.

I don’t expect anyone to watch my children. I live on the beach and we as a community never take the attitude to stand back when a child is in distress. I hope u don’t have a child or grand child that ever needs help when 3 ft away and a life guard is a foot away!

 

[westie55]

Yes Disney has a responsibility to protect people but it is a parents responsibility to watch their children. Disney can’t babysit parents and children. A parent not watching a child in the pool area thinking a lifeguard will watch/ do they let those same small kids run through the parks unsupervised by them expecting Disney to watch them? It is the same thing IMHO.

I agree with you that parents absolutely have a responsibility to watch their children. To use your example, if young kids were running around the parks unsupervised putting themselves and others in danger then yes, I would expect Disney to step in and do something to enforce that this is unsafe and stop it from continuing to be a problem. Whose responsibility is it that kids wear masks? Their parents'. But when parents fail to put a mask on a child or fail to make the child wear it properly, a cast member steps in and gives a reminder. We can all agree that inappropriate, unsupervised pool behavior shouldn't be happening because parents should nip it in the bud, but they haven't and it is. So what now? IMO time to make changes to a policy that in theory is absolutely correct but in practice is not working. Time to get a lifeguard in the splash area or at least passing by from time to time. Or maybe even someone just watching to see that all children enter with an adult.

 

[Marissaq]

I agree with you that parents absolutely have a responsibility to watch their children. To use your example, if young kids were running around the parks unsupervised putting themselves and others in danger then yes, I would expect Disney to step in and do something to enforce that this is unsafe and stop it from continuing to be a problem. Whose responsibility is it that kids wear masks? Their parents'. But when parents fail to put a mask on a child or fail to make the child wear it properly, a cast member steps in and gives a reminder. We can all agree that inappropriate, unsupervised pool behavior shouldn't be happening because parents should nip it in the bud, but they haven't and it is. So what now? IMO time to make changes to a policy that in theory is absolutely correct but in practice is not working. Time to get a lifeguard in the splash area or at least passing by from time to time. Or maybe even someone just watching to see that all children enter with an adult.

Completely agree! Lifeguards remind adults to keep drinks out of the pool so why not a lifeguard at the play area.

 

[oceanmarina]

We stay at Wilderness Lodge every summer. The splash zone is Always attended by a lifeguard. And there is a sign that states that only children of a certain height may go on the slides etc. it is consistently enforced. The lifeguards were very on top of it. If an older kid tried going on it, they addressed it right away. They whistled and told the kid they couldn’t go on the structure.

If I were you, go to the lifeguard area (the rec dept by the pool area) and ask to speak to the lifeguard manager, (I think the title is the recreation manager). I did this last summer at wilderness lodge when the ball throwing at the pools were out of control. Teenagers throwing footballs and water balls hard/fast from one end of the “quiet / leisure “ pool to another. While they couldn’t really stop it (as Disney doesn’t have a no ball throwing rule at pools unfortunately) the manager came over a few times and spoke when they were throwing the ball in an unsafe manner. And as soon as she left the quiet pool area they started right up again.

To me this sounds like a staffing issue. They are not hiring enough lifeguard staff to monitor this area. And due to the unsafe behavior in that area, it clearly needs to be staffed.

I also would email guest relations, it’s a really expensive resort to stay at. They should provide adequate lifeguard staffing.

 

[DLgal]

We had an incident at Polynesian. My child slipped under. I ran and screamed to get her. The lifeguard looked at me like I was nuts and stood there! The lifeguards are too young! Sorry for all the Disney lovers- this has always been my biggest complaint. My message to management today- Get the sneakers off the lifeguards and be ready. I know I will get attacked for posting this but when it’s your child - you will realize lithe life guards at Disney need more training!

I had to pull out a little girl that jumped into the lazy river portion of Stormalong Bay. She didn't know how deep it was, obvuously, and she went down like a bag of rocks. I had been climbing out on the steps when she ran past me and jumped in. There was a lifeguard literally RIGHT THERE that didn't see it happen. I grabbed the little girl by the elbow just as her head went under and I pulled her onto the steps. Her (very pregnant) mom came running yelling her name right as I pulled her up. Clearly this little girl got away from her mom at the sandbar and was too fast. I was disturbed that the lifeguard never even looked our way. I have never relied on lifeguards before and always keep an eye on my own kids.