"No adult is admitted without a child"

[bcla]

My wife handed me my membership card for Children's Fairyland in Oakland, CA - allegedly one of the places that Walt Disney researched and/or visited while planning for Disneyland. All three family members received a membership card, including the kid. However, it has the following on the back:

"No child is admitted without an adult. No adult is admitted without a child."

Having been there once when we paid for our membership, this place is really a kid's park. The attractions are sized for kids and it's not really a place where an adult can go solo without sticking out like a sore thumb - possibly thought of as a potential stalker or perhaps worse. I suppose they also want kids to have adult supervision - i.e. an adult can't just dump off a kid there all day and come back to pick the kid up.

Now I have seen some similar policies. There is a children's playground (the Koret Children's Quarter) in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco that specifically states that adults are not allowed on the playground unless with a child.

 

[BellePrincessBelle]

Our Chuck E Cheese has that policy. I'm comfortable with it.

 

[Janepod]

Many playgrounds around us have this, as does the Lego Discovery Center in Yonkers.

 

[diznygirl]

The old Club Disney's had that rule. That was before we had kids. I couldn't wait for my nephew to visit so we could finally see the inside of that place!

 

[disneyfreakk]

Our Chuck E Cheese has that policy. I'm comfortable with it.

Is this a new policy? My DH and I used to go play the games at chuck e cheese when were younger, and we don't have any kids......

 

[Tozzie]

My wife handed me my membership card for Children's Fairyland in Oakland, CA - allegedly one of the places that Walt Disney researched and/or visited while planning for Disneyland. All three family members received a membership card, including the kid. However, it has the following on the back:

"No child is admitted without an adult. No adult is admitted without a child."

Having been there once when we paid for our membership, this place is really a kid's park. The attractions are sized for kids and it's not really a place where an adult can go solo without sticking out like a sore thumb - possibly thought of as a potential stalker or perhaps worse. I suppose they also want kids to have adult supervision - i.e. an adult can't just dump off a kid there all day and come back to pick the kid up.

Now I have seen some similar policies. There is a children's playground (the Koret Children's Quarter) in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco that specifically states that adults are not allowed on the playground unless with a child.

I am going to blunt and hope I dont offend anyone, one reason they do this is they want to limit the possibility that a child sexual predator is there picking a new victim

 

[bcla]

I am going to blunt and hope I dont offend anyone, one reason they do this is they want to limit the possibility that a child sexual predator is there picking a new victim

That was what I was getting at. I just didn't want to be that blunt, but you said it.

 

[bcla]

Is this a new policy? My DH and I used to go play the games at chuck e cheese when were younger, and we don't have any kids......

Certainly not a corporate policy. It seems that their corporate policy allows for adults to have parties.

http://www.chuckecheese.com/contact-us/party-faqs

Is there an age limit on having a party at Chuck E. Cheese’s?
Chuck E. Cheese’s does not have an age limit as far as buying a party package. You are more than welcome to include adults for a Party Package.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Our Chuck E Cheese has that policy. I'm comfortable with it.

Not at our Chuck E Cheese. Policy is at least one person in any party/group has to be 18 or over. So, no kids without an adult, but adults can go in without a child.

 

[minkydog]

Not at our Chuck E Cheese. Policy is at least one person in any party/group has to be 18 or over. So, no kids without an adult, but adults can go in without a child.

But, geez, who would want to! I spent many an afternoon a Chuck E. Cheese and I'm happy to say, I will never eat bad pizza again!

 

[kkandaj]

The Lego discovery center in Kansas City is the same, except on Mondays.

 

[Sparkly]

Apparently the teaching pool at our local swimming pool doesn't allow adults without kids, except for when we have our swimming lesson on Thursday evening.

 

[ironpig70]

It doesn't bother me if a PRIVATE business has these kind of rules as they may do as they wish.

But if the park in the OP's post is a public park then I take issue with it. Its a public park and its for everybody not just those with kids.


As those afraid of the pedos don't worry as your child is more likely to choke to death at the dinner table then be abused by somebody they DONT know. This notion of a child being grabbed off the playground is unfounded. Yeah it does happen but its rare.

 

[BellePrincessBelle]

Is this a new policy? My DH and I used to go play the games at chuck e cheese when were younger, and we don't have any kids......

Not new, atleast 15 years old. It states for entry beyond this point all adults must be accompanied by a child. Perhaps they had issues which required this rule.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I think it would reduce the "creeper" factor for sure.

 

[SmallWorld71]

Just curious if any of these places define what a "child" is? Does my 10 year old qualify? What about the 14 year old? or the 17 year old? (Not that the teens would want to go to any of these places.....)

 

[Piper]

This policy isn't new at the Oakland place. My son was born in Jan. 1966 and I couldn't wait to take him there. I had seen it before while on picnics in the park in Oakland that it adjoins. Yes, they do have admission so I guess that makes it private. Do they still have children portraying Alice in Wonderland and the other characters? They used to have big contests for the roles.

 

[mrsklamc]

Yes, they do have admission so I guess that makes it private.

Slightly OT but this is a common misconception I see on the DIS. Public vs. Private has to do with who owns/pays for something, not who is allowed in. PP was saying that since the taxpayers pay for a public park, it's not right to restrict it.

 

[FigmentFinder]

The policy is also to keep large groups of teens/college students out of the equipments. I can't count the number of times I've been at a park and a large group of teenagers comes in and start horsing around all over the equipment. Bored young adults think it's fine to run up toddler sized slides, sit on the spring horses, etc.

We have a local "toddler" park. It only has items a child under the age of 5 max would enjoy. But since it's near the baseball & soccer fields, unfortunately we get groups of bored teens who think it's fun to hang out in there. I wish there was a rule to keep adults/young adults out of the park without a child.




Before anyone accuses me of hating teenagers, I have one of those in addition to the toddler.

 

[bcla]

Slightly OT but this is a common misconception I see on the DIS. Public vs. Private has to do with who owns/pays for something, not who is allowed in. PP was saying that since the taxpayers pay for a public park, it's not right to restrict it.

Fairyland is owned by the City of Oakland, but the operations are handled by a private nonprofit.

There was a time when the City of Santa Clara owned the Great America theme park. They immediately contracted with a private company (Kings Entertainment) to operate it. Kings operated it pretty much as they would any privately owned theme park, and they eventually bought it from the city.

There was the old Marine World park that opened in Vallejo, CA after being relocated from Redwood Shores. That was owned by a nonprofit, but they obtained their land from the city and had debt obligations to the city. When they defaulted, ownership shifted to the city as a result. They brought in Premier Parks (Six Flags) which operated it like they would any other park before buying them out. I guess at the time it was technically publicly owned, but you'd be hard pressed to say it was a public park.