responsible party requirement

[starshine514]

For the record, I have never heard of this happening. And never observed anything myself that looked like it. Could it happen? Yes, of course. Like lots of things...

You're always so diplomatic. I haven't noticed it at the parks (then again, I wasn't actively looking for it either), but I have heard about people letting their kids do it. I don't think 14 is a ridiculous age for someone to be allowed to supervise a little one. However, I can see how it could be difficult for parents with multiple small children who have been counting on siblings to be able to ride with them. it will be interesting to see how it plays out in actuality. I hope they will take into account that there is a parent in the group and they have created a sticky situation.

On a side note, I believe that anyone under 48" at Sea World must be accompanied by someone 14 or older to ride their "Bay of Play" rides. So, Disney is not a pioneer with this policy.

 

[Mama Who]

Wow, glad we got in under the wire. While I understand the reasoning for this rule if DS (13) hadn't been allowed to take his baby sister on some rides he'd have been really bummed.

 

[Disney Dreams]

I don't think they will stop a 6 and an 8 year old from riding together while Mom or Dad rides in the vehicle behind them. I think they would stop a 6 and 8 year old from riding while Mom and Dad are sitting on Main Street, or at the hotel, or at home.

For the record, I have never heard of this happening. And never observed anything myself that looked like it. Could it happen? Yes, of course. Like lots of things...

Really? There are indeed parents who use Disneyland as a babysitting service. Drop the kids off and pick them up later.

Hypothetical: 6 and 8 year old go on Pirate's Lair alone. Six year old slips, falls, and gets hurt. What happens now? The eight year old takes care of him/her? Kids just shouldn't be left alone, imo of course.

- Dreams

 

[aleighc1]

Thank you for asking about this, I've been wondering also. I was hoping on some rides my 5 year old could ride with my 10 year old, so my husband and I could ride with our younger children and not always having someone waiting to do a swap-around. (for example: on Dumbo, have 10 year old & 5 year old together, 8 & 7 year old together, I will ride with my 3 year old, and hubby will ride with 2 year old. Or on teacups, let my 5 year old ride with his 3 older siblings while hubby and I ride together with the younger children since I know the 5 year old will want to spin around faster with his older siblings and the younger ones (not to mention my husband) would prefer to ride the teacups "as-is") I'm really hoping since I don't plan to have my 5 year go on many of the faster or scarier rides, and that we're planning to all be on the rides together, the CM's might be accommodating

If anyone has been there very recently and had an experience with this, I'd love to hear how it went.

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

I don't think Space Mtn is the right comparison because the parent is there in the car. So the rule does not apply. It is on rides with only two people in a vehicle - like the link I gave about Silly Symphony Swings.

True. Then there are much fewer rides that this would be an issue, since many rides with individual cars like PP or HM can fit 3 across (I actually rode with all 4 of my kids in one car). I'd say the "issue" rides are the swings, Dumbo, possibly Buzz due to the gun, possibly jumping jelly fish...

 

[DisSarahK]

Can't recall but do Space and Thunder hold an 1 adult and 2 children in one car?

I don't know about Space Mountain, but I can tell you that Big Thunder Mountain will fit an adult and two children--my husband took both our children on this one last September by himself and the three of them sat together in one row.

 

[TeddiBarra]

Thank you for asking about this, I've been wondering also. I was hoping on some rides my 5 year old could ride with my 10 year old, so my husband and I could ride with our younger children and not always having someone waiting to do a swap-around. (for example: on Dumbo, have 10 year old & 5 year old together, 8 & 7 year old together, I will ride with my 3 year old, and hubby will ride with 2 year old. Or on teacups, let my 5 year old ride with his 3 older siblings while hubby and I ride together with the younger children since I know the 5 year old will want to spin around faster with his older siblings and the younger ones (not to mention my husband) would prefer to ride the teacups "as-is") I'm really hoping since I don't plan to have my 5 year go on many of the faster or scarier rides, and that we're planning to all be on the rides together, the CM's might be accommodating

I can tell you, that it's not going to work for Dumbo. You could have the 10 & 8 year olds ride together (and possibly add the 7 yr old in with them), you will have to squish three into the the other two dumbos. You and 2yr old and 7 yr old, and husband and 3yr old and 5 yr old (or some combination of that).

As long as the 7, 8, and 10 year old MEET any given minimum height requirement, they can ride "alone" or together, however those under age 7 and not meeting height requirements to ride alone. The 2, 3, and 5 yr olds will need to be with parents. Talk to them ahead of time (the 10, 8 , 7 yr olds) so they can plan to be grouped together. For Fantasyland, they will probably go in a separate car ahead of you, and then mom/dad/2/3/5 yr olds will ride in a car behind them. Unfortunately, the 10 yr old can't act as an adult/responsible person until he hit 14.

Your 10 year old will not be able to do rider switch at all. Period. So on the rides you still need to do rider swap for, one of the adults has to be the one to stay with the kids too young/short to ride.

 

[cmwade77]

If I were the person at Silly Symphony Swings, I would definitely have said something to guest relations, I mean, she was going to be right next to them after all, it's definitely one thing if you will not be within eyeshot, but come on, let's use a little common sense. Of course if more people used common sense, we wouldn't need these rules in the first place.

 

[Pearl_Mirror]

What about the kids between those ages (8-13), to me that is a strange rule. Or are they allowed to go around alone? The policy just sounds a bit strange to me, since there are a lot of numbers between the two.

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

What about the kids between those ages (8-13), to me that is a strange rule. Or are they allowed to go around alone? The policy just sounds a bit strange to me, since there are a lot of numbers between the two.

Anyone 7 or over can ride by themselves.

 

[aleighc1]

Your 10 year old will not be able to do rider switch at all. Period. So on the rides you still need to do rider swap for, one of the adults has to be the one to stay with the kids too young/short to ride.

I was actually just referring to my husband or I waiting to do a ride swap. I wouldn't make one of my kids wait without an adult, even if it were allowed. After all, this is their vacation since they are the whole reason we're even going to Disneyland!

Thankfully my children are all very slim, so "squishing" onto a shared ride seat shouldn't be too much of a problem. It's a bit of a bummer that they changed the policy, but it just means switching things up a bit more than I expected. We'll make it work, and I'm sure have a fantastic time.

 

[disneychrista]

I am confused on this new policy and hope someone can clarify this...

the new policy says a child under 7 has to ride with a responsible party 14 years or older...

I am taking my 6 and 9 year old on a trip this October... with the new policy does this mean that if all 3 of us can't fit in one car, we can't ride or can my 2 children ride together in one car and me in the other?

The 9yo could ride alone but the 6yo would have to ride with you.

 

[MAH4546]

For the record, I have never heard of this happening. And never observed anything myself that looked like it. Could it happen? Yes, of course. Like lots of things...

Go to the drop-off zone on Harbor on a Friday or weekend. It happens. A lot. Many in the area buy their kids passes and use Disneyland as a babysitter. I actually don't see a problem with this at all, as long as the kids are well behaved and mature enough to hang out on their own, which is often not the case.

 

[nunzia]

If I were the person at Silly Symphony Swings, I would definitely have said something to guest relations, I mean, she was going to be right next to them after all, it's definitely one thing if you will not be within eyeshot, but come on, let's use a little common sense. Of course if more people used common sense, we wouldn't need these rules in the first place.

I don't think it's the case of being in eyeshot, but being in handshot. I would guess that this is in place to keep little kids from doing something silly like squirming out from under a belt or something that could cause injury on the ride and that the responsible person would need to be right there, not in a close car, to be able to stop the action.
Is this rule in effect for things that have no height requirement? For example, can my 6 & 10 year old grandsons ride in one Peter Pan vehicle while parents ride in another?

 

[HydroGuy]

Go to the drop-off zone on Harbor on a Friday or weekend. It happens. A lot. Many in the area buy their kids passes and use Disneyland as a babysitter. I actually don't see a problem with this at all, as long as the kids are well behaved and mature enough to hang out on their own, which is often not the case.

I know about the baby sitting thing. Just not for 10 and 4 year olds alone. And I have been to the Harbor dropoff and have not seen it. Not sayin' it doesn't happen. Just seems like lots more people talk about it happening than I think really, truly happens. Maybe I am wrong. I just have never seen it. But I am not a regular at DLR like some of you...

 

[cyclenut]

Go to the drop-off zone on Harbor on a Friday or weekend. It happens. A lot. Many in the area buy their kids passes and use Disneyland as a babysitter. I actually don't see a problem with this at all, as long as the kids are well behaved and mature enough to hang out on their own, which is often not the case.

I've seen some things at that dropoff that I would not find acceptable. Until my kids were in High School they were not allowed to be in DL themselves. A responsible parent had to be in the park with them. That doesn't mean they had to hang with them the whole time, but there were check-ins and emergency meet-up points.

As APs who make serveral, shorter, trips you have an opportunity to get to know the park well. The kids get used to the ride load and unload procedures as well as the dynamics of each ride. I'm trying to think how this policy may have affected us and I expect it could have. Our kids are close in age and we have 4. But as I said earlier, no CM is checking ID. If you are "close" then you are probably going to be just fine.

A number of years ago we were in the park with our two youngest. We had let them go off on their own for 2 hours. We had a meet up spot and meet up time arranged. We were wondering around the park and guess what, a medical emergency right near our meet up spot. Disney security wouldn't let us anywhere near there. It was 30 minutes before meet up time but we became very nervous. We ran into a family friend who was working security and explained our concerns and our situation. She checked into it for us and found out that our kids were not involved or anywhere near. What we learned next really surprised us. Apparently it is a VERY COMMON thing for parents to leave very young kids in the park. Our procedure of check ins and meet up places was something that this friend of ours thought was pretty good and should address most situations she had run across. Relying on cell phones doesn't always work.

 

[cyclenut]

Duplicate post removed

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

Is this rule in effect for things that have no height requirement? For example, can my 6 & 10 year old grandsons ride in one Peter Pan vehicle while parents ride in another?

Technically no they can't. The 6 year old would have to ride with with someone over the age of 14. The 10 year old can ride on their own since they are at least 7.