Single Parent "child swap"

[CVW]

I'll have my 8 and 5 year-old boys with me for a weekend in September at USF/IOA (with FOTL privilege). My wife won't arrive until we transfer over to Disney Sunday night.

I'll be doing mostly their stuff. But they're at that age where they know Dad needs his "coaster fix" but they're too young for the most intense rides.

Is it possible for me to ride Hulk, Mummy, etc. by myself while the boys wait on the platform or nearby with employees around? I think they'd handle it fine if it's okay with the staff.

 

[tippytoe]

The rides have very nice baby swap rooms where your children can wait for you. If I remember correctly, they have Televisions and benches in the rooms. Your children should be fine waiting for you!!

 

[CVW]

Wow! Are you serious? Do they have these rooms at all of the intense rides? Sounds really cool. Last time we were at Disney, there were several rides where one of us had to wait in a stairwell or dark hallway.

 

[A Mickeyfan]

I don't remember seeing TV's but there are benches for the kids to sit on.

 

[SpideyHulk24]

They sure do! It's a closed environment so if you trust they won't leave, they should be fine.

 

[the Dark Marauder]

Yes. The waiting areas for most attractions have some sort of TV or something going on. Usually it's just the queue video on loop, but at Mummy, for example, the TV has a Mummy cartoon movie on loop. All the areas also have benches available.

Just be sure to ask at each attraction how to handle it.

 

[A Mickeyfan]

Originally posted by the Dark Marauder
Yes. The waiting areas for most attractions have some sort of TV or something going on. Usually it's just the queue video on loop, but at Mummy, for example, the TV has a Mummy cartoon movie on loop. All the areas also have benches available.

Just be sure to ask at each attraction how to handle it.

I know when I sat with a friend on mine's child so she could go on, we sat on a bench that faced where the riders got on. It was on the FOTL side. We were taken by a CM on an elevator & then over to that area. I was not in where there were TV's.

 

[d4est]

Are these areas supervised? I can't imagine leaving my child (7 next month) alone, where any wacko could walk in. People who take/stalk children are VERY clever about how to convince children to go with them willingly. I wouldn't feel comfortable just leaving my child in a room with a TV without proper supervision...

 

[kellymonaghan]

Originally posted by d4est
Are these areas supervised? I can't imagine leaving my child (7 next month) alone, where any wacko could walk in.

I had a similar thought. There's a liability issue here, too, as far as UO is concerned. I'm sure their crack legal department has considered the ramifications.

 

[sha_lyn]

these areas are not supervised. They are for a parent (or other ADULT) and child to wait together. They are not babysitting services. Just last weekend, while DD and I waited for DH on mummy, a father came in with 2 kids (boy around 2 girl around 12) and asked if someone would watch the boy while he and his daughter rode. He convinced a family to watch the boy for him. My childs safety comes before my need for a coaster fix.
For the OP... really your only safe option (IMHO) would be to put the kids in one of the hotels kids clubs for a couple of hours.

 

[rangebob]

If I remember correctly there are signs that do tell you not to leave your child un-attended in the waiting areas. People do it though.

 

[taylor1293]

Originally posted by CVW
I'll have my 8 and 5 year-old boys with me for a weekend in September at USF/IOA (with FOTL privilege). My wife won't arrive until we transfer over to Disney Sunday night.

I'll be doing mostly their stuff. But they're at that age where they know Dad needs his "coaster fix" but they're too young for the most intense rides.

Is it possible for me to ride Hulk, Mummy, etc. by myself while the boys wait on the platform or nearby with employees around? I think they'd handle it fine if it's okay with the staff.

The employees are not your childrens babysitters. It is irresponsible of you to put them and Universal in a position like that.

There are areas for waiting, but they are not secured. Anyone could come in and take your children out with them.

Either put them in one of the kids clubs for a few hours or don't ride the rides they can't. What is more important? Your thrill ride or their safety?

I can't even imagine leaving my young children unsupervised for a second in a theme park, let alone for 5 - 15 minutes!

Teresa

 

[CVW]

Actually, I'm not concerned at all. My boys are tough, or at least they need to learn to be tough. Being left alone will help! Day care at the hotel is too expensive. I'd rather spend the money on myself.

Besides, I've got four kids. If anything happens, I'll still have a couple left. MUMMY RIDE HERE I COME!! WOO-HOO!!!


------------------------------


Lighten up, Teresa. I haven't been to USF/IOA before and I asked a simple question. If I didn't care about security I never would have asked in the first place! I don't need a parenting lecture.

I've observed on chat rooms of any kind that there are a preponderance of over-protective mothers with too much time on their hands who love to flame anyone with a legitimate question about dealing with their kids. (I've read on a boating discussion group from a mom who said you should "never ever" take kids on a boat if they can't swim...lifejacket or no lifejacket. Well, you know what? Good parents can disagree.)

Invariably, people who call someone "irresponsible" without knowing the full story are either the most overprotective mother on the block, or they don't know the basics of internet etiquette.

Your comments came across to me as condescending and unfair.

Would anyone like to know WHY I posted this question? The first thing I did was to call Universal and ask them if they had any supervised areas. (BECAUSE I DIDN'T KNOW!)

He said you could easily leave an 8 and 5 year-old at the Mummy Ride and at the Hulk coaster. He said they were in a glassed-in area easily visible to everyone around.

"Really?" I said. "They have employees there?"

"Essentially, yeah. The only problem we ever have is with little kids wandering off. As long as they're old enough not to wander off, you should be fine. You can definitely leave your kids in there. They'll do great."

I thought it sounded a little fishy that it was "essentially supervised" but they have problems with kids wandering away!

So I thought I'd ask this board for their responses. In other words, I was concerned enough about the official line that I sought out advice from complete strangers!

I've re-read my original post and I suppose the phrase "coaster fix" could be misinterpreted by the over-vigilant among us as being selfish. In fact, I was saying it in good humor.

I appreciate the thoughtful responses to my question, and would be interested in even more thoughtful responses.

It sounds like the daycare or simply not riding are my best options. But the best thing for me to do would be to investigate it for myself while we there, gather all the useful information, and then make a decision. Or as it's known in some places, "parenting".

 

[taylor1293]

In no way did I lecture you or was I condescending to you. You asked a question and I gave a response. It may not have been the response you wanted to hear, but it was a reasonable one.

IMO, anyone who would leave a 5 and 8 yr old alone in a public place is irresponsible. I did not call you a bad parent. I simply said that it would be irresponsible of you to put your children and Universal in that position.

You claim that I must be the most overprotective mother on the block or not aware of the basics of internet etiquette. Now who is being condescending?

No, I didn’t have the full story nor did I need it. Why? Because there is no situation that I can think of that would make leaving two young children alone in a public place a responsible parenting move. You may see me as over-vigilant. I view myself as a responsible parent. Willing to make sacrifices to insure my children’s safety.

Since you had already called Universal, you knew that there were no places that were truly supervised. You already had your answer. So did you post your question to verify the answer or were you looking for justification from other parents who had done it safely so you could too?

My honest opinion on the child swap areas? Your kids would probably be safe 99.9999% of the time. But for a thrill ride, it isn’t worth even the microscopic risk of something going wrong.

Teresa

 

[CVW]

No, the entire problem I had with Universal's response was that he left it ambiguous as to whether it was supervised. And your statement that there is...

"no situation that I can think of that would make leaving two young children alone in a public place a responsible parenting move"

is more eloquent than it is helpful. It's thinking like that that creates silly laws that say eight year-old boys have to go in the ladies' room with their mom or the mom is endangering your child.

It's thinking like that that allows a district attorney to indict a young mother of negligent homicide for having her child in the front seat of her car (in a carseat!) when he was killed by an airbag. (The jury acquitted, and said the case should never have gone to trial.)

Ultimately, each parent has to draw their own line. There was a study a few years ago that showed that many kids' (and adults') lives could be saved if everyone in a passenger vehicle were required to wear a motorcycle helmet. There's only one argument you can really make against it: we just don't want to.

But if a critical mass of people start insisting that the rest of us wear helmets in our car, the rest of us look like bad parents if we don't go along.

The problem with discussions like this is that the moral high ground is always ceded to the person with the most conservative "gotta protect our kids" view. And everyone else is afraid to speak up.

How do I know this? Because I got PM'ed by someone who says "don't worry about it, you're kids will be fine," apparently too embarrassed to put it on the thread.

In the last paragraph of my last post, I actually AGREED with most of what you say, and yet there's a real problem with OUR position.

If the kids are "99.9999%" safe, then they're safer there than they are on any ride at IOA, safer than going to public school, safer than being in a swimming pool. Child abduction has NOT increased in the past 30 years. Only the reporting on it has.

Maybe the real "irresponsible" ones are the ones who put their kids on these rides knowing full well that there's a one in 10 million chance that they could be killed.

As it stands now, I have a new question: Will the staff let me put my kids in car seats and crash helmets? I can bring them in myself.

(And if I change my mind and let them stay in the child swap area, they'll be the ones armed with a TASER gun.)

 

[sha_lyn]

Invariably, people who call someone "irresponsible" without knowing the full story are either the most overprotective mother on the block, or they don't know the basics of internet etiquette.

So according to you is it overprotective to not leave an 8 yr old and a 5 yr old alone, unsupervied in strange area? Well I can tell you without a doubt that there are more people in the wold that would call you idea irresponsible, than would call Teresa over protective for thinking it is a bad idea. You jump on us saying we don't know the whole story. However, we know the story you gave...which is starting to sound awful fishy to me. First you ask if you could leave them at the platform or nearby with employees around. Now you claim that you were told by universal that they have glassed in supervised areas that you can leave your children in. Why is there no mention of this "STORY" in your OP?

 

[Leafy]

I wouldn't do it either. The child swap areas are not a babysitting service. It would be nice if they were, but they are not.

Also, while it doesn't happen often, there can be technical difficulties with the ride that extends your 5 minute ride to 15 or more.

 

[taylor1293]

Your post is going way OT, but I'll reply anyway .

If you are going to point out examples of silly laws, (boys in women's bathrooms) it helps to use real laws . I don't believe there is such a law that requires an 8 yr olds to go in with his mom if dad isn't there. However, any law is possible and since I have no boys it's something I'll admit I wouldn't be familiar with.

As for the woman whose child was killed when the airbag deployed. How does my way of thinking encourage that kind of prosecution? I never said that if something happened to your children you should be punished for it. I said it was irresponsible behavior.

I'm giggling (trying not to laugh) at the helmet example. I'm not even sure where that came from. Where did I say that there should be a law that you can't leave your kids in the waiting area?!?! I ask this since you seem to want to draw a comparison between the two.

If someone PM'd you and they truly believes their opinion is right, then they shouldn't be afraid to state it. I have no doubt that people believe it is okay, simply because there are plenty of parents who do it. However, those are the ones, IMO, who are irresponsible parents. If people really believe that leaving young children alone in a public place is okay, then they shouldn't care what I (or others like me) think. My opinion isn't affecting them at all.

Where did I say child abduction has increased in the past 30 years! I don't remember discussing the historical rate of child abduction with you.

I'm sincerely not trying to be rude, but it's always best when you have an opinion on a topic to stick to the topic. Throwing in all sorts of other issues just weakens your argument. Whatever that argument may be at this point!

With that said, I'm going to bring this conversation back to the topic at hand. No, no, I'm not over there...... LOOK over here!!! See me waving my hand. I'm in the single topic section regarding leaving young children in a public place alone. I'm not in the bathroom, helmet, pool, and historical child abduction rate section!

I still view it as irresponsible. There are other issues besides abduction when leaving your children alone. Issues such as assault or being stuck in an area with inappropriate behavior of others.

My DD went with her best friends family to Universal a couple of weeks ago. In the middle of Shrek, the movie stopped, fire alarms blared, and the CM's rushed everyone out. DD said it was really scary. Thankfully there was no fire (or if there was, they never heard anymore about it).

What if....you were on some thrill ride. Your kids were in the waiting section. You were escorted out one door due to an emergency. They weren't escorted out at all because no one is really responsible for them. And there really was a fire. Probable? No. Possible? Definitely.

Oh, and I vote for the crash helmets, the car seats will never fit in the rides !

Originally posted by CVW
No, the entire problem I had with Universal's response was that he left it ambiguous as to whether it was supervised. And your statement that there is...

"no situation that I can think of that would make leaving two young children alone in a public place a responsible parenting move"

is more eloquent than it is helpful. It's thinking like that that creates silly laws that say eight year-old boys have to go in the ladies' room with their mom or the mom is endangering your child.

It's thinking like that that allows a district attorney to indict a young mother of negligent homicide for having her child in the front seat of her car (in a carseat!) when he was killed by an airbag. (The jury acquitted, and said the case should never have gone to trial.)

Ultimately, each parent has to draw their own line. There was a study a few years ago that showed that many kids' (and adults') lives could be saved if everyone in a passenger vehicle were required to wear a motorcycle helmet. There's only one argument you can really make against it: we just don't want to.

But if a critical mass of people start insisting that the rest of us wear helmets in our car, the rest of us look like bad parents if we don't go along.

The problem with discussions like this is that the moral high ground is always ceded to the person with the most conservative "gotta protect our kids" view. And everyone else is afraid to speak up.

How do I know this? Because I got PM'ed by someone who says "don't worry about it, you're kids will be fine," apparently too embarrassed to put it on the thread.

In the last paragraph of my last post, I actually AGREED with most of what you say, and yet there's a real problem with OUR position.

If the kids are "99.9999%" safe, then they're safer there than they are on any ride at IOA, safer than going to public school, safer than being in a swimming pool. Child abduction has NOT increased in the past 30 years. Only the reporting on it has.

Maybe the real "irresponsible" ones are the ones who put their kids on these rides knowing full well that there's a one in 10 million chance that they could be killed.

As it stands now, I have a new question: Will the staff let me put my kids in car seats and crash helmets? I can bring them in myself.

(And if I change my mind and let them stay in the child swap area, they'll be the ones armed with a TASER gun.)

 

[taylor1293]

Originally posted by sha_lyn
So according to you is it overprotective to not leave an 8 yr old and a 5 yr old alone, unsupervied in strange area? Well I can tell you without a doubt that there are more people in the wold that would call you idea irresponsible, than would call Teresa over protective for thinking it is a bad idea. You jump on us saying we don't know the whole story. However, we know the story you gave...which is starting to sound awful fishy to me. First you ask if you could leave them at the platform or nearby with employees around. Now you claim that you were told by universal that they have glassed in supervised areas that you can leave your children in. Why is there no mention of this "STORY" in your OP?

I agree, it does sound a little fishy .

 

[the Dark Marauder]

Originally posted by A Mickeyfan
I know when I sat with a friend on mine's child so she could go on, we sat on a bench that faced where the riders got on. It was on the FOTL side. We were taken by a CM on an elevator & then over to that area. I was not in where there were TV's.

The room was behind your bench, literally. That area near the elevator is bacially the overflow area for the Child Swap room, which can get quite crowded. From the bench, if you were to head toward the exit, you'd see the room on the left.

However, if you're in the Child Swap room, you might never see me and my pet scarab.