Staking claim on beach chairs at Typhoon Lagoon?

[lomorton]

Call me paranoid- but is it safe to leave towels on beach chairs in order to "reserve" them at Typhoon Lagoon? There will only be two of us on the trip, so we won't be able to have a chair guard to watch over our things. How have everyone's experiences been with leaving towels/non valuable items to reserve beach chairs at Typhoon Lagoon? Obviously, we will get a locker for our valuables, so that's not an issue. Any help or advice you can give will help- since this has been bugging me for some reason in my trip planning.

 

[mking624]

Honestly, I haven't even bothered with it. We keep everything in the locker...towels included. Not that I fear for our towel, we just simply don't want to bother with anything. We can usually find an empty seat somewhere anyway, so we don't worry about claiming any chairs. And as we're walking around, we start to dry off from the sun/heat. We do the rest of our drying when we go back for our towels. Anyway, that's just how we've handled it.

 

[smidgy]

when hubby and I go to the water parks, we always "stake out" chairs. the first thing we do at "rope drop" is head to the chairs nearest a DSA. I do not feel guilty about this, since we use them a lot. we like to sun bathe, and read our books.
we hit the bigger slides early, before the lines get too long, then sun bathe a bit. the use the lazy river, then sun bathe a lot. we get there early, so "claiming" 2 loungers is our perogative (esp. since we like to be near a DSA.)
I have never had a problem with this. our towels are on our chairs, with our books on the chairs. our street clothes are next to them.
now, when our boys were young and with us, we did "give up" a chair to a mom who only wnated to sunbathe, and our boys weren't using them anyways, always here and there., so we made them share a chair. I see people use up a lounge chair just to store their stuff. I guess that is kinda selfish.
but we definitely use our chairs, a lot. If we came back from sliding, and someone was on it, I would politely inform them that they should not have moved our things off of it, as it was obviously "saved".
only once, someone had not taken my chair, but pushed it WAY away from hubby's chair, to squeeze another by their group. I politely informed them that I was moving my chair back to it's original position.
but I have never had a problem with anyone taking my things.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I don't think anyone would steal a towel, but I'd be too paranoid to leave things unattended, towels included. I get worried just leaving stuff on the chairs at the resort pool when it's in my sight the whole time.

 

[NotUrsula]

At water parks, staking all day is expected, but it's not good form to stake out more chairs than you can personally sit on. (At resort pools staking and leaving the pool area is bad form, and people will tend to take the chair if it remains unattended for more than about an hour.)

I have heard of instances where new beach towels were taken; ones that had just been purchased from the water park gift shop. Older personal towels are pretty safe to leave, as are towels borrowed from your resort room (if you do that, do take them back to the resort when you leave.) One thing that does tend to get taken is sunscreen; you'll want to stash it under something so it is not visible to passerby. Once I returned to my chair to find someone standing beside it using my sunscreen, which is pretty nervy! They had taken it out of the stroller basket where DS had tossed it on top.

 

[Canyon girl]

Once I returned to my chair to find someone standing beside it using my sunscreen, which is pretty nervy! They had taken it out of the stroller basket where DS had tossed it on top.

That is unbelievable!!! Why would someone be so brazen?? What did you do?

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

I say, if you plan on using your chairs for a decent amount of time, stake some out, as in if you have 6 people, maybe only reserve 3. If you, like me, don't plan on sitting down, then keep your stuff in a locker or in a not so busy area.

Regardless, we always get a locker for phones, cameras and the like but I usually throw a towel and bottle water on a chair that is in a more desolate area just so I don't have to go back all the way over to the lockers.

 

[smidgy]

I'm sorry, but at resort pools, I've had people try to tell us they thought we were gone (even though our books were ON our chairs, because we went to a DSA.) they had the nerve to tell us "if you want to smoke, stay in the DSA and leave the loungers for the non smokers"!
at the water parks, if you leave a tshirt, or book on the chair, generally, people will respect that. (a lot better than at the resorts!)
at the resorts, unfortunately, we get a lot of families who think "take your feet, lose your seat" if you leave the pool area to have a smoke. once I was gone for 30 minutes. i went to have a smoke. as long as I was up, I went to the store to grab a newspaper, then the food court to refill my mug (had to wait in line) then hit the bathroom. when I returned she said "I thought you weren't coming back" (even though my book and towel were on the chair!)
.

 

[Disneyadore]

I'm sorry, but at resort pools, I've had people try to tell us they thought we were gone (even though our books were ON our chairs, because we went to a DSA.) they had the nerve to tell us "if you want to smoke, stay in the DSA and leave the loungers for the non smokers"!
at the water parks, if you leave a tshirt, or book on the chair, generally, people will respect that. (a lot better than at the resorts!)
at the resorts, unfortunately, we get a lot of families who think "take your feet, lose your seat" if you leave the pool area to have a smoke. once I was gone for 30 minutes. i went to have a smoke. as long as I was up, I went to the store to grab a newspaper, then the food court to refill my mug (had to wait in line) then hit the bathroom. when I returned she said "I thought you weren't coming back" (even though my book and towel were on the chair!)
.

This might be the effect of chair hoarders at the resorts pool. We witnessed an older couple putting there towels on a few chairs every morning. They took four chairs,a table and a sun umbrella. They were just the two of them. Than they disappeared and would not return until late noon. After a few days the pool people obviously smelled the scam and removed there belongings.
They complained loudly and demanded "there" chairs back. It was quite funny to see.

As for the water parks I see no harm in using chairs,but hoarding them for people that are not even there is also a big no no.

 

[smidgy]

I have seen those people too! grnadma and grandpa wake up early. go out and claim an umbrella table (with chairs) and a couple loungers, then go to the food court for breakfast. staking it out for the rest of the family, who are at the park all morning! (reminds me of chicago winters by my first apartment. there weren't enough parking spots to go around in the summer. (all 3 flats and 6 flats) come the first snow in nov., whoever happened[/B to have a spot put out a couple old chairs and a few planks of wood and "declared" it thier spot until march!

at the water parks, you "use" chairs, but you can't sit in them the whole time you're there,or you wouldn't use the slides! we like to read and sun bathe... slide.. read and sun bathe... lazy river... etc. I'll bet we use the chairs two thirds of the time we're there. so we will stake out 2 chairs, near the DSA. and many parents don't even use the slides, are there for the kids., so want a couple chairs. I do, however, think it's wrong to reserve chairs for kids who run around the whole day.

 

[Disneyadore]

at the water parks, you "use" chairs, but you can't sit in them the whole time you're there,or you wouldn't use the slides! we like to read and sun bathe... slide.. read and sun bathe... lazy river... etc. I'll bet we use the chairs two thirds of the time we're there. so we will stake out 2 chairs, near the DSA. and many parents don't even use the slides, are there for the kids., so want a couple chairs. I do, however, think it's wrong to reserve chairs for kids who run around the whole day.

Fully agree. Those who ARE in the water parks should be able to get a chair and use it whiteout comments of strangers.

 

[bleeps]

We brought old, colorful (but NON Disney character) beach towels from home and for the three of us put them on 2 chairs with our non-valuables and had no issues. Many of the resort hotels and the shops at the waterparks sell nifty plastic waterproof cases that just fit your KTTW cards and any cash or credit card/ID you might want to have with you (they are on lanyards to go around your neck).

 

[lllGurulll]

We brought old, colorful (but NON Disney character) beach towels from home and for the three of us put them on 2 chairs with our non-valuables and had no issues. Many of the resort hotels and the shops at the waterparks sell nifty plastic waterproof cases that just fit your KTTW cards and any cash or credit card/ID you might want to have with you (they are on lanyards to go around your neck).

That is the biggest hat I have ever seen!!!

referring to your pic.

 

[cvjw]

We always reserve a couple of chairs at the waterparks with our stuff. We arrive at rope drop, so there are plenty of chairs to choose from. A couple of times, we have come back to our chairs to find our stuff pushed aside, and a stranger in what was our chair - but we just roll with it. We have never had anything stolen. We had our worst chair experience on a Royal Carribean cruise. It was late afternoon, and we found a couple of empty chairs to relax in while the kids ate some ice cream. We were minding our own business when this out of control family starts cursing and screaming at us for stealing their stuff that they left in those chairs!! I have never seen anyone act that deranged in public before - they acted that way in front of their kids (who were very embarrassed). Turns out, the cruise ship has people that patrol the pool deck and remove items that are left unattended. I was finally able to convince them to go and look elsewhere for their missing items.

 

[duffy]

This is one of my pet peeves: seeing rows and rows of chairs, all with stuff, but no people, on them. How am I supposed to know if you're coming back in a few minutes, in a few hours, or in many hours??? All I know is that I want to sit down, and for some reason, STUFF has more rights than I do!!

And if I want a chair in the shade, or near the kiddie slides, or the food court, then I take an empty chair there. If there isn't one, that's too bad for me! I'll have to go find an empty chair somewhere else.

If every single chair has stuff on it,I have no problem sitting on a chair with stuff, without disturbing it. If the owners come back and try giving me the "death glare", I simply explain that I wanted a place to sit, but I will move. Then I move to another person's chair.

For the record, we put our stuff UNDER the chairs. Then, if we come back and the chairs are empty of people or stuff, we spread out our stuff, and then when ready, put it back under. If the chairs are taken, we politely get our stuff and wander off to find other empty chairs, if any are available.

 

[auroraarielella]

And that is why I have rented a Private Polar Patio. I know it is expensive, but I don't want to deal with everything posted - stolen stuff, moved stuff, death glares.....

 

[Pembo]

We don't really use the chairs much so we look for 1 or 2 in a quiet spot. We leave our shoes underneath and our stuff under a towel or if we take a small cooler, we put in that. Never had a problem at WDW waterparks or any other pool.

 

[hookedonears]

As has been said by other posters, staking out chairs is expected at the water parks and I wouldn't worry about leaving your towels. As also been said by other posters, staking out chairs at the resorts and then leaving them unattended while you leave the pool area for more that just a few minutes is a No No. It's completely rude and rates right up their with finding and staking out a table at a busy counter service restaurant before you order.

 

[Princess_K]

This is slightly off topic, but we are headed to TL in May for the first time, so I don't know a whole lot about it. We probably won't use the chairs a whole lot, so what would be a good, quiet place for us to grab a couple for our stuff?

 

[la79al]

I am paranoid about having my stuff stolen so I don't usually let it out of my sight. This trip however, I have a feeling we will be putting some flipflops, the beach bag and a few towels on 2 chairs. Being pregnant and having a toddler who will fall asleep means that I can't run the risk of not having someplace to sit. DH and the older kids though won't sit for more than 5 minutes so they're gonna have to share with DD and I.