Waterpark etiquette ???

[CdnDad]

Question for debate. When your in the waterpark with your family of five three children under twelve and everyone wants to go on a ride or on the lazy river. Does this leave your chairs and loungers open to be taken or your area where you set up to be taken over? Here was our situation. We were at BB for a few hours and we set up in the kids area with all are belongings. Decided to all do a family ride and do a trip around the lazy river. We did take turns in the morning going with the children on different rides and had one of us at the base with all our belongings. All are towels,clothing and food was on or by the area we were set up. When we came back there was two adults laying on loungers and removed our articles to the side next to garbage, but left one chair vacant. We were confused and asked them why they took over. The replied " you cant leave your stuff and walk away and the chairs do not belong to you or have your name on them". We explained what we did and we were gone for about 45 minutes. The park was packed and there were no chairs left. The one lady flipped me off. Let me say I started to lose it. I sat in the vacant chair turned and faced them and the kids sat next to them and we opened the cooler and ate our lunch we brought and continued to invade the space. The children did not why we could not sit back in the chairs where we were. My wife wanted to leave the park. My youngest has Autism and of course needed extra attention with eating ect... After about a half hour they got up and said we were ignorant in not so many kind words and could see why because of our youngest. I am leaving the exact quotes they said because I do not want them repeated on the forums. Sorry for this being so long. What would you of done or think is common sense.

 

[Noobie]

I don't know what the "right" answer is but if it were me, I would NOT take over anyones spot. If all their stuff is still there, they are clearly still using the space. One person cannot obviously stay at the spot all day. I say those people were rude and wrong

 

[ChloroFiend]

What that other family did was crap. If you leave the stuff on the chairs, you've staked out your claim on them until you remove the stuff.

 

[Tiffer]

Agreed. If you get there early & put your towels or other belonings down on a chair, that is your chair until you remove your belongings.

 

[luvpooh]

that is insane.

Cruises are notorious for 'chair hogs' on the pool deck; people get up at like 6 AM, put a book or a shoe on a chair to save it for the day and don't show up until after lunch! But you can clearly tell that nobody has occupied the chair in some time, or is in the vicinity (i.e. in the pool, getting a drink).

A water park, where you have paid admission, and the whole intent of the park is to go on the rides/slides is totally different! People need a 'home base' while they go on the rides, in the wave pool, etc. Clearly, you wouldn't leave your belongings and leave the park for the day.

Those people were rude and I'm sorry they acted that way towards you and your family.

 

[TKL SHOP]

I'd have to agree, I would never move someones personal items and move them, especially next the garbage. That was rude!

 

[DAZY3BYZ]

Unbelievable!! We have always set up a homebase at the waterparks that we come and go from throughout the day. Don't really know how you would do it any other way. Those people were totally rude! I'm sorry your family had to go through that especially at Disney!

 

[Lexie]

Do they not have lockers at the water parks that could store your belongings? That'd be much safer anyways.

Would you not be upset if the park was packed and you just wanted to layout and relax but every chair was taken by people who dropped their stuff and didn't return for long periods of time?


I will admit that both side have a point though...your stuff was there and other people shouldn't touch it regardless of whether or not they thought you were being rude by hogging the seats.

 

[Interpol]

Why not just get a CM involved to resolve the issue?

 

[WeLoveLilo05]

I don't know what the "right" answer is but if it were me, I would NOT take over anyones spot. If all their stuff is still there, they are clearly still using the space. One person cannot obviously stay at the spot all day. I say those people were rude and wrong

I agree, I wouldn't pick up someone else's stuff and move it, obviously you were coming back.

 

[Finally08]

I would not move someone's stuff if it was there. But...I also don't think a chair or whatever belongs to you just because your stuff is there. The chairs are there for people who need to sit and take a break. If they sit all day reserved for people who are off swimming, sliding, whatever, what's the point? If everyone just used them while they needed to sit and then moved along when they were done, there wouldn't be the need for people to have to take chairs that were already "claimed."

And on this note...this is why I hate waterparks and pools, lol.

 

[AmberHeartsDisney]

I wouldnt touch someone else stuff either, its just rude. I also wouldn't of been an @$$ like them other people.

Some people are just jerks, sadly its a part of life. Not everyone has common sense.

I can see both point of views just sadly i think chairs are a free for all if your not sitting in them. This is also why i dont like water parks.

 

[sabrecmc]

I think both sides have good points. It does seem rude to leave your stuff sitting in an unoccupied chair on a busy park day while you go off to do the rides. We were left one day at Typhoon Lagoon having to eat our snack over by the smoking section with 4 of us sharing the two chairs we could find while many chairs were only holding people's stuff. That was definitely annoying. There are lockers or you could stash it on the ground by the chair area and use the chairs, if available, when you actually need them.

On the other hand, moving someone's stuff is totally rude, as is making comments like the OP said were made. No one, no matter the circumstances, should behave like that, even if they thought they were totally in the right.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

CdnDad,
What those people did were very rude and it's to bad you didn't tell a Cast Member about this.

 

[oddBotkins]

Let's be realistic, SOME PEOPLE ARE JUST "ASHES" They can't help the way their parents raised them. It's a gene and up-bring thing. I just know that they probably have a wonderful time everywhere they go... yeh right.. misery loves company and it'll probably follow them to their grave.

I personally have respect for the property and space of others. Ah, but what can we really same about some out there... its "all for me and all for me, its mine , mine, mine...".

I would have been tempted to spout out some line like "crawl back into the cave you came out of" when the rude comments and gestures came out but then I guess I would be playing their game, and IMO their game stinks. They just belong to the Dewy, CHeatum and Howe club.

AS far as getting a CM involved, well I just can't see how they could possibly be able to do anything about RUDE, INCONSIDERATE, SELF ABSORBED "ASHES".

Guess they'll never get the meaning of "THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH"

 

[elleherself]

I think it was you who were the ones out of line.

If the water park was as busy as you say it was, there is no reason that your towels should be taking up valuable real estate while other paying customers are forced to stand. Contrary to popular belief, the chairs are not there for you to claim them or to babysit your belongings. They are there for the PEOPLE who wish to utilize them!

There are water parks that allow you to pay extra to reserve your own seats or lockers to keep your belongings while you aren't there. If the lounge chairs were there for this purpose, then they would not offer these services.

As with all things, there are grey areas. If you had left for five minutes to get a snack or use the restroom facilities, and came back and calmly explained the situation to them, then I would agree they were out of line.

But to leave chairs empty for 45 minutes, running off and using rides, would be upsetting to me.

It also raised a red flag for me that you did this by the children's area. I wish ESPECIALLY that people would not do this by the children's area. Those seats should be left available for parents who are supervising their children. I know nothing upsets me more than when I see a long row of 20 lounge chairs, each occupied by a towel or a flip flop or something, and no person in sight, while tired parents stand at the edge of the wading pool. I would be tempted to dump their things on the ground.

I also think the way that you handled it was incredibly rude, crowding them out and behaving in an obnoxious manner. Those chairs did not have your name on them, and they were paying guests of the park just as you are. You participated to make their day more unpleasant because they had the GALL to use park owned lougers for their intended purpose.

Imagine the outrage if someone tried to reserve a bench for a parade in the Magic Kingdom in this way, and then left to ride Splash Mountain for 45 minutes. They would be laughed from here to the Laughin' Place.

 

[buzz2400]

I think everyone has a right to grab a seat or two to hold your stuff . I usually go to TL and find that even in the summer months, you can still find a place to sit if you walk around. I will always put my stuff down on a seat and come and go as I please. I paid to be in the park. I am tired of people always feeling they are the only ones who had to pay and that they should get special treatment. Most families do break off and meet back in at the designated chairs. Those people were wrong to take someone else's belongings and put them on the ground. And you can't compare a water park to a cruise ship. People who go to water park are there for the water park. People on the cruise have so many other things to do that they might not ever go back to their seat.

 

[2Monkeys]

I don't think anyone has the right to move something that doesn't belong to them. If your stuff was in the chairs, they should not have moved it. It's not like you left it unattended all day, even though it wouldn't matter if you did. I would never move anyone's stuff, and teach my children the same thing. Unfortunately, there are just RUDE people all over the place!!

The same thing happened to us, too. We were the first ones to the park at BB and were named the 'Ski Captain Family' for the day. We were given the 'Ski Captain' cabana and told it was ours. We put our stuff there, only to return to find an entire family of about 12 people had taken over. Our stuff was in a pile. We were a little upset, but we just moved on. Don't let someone's rudeness spoil your good time!!

 

[LimeGreenEd]

I agree that they should not have removed your items, but I would not have left all the chairs vacant for 45 minutes. Not everyone wants a chair for the whole day, sometimes they just want a place to sit for a few minutes. With more people than chairs it can be a pain when people hog them all day and then don't use them.

 

[disbridemimi]

I think it was you who were the ones out of line.

If the water park was as busy as you say it was, there is no reason that your towels should be taking up valuable real estate while other paying customers are forced to stand. Contrary to popular belief, the chairs are not there for you to claim them or to babysit your belongings. They are there for the PEOPLE who wish to utilize them!

There are water parks that allow you to pay extra to reserve your own seats or lockers to keep your belongings while you aren't there. If the lounge chairs were there for this purpose, then they would not offer these services.

As with all things, there are grey areas. If you had left for five minutes to get a snack or use the restroom facilities, and came back and calmly explained the situation to them, then I would agree they were out of line.

But to leave chairs empty for 45 minutes, running off and using rides, would be upsetting to me.

It also raised a red flag for me that you did this by the children's area. I wish ESPECIALLY that people would not do this by the children's area. Those seats should be left available for parents who are supervising their children. I know nothing upsets me more than when I see a long row of 20 lounge chairs, each occupied by a towel or a flip flop or something, and no person in sight, while tired parents stand at the edge of the wading pool. I would be tempted to dump their things on the ground.

I also think the way that you handled it was incredibly rude, crowding them out and behaving in an obnoxious manner. Those chairs did not have your name on them, and they were paying guests of the park just as you are. You participated to make their day more unpleasant because they had the GALL to use park owned lougers for their intended purpose.

Imagine the outrage if someone tried to reserve a bench for a parade in the Magic Kingdom in this way, and then left to ride Splash Mountain for 45 minutes. They would be laughed from here to the Laughin' Place.

I agree 100%, I hate chair hoggers, i dont want to sit on the ground while your towels have 5 chairs your not in!