Waterpark etiquette ???

[dvcdisney]

Slightly off topic, but I'm sick of the chair debate, so I'll ask another waterpark etiquette question.

Peeing in the pool. . .kosher or not?

Discuss. . .

 

[oddBotkins]

Speaking of the ool, notice there is no P in it. Butt seriously, how well do those baby swim diapers really work. Looks more like a gimmick than a real working gadget. I've seen those things leak, poop and all. So about the pool, does that mean no kids with swim diapers in the pool? Can we really confirm a good tight fit? 100% no leak? May be a rubber suit, but I'm not so sure about those swim diapers.

 

[jelloarms]

I do not think you should be able to reserve chairs with towels.

Why do you need to have your towel lying out and about anyway? When we were there, we just left it in the locker and went back to the locker when we needed it. Do you really need to dry off your body in between rides? I think not.

 

[buffettgirl]

what if I go up to a counter service restaurant at 9am and mark all my seats so that at noon I can have a place to sit??

 

[skier_pete]

what if I go up to a counter service restaurant at 9am and mark all my seats so that at noon I can have a place to sit??

How is this remotely the same?

At a water park, at least for us, we are coming and going from our seat location. Sometimes some of us are there, sometimes all of us are there, and sometimes none of us are there.

Now, you are right that if someone takes a large bunch of chairs and leaves for 5 hours, that would certainly be inconsiderate, but someone that takes a seat with a towel on it doesn't know if the person has been gone 5 minutes or 5 hours.

Does any of you seat swipers think...what would happen if people just took seats at the water parks whenever someone left their seats? By this theory, if I am sitting with my 5 year old daughter, and she has to go to the bathroom...you should have the right to throw my stuff aside and take my seats while I'm in the bathroom...excuse me??? That would result in utter chaos!

SkierPete

 

[Deb & Bill]

How is this remotely the same?

At a water park, at least for us, we are coming and going from our seat location. Sometimes some of us are there, sometimes all of us are there, and sometimes none of us are there.

Now, you are right that if someone takes a large bunch of chairs and leaves for 5 hours, that would certainly be inconsiderate, but someone that takes a seat with a towel on it doesn't know if the person has been gone 5 minutes or 5 hours.

Does any of you seat swipers think...what would happen if people just took seats at the water parks whenever someone left their seats? By this theory, if I am sitting with my 5 year old daughter, and she has to go to the bathroom...you should have the right to throw my stuff aside and take my seats while I'm in the bathroom...excuse me??? That would result in utter chaos!

SkierPete

Pete, some of these people just don't get it. How much you want to bet they arrive around noon or a little after and are angry they can't find a prime seat near the wave pool?

 

[Bongi22]

Thanks Deb & Bill for a little sanity here-Hasn't anyone been to the beach before? If you find a good spot at the beach, is it ok for strangers to move your stuff if you've been gone for a while swimming or collecting shells? No, absolutley not! The line for Summit Plummet alone can easily be over an hour.

They allow you to bring coolers and picnic lunches. That doesn't fit in no locker. Furthermore, every time I want my stuff (suntan lotion, crystal light, granola bar, towel, paperback, etc etc) I have to go up top to the lockers? I don't think so!!! You get to the park early to get prime locations. You don't just get to infringe on peoples areas because they're gone enjoying the waterslides. There are thousands of chairs around those waterparks, go find one thats open.
You move my stuff, we're gonna have a problem when I get back!

As someone who has back problems, it isn't always an option to simply keep walking around the park to find the empty chairs ( which may or may not exist ).

I am also not the type to move someones things... but I assure you that if I did find myself having to sit for a bit because my back is telling me I have to and you come back with the "we're gonna have a problem when I get back!" nonsense instead of talking to me like a person without an attitude problem, you sure are correct YOU are going to have a problem. Whether it's simply my getting you kicked out of the park for your (implied) aggressive behavior, of it you actually mean something physical... keep in mind many people who don't look intimidating might just have training you aren't aware of.

I may have misunderstood what you wrote, it happens a lot in forums... but it certainly sounded like you would simply escalate a non issue into a conflict way too quick.

 

[Bongi22]

For those in the half that think the chair takers were in the right -- if there was not a shortage of chairs, do you still think the OP could not stake out chairs? I'm not trying to be argumentative -- just can't get my mind around the concept of the chair taking. All I can figure is you're thinking the scarcity of chairs makes taking someone else's ok?

No, but at the same time... the scarcity of chairs just shows that Disney's designers never intended for the parks visitors to claim chairs.. the parks are DESIGNED to have it's features used by multiple visitors on every visit... this is why tubes get used by the next person in line, why bathroom stalls get used by the next person that needs it, why the tables by the food concessions get used by the next guest that needs them...

What exactly is the difference between someone claiming a lounge chair for the entire day, never intending to lounge in it for that time and someone who decides to claim a table in the food area even if they intend to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner at it?

If Disney designed the parks with the intent of people having seats that weren't to be used by other guests during the day, they would have either put another 5000 seats in the park or limited how many people go through the turnstiles to match the existing seating.

 

[Bongi22]

If somebody is in dire straits enough to need to steal a beach towel and a bottle of sunscreen or a PBJ out of my cooler, I guess that's just the way it's going to be. I'm not going to get worked up over it. I'm not going to leave my jewelry lying there on the chair, or my wallet. I just don't see why anybody would WANT to steal the things I would leave on a pool chair.

I agree...

Except of course for your room key, since that pretty much opens up pandoras box for the things of yours that you DO actually care about getting stolen.

I know we are talking about a relatively unimportant situation in this thread, but let's keep in mind that while Disney does in fact do a good job of keeping the crime rate down and it FEELS as though bad things aren't going to happen to us... the fact remains that criminals love crowds, you can't judge who is a criminal from looks or talking to them and that nice person who just chatted with you at the pool chair and watched you leave your room ( so knows your room number ) and spoke to you about his or her vacation only to find out how many people were traveling with you... well he/she just happened to leave 3 minutes after you went back into the pool, having switched his towel with the one you just wrapped your room key in and will be in his car leaving with your camera, computer and everything else of value just about the same time you are getting out of the pool again.

Maybe it's the fact that I grew up in the NYC metro area... but I don't trust anyone I don't personally know very much anymore.

Disney is very very often a place where too many people let their guards down. Hotel Pools in particular.

 

[Deb & Bill]

No, but at the same time... the scarcity of chairs just shows that Disney's designers never intended for the parks visitors to claim chairs.. the parks are DESIGNED to have it's features used by multiple visitors on every visit... this is why tubes get used by the next person in line, why bathroom stalls get used by the next person that needs it, why the tables by the food concessions get used by the next guest that needs them...

What exactly is the difference between someone claiming a lounge chair for the entire day, never intending to lounge in it for that time and someone who decides to claim a table in the food area even if they intend to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner at it?

If Disney designed the parks with the intent of people having seats that weren't to be used by other guests during the day, they would have either put another 5000 seats in the park or limited how many people go through the turnstiles to match the existing seating.

Likewise, if they didn't intend for people to use chairs for extended periods of time, they would have had way fewer chairs since they really intend for the guests to play in the wave pool, use the slides, float in the lazy river, shop in the stores and dine at the dining facilities. Why even bother with lounge chairs? Why not just put a few benches here and there for guests to sit on in between attractions like in the theme parks?

 

[Bongi22]

I would never leave my stuff on chairs. We may sit for a minute or two in a free chair but not leave our stuff. I would never leave food out for any one to tamper with either.

Let's all be nice and mindful of each other. We are all on vacation.

I am going to ask the Concere at the Contemporary when I go in June. All good questions were posed. When at BB we only had 1 towel with us and put it on a chair to go on a slide and the CM said no towels (stuff) can be left on the chairs. But I see people do it all the time. And as one person said not enough lockers. Maybe we are all thinking about this too much and should just be reasonable and nice to each other.

Agreed... we had a situation up here on Long Island where some moron tried to poison some day laborers he didn't want in his neighborhood by going into the 7-11 and putting something toxic in the sugar dispensers... Luckily the guy who did it was beyond an idiot and didn't use something strong enough to kill anyone... but the point is, you never know the motive of some idiots.. and let's face it, unless you are putting a lock on that cooler to safeguard your food, there is nothing keeping anyone from doing something to it if you leave it for a half hour... maybe someone didn't like that you got the parking space they wanted and followed you in, maybe they sat in your chair and you weren't as understanding about it as you should have been... maybe they are just psycho... but the point remains the same... I wouldn't leave my food around for anyone to get at. Unless it's all prepackaged stuff that you can see if it was tampered with... but I agree with you here.

To your point, yes, some people are overthinking this one... but I've really enjoyed seeing the insides of some peoples heads in this thread. I love studying human nature and people and I am NEVER left wanting when I see a thread like this... Overthinking? Yes... but it's also a good learning experience because it shows just how extremely different people are around this country in regards to the most mundane subjects... yet the vast majority of the responses here were one extreme or the other... very few ( such as yours ) are middle of the road.

 

[Bongi22]

Pasted directly from the official WDW website on waterparks:

"Arrive early if you wish to secure a lounge chair."

Well, for the sake of debate... which I happen to revel in... I offer this counter.

Dictionary.com defines "secure" as

"10. to get hold or possession of; procure; obtain: to secure materials; to secure a high government position."

I think we can all agree that the only true way to assure yourself the ability to obtain a lounge chair is to get there before more people have been let into the park than there are chairs.

BUT, Disney's statement does NOT directly address ones ability to RETAIN that chair for the duration of ones stay in the park.

This, my friend, is still the point of contention of the entire premise.

The question is not how does one assure themselves of getting a chair... the question is whether or not Disney intends for any guest to keep that guest from allowing other guests from using it during that day when they themselves are not using it for it's intended purpose.

Disney's statement would easily mean that in theory all the chairs they have available could be PHYSICALLY taken up by bodies and in that case you would not be guaranteed a chair to sit in.

Clearly, their statement is vague and only addresses their need to absolve themselves of providing enough chairs to go around for everyone.

 

[OurMsBrooks]

I agree...

Except of course for your room key, since that pretty much opens up pandoras box for the things of yours that you DO actually care about getting stolen.

I know we are talking about a relatively unimportant situation in this thread, but let's keep in mind that while Disney does in fact do a good job of keeping the crime rate down and it FEELS as though bad things aren't going to happen to us... the fact remains that criminals love crowds, you can't judge who is a criminal from looks or talking to them and that nice person who just chatted with you at the pool chair and watched you leave your room ( so knows your room number ) and spoke to you about his or her vacation only to find out how many people were traveling with you... well he/she just happened to leave 3 minutes after you went back into the pool, having switched his towel with the one you just wrapped your room key in and will be in his car leaving with your camera, computer and everything else of value just about the same time you are getting out of the pool again.

Maybe it's the fact that I grew up in the NYC metro area... but I don't trust anyone I don't personally know very much anymore.

Disney is very very often a place where too many people let their guards down. Hotel Pools in particular.

Actually, I have this snazzy little waterproof key holder I got years ago at POR. It's a cute little card-shaped plastic box on a cord. I can wear it around my neck in the pool and not worry about my key. (Have to hand it off to somebody to go down a slide, though.)

 

[jayandstacey]

Our tradition:

Rope drop, head right to the most central bathroom, pick a clean stall, lock the door, crawl out from under, go get fast passes and continue on.

Viola! a clean, reserved toilet for the day. Just takes a little creativity to re-enter.

 

[Bongi22]

A tip does not a rule make. Otherwise you'd have to show your bottle of suncreen to enter the park

Darn you... I went into debate mode and you blew it apart in a simple sentence.

 

[Bongi22]

It's there in black and white and yet people will still argue it. Common sense people. Get there early, find a spot, don't take more chairs than you need and enjoy your day. Geesh....people make this so complicated!

Technically it's blue and black, not black and white.

 

[jayandstacey]

Well, for the sake of debate... which I happen to revel in... I offer this counter.

I too enjoy debate and logic.

How about...Disney doesn't promise a chair. But Disney does commit to "magic", at least for magical gatherings (gatherings that are magical). Magic is certainly in the eye of the beholder. I (the beholder) consider having a chair for the day to be one of the most magical things that could happen at a Disney waterpark. Therefore, Disney promises me a chair and it is my duty to procure one and guard it.

 

[jayandstacey]

I too enjoy debate and logic.

How about...Disney doesn't promise a chair. But Disney does commit to "magic", at least for magical gatherings (gatherings that are magical). Magic is certainly in the eye of the beholder. I (the beholder) consider having a chair for the day to be one of the most magical things that could happen at a Disney waterpark. Therefore, Disney promises me a chair and it is my duty to procure one and guard it.

And of course Walt wanted me to experience magic. Therefore, Walt himself would insist I grab and hold a chair all day, the way a sick child clings to their lovey.

It is the most Disney thing one can do at a Waterpark and is in keeping with the oldest traditions.

 

[Bongi22]

People my not pay for the chairs but everyone has equally paid for the right to use the park facilities. Arriving early to obtain a chair is no different then someone arriving early to ride a ride multiple times before crowds make multiple rides difficult. Again.. where do we draw the line on times and circumstances?
.

You are correct... but the person who arrives at the park early to ride the rides multiple times still has to get off and let the whoever is else wants to use it and go to the end of the line...

It comes back to my question of can I simply place a towel on a tube at the lazy river and not let anyone else use it all day?


Hmmm I guess it isn't the same after all is it.... Unless you are on the side of you can't reserve seats and expect them to stay yours all day.

Yes, it happens... but it happens at the goodwill of many many many others who simply choose not to impose or people who just don't want the grief.

 

[Bongi22]

Slightly off topic, but I'm sick of the chair debate, so I'll ask another waterpark etiquette question.

Peeing in the pool. . .kosher or not?

Discuss. . .

Only if you can get a Rabbi to bless it.

IMO I usually just find a nice lounge chair and pee on that, I find it's the best way to stake a claim on it.