Disney Parks Change Minimum Age Rule, Requires Children Under 14 to Have Supervision

[TiggerHappy]

"Disney theme parks will soon require anyone under the age of 14 to be accompanied by someone who is older than 14, a Disney spokeswoman said Saturday.

The new policy will take effect March 23 at all U.S. Walt Disney World and Disneyland resorts and parks.

"If a cast member who is working at the front gates sees a guest who appears to be younger than 14 without someone who appears to be older than that, they will engage in a conversation with the guest," Disney spokeswoman Suzi Brown told NBC4.

The employee will verbally determine whether the guest is too young to enter on his or her own, since children that age typically do not carry identification with them, she said. The child’s parent or guardian would then be contacted if the visitor is underage, and that adult would need to physically come accompany the child into the park."

Source - http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local ... 10261.html

[Zazu]

"Disney theme parks will soon require anyone under the age of 14 to be accompanied by someone who is older than 14, a Disney spokeswoman said Saturday.

The new policy will take effect March 23 at all U.S. Walt Disney World and Disneyland resorts and parks.

"If a cast member who is working at the front gates sees a guest who appears to be younger than 14 without someone who appears to be older than that, they will engage in a conversation with the guest," Disney spokeswoman Suzi Brown told NBC4.

The employee will verbally determine whether the guest is too young to enter on his or her own, since children that age typically do not carry identification with them, she said. The child’s parent or guardian would then be contacted if the visitor is underage, and that adult would need to physically come accompany the child into the park."

Source - http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local ... 10261.html

<sigh> I just love it when I get important information about my place of employment from the press, long before my Company tells me about it.

Kindly ignore my post on another thread where I said this wouldn't apply to WDW. Frankly, NBC News has greater credibility than my supervision on such matters.

[YANXWIN]

Zazu, I'm so impressed that you said that without any disdain or sarcasm.

[drcorey]

I dont even see it in the disneyland news room yet.
http://disneylandnews.com/

[GaTechGal]

If it's only being checked at the front gate, I guess there's nothing stopping an adult from getting the kid in the gate and then leaving. And I can't imagine this is a one to one ratio. Then school groups couldn't come. Or cheerleading teams, or Pop Warner teams, hmmmm? They may be on to something.

[drcorey]

If it's only being checked at the front gate, I guess there's nothing stopping an adult from getting the kid in the gate and then leaving. And I can't imagine this is a one to one ratio. Then school groups couldn't come. Or cheerleading teams, or Pop Warner teams, hmmmm? They may be on to something.

no such luck. for groups all they need is one poor adult in the park somewhere/

[UncleMoose]

I thought it was really odd that the Terms and Conditions for the Annual Passport vouchers I just got had the following:
"Persons under the age of 7 must be accompanied by an adult when attending the Magic Kingdom (R) Park, Epcot(R), Disney's Hollywood Studio(TM) or Disney's Animal Kingdom(R) Theme Park."
It then went on to say they had to be at least 10 to go to the water parks or DisneyQuest alone.

Did anyone really drop off a 7-year-old with a "there you go, honey, have fun, we'll pick you up around 9" spiel?

Would CMs have questioned a 7 year old wandering one of the parks alone?

These were ordered March 5, so this really is a recent change.

[hobie16]

Did anyone really drop off a 7-year-old with a "there you go, honey, have fun, we'll pick you up around 9" spiel?

I'll bet yes. I base that on the recent news story about a father that waterboarded his three sons to toughen them up.

[Zazu]

Zazu, I'm so impressed that you said that without any disdain or sarcasm.

What can I say? It's a gift!

[Zazu]

I thought it was really odd that the Terms and Conditions for the Annual Passport vouchers I just got had the following:
"Persons under the age of 7 must be accompanied by an adult when attending the Magic Kingdom (R) Park, Epcot(R), Disney's Hollywood Studio(TM) or Disney's Animal Kingdom(R) Theme Park."
It then went on to say they had to be at least 10 to go to the water parks or DisneyQuest alone.

Did anyone really drop off a 7-year-old with a "there you go, honey, have fun, we'll pick you up around 9" spiel?

Yup, sad to say.

Would CMs have questioned a 7 year old wandering one of the parks alone?

Not for wandering around, so long as they didn't look upset or lost. We were supposed to question them if they tried to enter an attraction. Not that it happened all that effectively in bulk loaders or at busy times.