These Theme Parks Now Require Teenagers and Teenagers to Be Under Adult Supervision
A few (or many) spoiled apples have ruined the fun for many teenagers, teens and parents in the United States. Several popular theme parks have decided to tighten minimum age requirements for entering a park without parental supervision following a rise in “unruly behavior” in recent years.
Fights in theme parks are rare, but they do happen. Fighting has been the biggest focus at Disney parks lately, and most of it involves adults rather than teenagers. Brawls like this fight between adults over space to watch fireworks , this massive fight in Peter Pan’s Flight , and this fight between siblings and their loved ones (just to name a few) have brought theme parks across the country on high alert.
While adults tend to make the most headlines, teens aren’t innocent. Numerous fights between groups of teenagers at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park, California, caused such a stir that the park was closed three hours early. Then, in April, a mass brawl involving about 150 teenagers broke out inside a theme park in Kansas City, which continued outside in the parking lot.
Perhaps teenage relapse is the straw that broke the back of many theme parks. Or maybe they easily become scapegoats to show that they are solving a problem that is out of control. While there is no overarching escort policy for all parks, there is a new entrance floor that was raised after the safety of staff and other guests became a priority following physical altercations in recent years.
Cedar Fair Parks
Knott’s Berry Farm, a 57-acre theme park located in Buena Park, California, has changed its escort policy several times recently. Their most recent policy change, following an incident with teenagers in April, resulted in “all guests aged 15 and under must be accompanied by an escort aged at least 21 in order to be admitted or to remain in the park after 4:00 p.m. local time to close” according to their code of conduct .
An escort can accompany a maximum of 10 guests under the age of 15 per day. If guests aged 15 and under are found unaccompanied, they will be ejected from the park.
The following parks, such as Knott’s Berry Farm, are part of the Cedar Fair Entertainment Company family and have implemented the same escort policy after violent incidents occurred at their parks:
- Kings Dominion, Virginia
- Fun Worlds, Missouri
- Kings Island, Ohio
- Carowinds, North Carolina
- Greater America California, California
There has been no change in escort policy at Disney parks in California and Florida, despite their out-of-control titles. Their policy states that “Guests under the age of 14 must be accompanied by a guest aged 14 or over to enter the theme park.”
Meanwhile, Universal Orlando’s parks do not have a specific published minimum age for guests, but they recommend that guests under the age of 14 be supervised by someone 14 years of age or older. If you plan to let your child go to a theme park unaccompanied, be sure to read the park rules.