Do people not know how to act anymore?
Ever since pandemic restrictions began easing in 2021, not a month goes by without a story about someone trying to start a flight on an airplane, harassing a flight attendant or otherwise causing a disturbance.
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Experts believe the reason for these outbursts are related to pent up anxiety and mental trauma owing to the lockdown, as well as an increasing social and political climate that heightened people’s distrust and fear.
Well, it might not surprise you to learn it's not just airlines that are becoming a haven for unruly behavior, as theme parks have also seen a serious uptick in violent behavior since 2021. As noted by The Points Guy, last summer “Orlando news station Fox 35 reported on two separate altercations at Disney World – one over a fireworks viewing spot and the other a large brawl that broke out in front of Peter Pan's Flight at The Magic Kingdom.” At the same time, Disneyland saw a fight break out between guests waiting to see the nightly performance of Fantasmic.
It’s not just Disney, either, as social media is increasingly becoming filled with videos of people acting up at theme parks. And now, theme parks are taking steps, some stronger than others, to curb and discourage this behavior.
Theme Parks Are Setting Chaperone Policies
Theme parks are increasingly setting chaperone policies and other rules to cut down on violent behavior.
California's Knott's Berry Farm, which is owned by Cedar Fair, closed early on July 16, 2022 after an altercation involving teenagers. Now, it has a chaperone policy that "all guests ages 15 years old or younger must be accompanied by a chaperone who is at least 21 years old in order to be admitted to or remain in the park after 4 p.m. local time to close."
Kings Dominion in Doswell, Virginia; Worlds of Fun in Kansas City, Missouri; Kings Island in Mason, Ohio; Carowinds in Charlotte, North Carolina; and California's Great America in Santa Clara, California, have all adopted similar chaperone policies after seeing an increase in violent incidents.
Disney World and Disneyland (DIS) have not changed their policies, but their websites already have the policy that "guests under age 14 must be accompanied by a guest age 14 or older to enter a theme park."
Universal Orlando doesn’t have a chaperone policy, but it recommends "guests below the age of 14 have a supervising companion that is 14 years of age or older." At CityWalk, however, Universal Orlando's website states that "guests under the age of 18 need to have an accompanying adult after 10 p.m."
