A few (or a lot of) bad apples have managed ruined the fun for many teenagers, tweens, and parents across the United States. Several popular theme parks have decided to tighten their minimum age requirement to enter the park without parental supervision after a rise in “unruly behavior” in recent years.
Brawls at theme parks are rare, but they do happen. Disney parks have gotten most of the spotlight regarding fights lately, and most of it does not involve teenagers, but adults. Altercations like this fight between adults over space to watch fireworks, this massive brawl by Peter Pan’s Flight, and this brawl between siblings and their significant others (just to name a few) have put theme parks across the country on high alert.
While adults might make most of the headlines, it is not to say that teenagers are without blame. Multiple brawls between groups of teenagers at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park, Calif., caused such a disturbance that the park decided to close three hours early. Then in April, a massive brawl of around 150 teenagers at a theme park in Kansas City broke out inside and continued outside in the parking lot.
Perhaps the teenagers’ disruption is the straw that broke the camel’s back for many theme parks. Or maybe they’re an easy scapegoat to show they’re addressing an issue that has gotten out of control. While there is no sweeping chaperoning policy for all parks, there is a new floor for entrance that has been raised after the safety of staff and other guests has been prioritized after the physical altercations in recent years.
Disneyland warns against fights at parks
Cedar Fair parks
Knott’s Berry Farm, the 57-acre theme park located in Buena Park, Calif., has changed their chaperone policy a couple of times lately. Their latest policy change coming after the April incident involving the teenagers has made it so “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,” according to their code of conduct.
The chaperone can accompany no more than 10 guests ages 15 or younger per day. If guests who are 15 years or younger are found unaccompanied, they will be ejected from park.
The following parks, like Knott’s Berry Farm, are part of the Cedar Fair Entertainment Company family and have implemented the same policy for chaperoning after seeing violent incidents in their parks:
Disney parks in California and Florida have not seen any changes to their chaperoning policies, despite their unruly headlines. Their policy says “guests under age 14 must be accompanied by a guest age 14 or older to enter a theme park.”
Meanwhile, Universal Orlando parks have no specific published minimum age for guests, but they recommend guests under age 14 have supervision from someone age 14 or older. If you plan to let your child attend a theme park without an adult, make sure to read the park’s code of conduct.
