Lake Winnie -- are their rules on teens too harsh?

I've heard about Lake Winnie's draconian rules involving persons under 21. You can't enter the park unless you are accompanied by a parent or chaperone and you must buy a ride-all-day wristband or purchase a minimum number of tickets.

I know that they had a bad riot several years ago and they are trying to preserve a family image but can't they change things just a bit? Why 21? Why not just 18 or 19? How about doing what KW used to do and let teens in by themselves provided that they buy an all-day wristband. If they spend that much to ride, they are more likely to have the right kind of fun and not to cause trouble.

I can see the park's view on this, but I think it is a shame. Teens always complain about having nothing to do and they're often right. Particulary in the suburbs where there aren't a lot of places to go besides the mall and even fewer places to go where they are welcomed. I would have loved to have a cool local amusement park to go to when I was younger. And fond memories of the park during their teenage years might make them even more excited to bring their families there when they get older. As it now, they could end up the with attitude "they don't want me, I don't want them."

The real tragedy is the minority few that end up ruining something for everybody else.

I've known some very mature teenagers and some very immature twenty-somethings. Requiring an all-day pass plus beefed up security should be enough.

I can only imagine they're doing that for a good reason. I don't remember reading about a riot there, but i believe it.
21 and over without parent or legal guardian is rough, but i guess they're still making money.
Maybe this will also keep them from becoming a daycare center like a few parks have.

I can see 18, but 21 seems high to me.

Right on Lake Winnie! Amusement parks aren't 13-14 year old girls looking for summer job (i.e. babysitting).

*** Edited 7/24/2006 4:01:02 PM UTC by coasterguts***

I wonder, how are other small to midsized parks in or near urban areas coping with the teen and gang problems. I'm talking about parks like Waldameer, Lakeside, Rye Playland, Bells etc. that either have a free gate or a modest general admission charge. I am aware that some parks like Knoebels and Indiana Beach are far enough away from the urban areas that they don't have to worry too much.

I agree.I wish they would have rules like this in the local malls.The mall turns into a 12 to 16 year old baby sitter on friday and saturday nights.They dont shop ,eat ,or go to the movies,all they do is hang out.

Ah, mallrats. I can't stand them.

What I can't stand is that it is not the children that are to blame, but the lack of discipline and concern by their parents. I would never have been allowed at the age of 12 to walk around the county fair, never less an amusement park. Too many parents are caught up in being "friends" with their children, and not being the authority figures they should be.

Aside from that rant, I feel that most parks need some sort of rule about unsupervised teens, especially that large chain that everyone likes to complain about. At least if these kids are breaking the rules, call mom or dad and let them know, and revoke the season pass privlage. Just my two cents though...

That ******* kid is back on the escalator!

Not a bad idea. I wouldn't mind seeing more parks crack down on unsupervised teens (not that its just teens that are the problem). 21 might be a bit high, but if they're still making money, I guess its not a bad tactic.

The irony is the reason most kids are hanging out by themselves with nothing to do is that their parents are working endless hours to provide their kids with a "good life." Yeah, I'll pick you up around 9:30-- now that's quality time.

"They don't shop, eat, or go to the movies, all they do is hang out." Sounds like most senior citizens you see at the mall too. ;)

Teens, especially the older ones, DO shop at the malls. It's just that they spend even more time just hanging around. If you put too many restrictions on teens at the malls, some of the tenants would complain because of the customers that they would lose. The important thing for malls with teen problems would be to find a policy acceptable to all. An example might be no unaccompanied persons under 18 after a certain time in the evening such as 8 PM.

I thought that something did happen at the park years ago that led to this rule?

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If you put too many restrictions on teens at the malls, some of the tenants would complain because of the customers that they would lose.

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Interesting POV. When I was in that early teen age (teen years before driving age) hanging at the mall was THE thing to do for kids my age. The mall would be packed end to end with a sea of 13 to 17 year olds. It got so bad that the tenants complained that the kids were driving away business. It was entirely true though. You'd literally see 50 kids for every adult in the mall on a Friday or Saturday evening. No adult wanted to shop there, it was an incredibly uncomfortable environment for anyone over 17.

The mall quickly set in place rules to stop it and they were almost exactly as you mentioned - no unsupervised kids at certain times.

I don't have a problem with the policy at all at amusement parks - especially in places where the population, locations and park pricing is conductive to making the park a local hangout.

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RatherGoodBear said:

"They don't shop, eat, or go to the movies, all they do is hang out." Sounds like most senior citizens you see at the mall too. ;)

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LOL I never thought of it that way!

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The irony is the reason most kids are hanging out by themselves with nothing to do is that their parents are working endless hours to provide their kids with a "good life." Yeah, I'll pick you up around 9:30-- now that's quality time.

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What about the parents who work endless hours to "make ends meet" - are they bad parents too?

I never really thought about it from the "upper middle class" angle that you propose. I always figured the kids were hanging at the parks that offered free admission or low season pass prices because it was cheap, easy supervision for single mom and dad types forced to work two jobs.

Hehe, why do I feel somewhat *responsible* for this thread... ;)

"The Lake Winnie Solution"... :)

What about any of our young(18-21) service people coming back from iraq or other conflict areas, they can go fight for the country but are turned away for being young.

I hope they let them in with a military id even though they are not of age.

Here is the older link to the news story.

http://www.coasterbuzz.com/2003-114-478847.htm *** Edited 7/25/2006 8:32:10 AM UTC by supermandl***

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Rob Ascough said:
I thought that something did happen at the park years ago that led to this rule?

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Something definitely happened in the park. There was a fight involving 50-100 unsupervised teenagers that started inside the park. Lake Winnie is a family owned business, and I don't think they have ever had to deal with such an outbreak. I grew up going to Lake Winnie and have been going every year for over 30 years. I can totally see why Lake Winnie started a supervision policy. The good news is that they have been doing fantastic business this year. In fact, they just expanded the front parking lot to accomodate more guests. Judging by the attendance at the park, I don't think it has hurt the park at all. If you like gangs, fights, and hoodlums, I would strongly recommend you to go to Magic Mountain in California. A night trip to that park should refocus anyone's bad opinion of this supervision policy.

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coasterkitty said:

If you like gangs, fights, and hoodlums, I would strongly recommend you to go to Magic Mountain in California. A night trip to that park should refocus anyone's bad opinion of this supervision policy.

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LOL....it felt that way to my colleague who went with me to SFMM at 3 in the afternoon :)

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Lord Gonchar said:

What about the parents who work endless hours to "make ends meet" - are they bad parents too?

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Not meant to be a judgement, just an observation. The really bad parents drop their kids off, then go get drunk or high.

As far as the "class" issue, I've never witnessed really bad behavior in parks-- just occasional line jumping and general rudeness/obnoxious behavior. But most of what I've seen is done by kids (and young adults) wearing clothing with designer labels, and various "league authorized replica jerseys." Very little Faded Glory and Keds.