SFoT, HH apply for liquor license

http://www.star-telegram.com/629/story/368208.html

What I noticed in the article is that Mega is the new Wild.

Wild Wedgie sounded way cooler.

This has turned into quite a media circus in the Metroplex. Click on the view results link on this page http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/latestnews/stories/wfaa071219_lj_sixflags.2f8cfb68.html
some of the responses are amazing. I don't see drunk people vomiting all over the place at Cedar Point or Kings Island or any of the other amusement parks that I've been to that serve alcohol.

That's because ignorant people assume that everyone who consumes alcohol does so to get f'd up.

It's to expensive to drink more then one or two beers at a park to begin with. I'm shocked at some of the responses to the story.

For God's sake, this is Texas! Doesn't every place in Texas already have a liquor license?

"I hope you stay tuned as the Texas State marching band does its salute to gun racks and open beverage containers; which is only legal in Texas."

No...Texas is one of those states that actually has dry counties (!), including one right outside of Dallas. Just one of many, many reasons I could never be a Texan...waaay too uptight and conservative.

-Nate

Dry counties and dry cities have been rapidly disappearing from the Texas Landscape. With each election there seems to be another referendum on the ballot to repeal those antiquated laws. When I first moved here 8 years ago, very few of the mid-cities sold alcohol. We had to drive into Fort Worth to purchase a bottle of wine. Now just about every city between, and surrounding Dallas and Fort Worth sells alcohol.

Just because they're disappearing doesn't mean they don't exist. You're only about 70 years behind the rest of the country. ;)

-Nate

^Plenty of parks serve beer and you don't hear of any widespread problems.

Just look at the Busch parks. They are freakin owned by a beer company and are considered some of the top family parks around. They even serve complimentary beer to their over 21 guests.

Zoos sell beer and even Chuck E Cheese sells it.

Is that enough to convince you it's a non-issue?

I don't think I've ever seen anyone throw up an amusement park, beer or not. That point is certainly not an issue as far as I'm concerned.

Amusement parks and the like are always strict when it comes to checking ID's. And even so, at $4-$6 per drink, what kind of person (minor or otherwise) is going to get drunk anyway?

The whole "family atmosphere" notion irritates me too. What the hell is so wrong with having a beer or two? I'm an adult, I like beer, and I'd like to enjoy an adult beverage on my day off, especially if I'm vacationing at an amusement park. I fail to see how adults being served legal beverages makes for a non-family-appropriate atmosphere.

Come on, Texas, it's time to catch up to the rest of the world.

-Nate

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coasterdude318 said:
Amusement parks and the like are always strict when it comes to checking ID's. And even so, at $4-$6 per drink, what kind of person (minor or otherwise) is going to get drunk anyway?
-Nate

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Here in Milwaukee they have a yearly festival called Summerfest where at least about 100,000 people show up and do just that :)

Come to think of it, they do that at State Fair, too :)

I think they charge 6 bucks and up at both events. *** Edited 12/21/2007 4:31:02 PM UTC by Kick The Sky***

rct247, I am curious what your experiences with alcohol are.

Disney, all of the Busch parks, Cedar Point... it goes on an on. Heck, at the Busch parks they have "Beer school" where they serve you a bunch of different tasting beers and teach you about beer! I have never seen anyone wasted or puking in trash cans and pools from alcohol consumption.

I brew my own beer, have a few a week and sometimes have one while at a park and see no problem with it. But maybe I am an alcoholic. :)

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Kick The Sky said:

Here in Milwaukee they have a yearly festival called Summerfest where at least about 100,000 people show up and do just that

Come to think of it, they do that at State Fair, too

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That's a pretty poor comparison.

People go to Summerfest to party. People go to the State Fair to party (and eat). People don't go to amusement parks to party. Totally different atmospheres.

-Nate

Gotta love the assumption that drinking beer = drunk and disorderly behaviour.

rct247 I can respect where you're coming from, but I think if you've not been to a park which does serve alcohol and have no experience with legally purchasing alcohol then your knowledge on the subject is fairly limited. Your college and high school peers stealing kegs or whatever hardly has any relevance to this particular topic.

Aside from special events at parks which are generally 18+ (18 is the legal drinking age here), I've never once seen anyone come close to anything that would warrant not selling alcohol at parks.

If I've been at a park walking and queuing all day I love nothing more than a cold beer or two in the afternoon. Of course, I'm just as happy to go without if the park doesn't serve it or whatever, but in the context of a family theme park, it's a 100% victimless practice.

Puking on rides
Unless they're abusing the stuff this won't be a problem. I don't know how exactly it works over there, but I'm guessing that liquor licensing regulations stipulate responsible service of alcohol.

Increase chance that minors could get a hold of it
Again, the laws the park must follow would likely have very strict consequences for minors with alcohol. It's certainly not a problem at Disney or Universal parks who serve alcohol everywhere.

Increase in dehydrated people.
Anyone drinking enough to get dehydrated firstly has an odd concept of entertainment (going to a park a drinking), and secondly it's not hard to cure... walk to the nearest water fountain.

I don't know... it just seems your view on alcohol is somewhat tainted by your own personal experiences as a minor.

^Wow, you explained it best and you aren't even from this country.

With the exeption of family owned parks like Holiday World, etc., who choose not to have alcohol in their parks, a good majority of publicly traded parks do if they are given permission to sell it.

Adults in the U.S. who visit parks like the idea of being able to purchase a beer or glass of wine. If it was a problem widespread, their liqour licenses would be suspended.

Nice to see the subject of alcohol continues to reveal the ignorance of people. It's downright foolish to think that alcohol results in disorderly conduct and puking. Spend some time in an amusement park and you'll see that people have no problem being disorderly without the help of any substances and puking occurs because of a myriad of different things (like the combination of funnel cakes and people who can't handle a Round Up). As others have said, there are plenty of parks that serve alcohol and are continually regarded as some of the finest in the world.

I'll take alcohol sales over groups of reckless kids vandalizing the parks and acting goofy with their cell phones any day of the week.