Universal bans hundreds of under-age drinkers during Horror Nights

Drinking laws in Ohio do have those loopholes, and that's probably one reason that you don't see drinks roaming freely at Cedar Point and Kings Island.

I'll have a drink or 3 every now and again, but I can't side with these parents who say "We're good people". You may be good people, but you just A) broke the law...in a public place no less, and B) ignored the rules of the park. If you are going to let your kid have a drink, than go home and do it. Universal has a liquor license that brings them a lot of money to protect, and I don't blame them a bit for getting hardcore on enforcing the law. If they seem even a little bit lax and agents are there monitoring (which I'm sure they are), than the liquor license, and millions in revenue, go out the window.

That being said, perhaps Universal should examine the way they sell the booze. They seem to be treating the place as an over 21 bar. I know it's a party, but people running aroung carrying jello shot trays and drink carts sounds more like a giant nightclub than a theme park to me. It's a recipe for trouble with enforcement. If they don't already, perhaps they should card at the gate and use the big black x on the hand for those underage during these events. It would slow down the entrance process, but if they prepare guests ahead of time with signage, it could cut back on problems.

To their credit, I've never "felt" the force of law enforcement the way I have at Universal, either at City Walk in the empty off-season, or at the height of their Mardi Gras event at the studio park. It feels very clear to me on where they stand that they're not going to put up with anything.

Selling shots and what not is something they've been doing for years on City Walk, and I've never witnessed anything go bad after three years of annual passes. I'm sure it happens, as it does anywhere, but I think they do a pretty good balancing act of massive alcohol sales while retaining a family feel.

In-Sane.

Booting out someone because they let a child have a LICK of a jello-shot! The kid must have been wasted.

Having enjoyed HHN in the past, I have to say that I can totally understand their reasons, and Universal should not be held accountable. Whether or not the laws are draconian and wrong, Universal needs to cover themselves or risk going out of business.

Let's not forget that the parent was uncooperative. That alone would ring alarms and make the management panic. My underage cousin came along with us to HHN this year and the jello shots are pretty strictly sold to adults with id only, so for him to take home one of the "blood bags", one of the adults had to purchase it and not him. Perfectly reasonable considering the laws, even if he just would have wanted an empty bag.

Booting out someone because they let a child have a LICK of a jello-shot! The kid must have been wasted.

Amusingly, the law doesn't say minors can't get drunk. The laws in most states generally say a minor cannot possess alcohol. In other words, he who holds the bag is stuck, well, holding the bag.

Going to defend Viands just for a second - I'm a big fan of looking at both sides of any argument. Have to wonder, given the inflexibility of the law and the increible value to Universal of both guests and a liquor license...wouldn't it make sense to post clearly that ANY violation will result in severe consequences? I've spent a lot of time down at "The Complex", and they've never been unwilling to make a buck (or a few million) selling alcohol. But I can't say I've seen anything that warns patrons of the strictness of FL's liquor laws, or the "zero-tolerance enforcement". Just from the case stated about Ohio's more-lenient law, I'm forced to wonder how vacationers are unaware of the different rules when they travel? Reminded of HW and the enforcement of the "seat belt stays buckled until the train stops in the station" rule. Here in FL, several rides (notably including Hulk) tell you to unbuckle "in preparation for unboarding". Starting to think about Idlewild, where you get your admission (and the rules) when you park your car.

If the policy is zero tolerance, and they're worried about protecting a license, why create an atmosphere where it's so easy for an underaged person to get alcohol? With street vendors and carts dispensing alcohol, how could it not happen? And how they be certain that the people who were caught were the only ones who did it?

^They can be certain the ones caught were NOT the only ones doing it. Which in my thinking is why the punishments have to be SEVERE....to get the word out. Signage might be another (more effective?) method. :)

I always thought the legal drinking age should of stayed at 18. I mean HOW many college kids do NOT drink, or at least drink from time to time? When you turn 18 you can vote, buy tobacco, be sent off to war, etc. :)

-Tina

But then you eliminate a primary source of income for college town police departments.

NOTE - this does not equate to disagreement.

As it happens, there is a movement amongst many college and university presidents to start a conversation to lower the drinking age, in hopes by bringing it out into the open it will be easier to attack binge drinking.

http://www.amethystinitiative.org/

President Coleman here at Michigan is not a signatory.

Yeah, that's one perspective as to why the chancellors and presidents are starting the movement. Another is that they are tired of having to enforce the law. A lower drinking age means an easier time for campus police and judicial affairs professionals.

RatherGoodBear said:
If the policy is zero tolerance, and they're worried about protecting a license, why create an atmosphere where it's so easy for an underaged person to get alcohol? With street vendors and carts dispensing alcohol, how could it not happen? And how they be certain that the people who were caught were the only ones who did it?

It's easy to speed in my car, too. It doesn't make it any less against the law.

A couple of weeks ago there was an episode of Boston Legal that dealt with people under the age of 18 voting. I think it was pretty much an indictment of the fact that idiots like the guy with his "muslin" sign get to vote, and teenagers who are likely far more informed can't.

This led me to a line of thinking that I haven't completely worked through, but is it possible that we forbid youth from doing so many things that we rob them the opportunity to learn responsibility? Some segments of the population don't want to teach kids about sex. Some want to raise the driving age. We've already put the drinking age at 21. It all seems out of balance in a country where we trust 18-year-old kids to pick up a gun and defend our interests abroad.

Basically, I'm wondering if we've managed to apply kid gloves at too high of an age. Discuss.

Jeff said:
I think it was pretty much an indictment of the fact that idiots like the guy with his "muslin" sign get to vote, and teenagers who are likely far more informed can't.

That's that attachment to youth again. ;)

No, it's my annoyance with stupid people. Knock it off, Dr. Phil!

A lower drinking age means an easier time for campus police and judicial affairs professionals.

Yes and no. Depends on whether MIP citations etc. are a profit center or not. I've lived in three college towns (Palo Alto, Berkeley, and Ann Arbor), and I'm pretty sure every one of them can come close to funding their police force on football Saturdays alone.

Jeff said:

This led me to a line of thinking that I haven't completely worked through, but is it possible that we forbid youth from doing so many things that we rob them the opportunity to learn responsibility? Some segments of the population don't want to teach kids about sex. Some want to raise the driving age. We've already put the drinking age at 21. It all seems out of balance in a country where we trust 18-year-old kids to pick up a gun and defend our interests abroad.

Basically, I'm wondering if we've managed to apply kid gloves at too high of an age. Discuss.

Well, I guess if you are going to open the door to that line of thinking then we would have to address why when a twelve-year old girl writes a letter to a governing board it brings about pages of comments that suggest said girl doesn't have the insight and intelligence to be speaking her own mind and using her own voice. Does she only become informed enough in another year when she becomes thirteen? At what age does the youth become informed?

Brian Noble said:

Yes and no. Depends on whether MIP citations etc. are a profit center or not. I've lived in three college towns (Palo Alto, Berkeley, and Ann Arbor), and I'm pretty sure every one of them can come close to funding their police force on football Saturdays alone.

That's true enough. I really shouldn't have lumped campus police and judicial affairs together that way in the first place. Campus police often have ancillary budgets so the revenue is a factor.

But the headache these cases bring for judical/student affairs professionals can be great. Particularly, since you brought up the football games, when student athletes are involved. ;)

At what age does the youth become informed?

When she's smart enough to agree with me, naturally. ;)

Carrie M. said:
Well, I guess if you are going to open the door to that line of thinking then we would have to address why when a twelve-year old girl writes a letter to a governing board it brings about pages of comments that suggest said girl doesn't have the insight and intelligence to be speaking her own mind and using her own voice. Does she only become informed enough in another year when she becomes thirteen? At what age does the youth become informed?

Oh snap! ;)