Universal bans hundreds of under-age drinkers during Horror Nights

I think this also has to do with our lawsuit happy country. Lets just say they didn't take action against underage drinkers and one of those teens got hurt while at the park. Take a wild guess who the parents are going to blame for all this. People in this country have forced companies to take extreme action to show they did everything they could to prevent a certain type of behavior or action from happening. Afterall, it's never the fault of the person who did something stupid, it's the fault of whoever has the most money.

^ Well, let's think back a few months where the kid at SfOG lost his head trying to grab a hat. The kid BLATENTLY disobeyed the rules, and the parents a blaming the park.

Brian Noble said:
I'm pretty sure that most of the flat-out trashed college kids got hammered in their cars before going in. The in-park booze is pricey. When I was a broke college kid, that's the way I'd've done it.

Jeff said:
Could you afford enough $7 beers in college to get drunk? I sure as hell couldn't.

Of course not. We'd load up before the event and spend our money at the event to maintain the buzz, which was the main point. I'm sure we were served by many throughout the years that had no right serving us, either because we were underage and just didn't look it, or because we already had too much. Just because that happens doesn't mean it's right. Sounds to be there is a problem here and I don't see a reason to ignore it.

But Universal is not ignoring it. They are not ignoring it with gusto---that's the point of the article.

They can't punish the majority because the minority are causing an issue. You deal with the few that are breaking the rules and let the rest have their fun. Which is exactly what they are doing.

If the article had been about the opposite, that Universal wasn't doing anything about these incidents then I think they would have a problem.

If they feel they are doing everything possible to eliminate the problem, and that no violators are falling through the cracks, then all should be fine.

As far as those who show up already drunk, etc.-- I don't know how things are in Florida, but I belong to a social club here in PA that serves alcohol to members and guests only. A few years ago, one member was at the club early in the evening, he might have had one or two beers and left. Several hours and several stops later, his car ended up in a ditch. He was obviously impaired and the police asked where he was that night. Guess where he mentioned he was?

The club ended up not being fined, or having any action taken against its license. But it took a lot of time and hassle for the club to prove they hadn't served him when he was visibly intoxicated. If he had been in an accident that involved another vehicle, you could be sure that person's attorney would have sued everyone who sold the guy so much as a sip of beer that day.

The moral of the story I suppose is with today's society, don't assume good enough is good enough.

^^Very good example of why they have to be this way. I don't blame them for having this policy. It shows they are doing everything they can to take a zero tolerance policy against underage drinker. Now in the grand sceme of things is it too harsh? I think it may be. But with the way things are nowadays you just can't take chances. I remember the days when I was a teen in high school. We got caught a few times by the local police with beer in a park. They always just made us dump it and if we weren't drunk would make us walk home. On rare occasions someone might get a ride home to have a talk with mom and dad. Today that would rarely happen. Nobody can take any chances and nobody wants to get sued.

RGB,

I respect your opinions and thoughts about this. I do see how the number of stands and the appearance of open access to alcohol would be a concern, and while my opinion will certainly differ from others, I think the way they have them spread out and enforced is not as big an issue. Given the crowds there, and how spread out the event it (throughout the entire park), I don't think the sheer number of stands are that significant. They are somewhat close by to every maze and scarezone, but it's not an overwhelming amount of stands, and putting them into a "biergarten" area would cut sales down quite a bit.

Perhaps the big issue for most people is that unlike most other parks I have been to, they serve stronger alcohol than just beer. Beer is bad enough in terms of legal drinking, but having vodka or mixed drinks as well would put them under stronger scrutiny, and this is likely why they have to have such a strong policy.