Disney Makes A Bad Move

San Diego, Ca March 18, 2013.  Generally Disney is a great company that usually has its finger on the pulse of everything that is good about families, children, entertainment and of course, business. But today's decision to prevent kids under the age of 14 from entering any Disney park without an older person to accompany them is borderline idiotic.  Seriously, it's a virtual impossibility to have every kid escorted by an adult. Unless there is something I am missing about this policy, it seems absurd - according to what I read, Disney will not allow any child under the age of 14 to be unescorted by an oder person in their park.  How's that going to work?  I'm looking forward to seeing exactly how a divorced parent with 3 kids is going to be in 3 places at one time in the park, because I'm quite certain that her 14 year old and 12 year old are not going to want to be on kiddie ride all day with the 5 year old sibling.  Or how about all of those school field trips from the 6th graders?  Let me guess, they'll make an exception there because they won't want to lose the millions of dollars in revenue every year.  Speaking of which, get ready for a tidalwave of season pass holders who won't be renewing because yes, they do drop their kids off at the theme park designed for kids - Helloooo?

All right enough venting, here is a link to the story from USA Today  http://www.usatoday.com/story/dispatches/2013/03/18/disney-world-disneyland-minimum-age-admission/1996111/ 

And the story body: 
Starting this weekend, Disney's U.S. theme parks will ban children under age 14 unless they're accompanied by someone the same age or older.
The new policy, which takes effect March 23, will apply at Disney World in Orlando and Disneyland and Disney California Adventure in Anaheim. Since most youngsters under 14 don't carry government-issued IDs, "the policy will be enforced as guests are entering the park, (with) a visual screening for someone who appears to be younger than 14," said Disney spokeswoman Suzi Brown. If the staffer determines that the guest is under 14, a parent or guardian will be notified and required to escort the child in the park, she said.
The policy was not triggered by "any kind of issue or incident," but was intended to "provide a consistent age of admission and address a question we occasionally get from parents," Brown added.
Families with annual passes, some of whom routinely drop their children off at a park for the day, were notified about the policy change in an e-mail last week.

Good luck with this policy.

Joe Lizura
www.joelizura.net
www.allowancemedia.com