AIBU to not let my 12 year old go to Alton towers

At 13 my DD travelled across the country by various public transport methods with her friend (though her friend was 3 years older), no adults at all, to go to an amusement park and then travelled back again.

At 13 and 15 me and my brother were dropped off at 6 flags Holland for the day.

11/12 is the age my local school does class trips to an amusement park where they wander off in pairs or small groups with no teacher. So I would, depending on how sensible the children are.

I suppose because there's not going to be an adult around for any supervision in case of an incident.

I wouldn’t let a child of that age go without an adult.

I live locally to Alton Towers and know it extremely well.

There are far fewer staff this year since Merlin cut the entertainment department out - no roaming actors or entertainment staff on the park. Retail staff have been severely cut down too so the open kiosks and games are now machines, the cafe and coffee shops are now ordering on a screen so far fewer staff.
These haven’t been replaced by security, most ‘regulars’ think Merlin will come to regret this decision precisely due to security concerns.

The gardens are vast and often deserted - I’ve heard of many things kids get away with in the gardens on school trips. Not to mention that age are vulnerable to adult predators.

Also agree with the weed comment, especially in spring for some reason and often near the parts the young teens like (forbidden valley and x sector). Bizarrely, lots of dealing goes on there as well.

Yes but no way to find them until the end of the day!

It's going to depend on the child.id be ok with ours going as they know it well and I can't see a worry there.id want to go too though just for fun,can you just go too and be there separately this time round if worried.alton towers is epic.

I did not let my 12 year old or possibly 13 year old go in that exact same circumstance. Or rather they did go in the end, but the parent who was planning to drop them off and go elsewhere agreed to stay in the park.

Too young to go completely unsupervised. Even with school there are teachers/staff wandering around!

Yes I’d have no problem letting mine go at that age. There’s plenty of staff in case of a problem. Worse case they go on a ride that’s scary they just don’t do that ride again. Have some faith in your child’s independence.

No way would I let her go without an adult in the vacinity. She's much too young.

No. If I were going in too but leaving them to it, maybe. Some parts are quite isolated too. DraytonbManor is a much better choice for this sort of situation. Much smaller.

I would let my DD 12 go.

If DD genuinely wants to go, I would let her. Make sure she has a back up plan. Eg meet at such and such at x o'clock in case she loses phone/friend. Knows where to go if she gets lost etc.
But I would have a thorough talk with her. She may not want to go. You can happily be the badguy for her that says maybe next year

no you cant. thats just a false sense of security. there are places in alton towers where your daughter could find an appropriate adult if they needed to. this is about giving them some responsibility and building resilience and this is exactly the right age to do it and in the right setting. i would sooner let a 12 year old with friends in alton towers than out shopping. this is a closed environment, full of cctv with appropriate adults on hand. in terms of letting them go, this is probably the safest space you could do it in. its safer than letting them walk the streets to or from their friends.

Unless there’s a back story of being unusually untrustworthy, I think 12 is the right age to start doing things like that. It doesn’t feel too young, but you know your child.

Lol

It's one of the few places I've never smelled weed in my life.

Nope. I wouldn't feel comfortable with that at all but mine are grown now. One of mine went to another theme park with school. Didn't like big rides and while sitting one out was approached my two men who were being suggestive. She was about 14-15 at the time. Yuk!

Does she ever spend a few hours with her friends and no adults?
By 12 my dd was spending a few hours at places like the local shopping centre and would have phoned if there was a problem and she wanted to go home early so going to a self contained places like Alton Towers was fine.

Gee whizz no, we practically had to wear oxygen masks last time I went there so that we weren’t high as a kite with all the weed wafting.

I think 12 is fine. I would just talk to her about the peer pressure and make sure she knows that she’ll have to hang around if her friends want to go on scarier rides than she wants to.

Looks like they’re fine at 12

No I wouldn’t let my 12 dd go on her own. Yes with a school or youth group where there was a responsible adult available at a checkpoint but not on their own. Far too young if shit hits the fan or they get unwanted attention.

Wouldn’t worry me.

DD did this at 12, her friends were 13. I did it from 13 too.

Not a chance my DD would have been pressured to ride something she didn’t want to though, she was headstrong. But even if that did happen and they didn’t like it, it isn’t going to traumatise them for life.

I don't think they'll get in through the gate without an adult?

ETA: I see it's 12 yrs without an adult.