Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think Chessington needs to get the police involved...

100 replies

halfwayupthehill · 03/09/2013 23:46

Today one ride, Bubbleworks was brought to a halt when a customer decided to get out the boat during the ride. This meant lots of people were stuck on the water ride. Security escorted him off the ride but not off the premises afaik. Apparently this has happened before.
Later two women put their toosmall children on sea storm by barging past the attendant. Security were called, a standoff ensued for at least 15 mins, the women got their way. They had earlier been seen queuejumping.
I would have closed the ride, given every in the queue fastpasses to an attraction of their choice and called the police.

OP posts:
QuintessentialOldDear · 04/09/2013 11:32

Seems to me that people just need to find better things to do than waste time and money in amusement parks.

Close them all down!

SoupDragon · 04/09/2013 11:32

People with Sn have just as much right to enjoyment as anyone else.

Er... that's what she was saying, and that they need a few concessions to allow this to happen and perhaps if they sorted out the Twats then people wouldn't moan about these necessary concessions. Confused

SilverApples · 04/09/2013 11:36

I agree. I'd like stocks and pillories for the twats and then we could use them as part of the entertainment whilst queuing.

BellaTheGooseIsDead · 04/09/2013 11:38

That's how I read it. Concessions which make the place accessible such as ride-access passes or being able to exit a ride.

I wouldn't go back to Chessington anyway, even just for the train because they have limited people like DS to ten rides only. Whilst charging full-price Hmm Because they want to treat disabled people equally apparently Hmm

YouTheCat · 04/09/2013 11:40

I'm sorry but my hackles raise at the thought of my ds 'having a few concessions'.

It is more the sense that people with SN have to have their rights 'allowed' by those without SN in case their problems impinge on others just a tiny bit.

BellaTheGooseIsDead · 04/09/2013 11:41

Posted too soon. Thread here

Same with Legoland and all the others. I found that quite shocking.

SilverApples · 04/09/2013 11:47

Limiting the number seems discriminatory.
How many rides would a mundane person usually get to go on during a visit? I'm asking this as a person who doesn't go to these places, so I have no idea.

SoupDragon · 04/09/2013 11:49

I'm sorry but my hackles raise at the thought of my ds 'having a few concessions'.

Can he access theme parks without those concessions? Confused

It is more the sense that people with SN have to have their rights 'allowed' by those without SN in case their problems impinge on others just a tiny bit.

Technically their "rights" are allowed by those without SNs because they are the ones in charge of making things accessible. The consessions made are so they can access them, not so their problems don't impinge on others.

BellaTheGooseIsDead · 04/09/2013 11:50

It would depend on queueing time. Off-peak there are hardly any queues at all. DD and I walked straight onto every one while poor DH was stuck on the train Grin but more than ten.

SoupDragon · 04/09/2013 11:51

How many rides would a mundane person usually get to go on during a visit?

I think that' s the point - they decided that a mundane person would only manage X rides due to queueing eating into the time and thus a disabled person who is fast tracked should only be allowed X rides too. Bloody stupid if you ask me but I can see their reasoning (even if it is petty!)

YouTheCat · 04/09/2013 11:53

I realise that. But that's what it feels like.

After 18 years lots of things get me riled when it comes to SN.

Bella, the places you mentioned would be losing any of my custom if that's their attitude.

BellaTheGooseIsDead · 04/09/2013 12:05

The thread is really sad. One poster had just bought season tickets.

I can see the reasoning too, and it is petty given that some children with SN like my DS are self-limiting to looking down at the bloody zoo all day and needn't be limited further.

tallulah · 04/09/2013 12:23

We last went to Chessington about 10 years ago. The queue jumping by gangs of young people/ whole families (climbing brazenly over the barriers at the front of every ride) got so frustrating we swore we'd never go back. Sounds like it's no better.

Sigma · 04/09/2013 13:14

Huh? I really don't think this is about SN. Chessington seems to bring out the worst in people. They should escort q jumpers out of the park and confiscate their annual passes if they have them.

BoredNinja · 04/09/2013 16:18

"Well, perhaps taking a child with sensory issues to a theme park wasn't the best idea."

I don't understand why this has been jumped on so much - my son has sensory issues, so there are some activities that I would avoid as I know he wouldn't cope with them. A theme park with its crowds, noise and flashing lights is stressful enough for an nt child, so I don't see why CocktailQueen was flamed for suggesting that a child with sensory issues could be expected to struggle.

No one has said you can't take your sn child to a theme park. Just that it might not be an enjoyable experience for a child with sensory issues. Of course it's down to your judgement and you can't always get it right, but some things are obviously more likely to be overwhelming, like a theme park.

BellaTheGooseIsDead · 04/09/2013 16:34

At two, DS couldn't be taken to a shopping mall. By four he had improved enough to enjoy the atmosphere and develop an obsession with the train. He was also willing to TRY a ride. It is never predictable how any child will react as others have pointed out, and many autistic children are able to grow and learn at their own rate if challenged and provided with a range of experiences. We also have his sister who had never been to one before and misses out on so much.

On a side note I didn't see any awful behaviour a few years ago but it sounds horrendous now and their security team should be more effective!

Sparklysilversequins · 04/09/2013 17:02

On the ten rides thing though, we have Merlin passes and go to Legoland and Chessington quite a bit and I have to say I have never yet used ALL ten of our rides, not once. I think it's most unlikely that anyone manages to fit in more than ten rides on one of these days out, fast tracked or not.

SubliminalMassaging · 04/09/2013 17:12

But Bella not all disabled people are disabled in the same way. your child may only be able to use 10 rides, but someone else may use different things altogether. I am not disabled but I have a very real fear of many types of ride so I just don't go on them. I cannot demand I only pay half. Confused Some disabled people may go on everything without any problems whatsoever.

SubliminalMassaging · 04/09/2013 17:14

Whenever I've seen whole families queue jumping, or passing their children over the heads of people in the queue to an adult at the front they've been forrin. Some people just don't seem to get the idea of an orderly British queue. Or at least they like to pretend they don't.

BellaTheGooseIsDead · 04/09/2013 17:16

That's true. DH wasn't entirely unhappy on the train while DD and I charged around going on everything twice - they aren't his thing. Wouldn't dream of asking for a discount.

Leopoldina · 04/09/2013 17:20

halfway, was the incident on Sea Storm right at the end of the day? older blonde scandi with three tiny blonde children? the poor attendant deserved a medal (& her children had just thrown a sh*tload of rubbish all over the floor)
did you see her pulling the small vest wearing child's head upwards when they came over with the measuring stick so his heels were off the floor??!

FlutteringButterflie · 04/09/2013 17:36

I hate how that it the go to answer on MN - they might have SN.

No sometimes people are just twats and only think of themselves.

I find it offensive that such behaviour gets put down to SN. I know many people with SN and parents with SN children - who don't act entitled and push in front of a queue.

Leopoldina · 04/09/2013 17:45

the woman who pushed to the front was suffering from nothing more than a serious sense of entitlement, arrogance and rudeness.

Oblomov · 04/09/2013 17:54

I'm really sorry, but I can't see what SN has to do with anything.
If you get on a ride, with or without SN, and it is too much for you, what exactly, can you do? You stay on til it finishes? Aka specsavers' what sort of cheese was that ad'?

"They got off the boat, during the ride" ?
Two women, put their children, who were too small, on the ride.
This shouldn't have been allowed to happen.

This whole thread is bizarre.

Original poster
halfwayupthehill · 07/09/2013 03:51

Leopoldina, yes you saw the same incident as me on seastorm.
Re the first incident; the attendant said it often happens, the adult customer looked and was acting like a yob, if he had had sn, the i would have expected the party he was with to have explained to security and got them to wait with him till their boat exited the ride.
It did spoil our day and i do worry that security haven't got the right protocols in place to deal with this. Good security stops people being idiots or shuts down confrontation quickly and effectively. All people learned from that is they can take the piss and get away with it.

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page