AIBU to hold place in line for the kids?

[Dontjumptoconclusions]

At an amusement park. It's a timed entry so as many rides and things you can do for 2 hours.

One ride that the 3DC (5,3,3) wanted to go on, the bunjee trampoline one (whatever it's called). There were 4 trampolines. Quite a long queue as each kid is on the trampoline for 5 mins each. There were maybe 5 or 6 kids in front of us, so I guessed around a 20 min wait.

So I said to DH and the kids, I'll wait here and you carry on with the other rides with less/no queue and I'll call you over when we are near the front.

Then when we got close to the front, the 3DC came over and jumped on the trampolines.

It was only afterwards that I wondered if i should have waited with 3DC, missing out on the other rides out of principle that we are queuing up for this one? AIBU or would you also do the same to make the most of the time in the place?

While on other rides...yes.
Popping to the toilet or similar would be different

Oh god yes, all of you are meant to wait!!! Think if you were in a long queue eg for a rollercoaster and kids pushed through because mum was waiting at the top!

This!
A quick loo trip is one thing. What you did is teaching kids to be spoilt and not suffer any boredom or discomfort.

Big signs alton towers classify it as queue jumping.

Why? What difference does it make to the other people in the queue?

Yeah that’s a bit crap other people may have got in the queue behind you thinking it would be less of a wait. Teaching your kids to wait and be patient is a life skill. Lazy parenting IMO

IMO one person should queue for each child. Those rides take bloody ages to go on. I was livid when this happened to me a few months ago, there was a random adult in the queue who I thought must have been with a child already in the queue. Then just as I thought it was our turn she let 3 children on ahead of her which stretched our wait time to an extra almost 20 minutes. I wouldn’t have got in the queue at all if I’d have known spaces were being saved for a whole gang of other children. And I did have something to say to her about it. Yabu

Because instead of being behind one person they are suddenly behind three which can add on time to their already lengthy wait.

If two random people have just suddenly queue jumped would you find that ok?

Because it’s unfair? One person should not hold the place of multiple other people. It’s teaching children laziness, impatience and entitlement. It happened to me recently in the indoor fair in Liverpool. It’s a ticketed event and you only get a couple of hours. We weren’t going to bother queuing for the bungees as the wait times ridiculous. So when we (thought) we saw we’d be able to go on for our last ride we started queuing, only for the woman in front of us to lift a load of children over the barrier when it should have been our turn. Given it being the last ride, a nice day ended up a bit sour with us leaving pissed off

Yeah most theme parks don’t allow this. Why should your kids get to keep enjoying themselves while others wait patiently? I do think a loo break is different though!

Yeah, that's a dick move. Would get you chucked out of some parks.

The difference could be a 20-30 minute longer wait! If 4 people are ahead of me in the queue and each one is a parent holding space for 2-3 kids then of course it makes a difference. On this occasion it was one parent doing that, because most people know it’s unreasonable.

OP i thought you were going to say your kids were waiting nearby in the shade, in which case id say fine and the polite thing to do would be to flag to the person behind you you were holding space for a few more and point to where they were.

I might fashion some sort of sign next time saying that I am holding the queue for 3 others, if the main issue is people not knowing how many are in front of them, thanks all!

I guess flip the script, how would you feel if you were in the queue, your children had been waiting patiently and were next and suddenly 3 more appear out of nowhere and cut in front.

It's just rude and you should've been kicked out for it.

Or... just don't do it.

Don’t do that. That’s just as bad.

your kids queue or they don’t go on, simple

Your dc jumped the queue, how unfair!

You benefitted from others making the assessment that they didn't want to spend 20 mins queuing for the ride. If your dc didn't want to queue, they shouldn't have gone on.

I would say that OP used the system cleverly. I hate queueing and have often dodged to the front just as it got moving. although the circumstances were rather different.

Many years ago I had a voucher to admit two for half price to a large antiques fair. I was alone so needed someone to share the ticket to get reduced price. There was a missive queue so I started at the front by asking people who appeared to be solo. A man near the front ( probably a dealer) agreed to share so we both got to go in half price. When I joined him in the queue the woman behind objected that I was "not in the queue". He told her with a hard look "Well Im in the queue and this lady is now with me. Ok?". She was too intimidated to say anything else.

I can't see any objection to what I did. The woman would not be waiting any longer and its not like they were giving out or allocating anything which is scarce. No wonder Europeans laugh at the British because of their obsession with queueing and its petty rules. .

If ypur childten had been queuing, the end of your slot was close, but you could see your turn was next... but suddenly it wasnt, how would you have felt abput the queue jumpers then?

No inconvenience to the people in your queue, but if the place is crowded, your kids are arguably getting more than their fair share of ride time if they don't spend some time in queues. But I quite see why you wanted to spare them, at such young ages.

It's queue jumping so yabvu. At Alton Towers you would get chucked out for doing it, they don't allow it.

But why?

People are saying it's because they don't know how many people are in front. but if they do know, or I tell the few people behind "BTW there's 3 going during my turn" then it solves the problem and people can choose to wait (with or without their kid).

It sounds like the issue is more that they want all the kids in the queue, unnecessarily instead of continuing to enjoy themselves elsewhere to earn the right to go on the ride. Misery loves company and all that.

We’ve had this in a facepainting queue. It’s bang out of order and selfish.

How would you have felt if each of those 6 people in front of you invited another 3 to join them in the queue?

Misery loves company?

No no no, you are being massively unreasonable.