Hi All,
This is my first post and I hope this is the correct place to discuss this topic (rather than the more general theme park discussion). I'm originally from Virginia and in my teenage years visited Paramount's King's Dominion. The first roller coaster I ever rode was the Tidal Wave at Ocean City, MD with an Aunt (my parents weren't big on coasters). Re-locating to Southern California and ~ 20 years later I'm the parent of a 8-year old (he turned 8 during the summer) and he has a pass to Six Flag's Magic Mountain (I may have gone ~ 2004 timeframe before this year).
The question I have is, what is the proper etiquette for handling my son's small bladder during long line waits? I will explain what happened in the three trips I've taken him on.
Trip #1 we didn't have any problems because we didn't purchase their "drink all year" cup. The downside of this is that he was ehydrated through the day and I was somewhat worried about his condition. He was so excited he didn't even want to eat. It was also in April which was cooler and he didn't get too hot.
Trip #2 I bought the $15 "drink all year" cup (with $0.99 refills, plus the ability to hold large amounts of water). I learned something about my boy: he would rather have an accident than leave the roller coaster queue because of his excitement. I was pumping him full of soda and water because it was 100 degrees this day. We had to re-wait in line for Goliath for 30 minutes, but shortly after getting off of one of their roller coasters he wet his pants and then tried to say the reason he was wet is because we walked through the mist-machines (yes, because everyone who does that has the "I wet my pants" stain). I was pretty embarrased, didn't have a change of clothes and I had to make an emergency trip to Wal-Mart to get him into clean clothes (it happened at the end of the day and we were done, but we missed a 3rd ride on X2).
Trip #3 was today and I tried to learn from my lesson. Before we went on any roller coaster, he had to "try to go to the bathroom". My strategy for the day was to use the flash-pass points as a "relief valve" and ask them to let us out of the queue and back at Flash pass (if necessary) and when boarding the train (in an emergency).
Things were going fine and we were able to ride Full Throttle (opening), Superman, Green Latern, and Apocalypse in the morning (before ~ 2 pm) without any issues (and with plenty of bathroom breaks). The problems started after our lunch when he downed most of a soda and water (he was drinking in line). He went to the bathroom upon re-entry (we packed our lunch) and we went to Colossus (30 minute-line) and he had to go to the bathroom afterward (his body language was obvious when we boarded the train), Ninja, then bathroom, then X2, and bathroom and then we lined up for Tatsu (1-hour).
When we reached the flash pass point on Tatsu I asked him if he had to go "No, I'm okay!" but right after we climbed the stairs I heard those familiar words "I have to go potty!" so we worked down and the security and crew on Tatsu understood and let us leave and get back in at the flash pass point. IMO great, but should not be unexpected customer service.
Next he wanted to end the day on Full Throttle (again) which at this point was ~ 1 hour and 15 minutes of waiting. And again he had a large amount of water in his system. We went before entering the queue. They were handing out tickets and when we got to the place where they collected tickets (also, near the flash pass area) I used that point as a relief valve and my son replied with "I have to go potty!" (at least he was learning). One of the staff members seemed to act like it wasn't okay for us to leave the line, even as I explained that we have numbered tickets and our number will be lower than anyone else when we return to the same spot. She said something like, "Only if its okay with the people in front and behind you.". (Quite frankly I thought it would be okay if staff intervened, similar to Tatsu, especially since I didn't want to get my original spot back). The other staff member at the Flash Pass gates was more understanding and I asked her when we left the line if it was okay. When we came back she seemed concerned about letting us get back in line and let use use the flash pass entrance rather than re-enter at the same point. This was awesome service beyond what I was asking for. I only wanted to re-enter where we exited, and she treated us like we had flash pass. At the end of the day I was completely happy that SFMM was accomodating and helpful and wish I had taken down the name of the crew-member who bumped us up on Full Throttle.
Am I the only person with a kid who will get so excited about roller coasters that he forgets about his regular bodily functions (like eating) and whose small bladder can't wait for 60 minutes? Maybe it's just easier to let him get hot and de-hydrated, but that's not ideal IMO.
My son will be going to Disney World, Florida and possibly Busch Gardens, Tampa with Grampa in the next month, so if there's anything I should know (like today at SFMM was a total abberation and most staff are jerks and aren't as accomodating) let me know.
PS. I enjoy the substitution on Ull-Fay Rottle-Thay
