High School Trips to Theme Parks

[moviekid21]

I've been to theme parks in high school for Choir, theater, things like that, but I never remember being as crazy, and wild as some kids that I have seen recently.

It seems as if they are not required to have adults with them, so they goof off on rides(screaming, yelling mostling cuss words at stupid moments on rides, esp. dark rides that have kids on them), cut lines("Oh hi! We wanted to go on this ride earlier, but know we see you're near the front, we'll join you!), throw food around at food places, and stay up late at the resorts being noisy(Esp if your room is anywhere near a pool or vending area.).

I'm not saying all kids that go to parks as school groups are bad, but it just seems lately that more and more have less manners because there are no adults around. As if they couldn't care if they got escorted from the park or not.

What's everyone's feeling on this?

[larrygator]

It's not just school trips. Mob mentality sometimes takes over whenever you have more than 3 adolescents unsupervised.

[hyyyper]

I voted "ban them", but it's little harsh. They are really annoying, not because their little and irritating, but because they jump lines and try to get in at the wheelchair-entrance.

But then again, parks get loads of entry fee from those trips, so i guess they won't be banned anytime soon

[moviekid21]

I wouldn't ban them, but I think that the adults with the group, as well as park employees need to step in and do their part in making the place as enjoyable for everyone as possible.

[holyblakbelt]

I voted "where's the harm in school age fun". Theme park trips are a great way to end the school year. Besides, what's so bad about seeing your english teacher (like my ninth grade english teacher) in the front row of an Intamin? Too bad my school doesn't do theme park trips at the end of the year. But how do you get around 1,800 students to go to a theme park?

[coastercrazed49]

All teenagers aren't that bad. I maybe be one year before High School, but our groups never cut lines or do any stupid stuff. It usually is based on what school they are coming from. A rough school will probably have those annoying kids.

[fudgey]

I think it does depend on the school. I'm a teacher at a high school in the UK and regularly organise theme park trips for various groups and we get no hassle. Mind you it helps when I'm off riding things all day (some teachers will just spend all day in the coffee shop you know!)

 

We even take a group abroad to do Disney Paris and Parc Asterix at the end of the year.

 

Some of my colleagues often ask me why I bother. I often reply 'beacuse the kids enjoy it' when I really mean 'because it doesn't cost me anything to get in or to travel there....'

[Homer]

What's the harm gets my vote.

 

I went to Disney's Grad Nite at WDW a few months ago. Despite long lines, everybody was well behaved and the event went off very smoothly. I didn't see any cases of "severe teen drama/angst" going off. I don't really get the picture you're trying to paint on all teenagers, but then again this was at a Disney park.

[Ccron10]

I think it depends on the school.

 

Mine keeps track of your behavior and if you get detention or suspended even only 1 time, you won't be able to go. This really helps and nobody misbehaved. We were allowed to go through the park (with a partner) without any parents.

[RctInfinity]

Ugh...some behavior I've witnessed on Middle School Trips are probably worse.

 

In the Haunted Mansion, my friend answered his phone, touched the doom buggy next to us and annoyed the people in it...and I saw somebody stand up at the end of Splash Mountain.

 

I'm not sure about High Schoolers, though.

[jamesdillaman]

I voted "ban them", but it's little harsh. They are really annoying, not because their little and irritating, but because they jump lines and try to get in at the wheelchair-entrance.

But then again, parks get loads of entry fee from those trips, so i guess they won't be banned anytime soon

 

Little? Your profile says you're 18, you could still be in high school. If you're not, then you're only slightly older. I don't have problems with them, unless they are being damaging to property or obnoxiously loud after 1am. Either way, if you report them to the park/resort, they'll take care of it.

 

-James Dillaman

[ginzo]

Either way, if you report them to the park/resort, they'll take care of it.

 

It depends. Had you joined us for the school day we had the displeasure of attending at Kennywood back in May you might have a different opinion.

 

I've never seen such an unruly pack of savages in my life. I'd see 5-10 line jump attempts every time we queued for a ride. Security was pretty good about pulling jumpers out, but they did nothing beyond that. I even saw one girl aggressively argue with park police that she was ALLOWED to jump line for Jack Rabbit. She left in a huff. Pretty funny because park police could obviously give a crap whether she rode or not.

 

I voted to ban them based on this one experience. But I've been on several other school days and didn't have much of a problem.

[EmBy]

I think they are great fun if you are a student attending. I'm sure some people have started getting into theme parks and coasters after visiting this way.

 

I think some do need supervision though and also they can really pack out a park especially towards to end of term.

[larrygator]

All teenagers aren't that bad. I maybe be one year before High School, but our groups never cut lines or do any stupid stuff. It usually is based on what school they are coming from. A rough school will probably have those annoying kids.

 

Sorry but this is a cop out and not entirely true. I have been to plenty of parks where a school trip or camp outing (or just a group of high schoolers) consisting of what appear to be middle class kids who left "unsupervised or under supervised" have no problems breaking the rules to suit their needs. Line cutting, screaming/cursing, food fights, etc...

 

Granted I have also seen kids that appear to come from the opposite side of the tracks acting poorly. But I've also seen plenty of high schoolers enjoying themselves and not infringing on others.

 

I also know of two teachers on this site who take a group of inner city kids to a park every year. Those students are supervised and know that if they step out of line there will be repercussions.

 

So, I have no trouble with these trips if the students are supervised.

[KGA29]

As long as they're not disrupting anything or breaking any major rules, I don't see the problem. They're just guests who paid to get. They just happen to come with a big group. Our high school band goes to DL every 4 years. In middle school, we went to Raging Waters in San Jose after 7th grade and (P)GA after 8th. At GA we got to the park at like 9 and we were on the second train of the day on Top Gun. It was one of my favorite (out of many) days at GA.

[moviekid21]

I just hope everyone doesn't think that I am trying to paint all teenagers as bad. Like I said, I've been to Theme Parks many times when I was in HS, and it was a blast. I owuldn't want to keep other kids from enjoying all the fun times that come from a T.P. visit. But, I couldn't imagine getting out of hand like some of these kids do though.

I'd have to say that 4 out of 5 times that I've been to a park, and kids have been there as a school group, they've been pretty bad. You tell someone, and you actually feel kinda stupid "tattle-telling", and then the park though only reacts to a certain degree. They don't want to get the school upset holding half of the kids on the trip in the security office for what some parents call "just being kids", and have them not coming back bringing in the $$.

And someone PM'd me asking how do I know that they are in a school group? Do I have a problem with all kids?

1. I know they are in a school group because 90% of the time, they are all wearing some school required shirt or something of that nature. Or the fact that they talk about when their next meet up is, when they have to leave, etc.

2. I don't have a problem at all with kids. I'm a nonbiased hater. If you act stupid, and unrulely, I'm gonna get annoyed with you.

[RIP Psyclone]

Fun for them, annoying for everyone else. However, my high school did not have a grad nite event at Disneyland, and the way I see it I'm still owed one.

 

Oh, and I voted "Where's the harm..."

[Airtime&Gravity]

Now, not all groups are bad, but all too often I see a group of teenagers try to use the bandage on the ankle so all of us don't have to wait in line, constant cursing/acting gangster, attitude like they own the park, and act like it is their right to do whatever the hell they want to. Now not all groups are bad(most are good, and this one group I've seen my past couple of visits behave great), but there are those groups who make the day unpleasant. I think it is great that teenagers go to the park as they are a big part of the yearly attendance, but if Six Flags is trying to make the parks more family friendly, they have to monitor the large groups.

 

One final thing is that location might be a part too, as I have never seen a group of teenagers at Six Flags St. Louis behave like they do at Great America.

[moviekid21]

One final thing is that location might be a part too, as I have never seen a group of teenagers at Six Flags St. Louis behave like they do at Great America.

 

Oh yeah they do. SF St Louis at times is as worse as DisneyLand Cali when I lived out there. And it's pretty bad at DL w/ school groups. Going to SF St Louis on a refular basis, I can def. tell you the times to avoid groups:

 

The last two weekends it's open in October, the last two weeks in May and the first two weeks of June. School groups are esp. rampant during those times.

[Airtime&Gravity]

^Maybe I have just been able to hit it on a dead day each time I visit. It just seems that all of the smaller seem to have more mature guests, but SFGADV wasn't bad either, so maybe I just notice it more at Great America. Now, most groups I see do behave well, but it just seems like a few groups who decide to break the rules ruin it for the entire age group.

 

Where the group comes from makes a difference too, because chances are, a church or small town group are not going to behave as bad as those from a more heavily urban/inner city area. Don't take this the wrong way, but those who seem to behave poorly come from the latter group.

[Scaparri]

Eh, I don't know. It's hit or miss I guess. They can be annoying at times, but I've never had huge problems with them. I know I had a blast when my school went. And we generally never really had problems, and that's keeping in mind that most of the times that I went with my school, it was to competitions so tons of other schools would go to the parks the same days. I don't know, maybe I've had good luck. The worst I've had to deal with was last year at SFOG when a group of teen girls wouldn't stop singing their choir songs in line. Maybe if they were good I wouldn't have minded.

[cobra_roll06]

I voted for whats the harm. I have been to Disneyland Paris with my old school 3 times and we never cause any bother. Yeah a few of the younger ones were little idiots I wouldn't say they done anything major.

[Adrenaline_Rush]

The only reason that some are bad on the field trip is probably one of these reasons.

 

A) There an ordinary trouble maker in school

B) There so poor they've never been to a park and there just really happy

C) They were raised SO wrong

D) They just want to goof off

 

As for me I think that there should be more adult supervision on school field trips (anywhere) because of how rowdy kids are in the first place.

[larrygator]

^sometimes kids just act out of control when they are placed in the Fun Tank

[snorkymn]

I look at it from a taxpayer standpoint.. I'm paying to have that school open, so having it empty while the kids are off playing is a waste of my taxpayer dollars. I'm paying to have them in a chair, learning. Not off riding amusement park rides.

 

I would have no problem if the trips were organized after the school year.

 

From the standpoint of someone visiting the park, I've been there when there were 40+ busloads of kids.. the lines were long, the kids were rude, and it just wasn't a fun day.