Bless Your Heart | Theme Parks at Any Age
I wasn’t sure I was going to give this article any more attention, but, like most things Disney related, when I disagree, I can’t let them go.
Elsa is not happy with me at times.
Sorry, girl, but sometimes you need to get it off your chest.
This article showed up?yesterday and hit the Disney and Universal Facebook groups hard. I shared it myself on my blog page, and the comments started flooding in.
In this piece, the author feels that theme park attendance should be limited to children and adults of appropriate ages. ?And she has all the right ages broken down for us.
Bless your heart.?
I know you guys have all the thoughts and all the rants to share. ?But before we get there, let’s take one step back.
First of all, I’m not going to tear down the writer. ?I don’t know her personally, and I’m not going to make judgements on her character. I hate it when people do it to me, so I’m not going to pay that action forward.
What? ?You don’t all think I’m delightful? ?Who knew??
But I am going to judge just a wee little bit on the thought process behind publishing such an article. ?Because… it shouldn’t have been published.
On a?university official website.
Especially by someone who has aspirations of becoming an international journalist.
For a variety of reasons.
Lawdy, girl.
FOREVER is a very long time. ?Especially when you consider that you’ll be looking for a J-O-B in 5 years. Ahem.
A few points here: ?The Volante is the University of South Dakota?s independent student-run newspaper since 1887.?
That’s important to note. ?A freshman in college wrote this. She’s 19-years-old? ?Probably edited (maybe?) by another student at the university. ?In other words: these are children?still in the process of learning.
And I sincerely hope they learn from this experience.
One?trip to each park does not make you an expert or qualified to share directives in this manner. ?While I respect that we all are entitled to an opinion, the writer goes too far when breaking down age ranges on what’s appropriate. ?And don’t get me started on how she believes people should spend their money.
Their OWN money, y’all.
Lawdy, girl.
With age and experience and many?theme park trips come?wisdom on this subject. ?She might want to defer to folks who have the expertise in this area.
I consider myself well versed in taking a gaggle of children of various ages to theme parks, water parks, zoos, grocery stores, doctor’s offices, etc… it’s called being a parent.
Like most parents, we are pro-children (who knew?) and love traveling with both the kids and older people. ?Part of the joy is enjoying the magic and wonder through different generations.
Oh, don’t get me wrong. ?You’ll find us counting down to nap time and wishing we had planned just a little less activity at times. ?We silently toast other parents across the room at restaurants when that first alcoholic beverage appears. ?It can be hard, but we still want it to be a family experience.
This is something I suspect the writer will learn over time. ?Especially if she chooses to become a mother or is blessed with becoming an aunt.
Is there a perfect age to take your children or your parents?
Sure. ?It’s whatever works for your family.
That’s THE perfect age.
If Walt intended to limit by age, I’m sure he wouldn’t have left us with these words.
All are welcome.
What do you think about this article? ?Do you believe the writer was intending to be provocative or is this her sincere feeling on the matter?
(ps I will not publish any comments of hateful name calling nature. ?I’m just not going there- and since this is MY happy place, I get to make that call. ?Edit yourselves as needed, please. Also, Tatum, if you read this? Grammarly is awesome. Just sayin’.)
Patty Holliday is the owner and creator of all things No-Guilt Universe. As a lifelong fangirl and pop culture connoisseur, she’s been creating online since 2009. You can find her work at No-Guilt Disney.com, No-Guilt Fangirl.com, No-Guilt Life, and as host of the top-rated No-Guilt Disney Podcast.
As someone who works in Public Relations & deals with journalists all the time, to me, this reeked of “I’m going to write about Disney World because it will get lots of hits and reaction and people will notice me”. Young journalists are always looking for the big headline that will get them the big internship or the next big story opportunity. Her apparent “greenness” in journalistic writing aside, this was a young pup trying to break through. You write about big names, popular things in pop culture and know that from an SEO standpoint, people will notice. It’s not at all unlikely that someone sent this to a news producer or editor in South Dakota or otherwise – and she may get more attention, which was the point in the end. Sigh…
I know, I know… and it is an opinion piece. I just wish it had been written a little better, for her sake. Or was published on a personal blog rather than the university site. Student-run, but still…
Excellent response. Her attitude really struck a chord with me too.
It’s not always what you say, but how you say it, right? Tone is hard to strike when you are writing something somewhat controversial. I have to wonder if she even knew it was going to be so controversial? Or maybe it was planned to be that way? So curious!
Ahh, youth is wasted on the young… LOL. I think she certainly got her name and voice out there. And I agree. Forever is a long time. I just hope that we are given an opportunity in the future to see how far she comes and at what point she changes her mind on things.
And I LOVE that the perfect age for a child to go to Disney is when it works for your family! That right there is GOLD.
Would you say it’s Disney Moms Panel Gold? 😉 Bahahahaha
Thanks Christen!
A Millennial is annoyed with other people taking away from HER experience. I’m shocked.
I’m sure her intended audience was totally nodding their heads in agreement.
If she went to Daytona Beach instead of Universal perhaps her article would have been “Bathing suits at the beach: size 10 and under please.”
Oh mercy- I hope not! I do wish I was a fly on the wall of the press room when they saw the stats climb. lol
I don’t know why there is a Vimeo video embedded in my comment, Patty.
I didn’t put that there! Sorry for that!
It’s been great seeing you at the parks, Patty, but as I’m turning 60 this year I’m pretty sure I’m too old to continue going. I’ll just have to get my Disney fix as I run through them.
So typing the numbers for sixty embedded a video? Sorry – not my intent.
If she doesn’t like the kids, and she’s so concerned about what the trip costs, maybe SHE should stay home and let everyone else have a great trip with their families. These theme parks are catered to kids and families. I know when I go see a Disney or Pixar movie in the theater, there will be kids, and they might talk. They’re kids, and as long as they don’t kick my seat, I can tune them out.
This is the first I’ve heard of this article, probably because I got off the Disney Facebook groups. Since you’re asking, my opinion is; who cares? The page claims to be a “blog” which is essentially the contemporary version of the editorial page of a school newspaper. When I was cleaning out some stuff recently, I found an article my brother wrote in his college newspaper where he essentially accused all of the school’s professors of being negative and not inspirational enough. Kids write opinion pieces to exercise their right to a free press and work on writing skills. You can probably find similar pieces out in any college paper about who should wear what shoes and who should see certain movies. If this is being passed around the internet sites it’s getting way more traffic than necessary. If anyone is actually taking it to heart and seeing it as an insult, they need to examine just how fine their feelings are. There are way more dangerous things being said in the free press these days. If anyone wants a legitimate controversy, they can just turn on the TV and hear whatever bile is slipping from Donald Trump’s mouth on a given day. Leave this girl alone. She’s telling her truth the way she sees it. Nothing wrong with that.
A- I agree with you, there are SO many bigger things being said and written these days that this is nothing in comparison.
B- It’s writing, it’s her expression, it’s certainly something she can learn from. I don’t disagree.
C-I was shocked by some of the comments left on the blog (did you see those) and then of course, all the groups went a bit nutso over it. So yeah, everyone needs a bit of a reality check.
Thanks for your thoughts.
I think it was an early April Fool’s joke, although the joke is on Miss Tatum. “Bless her heart.”
And I mean that in the most Southern of ways. 🙂
Walt Disney was almost 54 years old when Disneyland opened, and 64 when he began planning for Walt Disney World. I say, dream on.