saving chairs at a water park

[Take2]

It seemed wrong to you, but it is the way such places work. Every individual going into such a park has to choose to reserve a space and therefore have a space reserved or not to do so...knowing that if they don't reserve any particular space, it will be taken by someone else. It's not like Family could choose not to reserve the space and it would be open for you 4 hours later when you decided to have a seat for a minute. Some other family would have taken the space and reserved it for themselves.

As such, it seems like your anger is at the entire culture of water parks...but then it is directed at individuals who participated in the culture as it currently functions. I think that this is a "when in Rome" sort of thing.

[Hmmmmm]

"I don't think a 30 - 40 min limit on a saved seat is reasonable as the line for one ride can take you 40 mins to get through.  I think for a water park more like 2 hours is reasonable."

But why should those chairs be unavailable for people to use when you are not going to be there in that time?  I see the benefit for you to have a home base, but that is not a good use for the park's chairs.  How many people can't find seating during that time?

As I later said in my post, I don't believe a family of four needs to save 4 chairs the entire day, but just a couple.  My comment that if a policy of no saving was enforced, a 30 minute rule would serve very little value to anyone. 

At water parks, chairs are traditionally seen as more than just a place to sit for a while.  Especially large ones like Schlitterbahn where you have 3 water parks and take buses between them.  The chairs are there for leaving your towels, coolers, dry clothes, hats, sunglasses, sunscreen, and other items you don't want to carry with you from ride to ride.  It's also the group meeting place when groups divide up. That's why there are so many chairs at the parks.  Probably less than a 1/4th of park patrons are sitting at any one time but there are probably enough chairs for 75 to 90% of patrons.

I also stated that I believe the best solution is self monitoring.  When we go to water parks, very little time is spent sitting.  Therefore when we drop off our stuff at a chair, we don't pick a prime spot near a popular pool, or one aimed at little kids where adults need to be close by for supervising, or ones with premium shade.  We usually find the least wanted, but our stuff there and off we go.  When we want a break, we come back and share two lounge chairs between the 4 of us.

When we'd go with a really large group, like 20 or more, we'd do the same thing.  Through our stuff on 4 or 5 chairs. 

From my experience, lockers at water parks are only used for valuables.  That's where we store the cell phone, the keys, and the wallet. 

[Sophia]

...
From my experience, lockers at water parks are only used for valuables.  That's where we store the cell phone, the keys, and the wallet.

Public service announcement.  Two days ago, I met a woman who had her purse stolen from a locker at Six Flags.  Including her iPhone with the only copy of pictures of her kids (which is idiotic, but still)

[Blondie]

Maybe this is a regional thing? The water park we frequent outside of New York City, your towel would stay on your chair approx. 5 minutes before someone moved it to sit down. There are ample lockers and most people just leave everything in their car (you can leave and come back through a different entrance which means there is no wait.) I stopped bringing a towel around age 12- it was just something else to carry. Those that do hang them on fences throughout the park.

[amylouky]

As long as there are plenty of chairs, then I don't think it's inherently rude to leave your things there, if that is allowed by the park and the prevailing culture.

What I DO think is rude is reserving the most prime seats for your all-day "home base". I think if you are going to use a group of chairs all day as a meeting place, spot for your towels, store your cooler.. you should choose a group that is in the back, not under one of the few umbrellas, etc.

As an example, a waterpark we went to recently has an area for kids. There are probably 100 or so chairs that have a good view of the entire area, so that parents can keep an eye on their children playing. There are hundreds more chairs set back a little farther, outside the entryway. I would have no problem with someone making their home base in the mass of chairs outside the entryway. If I couldn't find a seat that allowed me to watch my child who was actually playing at that attraction, because they were all taken by towels, etc. of people who were off for hours eating lunch and riding other rides, I'd be very irritated.

This waterpark does do the cabana rental, by the way.. however, they're quite expensive (they're limited to 6 people, and the cost is double what the park ticket for the day costs.. around $100 USD!)

[Betelnut]

The water park we go to (my daughter and I) is small enough that I can literally see our chairs from every vantage point in the park except when we are on the "lazy river."  This park has very few shady areas (just by the snack shack and those are not ones that people stack out.)

We absolutely need a "home base" at this park.  We go all day and need a place to put our towels, shoes, extra clothes and money/wallet.   I want to be able to look over and make sure that my stuff is not being messed with.  No guarantees because, obviously, I don't keep an eye on our stuff every second of the day but it helps.

I don't see how else someone is supposed to go to one of these parks without having a home base (consisting of at least one chair).  Lockers are NOT the same.  I want my towel to dry and get hot between drying off/sitting sessions.  I want to be able to get out and have a guaranteed place to sit and relax.  That's why we get there before the place opens and wait in line to pay to get in--to get a space right by the pool that is convenient and close in.  In a 6-7 hour, we probably are using our chairs for, at the most, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

I agree that simply leaving the park and keeping your stuff there is weird.  I've never heard of that but I've never been to a big water park.

[Shoo]

When I take my daughter to our local water park, she usually brings a couple of friends.  I get a chair for myself only, and put all of our stuff around it.  I get up and get wet from time to time, but I am usually not far from our stuff.  That's our "home base."  But I would never, in a million years, get a chair for each of the girls to hang their towels on.  They wouldn't be using them - just hogging them.  The girls are out and about, in the water, not sitting in the chairs.  I do think it's rude to monopolize a chair just for someone's stuff.  When the kids are ready for lunch or need to rest, they sit on their towels on the ground around MY chair.  They don't get their own chairs.

[Betelnut]

When I take my daughter to our local water park, she usually brings a couple of friends.  I get a chair for myself only, and put all of our stuff around it.  I get up and get wet from time to time, but I am usually not far from our stuff.  That's our "home base."  But I would never, in a million years, get a chair for each of the girls to hang their towels on.  They wouldn't be using them - just hogging them.  The girls are out and about, in the water, not sitting in the chairs.  I do think it's rude to monopolize a chair just for someone's stuff.  When the kids are ready for lunch or need to rest, they sit on their towels on the ground around MY chair.  They don't get their own chairs.

At the water park we go to there is literally NO space around chairs--each chair is sitting right next to the next all along the pool and then in the secondary spots.  If someone wants to sit, they need a chair.

[Sophia]

For those that leave your your stuff on a chair, how would you feel/react if you came back and someone was actually sitting in "your" chair?

[Betelnut]

For those that leave your your stuff on a chair, how would you feel/react if you came back and someone was actually sitting in "your" chair?

I'd be disturbed as my wallet would be there and I'd assume the person is up to no good.  That might not be true and if it were obvious the person was simply sitting down to take off shoes or something, that would be okay.  But at the same time, I would think to myself, "Get your own space, dude!"

[Moray]

For those that leave your your stuff on a chair, how would you feel/react if you came back and someone was actually sitting in "your" chair?

I'd be disturbed as my wallet would be there and I'd assume the person is up to no good.  That might not be true and if it were obvious the person was simply sitting down to take off shoes or something, that would be okay.  But at the same time, I would think to myself, "Get your own space, dude!"

I'd never, ever leave my wallet or purse unattended in public like that.

[Jones]

For those that leave your your stuff on a chair, how would you feel/react if you came back and someone was actually sitting in "your" chair?

I'd be disturbed as my wallet would be there and I'd assume the person is up to no good.  That might not be true and if it were obvious the person was simply sitting down to take off shoes or something, that would be okay.  But at the same time, I would think to myself, "Get your own space, dude!"

I'd never, ever leave my wallet or purse unattended in public like that.

I'm glad I'm not the only one aghast at that!

[Arianoor]

For those that leave your your stuff on a chair, how would you feel/react if you came back and someone was actually sitting in "your" chair?

I'd be disturbed as my wallet would be there and I'd assume the person is up to no good.  That might not be true and if it were obvious the person was simply sitting down to take off shoes or something, that would be okay.  But at the same time, I would think to myself, "Get your own space, dude!"

I'd never, ever leave my wallet or purse unattended in public like that.

I'm glad I'm not the only one aghast at that!

Make that three.

[Rohanna]

I feel that you can leave your stuff "unattended", but then you lose the right to complain if someone else moves it (carefully).  They shouldn't throw it in puddles, or do anything else deliberate to damage things, but I am not going to sit on the ground because there is a towel on a chair that someone may or may not be coming back to get, at some point in the day, maybe.  A chair is designed for sitting, not storage. If the park intended the space to be used only for storage, they'd just put coat hooks or shelving.

[CluelessBride]

For those that leave your your stuff on a chair, how would you feel/react if you came back and someone was actually sitting in "your" chair?

I'd be disturbed as my wallet would be there and I'd assume the person is up to no good.  That might not be true and if it were obvious the person was simply sitting down to take off shoes or something, that would be okay.  But at the same time, I would think to myself, "Get your own space, dude!"

I'd never, ever leave my wallet or purse unattended in public like that.

I'm glad I'm not the only one aghast at that!

Honestly, if I stumbled upon someone's wallet unattended like that, I would assume it was there unintentionally (slipped out of a pocket, missed the armload of stuff meant for the locker, etc).  I'd probably take it to lost and found to prevent someone else from snatching it. 

I mean, *should* someone steal from someone else?  Obviously no they shouldn't. But leaving things in plain sight is awfully tempting.  Especially for kids and teens that are still developing their moral compass.  Again, not right and totally the fault of the thief, but I personally would never leave a valuable out in plain sight and then be surprised that it was taken or (if I was lucky) turned in.