Nine teenagers were arrested in connection with the attack on two adults and a teenage boy. From the Chicago Tribune story:
[W]itnesses told police there was an exchange of words over one of the victim's thoughts on the group's inappropriate behavior, which included foul language and a line issue for a ride."They were talking initially before a battery occurred to the child," [a Gurnee police officer] said. He added that the father went to his son's aid and started to pull the offender off the boy when the father was knocked to the ground, and the group surrounded him and hit him with 'punches and kicks.'
At that point, the wife tried to help her husband and son, and she also was attacked.
My experience reading police and court stories suggests to me that there lies some very interesting and relevant information between the lines in this story, starting with, what did the older man say to the teenagers? So the only conclusion I would recommend taking from this incident is... no matter how offended line-jumpers make you, it's not worth assuming the job of park security and calling them out.
How many people brazen and inconsiderate enough to line jump are really going to back down and return to the end of the queue because someone says something to them? And provoking someone only makes these situations worse. The park is not paying you to do its employees' jobs, and it is never worth going to the hospital to try to get back a few spaces in line.
That said, I don't want to see any more line-jumpers get away with it, either. The parks have an effective solution to stop this — and it is not deploying more cast or team members to police the queues. Virtual line systems allow parks to assign a sequential order for people to board an attraction, without having to maintain order in a physical queue. People with kids who really do need to go to the bathroom can do so, without having to push past anyone in line. And line jumpers have no way to cheat.
Parks can implement virtual line-style security in actual physical queues, as Universal Orlando has done with some Halloween Horror Nights houses, where the park hands out numbered tickets to visitors as they enter the queue. If you present an out-of-order ticket at the entrance, the park knows you jumped. Don't want to mess with paper tickets? Scan people's admission tickets at the entrance and exit of queues, instead. (Of course, at that point, you might as well just spend a few extra bucks on programming an app, and implement a full virtual queue system.)
Line jumping is not a Six Flags problem. I have seen blatant line jumping in every theme park I've visited in the United States. (Heck, I think the problem in my hometown is just as bad at Disneyland and Knott's as it is at Six Flags Magic Mountain, where I think there is a more widespread resignation about having to wait.) I have seen people of all races, genders and ages attempt to jump queues.
There is no social solution to ending line jumping and the physical conflicts to which they sometimes lead. But there are technical and logistical solutions that will end this mess, and theme parks need to start looking more aggressively at implementing them, before an incident like this leads to lawsuit that forces the industry to rush to respond.
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Guests need to be empowered to act as eyes and ears to improve park security. In most cases, it would only take one or two publicized events of guests being ejected to discourage line cutters.
Are you kidding?? So school groups can't go together? Large families can't go together? What if you have a group of 8 brothers/sisters/cousins all between 12-18, are they not allowed to walk around a park and stand in line together? I will admit prohibiting groups would likely be successful in solving the problem, but only because no one would visit parks with such a policy, meaning there's nobody left in the park to create a line cutting issue.
Large groups are the least of the problems with line cutters. The issue is that it's a problem that has gone unaddressed for far too long. So long, in fact, that it has almost become common and acceptable to see guests wading up a line to join their friends. Swift, visible, and fair enforcement is what will eliminate these situations, not just keeping guests from congregating.
A 12 year old boy was sucker punched because his parents objected to a group of teens using foul language. The parents were mobbed and beaten as was the boy. This is intolerable, unacceptable anti-social behavior. Yes, there is a "social solution" to such savage behavior. Immediate, overwhelming consequences. Whether it be from security, police, or the great mass of people standing around right there witnessing it. It is an awful thing that sometimes that's what is needed, but sometimes it is.
What an awful situation- part of me is disgusted that no one came to the aid of these three people- but realistically I know how terrifying and intimidating it must be to see 8 young adults attacking as a group. My thoughts are with the family of three, and I honestly hope those attackers get the psychological help that they clearly need.
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