We’ve had the families vs childless adults conversation many times in the theme park community, on this board and elsewhere, and I think it’s always going to be emotionally loaded territory.
I sense, from all my friends and family with kids, that they feel quite unsupported by society at large, which leads to frustration and isolation. You may have seen cranks on social media say only families should be given fast passes at parks, or that childless adults should be banned altogether. It sounds harsh, but I think parents are just upset about how complicated and expensive theme park trips have become. They’re trying to figure out how they can provide the same types of wonderful experiences for their kids their parents gave them. So I can fully understand why this group would be defensive of a place that finally seems designed to cater to their young family.
On the other hand, adults who love theme parks are used to dismissal and derision from the world at large, and places like this board are refuges where we can feel validation and form community. I think this group is understandably sensitive to being told it’s inappropriate for them to express their interest in or opinion on a theme park. You also never know why a person is childless, and I think there’s a tendency to assume those folks live frivolous, easy lives compared to beleaguered parents, which can be wrong/hurtful.
I’m not saying anyone here expressed any of these sentiments directly. But all of our fears/anxieties about these bigger things are influencing the discourse. Ultimately, I think the main problem is a capitalist system keeping us all isolated and making our economic conditions increasingly perilous.
If only there was a nice, shaded place we could all go to cool down…