Did you know you can’t get into Legoland unless you’re accompanied by a child? It’s true for all the Lego parks. This hit the news in July when a 63-year-old Lego fan was turned away from the park near Toronto, Canada because he didn’t bring a child. Actually he did bring his daughter, but she was 30, so it didn’t count.
The account I read at the The NotMom blog went on to say the man was a Lego fanatic with 72 different sets of the interlocking toys, about 50,000 pieces. You’d think the park would welcome guys like him. But no.
The Legoland website states, “Adults must be accompanied by a child to visit the attraction.” Once a month, there is an “Adult Night,” but the rest of the time it’s no kids, no admittance.
Exploring further, I discovered many children’s museums have the same policy. The Building for Kids, a children’s museum in Appleton, Wisconsin prohibits childless adults “for everyone’s safety.” Kidzworld indoor play center, which bills itself the “best place on the planet,” bars grownups unless they bring someone under age 18.
These policies seem to come from a combination of trying to keep the focus on children and keeping out twisted adults who might harm and/or kidnap them. Does that mean grownups without kids can’t be trusted?
It doesn’t seem fair. I’d like to play with Legos and walk through a world of Lego creations. I like playing games and learning and building things. Just because I’m old enough for AARP doesn’t mean the kid in me is gone.
It’s like when we were little and my brother got all the cool toys because he was a boy. Legos hadn’t been invented yet, but we had Tinker toys, Lincoln Logs and these snap-together red rubber bricks that were probably precursors to Legos. I didn’t get to play with them much; I was supposed to stick to my dolls.
We didn’t have Legoland or children’s museums when I was a kid, and my parents wouldn’t have taken us there anyway—although we did go to Disneyland once. But now as a grownup, I find out I can’t get in unless I bring a child? That’s crazy. Of course, I have to ask myself whether I want to be surrounded by hundreds of kids, but that’s another issue.
Moms have access to all the toys. I’m not a child molester. I just want to play, too.
Have you encountered situations where you couldn’t join in because you didn’t have a child? We’d love to hear about it.
Childless by Marriage 