Author Topic: Attendance numbers  (Read 107306 times)

chittlins

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Re: Attendence number....
« Reply #15 on: April 04, 2018, 10:08:48 AM »
Mental note:  Rainy Saturdays before an Easter Sunday are good days to go.  lol.

In hindsight....it kind of makes since that it would be light on a weekend holiday that most families like to stay close to home.

That is true too... in fact the PTB estimated sat's attendence to only be about 9,000 people anyway...

This is so not true of most tourist locations.  Orlando was slammed this past weekend

Some regions all just now enjoying spring break. I was told last Tues that the next week would be busier. I was SO glad we had those extra 3 fast passes per person for our day at WDW.  We used our regular ones for BTMRR, 7DMT and Pan.  The GrandMom and Mother let the kids double dip at two of those with their FPs  and we used the freebies on rides we all rode, Jungle Cruise, POTC and again let the kids double dip at Space. We all hit Haunted Mansion right after fireworks for a 15 minute wait. The kids had zero interest in Barnstormer this trip, amazing what 3 years will do as they rode it over and over last time,(without much of a wait in the first week of Feb).  Presidents Hall had armed guards, something I missed seeing that the last time (and Conservatives are the hateful bunch 8)).

So, in summary, Disney is a different beast.

sirwillow

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Re: Attendence number....
« Reply #16 on: April 04, 2018, 03:55:36 PM »
This is Young Heathens Weekend.  It’ll be stupid busy with teenagers without adult supervision.  Massive line cutting and overall rude behavior.  It really is the worst weekend of the entire year.  It ticks me off too as these as supposed to be “Christians” too.  Takes the park a good week to recover from the vandalism.

And it's so frustrating, both from a worker's point of view as well as a pastor's.  The lack of supervision is a huge part of the problem- what do teens do when they aren't supervised?  Test the limits of what they can get away with.  And there is this idiotic idea out there very common in churches that this is a great event to take all of those kids who would normally not go anywhere near the church to- kids they would normally have little or nothing to do with and that they don't know.  Because they think that somehow these kids will hear a few licks of music and it will transform them, but in the mean time they turn them loose to wreak havok (which is why they normally wouldn't be at church to begin with)

Meantime everyone else assumes that all of them are "Christian" and that is what Christians are like, and it becomes an utter failure all the way around.  Well, except for those trouble making kids who got a free (or nearly free) day at SDC out of it. *sigh*
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Re: Attendence number....
« Reply #17 on: April 04, 2018, 05:56:21 PM »
This is Young Heathens Weekend.  It’ll be stupid busy with teenagers without adult supervision.  Massive line cutting and overall rude behavior.  It really is the worst weekend of the entire year.  It ticks me off too as these as supposed to be “Christians” too.  Takes the park a good week to recover from the vandalism.

And it's so frustrating, both from a worker's point of view as well as a pastor's.  The lack of supervision is a huge part of the problem- what do teens do when they aren't supervised?  Test the limits of what they can get away with.  And there is this idiotic idea out there very common in churches that this is a great event to take all of those kids who would normally not go anywhere near the church to- kids they would normally have little or nothing to do with and that they don't know.  Because they think that somehow these kids will hear a few licks of music and it will transform them, but in the mean time they turn them loose to wreak havok (which is why they normally wouldn't be at church to begin with)

Meantime everyone else assumes that all of them are "Christian" and that is what Christians are like, and it becomes an utter failure all the way around.  Well, except for those trouble making kids who got a free (or nearly free) day at SDC out of it. *sigh*

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chittlins

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Re: Attendence number....
« Reply #18 on: April 04, 2018, 08:49:31 PM »
Why does the park continue it? Couldn't most of this be spread out during a festival. It's like a park that's haVing some choir or band day.

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Re: Attendence number....
« Reply #19 on: April 04, 2018, 09:32:54 PM »
This is Young Heathens Weekend.  It’ll be stupid busy with teenagers without adult supervision.  Massive line cutting and overall rude behavior.  It really is the worst weekend of the entire year.  It ticks me off too as these as supposed to be “Christians” too.  Takes the park a good week to recover from the vandalism.

And it's so frustrating, both from a worker's point of view as well as a pastor's.  The lack of supervision is a huge part of the problem- what do teens do when they aren't supervised?  Test the limits of what they can get away with.  And there is this idiotic idea out there very common in churches that this is a great event to take all of those kids who would normally not go anywhere near the church to- kids they would normally have little or nothing to do with and that they don't know.  Because they think that somehow these kids will hear a few licks of music and it will transform them, but in the mean time they turn them loose to wreak havok (which is why they normally wouldn't be at church to begin with)

Meantime everyone else assumes that all of them are "Christian" and that is what Christians are like, and it becomes an utter failure all the way around.  Well, except for those trouble making kids who got a free (or nearly free) day at SDC out of it. *sigh*

Well it’s not so much a “lack of supervision” but rather a “lack of QUALITY supervison”.  They send youth pastors along on these trips and usually they’re only 3-4 years older than the kids they’re supposed to be watching.  Then add on to that that the youth pastors are more trying to be their friends than supervisors. 
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Re: Attendence number....
« Reply #20 on: April 05, 2018, 07:15:26 AM »
This is Young Heathens Weekend.  It’ll be stupid busy with teenagers without adult supervision.  Massive line cutting and overall rude behavior.  It really is the worst weekend of the entire year.  It ticks me off too as these as supposed to be “Christians” too.  Takes the park a good week to recover from the vandalism.

And it's so frustrating, both from a worker's point of view as well as a pastor's.  The lack of supervision is a huge part of the problem- what do teens do when they aren't supervised?  Test the limits of what they can get away with.  And there is this idiotic idea out there very common in churches that this is a great event to take all of those kids who would normally not go anywhere near the church to- kids they would normally have little or nothing to do with and that they don't know.  Because they think that somehow these kids will hear a few licks of music and it will transform them, but in the mean time they turn them loose to wreak havok (which is why they normally wouldn't be at church to begin with)

Meantime everyone else assumes that all of them are "Christian" and that is what Christians are like, and it becomes an utter failure all the way around.  Well, except for those trouble making kids who got a free (or nearly free) day at SDC out of it. *sigh*

Well it’s not so much a “lack of supervision” but rather a “lack of QUALITY supervison”.  They send youth pastors along on these trips and usually they’re only 3-4 years older than the kids they’re supposed to be watching.  Then add on to that that the youth pastors are more trying to be their friends than supervisors.

Lets go back a little more than that,,,,  possibly lack of parenting at the home to begin with..

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Re: Attendence number....
« Reply #21 on: April 05, 2018, 10:09:23 AM »
This is Young Heathens Weekend.  It’ll be stupid busy with teenagers without adult supervision.  Massive line cutting and overall rude behavior.  It really is the worst weekend of the entire year.  It ticks me off too as these as supposed to be “Christians” too.  Takes the park a good week to recover from the vandalism.

And it's so frustrating, both from a worker's point of view as well as a pastor's.  The lack of supervision is a huge part of the problem- what do teens do when they aren't supervised?  Test the limits of what they can get away with.  And there is this idiotic idea out there very common in churches that this is a great event to take all of those kids who would normally not go anywhere near the church to- kids they would normally have little or nothing to do with and that they don't know.  Because they think that somehow these kids will hear a few licks of music and it will transform them, but in the mean time they turn them loose to wreak havok (which is why they normally wouldn't be at church to begin with)

Meantime everyone else assumes that all of them are "Christian" and that is what Christians are like, and it becomes an utter failure all the way around.  Well, except for those trouble making kids who got a free (or nearly free) day at SDC out of it. *sigh*

Youth ministry is a complex topic.  My church has a large youth ministry mission that is often a double edge sword for our church.  Our Wednesday night youth services are as large as the sunday morning services because we bring in a lot neighboring kids who's families are not active in church but basically use us as a babysitter or just a safe place to go out of the house once a week.  We have a youth lead worship band, full-time youth leader/minister, and feed them every Wednesday.  Our ministry goal is to just try build relationships with the kids and families and be a light in the community.  Maybe a seed or two can be planted.  The church does get a handful a new members/families regularly.  The downside is that we have families in the church that don't send their kids on Wednesday because we have a 'rougher' or less controlled environment because it's so open.  The church has had to deal with some incidents too from the kids and puts a lot of pressure on both the paid and volunteer leadership on those nights.  A few family's have left because of situations with non-churched kids.  Our facilities take a beating too when you have 70-100 pre-teen and teens in the building.  I used to volunteer to help and teach but I would only do it a quarter at a time.....it was exhausting....and they do struggle keeping good volunteers around.  I've personally gone back in forth myself on allowing my kids to go but I know the heart of the mission is solid...the leaders are good....and frankly that controlled environment is actually a good stepping stone to the real world. 

We don't do many trips like the SDC weekend (never have done SDC)...they do weekend conferences sometimes and when they do it's usually just select youth leaders in an effort to team build with each other and plan out events for the church.  But for smaller churches this might be a highlight of the year for the youth...and the churches best method to try to create some new relationships in there communities..."Come go to SDC with us" It's not really about them hearing the right song during the weekend....though it doesn't hurt....it's about possible planting a seed and hopefully creating some good relationships with kids who need them.
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coasterdad

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Re: Attendence number....
« Reply #22 on: April 05, 2018, 07:00:24 PM »
This is Young Heathens Weekend.  It’ll be stupid busy with teenagers without adult supervision.  Massive line cutting and overall rude behavior.  It really is the worst weekend of the entire year.  It ticks me off too as these as supposed to be “Christians” too.  Takes the park a good week to recover from the vandalism.

And it's so frustrating, both from a worker's point of view as well as a pastor's.  The lack of supervision is a huge part of the problem- what do teens do when they aren't supervised?  Test the limits of what they can get away with.  And there is this idiotic idea out there very common in churches that this is a great event to take all of those kids who would normally not go anywhere near the church to- kids they would normally have little or nothing to do with and that they don't know.  Because they think that somehow these kids will hear a few licks of music and it will transform them, but in the mean time they turn them loose to wreak havok (which is why they normally wouldn't be at church to begin with)

Meantime everyone else assumes that all of them are "Christian" and that is what Christians are like, and it becomes an utter failure all the way around.  Well, except for those trouble making kids who got a free (or nearly free) day at SDC out of it. *sigh*

Youth ministry is a complex topic.  My church has a large youth ministry mission that is often a double edge sword for our church.  Our Wednesday night youth services are as large as the sunday morning services because we bring in a lot neighboring kids who's families are not active in church but basically use us as a babysitter or just a safe place to go out of the house once a week.  We have a youth lead worship band, full-time youth leader/minister, and feed them every Wednesday.  Our ministry goal is to just try build relationships with the kids and families and be a light in the community.  Maybe a seed or two can be planted.  The church does get a handful a new members/families regularly.  The downside is that we have families in the church that don't send their kids on Wednesday because we have a 'rougher' or less controlled environment because it's so open.  The church has had to deal with some incidents too from the kids and puts a lot of pressure on both the paid and volunteer leadership on those nights.  A few family's have left because of situations with non-churched kids.  Our facilities take a beating too when you have 70-100 pre-teen and teens in the building.  I used to volunteer to help and teach but I would only do it a quarter at a time.....it was exhausting....and they do struggle keeping good volunteers around.  I've personally gone back in forth myself on allowing my kids to go but I know the heart of the mission is solid...the leaders are good....and frankly that controlled environment is actually a good stepping stone to the real world. 

We don't do many trips like the SDC weekend (never have done SDC)...they do weekend conferences sometimes and when they do it's usually just select youth leaders in an effort to team build with each other and plan out events for the church.  But for smaller churches this might be a highlight of the year for the youth...and the churches best method to try to create some new relationships in there communities..."Come go to SDC with us" It's not really about them hearing the right song during the weekend....though it doesn't hurt....it's about possible planting a seed and hopefully creating some good relationships with kids who need them.


as a former YP I can say 100% you nailed this

sirwillow

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Re: Attendence number....
« Reply #23 on: April 05, 2018, 07:57:09 PM »
But for smaller churches this might be a highlight of the year for the youth...and the churches best method to try to create some new relationships in there communities..."Come go to SDC with us" It's not really about them hearing the right song during the weekend....though it doesn't hurt....it's about possible planting a seed and hopefully creating some good relationships with kids who need them.

But in cases like that, then the groups, including the leaders, tend to stick together.  They might break up into smaller groups, but because they are working on building relationships and planting seeds, they still keep them in groups and usually with some supervision.  Those are not the groups that cause problems.  As a youth pastor for years, that's what we did.  But I also insisted on knowing the kids before they could come on a trip like that.  We didn't allow kids that we didn't know to join us. They had to establish some sort of relationship with us first.

Those groups are NOT the problem at events like this. They ARE however also not typical of many of the groups that do go.  And that's the sad thing. 

Unfortunately I learned that the hard way as a youth pastor, lead pastor, and a theme park worker and having to deal with the large numbers of kids that were turned loose as soon as they walked in the gates to do whatever they please, and if you asked them what church or group they were with they couldn't even tell you because they had never done anything with them before.  And those are the ones that cause the problems.
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Re: Attendence number....
« Reply #24 on: April 06, 2018, 02:14:07 PM »
Anybody over there today? If the ride times on the app can be believed it does not look like it is very busy.

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Re: Attendence number....
« Reply #25 on: April 06, 2018, 03:08:51 PM »
Anybody over there today? If the ride times on the app can be believed it does not look like it is very busy.

As of 2:00 this afternoon,  3000 people. had been through the gates today.. :-\

sirwillow

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Re: Attendence number....
« Reply #26 on: April 07, 2018, 09:26:48 AM »
Should be interesting to see what the numbers are like today, with the light dusting of snow on the ground.  Really tempted to get up and go myself.
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sanddunerider

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Re: Attendence number....
« Reply #27 on: April 07, 2018, 09:34:54 AM »
Should be interesting to see what the numbers are like today, with the light dusting of snow on the ground.  Really tempted to get up and go myself.

With this being Young Christians Weekend, no way to find out how many people going are affiliated with the groups... or just going//

The "good" thing is.. the colder weather will discourage everyday visitors and they wont have to put up with the kids and get frustrated... ;D ;D.

The bad thing is the kids will be going nuts with the rides closed and cooler temps.... ::) ::)

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Re: Attendence number....
« Reply #28 on: April 07, 2018, 11:14:05 AM »
Anybody over there today? If the ride times on the app can be believed it does not look like it is very busy.

As of 2:00 this afternoon,  3000 people. had been through the gates today.. :-\

Well darn maybe I should have went after all.  Looks like all the rides are closed today

sirwillow

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Re: Attendence number....
« Reply #29 on: April 07, 2018, 10:01:08 PM »

With this being Young Christians Weekend, no way to find out how many people going are affiliated with the groups... or just going//

The bad thing is the kids will be going nuts with the rides closed and cooler temps.... ::) ::)

That was why I didn't end up going.  I initially forgot it was Young Christians Weekend, but happy I remembered before I left.  And with all the rides closed because of the temps- not a place I would want to be...

I'll be out there next Sunday afternoon for a little bit at least.
This is a stick up!  Get it? Stick.... Nevermind, it's a train robbery.  I want everyone to get your hands up and act scared.