Theme Park's Safety vs National Park's Safety

November 8, 2014, 5:49 PM

When I went to Yellowstone for the first time, I felt unprotected; it was like being stripped away from all the protection I always felt at the theme parks. The cute bears at Magic Kingdom will eat you at Yellowstone and other national parks. Anything with water at the theme parks will -at its worst- get you wet, but water kill tourists at the other parks.

Most people who get hurt at National Parks do so for not following rules. Yet, one still needs to think through every decision -wading at rivers or getting close to wildlife- unlike theme parks where one functions in automatic.

Replies (1)

Edited: November 9, 2014, 9:10 AM

Interesting point. The irony is that, as you mention, many people (though not all!) who get hurt on vacation get hurt as a result of not following some rule or common sense, but the relative safety of theme parks encourages many visitors to "let down their guard" and stop asking themselves: "is this stupid?" or "should I really be doing this?"

I would think people are more likely to keep their guard up around real bears. (Though, experience shows otherwise, alas.) But there's plenty in theme parks that can hurt you, including other visitors are the weather.

Sure, you're likely to stay safe in a theme park, or a national park for that matter. But let's use our brains, follow the rules, and be careful out there.

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