Subject:
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Re: Prolific Upcoming Weekend!
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.trains.org
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Date:
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Wed, 18 Dec 2002 01:34:18 GMT
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Viewed:
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1011 times
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In lugnet.trains.org, Ted Michon writes:
> One angry party this weekend wanted to know why we (LEGO, she assumed) put
> plastic barriers around the display to keep her kids from playing with the
> bricks. She thought it was a very poor thing for TLC to (entice people to
> come and then keep them out).
Since several of you singled out this item, I should expand a little. Prior
to our 6 week run at SDMRRM, the space we now use was occupied by a hands-on
kid play area (not LEGO) and the musuem advertised our upcoming LTC layout.
My best guess is that the mom in question made the association that the
museum now housed a large interactive LEGO train layout (supplied by LEGO)
that was as interactive as the prior exhibit. (She of course ignored all the
signs and posters about us.)
SDMRRM is the first show where we used clear acrylic sheet panels. Our
panels are 0.200 inches thick, 23 inches high, and bolt to the sides of the
tables using the same holes that we use for the curtain (and to link tables
together). They stuff cost $600 ($75 for each 4 x 8 sheet and $200 to have
them cut and the edges flame polished). We did it because there was no way
we could man the layout for the 200 hours and 36 days it would be open.
Previously we relied on 2 lines of rope through poles spaced every few feet.
Here's our experience
With just rope, kids below a certain age/size run through it like it isn't
there while shouting "LEGO!". I've seen kids try to climb the poles, women
put their purse over the rope and walk away oblivious that it was about to
crash down, and any number of people steadily push the poles until they were
up against the side of layout. If we attend the display, we can generally
keep up with the transgressors and the ropes give us a place to stand and
play cop or tour guide.
With the plastic barriers, we usually take the rope down if we are at the
layou(if not, or on the two nights when we had 5,000 visitors in 4 hours, we
keep the rope up as well). It's a trade off. With just plastic, visitors get
3 feet closer but have to look through glass. With just rope, visitors get a
clear view but from a distance. With the plastic only, the little kids still
make kamikazee charges, but quite a few plow there hands into the clear
plastic and get a surprise. A lot of kids put both hands on the glass and
press their mouths up against it. Our main problem are the ones who jump up
and grab the top of the glass and try to chin themselves (with 2 feet of
leverage, they could easily pull the side out a table and crash everything
to the floor).
My observation about kid/parent behavior is that either the child was
already programmed properly by his/her parent or not. If it's not, the
parents either ignore whatever the child does or else continually admonishes
the child but the child doesn't stop. My least favorite are the
disinterested/unattentive parents that hold small children in areas they
couldn't normally reach and are oblivious while the child grabs at things.
BTW, securing the area below the tables is equally important. We've had kids
crawl under the table.
With regard to play areas, we committed to two venues with them and
discovered that some parents abuse a play area by dropping their kids off as
though we were daycare. We have had to be very careful to cordon off the
area just so that we could be sure that every small child came with a parent
who stayed with the child. We have found that it takes 2 full time club
members to watch the play area (except when one of our elementary school
teacher members takes over <g>). As it was, we lost one club member in large
part because he was upset about hosting the play area by himself and
concerned about liability.
I don't disagree with the comment that one shouldn't get uptight if
something gets dropped because it can always be reassembled, but one can't
forget about human nature, too, and that with N members in the club, there
are N different attitudes about how their stuff should be respected. And
nobody actually likes having their stuff smashed. Last week a child held up
by his parent grabbed a wind turbine and pulled it over so that it smashed
to the floor. The big problem was finding all the parts amid dozens of sets
of feet.
-Ted
SCLTC
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Prolific Upcoming Weekend!
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| Ted Michon wrote in message ... (...) This was the thing that grossed out us VLC trainiacs when we were helping with the layout at NWBrickCon, and decided us against using the plastic. Not just mouths but runny noses... and who knows what they've (...) (21 years ago, 18-Dec-02, to lugnet.trains.org)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Prolific Upcoming Weekend!
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| (...) I'm thinking it would be fun to add answers (ala Jeopardy, without the questions) to the backs of our business cards. They might include: More than 100,000, less than 500,000 About 3 months 16 people from 4 counties At Target for $99 We don't (...) (22 years ago, 8-Dec-02, to lugnet.trains.org)
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