Too many hard balls at WMH main pool...nosebleed

[Garnet]

We were at WMH for our spring break (gee, first week of April...time flies) and the pools, esp. the main pool, was very crowded. I was surprised at how many people were crammed into the pool, but more importantly, how many balls were flying about.

A teenage boy was in the water near the edge and was hit in the nose with a water polo ball (they are pretty hard). He was right next to the edge, and thankfully, turned his head just after being hit over the edge of the pool. He had a huge nose bleed! He king of jumped out of the pool and ran off. An older female (assuming with him) splashed water at the blood and ran after him.

This incident made me kind of annoyed that WMH let so many balls into such a crowded pool. I don't mind beach balls or those neoprene softer type volley balls, but I am surprised the hard type are allowed at all.

If he had bled into the pool, I think management would have to close the pool for the day to treat the water. Poor guy, wrecked his day. Anyone see anything similar?

 

[timeos2]

LOst the shear fun

I feel sorry for the injured young man but really, is this a big deal? When kids play in a pool or a game someone might get hit and sustain a cut or nose bleed or even a broken finger - its a part of a fun, active sporting lifestyle. The lack of activity and the seemingly never ending ending desire of adults to protect children far too much has, IMO, helped make us the rather soft & unhealthy society we have largely become.

I have an enduring picture in my mind from over two decades ago when Disney still had the (then) state of the art simple little water park River Country. By todays standards a joke but it was nirvana back then. As we enjoyed wild splashing in the basically free for all slides, various pools, etc I noticed a young girl in the center of one of the shallow pools about half way down the slide. She was holding up her finger which was grossly bent back & obviously broken to her brother (I think) and saying "I hurt my hand - do you think we'll be able to go on Space Mountain?" Not a bit of worry about what had to be a painful situation just enjoying her fabulous time & accepting that stuff happens. I hope she lets her children enjoy themselves today and isn't keeping them safely strapped into a restraint so they never get that shear joy of simply being a kid.

Sadly that basic and extremely enjoyable, freeform park is gone replaced by a controlled experience of waiting in line for 30 seconds of a poor substitute that involves being watched by monitors every step of the way. The old park was Huckleberry Finn and the new things choreographed, Big Brother watching out for us at its worst. I guess I've become an old f___ longing for the good old days of personal freedom and fun.

 

[LisaRex]

I agree that beach balls and Nerf balls are one thing. Anything that can harm someone should be verboten. First because someone can get hurt. Second because of the liability associated with it.

It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye!

 

[Cathyb]

They need an attendent when it is busy

We were at WMH for our spring break (gee, first week of April...time flies) and the pools, esp. the main pool, was very crowded. I was surprised at how many people were crammed into the pool, but more importantly, how many balls were flying about.

A teenage boy was in the water near the edge and was hit in the nose with a water polo ball (they are pretty hard). He was right next to the edge, and thankfully, turned his head just after being hit over the edge of the pool. He had a huge nose bleed! He king of jumped out of the pool and ran off. An older female (assuming with him) splashed water at the blood and ran after him.

This incident made me kind of annoyed that WMH let so many balls into such a crowded pool. I don't mind beach balls or those neoprene softer type volley balls, but I am surprised the hard type are allowed at all.

If he had bled into the pool, I think management would have to close the pool for the day to treat the water. Poor guy, wrecked his day. Anyone see anything similar?

It was real crowded when we were there and the teenagers took over almost the whole pool. The little kids and us old folks were kind of forced to stay in a corner. The next morning we were walking and two ducks were swimming in the pool and did 'their business'. We reported that to some workers nearby.

 

[SDKath]

I blame Starwood management. If the resort was M, I am sure none of this would have happened.

Ok, just kidding but this is an issue everywhere at peak times. We were at the St Regis for 4th of July and they would NOT ALLOW anyone else into the pool area because it was overfull. So my kids couldn't even get into the water and swim that day. They were really unhappy about that but such is life when you travel at the absolute PEAK of a resort's time.

As for the ducks, we have them at our pool sometimes too. Can't do anything about that but keep the pumps circulating. We have a 'beach entry" to our pool and the birdies like to bathe there when the kids aren't swimming. I like to watch them splash around and have some great pix...

My rec is to avoid the absolute peak times at a hotel/resort/timeshare if you don't want these types of annoyances. Katherine

 

[geekette]

I guess that I don't see the attraction of being in a crowded area at all, let alone a pool (of course, I was a competitve swimmer for 12 years so had plenty of "working time" at pools so hanging out and splashing around was never a draw for me). Too many cooks spoil the broth. in teh case of a hot tub, literally!

as an ex-lifeguard (prob'ly a few hundred of those on this board), I have always found it dangerous to have such crowding. It's too easy for a little kid to get trapped underwater by bigger kids or pool toys. Yes, everyone watches their kids. Until they can't see them. In a loud environment, how are you going to get people to shut up and look for the kid? how are you going to dive around in a sea of legs to find the kid?

At least lifeguards have whistles and advantage of height above the surface, knowledge of how water cuts angles from their vantage point. but even with "professional supervision", it is not possible to keep tabs on every moving soul before you and with too many people, they can no longer see the bottom of the pool. If you don't notice Timmy missing and neither do they, odds aren't good for the kid.

I would not allow balls or toys of any kind at prime time for many reasons. Having suffered broken noses and the damage and painful corrective surgery, I feel bad for the kid as I suspect it was well more than a bloody nose. Kids can have their goggles or masks, noseplugs, and can dive for pennies but cannot throw them. Ask the resort to put up a Rules Board if it does not already exist, or add a page to the check-in/in-unit packet.

Bad aim happens, but so does "diving" for the ball - whether it be jumping from within the water in different directions or going forward, inattention to those around can cause injury. A kid could so easily dive backwards for a ball and not know how close he was to the edge and cut his head open. it happens. sure, kids get injured. but some injuries, I wouldn't risk. broken finger, eh, so what? fractured skull? holy crap!

In an unsupervised crowded pool, something bad is going to happen. let's just hope it's simply Susie getting a snootful of pool water or Chester scraping his knee when he falls after running on deck.

Since I'm still on the soap box, I'd also like to warn you about indoor/outdoor pools when the cover is on the outside part. We played in hotel pools and woudl swim to the outdoor side where the game was to find a place where you could surface. those tarps are extremely heavy, and the weaker kids may not be able to get air. we were fine, being strong swimmers, easily able to hold air for over a minute, wouldn't panic, strong enuf to lift the tarp when treading water. Don't let your kids swim under pool tarps. You will not know from the indoor side that Billy was unable to come up for air.

even at a resort pool, I think it wise for an adult/group of adults to call for Rest Period at top of every hour. Get the kids out, get em hydrated, give some adults a few minutes of peaceful dip time or laps.

Seems most kids are used to rest periods - we've done it to see if it works, and sure enuf, they get out until the adults are done and they can resume crazy crowded time.

Ok, I'm done. Have safe fun at teh pools this summer. NO GLASS, no running, buddy system.

 

[Garnet]

...........We were at the St Regis for 4th of July and they would NOT ALLOW anyone else into the pool area because it was overfull. So my kids couldn't even get into the water and swim that day. They were really unhappy about that but such is life when you travel at the absolute PEAK of a resort's time.

As for the ducks, we have them at our pool sometimes too. Can't do anything about that but keep the pumps circulating. We have a 'beach entry" to our pool and the birdies like to bathe there when the kids aren't swimming. I like to watch them splash around and have some great pix...

My rec is to avoid the absolute peak times at a hotel/resort/timeshare if you don't want these types of annoyances. Katherine

Wow! What a huge, HUGE bummer to not be a be able to use the pool! We are tied to the school calendar. Hence, we were there during a very full spring break. So, going off peak just doesn't work right now.

In thinking about it, after seeing this, I was Nervous Nelly around the hard balls. (Inflatable beach balls, no problem. Hey, I have 3 kids.) But, they have to close the pool if a kid has an "accident". Pretty sure blood in the pool would close it too.

Yes, I did see ducks in the pool in the mornings. Just think of it as fertilizing the wrong area. :rofl: