Are GoPro’s allowed at amusement parks
Everyone loves going to amusement parks, and besides having fun yourself it’s fun to share with friends and family your experiences there. One of the best ways to share your experiences is to record them with action cameras.
Some amusement parks do not allow GoPros on rides due to safety concerns. Others such as Disney do allow GoPros on their park and rides.
I believe that using GoPros in amusement parks is safe and should be allowed in most amusement parks around the world, an exception would be dangerous roller coasters and dangerous rides where the GoPro could fall off and hit someone else. Recording your adventures is always a fun thing to do and I believe that filming done safely should be allowed.
Why aren’t GoPro’s allowed on some parks?
One of the main reasons some parks won’t allow GoPros on the rides is due to safety concerns, another reason some amusement parks don’t allow GoPros is because of copyright and protecting their “intellectual property”.
When recording in dangerous rides such as fast roller coasters, the chances of you accidentally letting go of the GoPro and it smashing into someone else at high speed are way too high, anything loose or handheld is normally not allowed for safety reasons.
On most parks, you can check on their websites if it states that GoPros are or aren’t allowed in the park. If you cannot find any information you can ask the workers in the parks what is their policy. The majority of parks do allow GoPros and have created a hands-free camera-friendly policy for those who want to record.
Places like Disney don’t seem to care at all about riders using cameras. At SeaWorld and Busch Gardens as long as you have the chest mounted GoPro, they will let you on.
Are GoPros on rides dangerous?
Items that can fall when riding on rides can endanger yourself as well as others, most filming and photography devices like phones or cameras can easily slip and fall which can cause serious damage to someone. Hitting flying solid objects at 100km/h (62 mph) is not just scary, but frankly life-threatening.
Head-mounted GoPros, as well as cameras attached to selfie sticks or wristbands, are also dangerous accessories and normally prohibited in parks. Exceptions can be made for cameras mounted with a suitable chest strap. The decision of whether a chest strap is suitable lies with the ride operators only. All lose items need to be stored away and must not be held in the rider’s hand. Please follow the operators’ instructions.
How to use a GoPro in an amusement park?
The best way to use a GoPro in an amusement park is first to find out if the park allows it, if you can’t find if the park allows action cameras on their website or through online research you should ask the park for permission beforehand.
Before going to the park you need to make sure to have a secured GoPro, below you can find how to use the chest mount to get the most secure way to use one on rides and the one way that is normally allowed.
When you’re arriving at the park you should be ok with getting your GoPro and recording material get checked by the park’s staff if necessary, and even if you are not allowed, show respect to the park’s decision.
Chest Mount
The chest strap allows you to wear an action camera secured to your chest comfortably, the chest mount is great for a secure first-person view. Check out the chest mount here (Amazon)
You’ll capture more of your arms, knees, poles, and skis while skiing with the chest strap and you’ll get a first-person view with the head strap. It’s fully adjustable to fit a wide range of adult sizes, with good elasticity, resilience, great tensile ratio. Made with larger density fabric.
Best GoPro’s for amusement parks
When searching online you can find hundreds of different sports cameras with different specifications, different brands, etc. It can be easy to get confused or get tricked into getting a camera that isn’t as good as you thought it was.
In this section I’ve put together the 5 best action cameras perfect for filming in amusement parks, each camera is similar but has some different specifications, features, prices, and more. This guide will help you choose which is the best for you.
If you are interested in making the most out of your action camera consider checking out our Tips page (Click Here). There you will find useful tips that can help you on different types of topics about sports cams.
The Hero 10 is capable of 5.3K resolution with 60fps and 4K 120fps, the best specs on any sports cam, and great image quality
With up to 5K resolution, excellent video quality, and the best action camera stabilization the Hero 9 is the best action camera you can find
Excellent video quality with up to 4K resolution, the DJI comes with “RockSteady” stabilization and 12MP pictures
Super 5.7K 360° action camera makes the One R a special camera. In addition, it is water-resistant up to 5 meters without the need for housing
The SJ8 Pro is a great GoPro alternative recording with great video quality up to 4K resolution with stabilization, and 12MP pictures
Which action camera to pick?
If you want to record high-quality videos and take good pictures in amusement parks you must choose the right camera. Most cheap sports cams don’t offer good quality and bad stabilization. Stabilization is an important thing to think about when choosing a camera to film on rides, good stabilization will give you smooth footage. The framerate can also be important if you want to film in slow-motion.
The best sports cam you can choose is the GoPro Hero 10, it offers the best stabilization available and great image quality, it can also record videos with high frame rates such as 5K up to 60fps and 4K 120fps, which is very impressive. A negative side to GoPro is their high price, an alternative would be going for a bit cheaper camera such as the DJI Osmo or SJCAM SJ8 Pro, also very impressive sports cams but not as good as GoPro cameras.
I hope this blog has been useful and provided the answers you were looking for, if you liked this blog check out our tips on how to get better GoPro pictures (Click Here).
