Weigh in

[Orcatime]

I spent the day at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and on my favorite ride, Fireball, I saw that a solid, but not heavy, 16 year old boy had to get off because he was too big for the safety harness to lock into place.

Now I've been in a few..."near-sterilizers" and I'm not a big guy by most standards.

So now I'm curious, are the restraints too restraining? Have you or someone you've been with or seen been asked to leave the ride for being too big?

[Rainfully]

Our eighth grade class went to Six Flags, and our teacher was pretty big. He tried to go on Batman: The Ride which is a roller coaster where you feet dangle and you ride under the track. Well he couldn't get the harness over him... I felt soooo bad for him! He didn't seem to mind, but I would imagine it would have to be at least a little embarassing... poor guy...

Edited to say that I don't think the restraints are TOO restraining. He was a much bigger than average guy. And the ride is designed in such a way that the restraint is really the only thing to hold on to, as there's no lap bar or anything. I'm always comfortable on that ride.

[Giant Panda]

The sad thing is it's probably a matter of time before sizing ride restraints and other ride vehicle features for the morbidly obese becomes an ADA issue. And that could be a (pun-intended) big challenge to ride Imagineers.

As a somewhat large man (6'1", 250 ish, for a long time, currently 220ish), I've often used my ability to ride rides as a barometer ....... If I'm too large to chase my kids on TSI, that is something that needs to be dealt with.

[MegarooFifi]

I personally don't think that they are too restraining. However, that might be because I've never been asked to leave a ride (I'm fairly petite... usually I'm sliding around too much!) and no one I know has ever been asked to leave a ride (a fair amount of my friends and family are larger) because of not fitting within the restraints.

However, even though it might been seen as a bad thing, sometimes the "tight fit" or "no fit" can be a wake up call. On my last visit to DL, my friend was squeezed into a ride and was quite uncomfortable the entire time. Instead of complaining that the seat was too small, he finally accepted that he was at a near morbidly obese level... He vowed that the next time he went to DL, he would fit comfortably in all the rides. He came home and started taking very good care of himself - exercising and eating right. Of course with all of the healthy changes that soon meant he was losing weight. Now he can quite comfortably fit in most of the rides (he still has long legs, but there's nothing that's going to fix that! ).

[BigDaddyKyle]

i am 6-7 and weigh almost 400! I have a very tough time on some rides because of all how small the stuff is. I have a VERY ill temper about riding these rides because I have to sit VERY uncomfortably in them. I really like these rides, but I find it hard to ride them because I can't hardly get out of the ride vehicle either because my knee has been shoved into the "dashboard" or my side hurt because the seat is SO damn small! I wish they would make these ride vehicles a little bigger. It would be a HUGE (no pun intended) help!

Rides that are hard for me to ride at WDW: Mission:SPACE, Test Track, The back seats on RnR, I can't ride Cyberspace Mountain at DisneyQuest, Space Mountain, and many, many more.

This subject makes me very sad because I love Disney and their theme parks, but I can't believe that they don't love their fans, big or small, to accomidate them as much as possible. I just think that it is a bummer.

[Flint]

This subject makes me very sad because I love Disney and their theme parks, but I can't believe that they don't love their fans, big or small, to accomidate them as much as possible. I just think that it is a bummer.

It gets even funnier that when you take into account that the largest sizes the Disney clothing comes in is 2X... and NO tall sizes. Hello, a third of the country is "overweight," are the marketers just brain dead?

[Snacks]

I spent the day at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and on my favorite ride, Fireball, I saw that a solid, but not heavy, 16 year old boy had to get off because he was too big for the safety harness to lock into place.

Now I've been in a few..."near-sterilizers" and I'm not a big guy by most standards.

So now I'm curious, are the restraints too restraining? Have you or someone you've been with or seen been asked to leave the ride for being too big?

:lol: :lol: LOL @..."near-sterilizers"

[Momzilla59]

It gets even funnier that when you take into account that the largest sizes the Disney clothing comes in is 2X... and NO tall sizes. Hello, a third of the country is "overweight," are the marketers just brain dead?

We found up to 6X shirts at the WDW All-Stars resort store. My son is almost as large as you, 6'4" and at least 350. He was pretty uncomfortable in most of the Disney rides, but at least he FIT in them. At IoA, he couldn't fit into any of the rollercoaster restraints so I ended up riding alone. Hubby at 6'2" is hard pressed to fit into most rides, too. Me, at 5'3" - well...not too much trouble there, just my Butt is a bit wider than is totally comfortable. I know that they have to make the restraints to fit a 'norm', it's just too bad that there aren't XL seats on most attractions for those riders who Are XL.

[dsnylndmom]

We took a friend for her first trip in 03' and after having to leave Maliboomer for not fitting securely she was kinda down and didn't really want to attempt some of the other rides. I felt really bad for her, especially it being her first trip. I know that she had some tight fits on some rides but more often than not she was okay.

My husband's a big guy and has some tight fits but nothing that he can't ride. BUT, I don't let him ride things like BTMRR with my little one because of the huge gap with the safety bar when they ride together(little one is 6 and barely 50lbs)

[penguinsoda]

I'm one of those "fluffy" people and a few years ago when Rocket Rods first opened I stood in line for like 3 hours to get on. I finally made it to the ride and managed to get the primo front seat, but when I went to strap myself in, the seat belt wouldn't connect. I was afraid after standing in line forever I wouldn't be able to ride. But when the CM checked to make sure everyone was strapped in and she saw I couldn't connect my belt, she went over and without saying a word to me (which wa nice) simple connected an extension to the belt. I understand that for safety reasons this is not possible for all of the ride. They have to make sure the ride is safe for the majority of possible riders, and it would be hard to have "adapters" for all of the rides but it would be nice.

[DLRP_bopazot]

Hello

I lives in France and in France i can say i'm a big guy but in US i'm normal . I can fit most of the Roller Coasters but i feel very bad when i see someone leaving a Train because he is too big in US .
Last December i went to Busch Gardens Tampa Bay and we saw a guy wich has leaved the Ride because the Seat Belt can not be fixed .

Now the problem is , in future we have to lives and we will lives with people like me and bigger and now all Ride Engineers have to make ride with restraints for everyone small body to a very big guy . That's why i love to come to the US because they have a lot of rides with one or 2 Seats on Coaster Train with longer Seatbelts for big guy .

[The Mad Hatter]

But how would it be possible to make restraints for all ages and sizes? Especially for rides like roller coasters. To me it just seems like one of those things that you have to accept. Some rides don't let kids that are under 48" tall ride becuase of saftey. And if someone can't fit into the ride restaints, it wouldn't be safe to ride. IMO.

[Subgoon]

Its very much possible to create seats that adjust in many different dimensions. Think Riddlers Revenge at SFMM(LINK). Each seat adjusts independantly depending on your height. The same technology could easily be adapted for width changes and such, but then that creates the issue of lower ride capacity to accomodate the bigger seat systems.

[TinkPink]

Hello

I lives in France and in France i can say i'm a big guy but in US i'm normal . I can fit most of the Roller Coasters but i feel very bad when i see someone leaving a Train because he is too big in US .
Last December i went to Busch Gardens Tampa Bay and we saw a guy wich has leaved the Ride because the Seat Belt can not be fixed .

Now the problem is , in future we have to lives and we will lives with people like me and bigger and now all Ride Engineers have to make ride with restraints for everyone small body to a very big guy . That's why i love to come to the US because they have a lot of rides with one or 2 Seats on Coaster Train with longer Seatbelts for big guy .

Is it just me, or does anyone else totally read this with a french accent??

[The Mad Hatter]

but then that creates the issue of lower ride capacity to accomodate the bigger seat systems.

Not to mention slower loading times due to having to constantly adjust the restraints for different people. I understand the need to try and please everyone, but where will it end?
This is how I look at it. When I go to mcdonald's , I can't go into the playplace because I'm too tall. If I made a fuss about this people would probably think I'm crazy and I should just deal with not being able to go into the playplace. It's the same concept, only replace the playplace with a rollercoaster. IMO.

[Orcatime]

Well, I'm confused. Mad Hatter, are you saying that there should be signs that say, "You must weigh less than xxx pounds to ride this ride"?

[dsnylndmom]

Is it just me, or does anyone else totally read this with a french accent??

OMG! I did too! I soooo did

[The Mad Hatter]

Well, I'm confused. Mad Hatter, are you saying that there should be signs that say, "You must weigh less than xxx pounds to ride this ride"?

If the ride is going to break due to someone being over xxx pounds...then yes.

[Hector]

The rides won't break, but it's been proven (through a few deaths) that some restraints just don't fit all sizes, and they shouldn't. Someone mentioned restraints that adjust like Riddler's, and let me tell you, after working a B&M stand-up, it's just inSANE and the capacity is horrible. S&S has restraints that actually do something similar(Picture they close in and can be pulled down), but still won't hold much larger guests then other rides, but loading would go much faster. Fireball (A Chance Revolution) does have much smaller restraints then a normal roller coaster (Especially B&M [Batmen at many Six Flags] Inverts). Arrow Butterfly restraints (picture) are my favorite restraints out of them all (X at Six Flags magic mountain) they close in and down to adjust to individuals and they are extremely comfortable. Their are options, but why do we have to make them bigger? The bigger we make them, the bigger the person had to be (think of children) to ride. And at what point do we say "big enough" or do we just try to continue to make them larger and larger?

I'm a big guy, but have little problem fitting in most restraints but I have been too big for one ride (although the belt closed fine, Cedar Point requires an additional inch of slack on some rides which I was close but not close enough for one) but That doesn't get me down, I know I'm a big guy and that I might not fit into a restraint. Luckily most rides do have warnings and some even have test seats now (some may require the guest to go up the exit of the ride to check) that let people now they might not have to waste their time in line (some just ignore us though and still get in line then get mad at us because they're too big adn they wasted all that time!!:lol: )

[Orcatime]

I remember hearing a radio DJ once say that he was going to lose weight because he was embarased when he couldn't ride BAtman at SFMM.