Height requirement

CPcyclone said:

I still don't understand why the Mine Ride has a 48" height requirement while Disney's Big Thunder Mtn's is 40" and a much more intense ride.

It's worth bearing in mind that you're comparing a ride that opened in 1969 at a park that wanted to build a roller coaster with a ride that opened in 1980 at a park that wanted to build a family friendly attraction. Ride restraint technology had progressed during the two decades separating those two openings.

I'm not sure how Big Thunder is a "much more intense" ride, considering it's a slower ride than CCMR.

codeGR said:
Not trying to be too cynical, but could the higher requirement be a way to reduce the queue length?

I have wondered this as well, it could make sense in the first season to help somewhat.

^ In all honesty, the height of the ride itself will be enough to keep away a good number people under 54 inches as opposed to a height restriction. I don't see the amount of short people being enough to reduce the wait time of the queue. I am certain it has to do with rider safety.

JUnderhill said:
I think rides like Tower of Terror (40"), Mission Space (44"), Expedition Everest (44"), Rock n Roller Coaster (48") etc... can indeed be called intense for the majority of people, actually the vast majority of people not on this message board. Since they were mentioned a few posts ago California Screamin is 48" and Space Mountain is 40". Much closer to home we have a very intense ride - Millenium Force that has a 48" height requirement yet every ride that B&M builds is in that 52-54" range.

To be fair, I said Space Mountain Mission 2, which is at Disneyland Paris, which is a Vekoma launched coaster similar to Rockin' Rollercoster.

Valravn is listed at 52" on the official website. https://www.cedarpoint.com/things-to-do/roller-coasters

Interesting, I wonder if they did change it from 54" as originally announced, or if the website is a error.

My bet is that the original height requirement of 54" was more of a "we don't know what the requirement will be yet, but worst case it'll be 54", so we'll tell the kids that for now and hope it's lower." You know, under promise and over deliver.

I understand that completely, my son is going to be right at the magic 54" at the start of the season so it's a toss up whether he will be able to ride at that height requirement. He just asked me the other day if he'd be able to ride Valravn opening day and I told him it would be close.

It would definitely be better to think you can't ride and then find out you can as opposed to the opposite scenario.

JUnderhill- How old is your boy? My son is right at 54" but he's only 6 (turns 7 in August)... He's more concerned he won't be able to enjoy Snoopy's Bounce House this year. He has no interest in the top tier coasters; completely happy with Woodstock Express, Gemini, CCMR, and Iron Dragon.

My son just turned 9 and is right at 54" without shoes. At the beginning of the season about 3 years ago all he would ride was Iron Dragon and Jr. Gemini, about a month later he was complaining he wasn't tall enough for Top thrill, GK etc... Last year several ride ops on TTD kept measuring him, it was all in fun as they said they don't get to do it too often.

When I was that age there is no way I'd ride any of the stuff he does. I think I was well into high school before I rode Magnum, I remember being incredibly nervous the first time I rode Raptor as well.

My nephew is turning 9 this year, and he is just under 54". He's such a little daredevil. He was super excited for Dragster last season

This confirms my theory that my son is a giant... I'll never force him to ride anything he feels he isn't ready for. He's plenty daring as it is when it comes to amusement parks. He loves his roller coasters & rides, and I'm happy to let him try new rides at his own comfort level.

Lol, I agree that your son is very tall for his age. I'm pretty sure my son was around 49" or so when he was around 6-7 years old and he has always seemed about the same size as most other kids at school and sports etc...

I'd never push kids to ride anything either, whenever I would ride Magnum or MF I'd always ask my son if he wanted to ride them with me and he would always say no. One evening at the park I was walking to MF while my wife had the kids at Camp Snoopy, she called me and said my son wanted to ride Magnum - I know its "no running" but I made it back to Magnum as quickly as I could before he changed his mind.

We ended up riding Magnum till closing, perhaps 8-10 times in a row. A few weeks later he rode MF, now he will ride just about anything. I'm pretty sure he would ride Sling Shot, I'm the one that is not ready for that one perhaps after a few Saloonshines I may change my mind.

Haha I always hear about people putting thick-soles shoes on their kids to make them taller and get them on larger rides. I'm gonna have to hollow out my son's shoe soles to make him shorter so he can ride Woodstock's Airmail, Peanuts 500, Snoopy's Bounce House, and Wilderness Run. 😜

JHunderhill: We measure with shoes on normally (unless you give us cause to believe that they are adding excessive height) so he should be ok. If he is really close, stop by Guest Services on your way in and get a him officially measured. They will give him a wristband that helps us know he is tall enough if he is really close.

I've used the wristbands from guest relations numerous times, definitely makes it easier getting on the rides when the kids are close to the height requirement.

An interesting thing about this is when my son was right at 52" he was able to ride Windseeker and GK (Banshee as well) - the bar on the height stand barely hit his head but he was able to ride. However, Maverick, TTD and Power Tower he was not able to ride as the bar would slide over his head, just barely over his head but still meaning he wasn't quite tall enough. I went to guest relations and he didn't clear the bar there either, I asked why he was able to ride GK and Windseeker, but none of the other 52" rides. They really didn't have an answer other than he wasn't tall enough to ride any of them according to the height stand at guest relations.

A few weeks or perhaps a month later he was able to ride Maverick and TTD, however Power Tower was still a no go. A few more weeks and he was able to ride all of the 52" rides. We all knew that this was just a temporary issues until he grew a bit more but regardless of all that not all 52" rides are really set at 52". There seems to be about a half inch or so either way of discretion.

Yes! Can't stress enough the luxury of having your child officially measured at Guest Services. It helps everybody out in the long run. Over the years working as a ride host, I have come to find out that people can lose a half inch to a full inch of height from being on their feet all day walking around the park. If your child is just barely 54" at the beginning of the day when you get them officially measured, then you guys try to ride, say Raptor at night (being a 54" height requirement), your child's wristband is proof that they were officially measured earlier in the day.

THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND:
- if your child looks significantly shorter than the height requirement, a ride host may measure them. Ride hosts do this for your child's safety. Not saying we don't trust you, but it happens every single day (multiple times a day), where a parent will put on a false wristband on their child's wrist. For example: a family of 4 (mom, dad, older sibling, younger sibling). Parents will get both kids measured. The older sibling is tall enough to ride everything. Mom or dad will attempt to neatly take off the wristband from the older sibling and then put it on the younger sibling so they can all ride everything together.
- if your child's wristband is wrinkled or sloppy looking whether it be from the water park, or maybe them playing with the wristband, they may also be measured. Ride hosts will assume the scenario I described above.

Maybe they should go to a hand stamp. More cost involved but harder to duplicate or transfer.

JUnderhill said:

An interesting thing about this is when my son was right at 52" he was able to ride Windseeker and GK (Banshee as well) - the bar on the height stand barely hit his head but he was able to ride. However, Maverick, TTD and Power Tower he was not able to ride as the bar would slide over his head, just barely over his head but still meaning he wasn't quite tall enough. I went to guest relations and he didn't clear the bar there either, I asked why he was able to ride GK and Windseeker, but none of the other 52" rides.

One thing to remember is that the human spine compresses throughout the day. Which probably explains why height stands will barely hit his head on some rides and then not on others. Especially if you rode GK and Windseeker in the morning and those other rides were later in the day. The best time to have your child measured at Guest Services is as soon as you enter the park. This of course is not a 100% guarantee because ride hosts have the final say and if your child is too short at the ride entrance or on the platform they have the authority to deny a ride.

And as mentioned above many people do shady things to get a false height on a child. I'm waiting for a day there is an accident and the child had wedges in his shoes or something similar and the parents still try to sue the park. (not CP in particular but any amusement park, it's bound to happen)

This situation wasn't dependent upon how long my son had been walking for, but rather the stands are (at least were at the time) set at slightly different heights. The first time we experienced this we started at GK and he was tall enough for his first ride on it! We then went to Windseeker and rode that, next was Power Tower where he wasn't tall enough. The ride op suggested guest services so we went there directly.

I'm not saying any of this to argue with the park, nor with any workers there - all the folks I talked to that day were great. The rules are there for a reason and anytime our kids are too short to ride something our response has always been to go ride something else while letting them know they'll be tall enough soon. This situation where he could ride some, but not all 52" rides only lasted a month or 2. Not a big deal at all, just an experience we had I wanted to share.

After using it many times I highly recommend anyone with kids who are at a borderline height to go get them wristbands. It definitely saves time throughout the day. The one suggestion that I do have is that they have a measuring place at every entrance, not just at the front of the park.