Seats for Larger Riders

I know this has already been discussed but it needs to come into consideration.

Yesterday we were at CP for our school field trip. I have a classmate who is a great guy. He is 250+ pounds and he wanted to ride the roller coasters. He first started at Raptor and fitted into the test seat fine. He waited in line for 45 minutes and then he wasn't let onto the ride. The same happened after waiting for Magnum and then he saw the sign that says "Guests with excessive weight may not ride." He fit in the test seat for Millennium Force test seat and waited an hour and a half. He got to the station and then wasn't alowd to ride. Most likely he had a miserable time. Not that Cedar Point isn't fun without the coasters, it's because he wanted to ride the coasters so much. For every ride we went on, someone waited outside with him to keep him company. I think he was let on Corkscrew but I'm not sure.

I think that CP should take special seats for larger riders into consideration.

Again.. this boils down to a simple matter of $$$.. design of a larger seat.. tooling for making them.. making them.. and then once you place them on a train, will they be safe for a smaller rider if they are needed.

Seats for coasters are generally designed for slightly larger than average people, and it tends to fit about 80%-90% of the population. In the end, remember all these companies, the parks, the ride companies, are in this to make money and they have to look at their bottom line in costs.

B&M does make some larger seats for their stand-ups and inverts bt it's up to each park as to if they will order some. Again is a smaller guest going to be safe in such a seat? if it allows too much room, a park will generally opt not to get the seats for sheer capacity reasons which then inpack profits As much as we like to think they do this because they love us, it's a bussiness and they are in it for the money.

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MF 2000 - 269 laps

MF 2001 - 59 laps as of (5/28/01)

I'm 6'1" 260 and never had a problem at cp or any other park or coaster. How tall is your friend? The main thing on millenium force is when people test out the seat I don't think they fasten the seat belt. The seat belt is smaller than you think. Did he do that? The other thing I saw on some b&m's was that the restraint had to be down a certian number of clicks. They don't say that on the test seat.

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"Nippy!! Where the hell are ya?"

I think the real question is why did the test seat work, but not the real thing?

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VirtualMidway
http://www.virtualmidway.com

I think "S" has it.. most people don't try the seatbelts.. they limit the it alot..

Does the Raptor test east have a seatbelt?? don't remember.. but that belt does limit how far the harness can come down. Granted the harness will actually latch before the seatbelt will engage.. and the belts on MF are even worse...

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MF 2000 - 269 laps

MF 2001 - 59 laps as of (5/28/01)

Which would show me why I should not start a reply and post 20 minutes later ... I may miss follow ups :)

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VirtualMidway
http://www.virtualmidway.com

Bigger seats for Bigger people? I don't think that will happen. I know I am pretty big and I fit on Millennium Force. On the force you have to have a waist of 42inches (or be able to suck it in). I don't think they will change that.

Magnum, with its trains, the lapbars start to "click" a very short time after pulling them down. So most big people can fit in them. Its the same on Corkscrew. Your friend must have been pretty large to not fit.

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You are the Weakest Link, Goodbye.

if its just the seat belts not being long enough not the lap bars why can't they just get bigger seat belts? How much would that really cost?

You have to compromise here, if the seats get bigger, small people won't be able to ride. I think the numbers are more on the small peoples side, so the seats wont be enlarged more.

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Crady Crady!! CRADY CRADY!!

That is true about the smaller riders. Are Millennium Force's seat belts adjustable? That might have been the problem. Adjustable seat belts might work. I found out that he is 295 pounds. Anybody know someone that large who can fit into the rides?

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Accogliere favorevdmente indietro i riders di Raptor, come stato il vostro volo?!

Yes they are adjustable.. up to a point.. they are only so long.. I think the only belts in the park that are NOT adjustable are Raptor.. Mantis.. and Power Tower..
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MF 2000 - 269 laps

MF 2001 - 59 laps as of (5/28/01)

Power Tower is pretty forgivable more so than the B&M belts of the same type. I realize why Cedar Point and many other parks for that matter use seat belts but it seems as if the restraints sometimes are protecting the rider, but since the seat belt isnt bucking, thats why a person gets left out. Now, someone explain to me why Superman:The Escape has the same lapbars as MF, yet can run without seatbelts? Same type of seat and restraint, I dont get it.

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Adventuredome Ride Op 2000 - present
Future CP Ride op?

It's in the way you carry your weight, remember some people have hips, butt, and thick thighs/legs which is bad for lap bars and some have a gut or broad shoulders which is bad for OTSR's

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Adventuredome Ride Op 2000 - present
Future CP Ride op?

The thing about the "enlarged" B&M seats is that they are not really enlarged. The seat belts just allow for larger riders (they have two belts). Intamin has this for larger and smaller riders (three belts) on it's suspended coasters. These systems of having different seat belts on the non adjustable rides is cheap, and can accommodate both large and small riders. So why hasn't CP implemented this system?

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2001 park line up:

Cedar Point: June 1(canceled), 2, 3, 11, July 4-5

Soak City: July 3

My fiance is 6'6" and 300 pounds and he fits on all rides except for Raptor so it must be how you carry your weight. Also he has a 48" waist so MF seat belts must fit larger than a 42" waist and he doesn't have to 'suck it in' to ride it.

Here I am !!! Resident fat chick!! and of course I have something to say!!
Well. I have about a fortytwo,or three inch waist/gut. This is where I carry all of my weight. I rode it all. But I did see a couple of girls with much smaller waists than mine get turned out at BS..because they had butt for days..couldn't seem to wedge it all in the seats. My theory is that it is not what you weigh but how you are built. (I am personally waiting for a ride-op to tell me that pregnant chicks arent allowed to ride) (hee-hee)

I have to agree that these rides are made for average sized people, mainly kids,,,so for them to enlarge the seats would be rather dumb. But maybe someone could invent a train that had two larger seats on it and then the rest normal sized?! That would put us fat people at ease....though I personally would be embarrassed to be the one riding in it! (as if the world couldn't tell I belonged there or something) Oh well!

My $0.02

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Feeling kruggie cause I'm not at the Point.

I didn't do to bad this year at the Point. I did need a little push on my two Raptor flights. I have the double whammy of broad shoulders and a bit of a beer gut (ok... I've built myself an impressive overhang for my tool ;) ) MF wasn't bad, but the first ride I needed help because I was actually trying to put the belt over my gut instead of nearer my crotch area. After I figured that out the other 3 rides were "help free".

The only other problems I had were due to the crampedness of the leg room on many of the coasters, particualrly Mine Ride. Cross my ankles? Hell, I needed my legs loped of at the knee to be comfortable! LOL I even sat in the front of a train and that didn't help. :( Oh well, I'll still ride it since it's a fav of mine.

-Eric

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E Blitz Entertainment
Bay City, Michigan
A Division of LCA Entertainment
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jjfang brings up a problem that I have had....

I am 44 inches in my waist and have not had any problems getting in coasters. I do make sure I have the belts up when I slide in. That helps alot.

My problem is with leg room. I am 6'5 and ALWAYS have problems with my legs. I understand that they do not want to make seats larger for safety reasons but how about some leg room?

I about cry when I get off the Corkscrew. That is made for a medium sized female, imo.

I hear you, putergeek. My biggest problems with leg room are WildCat (where sitting in the back is impossible) and Mine Ride (which I haven't tried in several years because of past experience). I've been told there's a trick for tall people riding Mine Ride, but I haven't tried it yet.

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VirtualMidway
http://www.virtualmidway.com

*** This post was edited by Gemini on 6/4/2001. ***

The trick they announced over the PA, and Natalie can confirm or deny this, is to sit alone and cross your ankles. This helped a little bit, but it was still a knee banger for me. I'm 6' and carry a lot of my heigth in my legs.
-Eric

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E Blitz Entertainment
Bay City, Michigan
A Division of LCA Entertainment
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