Singling out large people?

At six flags darien lake they made all the seat belts on the front seats of all the cars longer and they try to sugest to all the people of larger size to sit in the front seats of all the cars and it seems to have worked out fine. I think all the parks should do this

Its not always a weight issue. People who have large shoulders sometimes do not fit. Its different with everyone. You could be the same weight as your friend but carry it in different places. Its a different fit for everyone. Im 6'3" and the harnesses on corkscrew hurt the top of my shoulders, im not fat by any streach of the imagination. BUT its really uncomfortable.

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Mantis 2002
Broken Down Blue Ride 2001

True Masked marauder. My brother who once was a amature body builder could not fit in a coaster at Boblo (Can't recall the name). His chest was too big and the harness wouldn't click (I must add it gave him a big head and not hurt feelings ;) ). He was not FAT by any means either. It's next to impossible to design a ride to fit every single body type.

Yes, the rules for how far the harness has to come down on Corkscrew has changed this year. The whole reason is because of the Perilious Plunge incident. Another reason is incase an axel breaks while the train is going through the loop and a large guest is stuck upsidedown with all the weight pushing the harness upward. To ensure safety on Corkscrew, the harness has to come down at least an inch from the bar on the side of the car. If there is a larger gap, the person is not permitted to ride.

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Corkscrew Crew 2002
http://www.msu.edu/~kemppai8/ --- My stupid website

I'm right on the edge of not fitting on WT. Sometimes after lunch and a few brewskis it's an extremely close call. What I have found is this: That test seat at the entrance to the WT line is harder to fit in than the seats on the actual ride.

I'm routinely asked at the WT entrance, "Have you been on this ride before?" or "Have you been on this ride today?" I usually reply, "Yeah about (how many times I've been on it up to that point, about 50 plus now." Once when I was asked, I looked at the ride worker and said, "Look I know you're asking me that because you think I'm too fat to ride this thing, but ...." I think the ride worker was a little embarraased. Oh well. I don't blame the ride ops for doing there jobs, but it does create some awkward situations.

Last October, I was ordered off the Mantis. It was fairly cool that day and I was layered up. Had I removed a fleece I would've fit, but the ride worker was very insistent that I get off. I was very unhappy and took it up with the powers that be; I later received a semi-apologetic letter. Between the lines, I think it said, "Loose some weight LardButt (just kidding)."

All I know is this: Being a little on the big side can really get in the way of thrill seeking.t
*** This post was edited by meanspirit(not really) 9/25/2002 3:02:34 PM ***

I rode WT on Sunday and had no problems with the test seat, but had a horrible time with my actual seat. I think it was the angle I was at since I ran into a similar problem when I sat lake-side on MF. I couldn't manage the belt, but I could when I sat park-side. It was rather odd, but my riding partner was fine with letting me sit in the right seat.

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E Blitz Entertainment
Bay City, Michigan
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Coasters at Cedar Point I've been told I can't ride bu have since then: Disaster transport, Raptor, Millennium Force, Blue streak.

Coaster I can't ride but tryed: Wicked Twister, Corkscrew.

Coasters I've never tryed: Woodstock's Express, Jr. Gemini.

BTW, I'm 6'5" 42" waist About a bit over 300LB's [don't get any mental images, cuase I'm not THAT fat] I've been lifting, and running a couple times a week, I hope to get into shape soon without gaining *Too* much muscle mass.
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House of Tomorrow: Only technology makes live worth living

No offense, but don't read in to things too much. All the ride host was doing was their job. Who do you think is responsible if something were to happen on the ride? Cedar Point would rather refund a ticket then to pay legal fees because someone who couldn't fit in to the restraint was let on "just one time."

I agree with you ddog. It's not that Cedar Point, or the ride operators for that matter, are out to get anyone. The fact is, Cedar Point has become stricter with thier safty issues for numerous reasons. How can you fault a park that is more concerned about your safty than you seem to be. I can promise you one thing, it is just as hard for the ride op to ask someone to exit the ride. In no way do we want to take away your privledge to ride. I absolutely hated telling people that they couldn't ride, but I would never send a train away with someone who isn't riding safely. As far as the ride operator who works at WT, what you said about her was flat out rude. I know that it may seem like we are drones, but we arn't. What we are is people. I know who you are talking about and I know that she visits this site often. As far as letting people ride "just because they work here" that is a stupid notion. As I stated before I would never send a train away with someone who isn't riding safely, no matter who it is.

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~Sabrina~
2001 Gemini
2002 Gemini/Corkscrew/Live E: Hooray for Hollywood

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masked_marauder said:
...On mantis this year we had to get them in and NOT shove the harness down. It also had to click atleast two times, one doesn't count anymore.

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That's funny cause on Riddler at SFMM they used to have a three click minimum before the crtch belts were installed. One click on any B&M is pretty high.

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Future CP Ride op?

This season I saw a woman in front of me on the Raptor sitting with her rump ON the ARM RESTS of the seat!!! She wasn't down in the seat at all. As I looked up, just as the train was leaving the station ... in front of me was a large woman. I told my daughter, "Look... she's not even in her seat!" (quietly enough so my daughter understood...basically hand gestures, but so the woman couldn't hear me) My daughter and I were both shocked that she was able to go through the ride like that. I will NEVER forget that. I was VERY VERY VERY surprised that she was allowed to ride. I don't know what happened to safety THAT day!!!

I'm glad that there is more restrictions when it comes to safety issues at Cedar Point. I've only noticed it this past season... but Cedar Point is doing a great job! (well...with that one exception on the Raptor!)

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OldCPer said:

He can fit into everything else at CP, although at SFGAm he could not ride V2 or Deja Vu, and was literally squished into Batman and Giant Drop, so I don't think it's just CP trying to "single out" large people.

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Was the reason he couldnt get on Deja-Vu because of his height? At 6ft 4in. I guess he would just be over the limit. However, his weight wouldnt have been a factor because the good thing about DV's seating is that its *very* roomy. I have seen 300lbs plus individuals get on this coaster without a problem.

Yes, it's primarily his height and shoulders/chest. He tried V2, and same as WT, was just shy of being able to latch the seatbelt. He didn't try Deja Vu due to the height restriction and the fact that the seats looked very similar to V2.

We were especially surprised at the extremely tight fit on Batman. He needed help with the restraint, something he does not need for Raptor. And if it weren't for the big, burly ride op on the Giant Drop who literally threw his weight into the restraint, that would have been a no-go as well.

It's very disappointing because even if he loses weight (and he's far from being fat!) there is no guarantee he'll be able to fit into these rides due to his broad chest and shoulders.

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I'd rather die living than live like I'm dead

I dont think that the ride ops are intentionally doing that, but they want to keep the riders safety and if they think that the rider is a little overweight than they have the authority to have them get off, but if they do it to imbarrass the person, it just isnt right. They should still make sure to keep the high safety standards that CP has.

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Welcome to the Magnum XL-200, the coaster featured most on the Discovery Channel.

I feel that way too... I would really like to take my uncle for a day to CP, he is a 'larger' person

On the plus side, I have also noticed rides like Raptor have a few seats that are made a little larger, to fit these people. However, not all of them do and I definitely sympathize for them.

Yesterday a lady couldn't fit into Blue Streak. Now, I know Blue Streak doesn't have the most "rider friendly" seats, but it wasn't that the lapbar couldn't come down, the seatbelt was too short. Is this a common problem on Blue Streak?

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Turkeys, the only animal smarter than man

Speaking of ride ops not doing there jobs. I was at CP about 4 years ago and some ride op on the Blue Streak let on a 350 lbs lady in the back car. She had the back seat all to herself (I wonder why). The ride started out and up the lift hill. When the ride neared the top of the lift hill the ride just quit. The made everyone get out of the rollercoaster and walk back down the stairs. The overweight lady could not get out due to lapbar getting stuck. After a maintence tech went up and released the lapbar she still could not balance herself to get out. They had to get a lift crane up to the lady and lift her out. All this was going on while I stood in line for the Raptor for 1 1/2 hours in the blazing sun.. Talk about a sunburn...

Blue Streak has a couple of seats with short seat belts. Don't know why. Same thing happened to Steph and I on Roar at SFA. One row, plenty of slack, next one, only a child could strap in.

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Jeff
Webmaster/GTTP
Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com
"There's nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, when it's all in your mind. You gotta let go." - Ghetto, Supreme Beings of Leisure

Millennium Michael, your's must have been an exceptional case. Not all employees are rude. And when it comes to larger guests or children that are to small to ride for that matter, it's very hard for me to turn them down. I can understand how a larger guest would feel. I'm not by any means a small person. I could use to lose another 50 lbs on top of what I've already lost. And no employees do not get special treatment. I tried to ride Blues Streak at the very beginning of last season and was denied because of my childbearing hips. I wasn't able to ride until August and by then I had lost 30 to 40 lbs

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Annie

CP & LE RR Crew '01
Swings and Swans/CP & LE RR '02

As you can see from my signature, I used to work at the Mean Streak. Talk about nobody being able to fit! It is a very small ride, just like the Blue Streak, and some of MS's seatbelts are very short. I felt horrible when I had to turn people away, but I was always patient and nice about it. There was one time however where a man screamed at my supervisor for about 45 minutes before she called for someone else to talk to him. He was upset because his wife was too big to ride and was turned away. He thought we were stupid for not having seatbelt extensions like other parks, despite repeated efforts for my sup to tell him that it was NOT SAFE. She was nearly in tears calling for more help. Two other (male) sups came to talk to him and he was still yelling and saying it was their fault for the next hour and a half. Instead of enjoying his day, he spent nearly 2 hours complaining about something that neither he nor we had any control over. MS is a tricky one. Sometimes you don't have to be that big, but if you just have big hips you might not fit. We used to be able to pull at the seatbelts and push down hard on the lap bars to fasten them, but after the incident at Perilous Plunge the rules changed. We are no longer allowed to assist guests in that manner, if they want to ride they need to be able to fasten it around themselves.
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2000 - Mean Streak/Magnum
2001 - Mean Streak ATL
2002 - Magnum TL