short stature

[elainer]

I am considering when we can plan a trip to WDW. My son has fibular hemimelia (congenital lack of fibulas) what makes him very short, however that height difference is from the knees down. In a seated position he is about an inch taller than his sister who is the same age. (standing there is a at least a 6 " difference between the two.)

This leaves me with a few questions:
1. I understand that height restrictions are important for safety, but how are they doing that? I'm not arguing with them, merely trying to find out how they function. For example, a carseat booster "for children over x height" may not work for my son because he may not be tall enough by the number, but he may be too tall in the torso for a smaller carseat. That height guide assumes a child has proportional arms/ legs/ torso. Am I making any sense?
2. With these circumstance in mind, might like an accomodation be made for my son's lack of height?

Thanks for any help,

Elaine

 

[lanejudy]

Height restrictions are in place for safety reasons and WDW will not waiver from those. It is measured by how tall a person stands next to the measuring stick, not a seated height or torso height. Car seats or booster seats are not allowed on rides for anyone. Unfortunately, if your son is not tall enough for a ride, there is no accommodation that allows him to ride. I suggest you check-out the FAQ sticky at the top of this board and see which rides have height requirements, and which ones your son will be able to do and plan ahead so it's not a surprise to him at any given attraction.

Enjoy your vacation!

ETA: I didn't want that to sound too negative, and you certainly could ask at Guest Relations if there is an accommodation. But I believe safety standards expect a person to use the full-body to brace oneself.

 

[jmartinez1895]

I am sorry that he will not be able to ride some the thrill rides, but there is still so must stuff that can be done. How tall is he when standing. That will give you good idea about what he will and will not be able to ride. The height rules apply to everyone I read on one site ( it may have been this one) about a guy who was a double leg amputee try get on BTMRR and they would not let him on because he was an inch or so too short.

 

[Jakentysmom]

I would go to guest relations and talk to them about it and maybe if they think he is tall enough in the torso, they could give him a pass or something that will let him bypass the height thing. Good luck

 

[anonymousegirl]

I would go to guest relations and talk to them about it and maybe if they think he is tall enough in the torso, they could give him a pass or something that will let him bypass the height thing. Good luck

I'm sorry to be a negative Nellie, but I think that this is very unlikely to happen. GS have no way of issuing a pass to circumvent attraction height requirements and even if they created one on the spot, the gate and loading CMs at the attractions would not know how to process it.

 

[akcire]

I am considering when we can plan a trip to WDW. My son has fibular hemimelia (congenital lack of fibulas) what makes him very short, however that height difference is from the knees down. In a seated position he is about an inch taller than his sister who is the same age. (standing there is a at least a 6 " difference between the two.)

This leaves me with a few questions:
1. I understand that height restrictions are important for safety, but how are they doing that? I'm not arguing with them, merely trying to find out how they function. For example, a carseat booster "for children over x height" may not work for my son because he may not be tall enough by the number, but he may be too tall in the torso for a smaller carseat. That height guide assumes a child has proportional arms/ legs/ torso. Am I making any sense?
2. With these circumstance in mind, might like an accomodation be made for my son's lack of height?

Thanks for any help,

Elaine

I'm an engineer so I fully understand what you are saying about proper torso length to fit within a safety harness. However when designing safety seats for amusement park rides there are some physical assumptions made by designers and some physics. For at least a couple of the thrill rides there is an assumption that riders can use their braced feet as counterbalances to sustain total body control.

Now that said, I am fairly certain there is no one in guest relations who could over ride any basic rules, too much liability. If you want to make a case for an exception I would work on it from home. Is there a support group for fibular hemimelia you could work with to contact Disney? Honestly I think the answer will be no, but you have to decide if its a fight worth fighting. Also is he close enough to the cut off to wear lifts? Sort of cheating if you just put the on to walk on roller coaster lines but everyone has to make their own choices.

 

[Joanna71985]

I do not recommend cheating on height. The height limit is there for a reason

 

[wheels on fire]

Hi not quite same reason but my son legs are out of proportion to his torso and I have been in email contact with Disney and been told that due to safety reason its about bracing themselves even though upper body more normal size

Oh and lifts that slide into a shoe would not work as they can move around within the shoe and cause problems on rides as the force on foot presses on them and can end up painful .

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

I'm just curious if someone is 18 and under 52" would the CM's turn a blind eye to them driving one of the cars on the Tomorowland Speedway if they should them there drivers licence as proof of their age?

 

[dawnball]

I'm just curious if someone is 18 and under 52" would the CM's turn a blind eye to them driving one of the cars on the Tomorowland Speedway if they should them there drivers licence as proof of their age?

I don't see how they'd be able to reach the pedal, particularly not with sufficient force.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

can not drive the cars if you can not reach the pedal. can not push pedal then car will not move

 

[SueM in MN]

I don't see how they'd be able to reach the pedal, particularly not with sufficient force.

That pedal is also very hard to push down, so I agree that even if the cn reach it, they may not be able to use enough force to press it enough to keep the car going.

There are some attractions with height restrictions where being able to push with the legs is very important in bing ble to maintain position - the one that is most problematic is Primeval Whirl.

Here is a link to a height calculator on the DIS site:
http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/height.htm

If you leave it with 35 inches as the height and hit submit, it will give a list of the height restrictions for all attractions. If he is at least 40 inches tall, there are mny things he would be tall enough for and if he is at least 48, he would still be able to ride almost everything.

The only theme park attractions with 48 inch requirement are:
Animal Kingdom Primeval Whirl 48"
Hollywood Studios Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith 48"

There are a couple with 44inches:
Epcot Mission Space 44"
Magic Kingdom Space Mountain 44"
Animal Kingdom Expedition Everest 44"

The rest are 40 inches or less

 

[mrsxsparrow]

I am sorry that he will not be able to ride some the thrill rides, but there is still so must stuff that can be done. How tall is he when standing. That will give you good idea about what he will and will not be able to ride. The height rules apply to everyone I read on one site ( it may have been this one) about a guy who was a double leg amputee try get on BTMRR and they would not let him on because he was an inch or so too short.

If he was a double leg amputee and was not wearing any sort of prosthetics, the issue is less likely is height and more likely his lack of lower extremities.

Not to sound callus or anything.

But without any lower extremities there's nothing to hold him under that lap bar.

 

[gilesmt]

This is what we did, we collected the cards they give out, sometimes you have to ask for them, for when a child is not tall enough. The cards are like fast passes. We collected them, year after year after year, then finally got to use them, it a allows the child and family to go on the ride together, so no need for a lot of fast passes. We had a few years that we got to really celebrate, unlike other families who it is not such a big deal, when we got to celebrate it was a big deal. I think she went on mattahorn 25 times when she was finally old enough, I think she was 5 and the height was 40 inches. I think she was almost 8 when we hit the 44 inches and we had probably 50 cards for space mountain and she made us use each one,I think she was 13 when she finally hit 48 inches and we must have had 100 cards for screaming and Everest.we can thank god she made it to 4'9", she can finally go on ever ride in Disney, but not so at other parks.

We feel your pain, not sure if Disney will ever do anything to help, it is a safety issue, so collect those cards in the hope that some day he will be able to ride and you will have pockets full of them and be able to use them and celebrate bigger than other families that year.