Fat Profiling

[disneysteve]

Like car seat belts?

Kevin, I know a lot of obese people who can't wear seat belts.

I'm a little disappointed the ride isn't a bit more family friendly.

I agree. Until the reviews started coming in, I had no idea that FJ was a thrill ride. I expected a motion simulator ride of some sort but something that most everyone could ride, like Star Tours.

 

[dalt01]

are they individual cars or part of a group of cars hooked together? if it is a group it may be a "total" weight per "set" that impacts the performance of the ride. like weight problems on a commercial airplane. maybe they are working on a weight distribution plan. dont know never seen em.

 

[safetymom]

There are 4 seats together that is supposed to resemble a bench. I don't think it is based on total weight. It seems to be if you get a green light with the harness down you are good to go. If you don't or they have to force it you can't ride.

 

[WaltD4Me]

are they individual cars or part of a group of cars hooked together? if it is a group it may be a "total" weight per "set" that impacts the performance of the ride. like weight problems on a commercial airplane. maybe they are working on a weight distribution plan. dont know never seen em.

It's a group car. Four seats together. Not a straight bench type seat though. Four indiviual seats in a line together.

I hope this okay to post...this is a picture someone posted on the
DIS Universal boards. It's the picture you can buy at the end of the ride, like on RNR or Everest.

 

[Shih-Tzu]

Pooo - I was thinking of taking a day from WDW this time and actually venture off-property to Universal BECAUSE of the Harry Potter - the books and movies have been some of my favourites over the last few years...but I'm not paying for something that I can't ride...

 

[safetymom]

Outside the attraction.

 

[mefordis]

Thanks for the picture. It looks like there is not much room in that harness!

One troubling thing - these riders look bored!

It's a group car. Four seats together. Not a straight bench type seat though. Four indiviual seats in a line together.

I hope this okay to post...this is a picture someone posted on the
DIS Universal boards. It's the picture you can buy at the end of the ride, like on RNR or Everest.

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

LOL, the one all the way on the left of the picture looks asleep.

 

[serinlea]

Outside the attraction.

Not sure how helpful those are as there are reports of people fitting into these test seats but being prevented from riding by TM's. Apparently the harness has to come down the proper distance (whatever that is) without being pushed on by either the patron or a TM. Any way to judge THAT from the test seat?

 

[DrMomof3]

I'm very disappointed because I doubt I'll ever get to Universal now. I'm a huge HP fan and at 5'2", I'd be fine for the ride. But my DH is 6'4" and big (not obese, just built like a linebacker!), he certainly won't be allowed on the ride. My kids are too small for the ride. The only reason my DH would consider going to Universal is for HP. If he can't go on the "big" ride, I'll never convince him to go!

I was sort-of hoping for a weekend trip to Universal for my 40th birthday but I guess we'll change that to Epcot's Food and Wine instead.... (Not that Food and Wine is a bad 2nd choice - Yum!)

Amanda

 

[serinlea]

He means that there are plenty of rides that large people can't ride at CP, too. Not all rides are made to hold every single person on the planet.

This sounds even more restrictive than Cedar Point, though. Every ride there held my 5'11"/245 husband just fine...but here they're pulling aside 5'8"/235?

 

[wishspirit]

Especially when this is such a high profile attraction and the only new ride for that area. The difference between this and Cedar Point is that a lot of CP rides are for a particular audience (people who love hardcore thrill rides). Cedar Point is known nationally for having one of the largest (if not The Largest) collection of really intense rollercoasters in the world. Most people, even larger sized rollercoaster enthusiasts, know that there is some trade off between having something be bigger, faster, and more intense and having it be more universally accommodating for riders. It's an unfortunate reality, but one that's pretty easy to grasp. Cedar Point wants to maintain its status as the rollercoaster capital, and so it's going to keep putting out more rides that are more and more restrictive. Fair enough, especially since the intensity of their rides rule out a large segment of the population that do meet their size, height and health restrictions. It's just the nature of that genre.

The Harry Potter fandom, however, attracts people of all heights, BMIs, ages, states of health, and tolerance for thrill rides. One would think that if you were to only to create one new ride for a land you want to appeal to fans of with as wide of a range of backgrounds and profiles as possible. Obviously, just about any ride they create is going to have some sort of restriction, but to make it so narrow excludes an unusually large section of their target audience. That's not smart business, especially when it's possible to create a good ride without relying on technology that would force so many restrictions into place. It's really hard to honestly market the WWoHP at families when the one original ride could end up excluding half or more of the family. Again, I think I'd feel differently if this ride wasn't their show piece or if they were building another rollercoaster, but that's not what this is.

I don't think the creators went out of their way to exclude anyone obviously, but I think it shows poor design when these sort of factors are not considered early in the design phase.

Absolutely! This isn't just any old ride, this is a ride for one of the biggest, most hyped franchises in the world!! I am disappointed not only in it's lack of ability to suit as many people as possible (Universal and the ride designers should be ashamed! There were plenty of options for a Harry Potter themed ride, did it HAVE to be so restrictive?!?), but I am also annoyed this is not more family friendly. The boys I babysit have read all the Harry Potter books by the age of 7 (however much their parents tried to slow them down) and would love to ride something like this, but it sounds like they could not handle this kind of intensity! Disney does a fantastic line in family friendly rides, why couldn't they of taken a leaf out of their book?!?!

 

[DiRTyBuNNy]

Disney does a fantastic line in family friendly rides, why couldn't they of taken a leaf out of their book?!?!

Because they're Universal but if WWoHP is a failure I lay just as much blame at the feet of JKR because with her absolute control she could have went with Disney and seen a beautiful and faithful reproduction of her vision not just facades, shopping and a ride a huge swath of the population can't even get on.

--DB

 

[TheTXTaylors5]

LOL, the one all the way on the left of the picture looks asleep.

lol

The one on the left looks like ... get me off this thing!

DH is 6'5". So, this ride is a "No Go" for him alone on height. Which is a shame because we talked about venturing away from WDW for the FIRST time next year to visit Universal. The only reason was to visit the WWoHP. However, if DH can't ride, I don't want to go. We'll wait until they "fix" this problem. As I assume there WILL be backlash and modifications sometime in the future.

I was shocked to hear that Pete wasn't allowed on the ride. We saw him at the ABD California Trip. He's NOT fat. He's actually lost a lot of weight. Also, to pull people out of line and humiliate them to test them in the seat will surely ruin some people's vacation. This is a PR nightmare. I understand they can't make the seats to fit EVERY size. But, it sounds like if you are even a little overweight, you can't ride. Shame on you Universal!

Jennifer

 

[lady danger]

I have very mixed feelings about this. I think the problem is arising partly due to the public's demands for ever-increasing thrills in theme park rides. People just aren't attracted to calm boat rides like small world or no-thrill rides like Dumbo anymore. They want to be twisted, turned, flipped, scared and more. The problem is, not everyone is physically cut out to ride those types of rides. I'm not an engineer but is probably pretty tough to design a seat and safety harness that would properly secure both a normal-sized rider and an obese rider without being too loose for one and too tight for the other.

I disagree on two points. First, I don't think there's as much of a unanimous chorus for something more thrilling as there is for just something new and different. In the cases of thrill rides, that might be more turns, flips, and scares, but if we're talking about just rides in general it could just as easily mean something more immersive and interactive with something like Toy Story Mania. Thrill rides tend to be geared toward particular audiences as they're not for everyone. I'm personally a big fan of them, but I've even known plenty of teenage boys (which is probably the prime demographic for that kind of attraction) that refuse to ride them because of their intensity. I remember going to Six Flags with my family as a teen and being the only person out of the five willing to ride most of the rides as even my two brothers were too intimidated to ride (ages 11 and 16 at the time). I had the same experience with many friends, all in their late teens or 20s. My current travel buddy barely humors me on Disney's tamed down versions of thrill rides and usually has her eyes closed the entire time when I can get her to go. Thrill rides can rule out a lot of people even when there aren't any size or health restrictions. That isn't a case not to build them as they obviously are wildly popular with some people, but it does mean that this isn't the only source of demand to answer to or the only open avenue to creating a new, groundbreaking successful attraction.

Secondly, given that Disney's been successful building Rock n Rollercoaster, Expedition Everest, Tower of Terror, and Star Tours without using restraint systems that drasticly limit the ride's accessibility, it seems obvious to me that Universal could have built Forbidden Journey in a more inclusive way without sacrificing much (if any) of the ride's current experience had they had that objective from the start. *(this isn't to say that all rides can be safely created without restrictive safety systems of course, but even RnR goes upside down and it managed without) *I think this is one of those situations where the old adage "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" applies. *Had Universal been more conscientious about casting as wide of a net as possible in terms of ride accessibility from the beginning of the design stages, they likely could have designed ride vehicles that could safely accommodate a wider range of body shapes and sizes. *But now that they're dealing with it more after the fact (or even half way into the project) it may be too difficult or too costly to greatly improve this deficit. * I think what we're seeing here is a failure of priorities among the rides' designers and engineers.

 

[disneysteve]

given that Disney's been successful building Rock n Rollercoaster, Expedition Everest, Tower of Terror, and Star Tours without using restraint systems that drasticly limit the ride's accessibility,

How are those Disney rides at accommodating overweight guests? Can someone who is 5'10" and 230lbs comfortably ride all of them? How about someone who is 6'5"? I'm asking seriously. I'm sure TOT isn't a problem as there is no shoulder harness. Same with Star Tours. But what about RnR?

 

[DrMomof3]

How are those Disney rides at accommodating overweight guests? Can someone who is 5'10" and 230lbs comfortably ride all of them? How about someone who is 6'5"? I'm asking seriously. I'm sure TOT isn't a problem as there is no shoulder harness. Same with Star Tours. But what about RnR?

My DH is 6'4" and 280 lbs. He's successfully ridden all of the rides you mentioned and enjoyed them. (But I'm little so what do I know! )

Amanda

 

[lady danger]

How are those Disney rides at accommodating overweight guests? Can someone who is 5'10" and 230lbs comfortably ride all of them? How about someone who is 6'5"? I'm asking seriously. I'm sure TOT isn't a problem as there is no shoulder harness. Same with Star Tours. But what about RnR?

I fit those dimensions (almost anyway, I'm a little over 5'8) and I had no problems riding RnR. But also I think you're stepping too far and equating comfort and ability. Comfort is a widely varied metric. You could put two identically sized and shaped individuals in the same space and come out with two different opinions on how comfortable something was. That's a personal issue and people can make those decisions for themselves. But with FJ, that decision is made for you. From all reports, the shoulder harnesses for FJ are smaller and more restrictive than RnR, even though RnR goes faster and if I'm not mistaken, does more gravity defying tricks. And unlike at Disney, riders aren't given the opportunity to decide if a slightly uncomfortable harness on a 5'10 230 frame is worth the ride, they're turned away if the harness won't click without much help. That doesn't happen on RnR.

 

[TheTXTaylors5]

How are those Disney rides at accommodating overweight guests? Can someone who is 5'10" and 230lbs comfortably ride all of them? How about someone who is 6'5"? I'm asking seriously. I'm sure TOT isn't a problem as there is no shoulder harness. Same with Star Tours. But what about RnR?

DH is 6'5" and over 230 lbs. He has yet to find a ride at WDW he CAN'T ride including Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. Now, there are some attractions where the leg room is not ideal for someone 6'5" (Space Mountain comes to mind.). But, he has never been pulled out of a queue to see if he fits the attraction seat. That is honestly what shocked and annoyed me about the new attraction at WWoHP.

Jennifer

 

[mefordis]

I just wanted to add that there are a lot of carnival midway rides that don't seem like they would be very accommodating for larger people.

When I was pregnant I got a taste of what it would be like to have a belly and try to ride some of those rides. At Hershey Park, too. And I think there was one at Sea World that just went back and forth smoothly and that bar didn't lock if someone had a belly.

Just thought I'd mention this because this is making me think of a lot of examples where larger riders are not accommodated.