Fitting on Universal Rides

[Queen2PrincessG]

I read this article this morning and it made me really upset. Not only do I disagree with her, I find it appalling that she would post about someone else weight loss goals in such a ridiculing fashion. Doesn't matter why the person wants to lose weight. In no way shape or form do I believe that Universal is fat shaming within ride design, it's pure safety! It thinks she's just upset with herself.

//www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kicked-off-harry-potter-ride-fat_us_5af09fbfe4b041fd2d2992c9

 

[bumbershoot]

If she’d done a smidgen of research she would have known this already. Wizarding World has been open for 8 years now, right?

 

[Queen2PrincessG]

If she’d done a smidgen of research she would have known this already. Wizarding World has been open for 8 years now, right?

I thought that too!

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

While I agree that the ride seat design should have been better at the beginning, Universal tried to make it better with the modified seats. I'm not sure there is any ride that could literally handle any possible weight, but my doctor mentioned the other day that the average US woman is now a size 16, so it doesn't seem unreasonable that size is taken into consideration when rides are developed.

I have several problems with this particular account. This person should have tried the seat outside, and, barring that, I'm surprised that the ride attendants didn't pull her aside at the test seat inside the ride if she looked borderline. I've never seen them pull everyone off a ride vehicle - they know which person has the issue. Even if they were pulled off to try a test seat, there would have been no reason to go to the beginning of the line...there is one at the tail end of the line. Plus, if you are friendly about it, the TMs are more than willing to help, if they can. If you ask nicely, the one at the test seat will let you experiment a little - sit up higher, push your butt back further, squeeze arms in, etc.

I will say that I really appreciated it when the TMs would push on the restraint. I have wrist issues, and I have had trouble a few times getting it to go quite far enough because of the angle you have to push down if you don't get it far enough on the first try.

 

[Helvetica]

I've done the walk of shame quite a few times. It sucks, but I was never angry at the ride operators or the engineers who made the ride. Usually the kids operating the ride would do everything in their power to make me fit, but sometimes it just wasn't meant to be. I'm sorry that this happened to her, I've been there.

When I could no longer fit in my favorite ride that I could always ride, it was a bit of a wake up call for me. It wasn't the only factor, but since then I've dropped over 109 pounds, which may be closer to 115 or 120 (I don't know my max). I wanted to be able to ride all the rides at my local Six Flags and I was also really worried about Pandora. My first weight loss goal was to be able to ride every ride at my local park. I was able to accomplish that and ride all the rides at Six Flags. I also wanted to be able to ride Pandora and to be able to ride a horse at Disney World if I wanted to (250 including any clothing is the max to ride a horse at Disney World) before my trip this past January. I lost 80+ pounds by then and I rode everything without problem.

Maybe they could have engineered that ride to make larger people fit, but in my experience it would probably not be very pleasant. Rides where I could barely fit at 290 pounds and 6'2" hurt like hell. I don't know this particular ride, but I'm guessing it's fairly intense if it had shoulder restraints.

I'm still losing now, but it's much slower. I was in the obese BMI category and now I'm in the normal category. I'm wearing clothes that I wore in high school and I haven't felt this good since I was a 1L in law school when I was running triathlons. Not only can I ride all of the rides, but rides are much more comfortable and the roller coasters don't hurt anymore. I can also sleep a lot better and walk a lot further. When I was 290 there is no way I could have walked over 100 miles at Disney World, but I did that in January.

Maybe she thinks I'm silly for using the experience of not being able to ride a ride to take stock in my own health, but it provided some much needed motivation, showed me in a physical way that I had a problem and provided a goal that I could actually see. Even when I could start riding those rides again, I then wanted to be able to have more and more clicks. Maybe it's silly, but it worked for me.

The last time I went in to see my doctor she didn't recognize me and there was a computer error because I lost so much weight.

My goal now is to get to 116 pounds lost. Which would be 40% of my starting weight. I'm not sure if I will stay there or if it will eliminate the last bit of belly-fat, but I just want to see if I can hit it.

 

[skylock]

"She asked us to try out the test seat and my friends all looked over at me because I was obviously the fat one who caused our current predicament."

That pretty much said it all for me.

But seriously, where does she want it to stop and you are simply too fat to fit? 400, 500, 600?

I learned a good lesson about safety bars on rides when I was in high school. I went to a fun fair with a friend who was let's say large. We got on a ride with a lap bar. Needless to say, the bar came no where near my lap and I came close to being thrown from the ride. I was literally almost upside down with my friend holding on to me by the time the ride stopped.

If the rule is three clicks or you can't ride, accept it and move on.

I can just imagine the article if she fell out.

 

[macraven]

I always consider the source that is putting out those type of articles.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Wow, reading that article makes me want to throw up in my mouth a bit...

"Exclusion makes me... believe I'm at fault for not fitting into this ride instead of recognizing that rides should accommodate all people’s bodies."
Um, you are at fault in this instance (not the case for those whose proportions (height, chest size) preclude certain rides). As a formerly obese person, I never blamed a ride for my inability to fit, and much as someone may not want to admit it, their weight is in their hands.

She sounds so self absorbed. Heaven forbid we make a ride safe for a child to go on. Guess all the rides should be like the Hogwarts Express so no size guests are excluded.

 

[bumbershoot]

I've never seen them pull everyone off a ride vehicle - they know which person has the issue.

Agreed. My husband hasn't been able to ride FJ, but the two times he's tried only he was sent off. Not me and our son.

'm wearing clothes that I wore in high school and I haven't felt this good since I was a 1L in law school when I was running triathlons. Not only can I ride all of the rides, but rides are much more comfortable and the roller coasters don't hurt anymore. I can also sleep a lot better and walk a lot further. When I was 290 there is no way I could have walked over 100 miles at Disney World, but I did that in January.

Awesome! It feels so good to feel good!