How hardcore are they about height req?

[Coach81]

My 7 year old is about 53' or so.. he is about an inch to an inch and a half short of the 54" requirement for hulk..

Are they cut and dry about the requirements? Does he have a chance at someone letting him "slide".. he is just praying to make it.. he wants to ride the HULK so bad!!!

What do you guys think?

 

[Lindy Loo]

I was told by a CM in Disney, that go and ride first thing, as you are "taller" in the morning than pm ??? LOL that MIGHT work!

I guess for safety there is a height rule for a reason, but sure there will be others along later, telling you that !

My DD bumped her height by walking tall, going on the rides am, big trainers, and a funky ponytail !


If he doenst get on, guess that means you will have to go back another year !!!

 

[damo]

They are really strict about height requirements.

 

[the Dark Marauder]

There is no "slide" or "close enough". You either make the height requirement or you don't. Height requirements are imposed for SAFETY, which is the most important thing of all. Standing with proper posture (straight up, shoulder back, feet on the floor) can be the difference between riding & child swap.

 

[schumigirl]

Aww hope your little guy does make the height requirement.

But got to agree they are very strict. We saw a few unhappy children being turned away from The Hulk after being measured. We even saw some parents try and argue why their kids should still get on

 

[Scrubba2]

This could have been my post! We are in the exact position! Our DS is eating his vitamins every day and hoping he will get taller fast! He is just shy of making the height requirement at this point. It is too funny. I was actually thinking about Dr.Shols (sp?) shoe inserts..you know..for comfort?lol But then it made me really think about height requirements. Our DS is very leggy, and much shorter from the waist up. For the pull down shoulder harness coaster, is that taken into consideration as far as height requirement safety? So even if he IS tall enough, (I was joking about shoe inserts) is it possible it wouldn't be safe for him? I'm hoping they would take that into consideration when creating the height requirements, but I have no idea!

 

[EAP'sDAD]

They are very strict and will measure him twice. First at the gate and then again before boarding the ride. If he isn't tall enough he will be told he can't go on it. A couple of years ago I went with my son who was very close. Well the person at the entrance measured hi and said he was fine, when we got to the ride they pulled him aside and said that he was not tall enough. They didn't want to hear a thing. Well lets say he was crushed. Funny thing was last year he when he was tall enough he didn't want to ride it.

 

[Purseval]

When my son was barely too short for rides we put wedges in his shoes before he went in then took them out after he came off so he wouldn't get sore feet. I'm not telling you to do that I'm just saying what we did.

 

[Metro West]

There is no "slide" or "close enough". You either make the height requirement or you don't. Height requirements are imposed for SAFETY, which is the most important thing of all. Standing with proper posture (straight up, shoulder back, feet on the floor) can be the difference between riding & child swap.

 

[Coach81]

I totally agree.. the requirement is there for a reason.. if he is not tall enough. so be it.. my child's safety will always overide all.

Great point.. guess we'll just have to come back again soon!!!

P.S. we are already preparing him for the disappointment.. I have tried to counter it with the great news that he will be able to ride the new coaster HR3.. hopefully the express pass will be up by then.

Thanks all!

 

[ChuckGA]

When we went at Thanksgiving 2009, we were in the same boat as you. My son was around 53.75" with shoes on and definitely not a clean 54" given our best measure so we were worried and prepared. However he was not denied any ride and he was measured many many times. Unlike Disney, US seems to use accurate and consistent measuring sticks / wall marks that may give a slight break to those that are really really close.

 

[kohlby]

They were not strict about the 40" rides at all last week. But, I would hope they'd be stricter with Hulk. (And that parents wouldn't try to sneak kids too short on!) They did not measure my barely 40" child at all - not at Spiderman nor Jimmy Neutron nor Simpsons. I saw many kids shorter than my daughter on Jimmy Neutron.

My daughter did shrink during the day at Disney. She was 1/2" over the 40" in the morning but 1/2" under the same afternoon. On one day, she easily made the 40" for a ride and then didn't make it 10 minutes later when she wanted to ride it again! We learned that "stand up tall" doesn't really help a young child stand correctly. But "stand so your head bumps the bar" works great!

*Three years ago, I thought my son wasn't 42" but he passed it at Men In Black every time - and they measured him every single time. I'm wondering if time of year has something to do with it. Waits were 10 minutes or less for everything but RRR so staff was much smaller.

 

[Purseval]

My daughter did shrink during the day at Disney.

There is good news and bad news about that "taller in the morning, smaller at night" theory. The good news is that it actually does occur, the disks in the spine compress during the day then expand at night when the pressure is off. The bad news is that the shrinkage/expansion is about 1cm, not enough to influence any measurements you will get in a theme park.

 

[kohlby]

There is good news and bad news about that "taller in the morning, smaller at night" theory. The good news is that it actually does occur, the disks in the spine compress during the day then expand at night when the pressure is off. The bad news is that the shrinkage/expansion is about 1cm, not enough to influence any measurements you will get in a theme park

But a tired child may not be able to stand as straight as well. So though maybe not medically true shrinkage for that entire inch, it plays a part.

 

[Cyrano]

We have post-its on the kitchen door so that the troops know what rides they will be able to ride before we go
Mind you youngest DD could be 6' and it still would not matter. She had to be persuaded that the ride warning for ET did not mean a severe ride

 

[itradehilton]

When my DS was almost 54" he wore tennis shoes one day and was tall enough but the next day we wanted to get wet so he wore his water shoes and he didn't get to go on the roller coasters. From then on we stuck to tennis shoes.

 

[Coach81]

Well we have been preparing him for not being able to ride, so hopefully the disapointment will not be too bad.

 

[laxcdn]

the sign in front, at the Hulk, and Duelling Dragons are all different heights. My nephew was fine at the front by 1/2", fine at Hulk by 1/2" but since they were doing work on DD he was 1/2" too short and couldn't ride. The nice thing about Seaworld is they gave him a wrist band saying he was fine for all the ride so they didn't have to check.

 

[Timmy Boy]

^Disney tried that same thing with the wristbands, and I bet Universal considered it, but too many "dependable" parents broke the rule. One child who was tall enough for an attraction got a wristband. The parent would then take the wristband off the taller child, put it on a child that's too short and say "see, they measured him out front." So Disney decided against doing that, do to the inconsistencies.

Parents, please remember these height requirements are NOT set for you to have a bad day, they are NOT set to ruin your vacation. These are actually determined by the ride manufacturer, NOT the park. The ride manufacturer basis this height requirement on seat and restraint design, as well as G-forces that a certain body type can experience on the ride. A person underneath the height requirement on a ride has a very real chance of getting hurt or killed.

 

[4greatboys]

In our case we waited until my son was actually 54' tall before we let him get on any of the coasters. The problem was he measured 54' out front and at Hulk. He road the Ice side of DD dragons with no problem however when we went to the Fire side they said he was not tall enough and he did not meet the measurement there? How can you be 54 inches in some area's of the park but not others? Needless to say we were unhappy about the inconsistanties.
Then I got the spiel about safety blah, blah, blah. We had not tried to get him on these rides when he was not tall enough we waited until he was tall enough and met the measurement markers--at most of the rides.