Pooh Sized at DL and CA???

[billwendy]

Hi - WDW is so Pooh size friendly -how is DL????? Anything we will need to pass on ? I am a 2x, and DH is a 4x . thanks!!

 

[tinksdreamwishes]

I am pooh sized and have no problems at all! Although I have never tried the Malibloomer ride... too scarred I might not fit...

 

[bumbershoot]

(forgive my wordiness...I'll go back and edit the important info so it's in color, and my extra story stuff in black)


DH is a bigger guy...always will be, but right now he's bigger than he wants to be thanks to a highly annoying pituitary tumor that causes his body to make prolactin, which then causes weight gain like a nursing mother might have (chest, upper arms, etc).

Anyway, Maliboomer and Mulholland Madness are the ones he hasn't been able to ride. More on that in a minute.


For the Pooh ride, don't sit in the front. You'll think "ooh perfect" but no, the knee space is much smaller. Middle or back row of the hive vehicle thing. Not the front. Especially if either of you has knee issues!

Astro Orbiter is a squeeze. If you have a child with you, have the child ride with the smaller, more flexible person. It's a difficult and awkward ride for most to get into and out of, and with a kid it's worse.

POTC...try to not sit in the very front. Same with Splash. Warn those behind you that they will very likely get very wet, as putting weightier people in the front causes the nose of the boat/log to go further under the water on drops. My poor trim brother might still be wringing out his clothes, when he sat in back of DH in the first two seats on Splash...DH was wearing all cotton and was dripping all day it seemed.

Space is a squeeze, especially for the legs, for people with long legs and for people whose legs don't give them much room to maneuver (like DH).

Screamin' was fine for DH, though he did almost get his arm stuck sticking up, and had to get the CM to release the harness so he could do it again with his arm in.


Which leads me to the rides he couldn't do.

Maliboomer has a shoulder harness much like Screamin', but with an all important extra bit. There's a strap that must attach between the bottom U part of the harness and the seat. That has proven to be impossible so far with DH. He has a broad back, wide chest, a "thick" back, and with the pituitary tumor, he's got a chest, too (I know this sounds awful, but he's cool with me talking about it!). That along with his belly conspire against him, and they just can't get the harness down enough to get the strap to click.

The CMs have been very good about it, never unprofessional. Nice thing about Maliboomer is that most of the seats aren't out where the public walking by can see the drama.

Muholland...sigh. The little cars are tiny. Tiny! They have individual lap bars that aren't very wide. DH will never hit the weight that Weight Watchers wants him to be, will have to get notes from his doctor when he rejoins WW and gets close to his personal goal (to make the personal goal allowable by WW), unless he loses a leg or two. He has massively muscular legs, like a linebacker, and those don't get smaller no matter what. Because of his legs, he couldn't get them down on Mulholland...if he had skinny legs, he could have maneuvered them so that he could get the lap bar under his belly, and he would have been fine. But he just coudln't, because of his legs.

The CMs, again, were wonderful.

The public...was not. I didn't notice this b/c I was so busy moving from my seat (I was sitting alone) to where DH had been sitting, because we weren't oging to let our son sit alone. I was getting all caught up on my own clothing and my fear of this ride (I didn't want to ride it!) and was flustered. But I guess the people watching this were being quite cruel. Not sure why they were bothering, but they were making loud comments that DH could hear, and it made him want to end our vacation. What was worse was that he was awaiting official diagnosis of the prolactinoma...most people with that tumor will gain upwards of 60 pounds inside of 3 months...he had been battling with a year-long near plateau on WW...up .6 pounds, down .2, down .4, down .2, up 1 pound, etc etc...so difficult. So he'd actually fought hard and WON against the weight gain, but his body had been getting bigger, puffier if that makes sense, that year...even his doctors didn't believe him about his weight, so it makes sense that the general public didn't either. But he really did NOT need to hear nastiness, and of course having prolactin in your sytem makes you really emotional, so when DS and I were off the ride, he was extremely emotional about the whole thing.


Anyway, I can't recommend that your husband try that ride, unless he has skinny legs. It was NOT worth it for DH, and DH wore and wears a 3X.

 

[disneygirlinphoenix]

How very cruel of people. I too, am "pleasantly pooh" sized. My is also medically related. I wont bs, I dont help matters with my sweet tooth. But I had 2 huge tumors on my thyroid, and to make matters worse, severe hypo-thyroidism runs in my family. I also have one kidney, so my "metabolism" situation is extremely messed up.

We go to DLR about 4 times a year, and while not much gets me down being there, because it is the happiest place on earth. I hate the jokes and snickers. I am a 6 ft 3X woman. While the ablsolute love of my life is a 5"9 barely an XL, we are definitely "opposites attract" so we attract the looks, the laughs, the comments. I wish these people would spend a day in my shoes, and know my pain. To make matters worse, I have back problems from being injuired on the job while pregnant, and I never rec'd medical care b/c they were too worried about the baby. So that with extra weight after about 2 hrs of walking and standing, I am dying with pain, but I refuse to get a ECV, because I am too self concious about it and dont want extra looks.

 

[DizDragonfly]

Any word on the Silly Symphony Swings and Pooh sized folks?

 

[pigby]

[COLOR=Blue
Maliboomer has a shoulder harness much like Screamin', but with an all important extra bit. There's a strap that must attach between the bottom U part of the harness and the seat. That has proven to be impossible so far with DH. He has a broad back, wide chest, a "thick" back, and with the pituitary tumor, he's got a chest, too (I know this sounds awful, but he's cool with me talking about it!). That along with his belly conspire against him, and they just can't get the harness down enough to get the strap to click.

The CMs have been very good about it, never unprofessional. Nice thing about Maliboomer is that most of the seats aren't out where the public walking by can see the drama. [/QUOTE]


The public...was not. I didn't notice this b/c I was so busy moving from my seat (I was sitting alone) to where DH had been sitting, because we weren't oging to let our son sit alone. I was getting all caught up on my own clothing and my fear of this ride (I didn't want to ride it!) and was flustered. But I guess the people watching this were being quite cruel. Not sure why they were bothering, but they were making loud comments that DH could hear, and it made him want to end our vacation. .


[/COLOR]

Your report has been incredibly useful. The ride DH was most concerned about was Screamin - he really wants to ride that one so it sounds as though that might not be a problem. However Maliboomer will be a disappointment as he does enjoy similar rides - he won't be bothered about Mulholland Madness.

He hates everyone watching him while ride operators are trying to squeeze him in and your experiences are exactly why he is embarrassed - people can be such idiots. He has a liver condition at the moment which has caused him to gain more weight and a trip last week to a theme park near London meant he could ride few coasters but then they (theme parks) are much less 'pooh friendly' over here than they are in the States.

 

[grumpyskirtgirl]

I am a solid 2x or 22/24. I fit on every ride I tried too go on last year. The swings were not in operation & my husband didn't want to go on the Maliboomer, so EVERY ride but those 2 I went on, easily. If it helps, I am more of a 24 pant and 20 top.

 

[NMMickeymom]

I know allears.net has a great section about "WDW at Large". I'm sure there are a number of rides and attractions that are the same. I'm not sure if there is a Disneyland equivalent of that information? Lots of what they say is certainly useful for both. Maybe someone else can speak to which ride vehicles are the same in DL and WDW.