Alton Towers institutes weight ban on certain rides

Posted | Contributed by supermandl

Bosses at Alton Towers have introduced strict weight restrictions on four of their biggest attractions as a safety measure. The theme park has revealed that the obesity crisis in Britain means it is considering a re-design of roller coaster seats to accommodate the overweight.

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Alton Towers

For other Yanks like me, I looked it up...

1 Stone = 14 Pounds

So that's an estimated 280lbs for Oblivion, 252 for Air?

*** This post was edited by SLFAKE 5/24/2004 8:45:02 AM ***

That's a good lee-way of weight. if you're 250lbs or under, you're ok? I just wonder what happens if that's all muscle, and not fat? It should be waiste size & not weight.

I'm sure 90% of the population would be able to fit into that category of under 250, and have no problem at all. Hell... Homer Simpson is only 239 & feelin' fine!

Yeah, but Homer carries his weight very well. :)

Rich Genthner / PTC99

The article was a kind of odd in its wording...

It almost implied that chest size and weight were interchangable...

"52 inch chest - about 20 stone"

Is the issue here about fiting into the harness or is it about the pressures that the harnesses are placed under as the g forces on the rides kick in? Personally, on both Air and Oblivion, where you are placed in very vulnerable positions with your entire weight resting on the harness, I would want to be certain that they are not going to fail. Certain rides you could potentially get away with it if there was a problem, but not these two.

I really don't think a person's weight alone (disregarding their size) would affect the effectiveness of the restraints, or atleast I'd hope not.

The restriction is not a weight restriction. The article says that it is a chest measurement restriction. What weight causes a problem is going to depend on your height and build.

The article doesn't say how the restriction is measured, but it implies that it may actually be by the closing of the restraint. This isn't really different from what most parks do.

Those are actually the dimensions of the B&M "Big" seats that many of their designs have. Nothing has really changed, if you notice most B&M with OTS have the 52" limitation, which are specifically the "Big" seats. Normal B&M restraints are about a 48-49" chest if I remember correctly, which is pretty big also.

George

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