Any MF trouble??

Alright, well I have a question now that you guys said it wasn't necessarily all in the waist but also in the thighs. Im headed up to the point this weekend coming from Albany, NY. 9 hours!! Long drive and a friend of mine who is coming with me is fairly big, but not extremely over-weight. He says he has about a 39" waist. Do you think he has a pretty good chance of making it???

I don't know. I had problems, and as I stated above, I've only got a 36" waist. I also don't have hardly any extra weight in my legs, butt or waist. It's all in my gut and moobs.

Guess the best you can do is try it out, and if you don't fit, try and have fun elsewhere. I know that nice, freshly painted moly-orange contraption across the park has been a near walk on :)

Not only has that lovely red coaster been a walk on but it was running with little or no midcourse break the entire day yesterday.

It's Moly-Orange ;)

MF trouble? I know it got stuck on the lift for a little while and broke down later in the day also. ;) Honestly, I got into the car and hadn't pulled the belt tight yet and the ride op said to me that I was going to have to pull it tighter or I could not ride. I am not big by any means (a 30" waist) and I struggled momentarily. My thighs aren't that big either...

Um…excuse my ignorance guys, but why doesn’t Intamin design a new seating structure all together, one that does not include over the shoulders? Does anyone know if they have something in development? It would seem that in the 21st century, Intamin engineers could design a seat that accommodates both rider safety and fuller body figures. I don’t get why this has to be an “either/or” issue, and I weigh 175.

Jeff is right, its not your waist, its your thighs, my waist is 38 with pretty slim thighs and I have absoluetly no problem getting in the any of the Intamin Hyper Coaster restraints. The bar that goes between your legs almost hits the seats, while my little brother (15yrs, size 30 waist), the bar acually hits the seat a little, I most def, agree with Jeff its all about yor thighs.

And also **im not positive** but when I was rideing S:ROS last weekend at SFA, a man that was extremly large, got on, but, before dispatch the ride op at the controls said that check his seat again, another ride op came over, and put on all her weight and then she looked down at the controls and said okay. So what im trying to ask is why did the S:ROS accident happen *IF* they do have what appears to be sensors if the restraint is in a safe position? lol, PLEASE correct me if i'm wrong though, but it sure did look like she was checking the controls to see if all the restraint were down.

-CoLiN-
*** Edited 5/9/2005 9:00:06 PM UTC by Colin Fisher***

If it is the thighs, that disadvantages taller people whose knees would be held a little higher making the lap higher. I don't know if this is allowed or not, but crossing your ankles could help.

One of the hardest things I ever had to do was turn guests away from riding after they waited in lines of four hours for one ride..It was hard then to do and I can't imagine what it is like for both the crew and the guests at the same time...However, the entrance person should be checking for this before you even enter the que at the same time....I rode last year and I am pretty small so I fit with out any problems but I watched 16 people in front of me that year get turned back after waiting over and hour....Intamin does need to change the restraints but I don't think that will ever happen...the money and time involved to do so would cost Intamin big time....they seem to be more into selling theses days then making their rides actually work....

RavenTTD, you are not familiar with the Intamin hypercoaster train, are you...

Your legs sit on opposite sides of the box containing the lap bar locking mechanism. Your foot position is pretty rigidly defined by the floor pan. You'll not be crossing your ankles on these rides.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I rememeber the box, but I did not remember they went all the way back. It has been a while I guess.

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Colin Fisher said:
JAnd also **im not positive** but when I was rideing S:ROS last weekend at SFA, a man that was extremly large, got on, but, before dispatch the ride op at the controls said that check his seat again, another ride op came over, and put on all her weight and then she looked down at the controls and said okay. So what im trying to ask is why did the S:ROS accident happen *IF* they do have what appears to be sensors if the restraint is in a safe position? lol, PLEASE correct me if i'm wrong though, but it sure did look like she was checking the controls to see if all the restraint were down.

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the new restraint system / sensors were added this season and are brand new

-- alan jacyszyn

I'm 5'8", 155 with a 34" waist and I had a tight fit on S:RoS at SFNE earlier this year. It was more my knees being forced into the plastic front of the car more than anything, but still that's another way to not fit.

I find it very hard to believe that CP, with all the reputation they have banking on Millennium Force wouldn't have shelled out the cash to get some other company to redesign the trains for a safer restraint system if Intamin won't do it. I know the Ohio law says they have to follow Intamin's rules, but is there anything other than cost/benefit that rules out putting another designer's trains on an Intamin track?

Oh I see SFDL_Dude, thanks

-coLin-

Well I guess Cedar Point is gonna' lose my money this year as I will probably cancel my reservations. I'm not driving from Chicago knowing I will not fit on my favorite steel coaster. I guess this ride will only be available to the "skinny elite". I had fun the last four years...too bad that's not gonna' happen again anytime soon!

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greatwhitenorth said:To everyone who is trying to lose some weight, I wish you the best of luck. (I went from 42" to 37" last season -- it wasn't easy.) To those of you who won't fit the mold, you have my sympathy, but I think we all agree that when you ride, you should be safe. There are plent of other coasters out there, so go have fun.

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I could not ride last season. I had a 48" waist and weighed 290lbs. I started a diet in January, and I am now down to 228lbs as of today, and I have a 37" waist. I'm still nervous on whether or not I will be able to ride MF or TTD. I leave for CP this Friday, and I hope I'm down to atleast 225lbs.

Anyways, have you rode this year greatwhitenorth? *** Edited 5/9/2005 11:39:10 PM UTC by Benjamin***

The thing that irks me the most is that the seatbelt is not what is holding you in, its simply a dumbed down safety check so that ops dont need to judge the lap bars.

The T-bar works when it is on your lower thighs/waist, most people (myself included) who have been hurt by this change would still be perfectly safe on the ride.

The people who are not safe are those that have such large stomachs that the bar is not on their thighs but their stomachs. The person who died was one of those people (he couldnt even buckle the old seat belts) and during the intense airtime on SROS his stomach was pulled down and over the lap bar, thus unpinning his body and sending them flying.

Finally, while their are other roller coasters out there; allmost anyone who rides MF has it in their top five, if not #1 on their lists (personally its #4) and to be disqualified due to lazy intamin engineers pisses us off.

As park guests we have no influence over Intamin AG since we dont buy their products (the parks do). Thus the parks need to put pressure on Intamin to fix their design (much like Paramount forced Premier to make lap bar trains for FOF) somehow to make it work.

I suggest to anyone who has been able to ride on MF recently to write a letter to CP (like I have) asking them to pressure Intamin to change the design, or atleast create a "big boy" seat (like B&M). Hopefully enough letters will get the park to do just that.

The optimist in me though says CP is allready doing this and it will be rectifed next year just because CP is that good. After all Intamin is the cause of their recent PR mishaps (TTD and MF) and I think they arent to happy with Intamin at the moment, hopefully this gets put to constructive use by threating a lawsuit on that company if they dont make changes to their coaster trains. *** Edited 5/10/2005 12:28:01 AM UTC by Touchdown***

Worried about Dennis, Nick? At least Kaci will fit--with about the whole belt as slack. ;)

Best of luck to you.

If CP did not put in the contracts that the rides have to fit up to a certain size person, then they need to get new lawyers. If CP messed up, they should pay to get it redone. If Intamin messed up, then they need to make Intamin fix it. However, I am not as optimistic as Touchdown as I think CP should have fixed it by this year. It is like they think this issue can be solved by adding some BS clause to their website and threatening upset guests with security.

While they couldnt sue Intamin over MF, they certainly could over TTD (which is a POS of Deja Vu proportions) and with that hanging over Intamin I would hope they would at least start designing a better train to sell.

Who pays for it is of no concern for me, I would be happy with CP just buying one car with modified restraints and putting it in the middle of the trains (which would be realitively cheap for them).

Im still optimistic because I assume it takes more then 9 months to design a new train so hopefully Intamin is working on that right now for rollout by next May. *** Edited 5/10/2005 12:47:34 AM UTC by Touchdown***