Boost in Splash Mountain heigh requirement

Read about it here:
http://travel.latimes.com/daily-deal-blog/?p=1235

I love how the guy from Theme Park Insider is now a safety expert too. But then, it is his site that keeps saying Mythos at IOA is the best restaurant. I'm an IOA fan boy, but please.

Meh. It's only for the front seat, not the whole ride. I can live with it.

The lawyers are still first against the wall when the revolution comes, but I can live with it.

Oh, my! But we're not supposed to talk about "Song of the South" being the thematic source for the attraction. We're not supposed to talk about "Song of the South" at all! Someone at the LA Times is gonna get a mouse-whuppin'

As for restraints - I had a feeling this day would come, and I am afraid a lot of parks will yank their flumes rather than spend money to install lap bars or whatever, and publicly write it off to "low ridership and high maintenance". They're already disappearing left & right.

I've enjoyed Mythos the few times I've eaten there. Is there a significantly better theme park restaurant out there that I'm missing?

-Nate

LOL that quote from the Theme Park Insider guy is pure gold.

I think rides at Disney like Big Thunder, Space Moutain, Mission Space, Tower of Terror, Rockin' Roller coaster, and California Screamin' should be higher, but I think this height requirement is a little too high for that type of ride. I would have done maybe 50 inches instead. Disney has too low of a height requirement on there thrilling rides!!

They have been having problems of people getting out of the boats at Islands of Adventures with that Dudley ride. That's why they installed lapbars for that ride. Think about it. There are no restraints to keep these kids inside the log. They can stand up when they feel they want to. That's what happens when you have such a low height requirement for a more thrilling ride.

Maybe it's me, but I think the funniest part of the article is the LA Times boilerplate at the end of the story:

If you are under 13 years of age you may read this blog, but you may not participate.

It just feels funny to see that after a story ridiculing Disney for arguing that you need to be 5-feet tall to sit in the front of a flume ride.

---

coasterdude318 said:
I've enjoyed Mythos the few times I've eaten there. Is there a significantly better theme park restaurant out there that I'm missing?

---

Pick a restaurant in Epcot. Seriously, any of them really. Mythos is so cosmically average. That and the hours suck.

---

Spinout said:
I think rides at Disney like Big Thunder, Space Moutain, Mission Space, Tower of Terror, Rockin' Roller coaster, and California Screamin' should be higher, but I think this height requirement is a little too high for that type of ride. I would have done maybe 50 inches instead. Disney has too low of a height requirement on there thrilling rides!!

---

Source? Evidence? Research? Statistics?

How about Bistro de Paris at Epcot? That thing is now on par price wise and food wise with Victoria & Albert in term of gourmet food.

Also, Tokyo Disney Sea has a few amazing restaurants. The S.S. Columbia Dining Room is litteraly a cruise ship dining room with AMAZING food. No meal I ever had in a theme park can compare with that one. Yes, I've eaten at most Epcot, Disneyland Paris restaurants and Mythos.

They should just get the same type of boats that WDW's Splash Mountain has. It would increase capacity and is more secure not to mention more comfortable than a regular log flume boat.

---

Seahawk & the Wave said:As for restraints - I had a feeling this day would come, and I am afraid a lot of parks will yank their flumes rather than spend money to install lap bars or whatever, and publicly write it off to "low ridership and high maintenance". They're already disappearing left & right.

---

It's horrible that parks are getting rid of these rides since it only leaves rapids and giant splashdown boats both of which get you soaked. Plus they are great family rides.

I wonder how long it will be until all CF parks install lap bars or get rid of them

Wow, at a height restriction of 5', I know some adults who wouldn't be able to ride in the front seat. I know age has no bearing on the safety restrictions, of course. I guess I just find that realization somewhat striking, though.

Hey!

---

Jeff said:"I love how the guy from Theme Park Insider is now a safety expert too. But then, it is his site that keeps saying Mythos at IOA is the best restaurant. I'm an IOA fan boy, but please.

---

I REALLY liked Mythos the times I visited.

I'm a IOA fanboy too.

Where is the best eats?

Unfortunately, The Disneyland Splash Mountain doesn't use the same Hospkin flume system that the WDW and TDL version has. The flume channel is narrower and the large 8 passengers boats would not fit!

---

YoshiFan said:
They should just get the same type of boats that WDW's Splash Mountain has. It would increase capacity and is more secure not to mention more comfortable than a regular log flume boat.

Regarding the best eats... Disneyland Paris (Blue Lagoon, the Frontierland Steakhouse, the amazing Plaza Gardens buffet), Disneyland (Blue Bayou), Epcot (take your pick!) and the best in my view... Tokyo Disney Sea. Just the most amazing restaurants I have ever eaten at.

---

Some of the EPCOT eateries do blow Mythos away. Le Cellier -- the Canadian restaurant -- actually outshines the two French ones IMHO. If you've never given it a shot, the pretzel bread alone will win you over.

However, it's hard to top Mythos at a domestic theme park other than EPCOT.

I'm thinking. Brown Derby? The DCA restaurant with the winery? Knott's fried chicken? Lombard's Landing at USF? I'd take Mythos over any of those -- though, yes, the hours are lousy outside of lunch.

---

YoshiFan said:

It's horrible that parks are getting rid of these rides since it only leaves rapids and giant splashdown boats both of which get you soaked. Plus they are great family rides. I wonder how long it will be until all CF parks install lap bars or get rid of them

---

It looks like not just the flumes are going away. Great Am & Great Adv both yanked their chutes. Hershey is probably pulling out their rapids, which is one of the best ones. I think the "dry" water ride is becoming a dinosaur, especially where there's a waterpark nearby. Funny how some operators, like Paramount, built those watermazes & stuff, saying it shouldn't be an upcharge or a two-hour wait to get wet on a hot day. Now it's going the other way: you want wet, go change clothes, buy another ticket, and head for the waterpark. The no-restraint thing will just be a convenient excuse, and soon the insurance companies will be looking at the relative ease with which one can stand up in a rapids boat.

I have also heard in the past that water rides are fairly expensive to run. Apparently the electric motors that pump the water are quite thirsty themselves. It's been said the rapids at SFMM cost more to run than Superman.

---

Spinout said:
I think rides at Disney like Big Thunder, Space Moutain, Mission Space, Tower of Terror, Rockin' Roller coaster, and California Screamin' should be higher, but I think this height requirement is a little too high for that type of ride. I would have done maybe 50 inches instead. Disney has too low of a height requirement on there thrilling rides!!.

---

A height requirement on a ride is not based on the thrill level of the ride but the restraint system, or the forces involved in the ride. So for example on a coaster with a shoulder harness it's designed for someone that sits up at a certain level in the seat. So if someone under the height requirement rides they probably won't fall out, but rather will have a very uncomfortable ride and could damage their ears. (Insert joke about Vekoma/Arrow OTSR pain here) But it's much worse the lower your head is in the seat.

For Splash Mountain it looks like it was determined that someone that's 5 feet wouldn't be able to duck down and injur themselves at spashdown based on their size.

If you've ever worked at a coaster it gets very irritatiing dealing with parents that don't understand the safety concept of the height requirement and assume it's a thrill level thing.

it is unclear to me... are they going to make 4-rowed boats for the ride, like the other two... or something else? or does it simply not say?

the restriction is temp, so maybe they are going to test padding or filling in the hallow space...

the 4-rowed flumes, with station conveyors, have excellent capacity... *** Edited 1/19/2008 9:12:46 PM UTC by coasterghost***

This totally makes sense, a kid in the front seat is excited, pretends to not want to get wet, ducks, then when they hit the splash gets hurt. They can probably remedy this really easily.