Posted
"Test seats" front four rides at Islands of Adventure and its sibling, Universal Studios, appearing alongside the old-fashioned determiner of roller coaster ridership: the trusty yardstick. SeaWorld has a test seat in front of its Kraken roller coaster. Walt Disney World has two. Some guests find that they can't fit in the rides. About 64% of Americans are overweight.
Read more from Knight Ridder via The Sun Herald.
On the topic of obesity, certain cases are hereditary or glandular, but for the most part it is poor eating and laziness. 64% is ridiculous, and we have the 5th highest death rate from obesity http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/mor_obe_cap. Maurer Sohne's X seat seems that it might be the next big thing, as it accomodated kids as small as 47" (I think) safely, and rather large adults. At IAAPA, they were doing trials with it inverting upside down, and a lot of people from different demographics were on it, (it was fun too)
If you used the estimates of the Millennium Force crew for that ride, they turn away about 6%.
That's only the number of people that actually try the test seat. What about the folks who walk by and say "he's smaller than I am and he can't fit- I'm not going to embarass myself?"
I'd be willing to add an extra few percent to that figure.
You must be logged in to post