I pushed, he pulled, he tugged with great might, a

I have what some doctors call 'excessive girth.' But seriously, folks, I have to shop for clothes in the Big and Tall sections of your finer stores. Translation--I am tall and fat. But I never had any problem fitting in seats or fastening restraints--including Vekoma SLC's and S&S tower rides--until I hopped on Wildfire at SDC. So much for front or back seat rides; those single belts didn't have a chance of fastening, which embarrassed and disappointed me. The kindly op offered to push and help, but I quickly declined and opted for the Bigboy seats with the double belts, in which I had no trouble fitting. Oh well, back to carrots and rice cakes for me.

I'll admit, I am not a small person either and could stand to lose some pounds (yeah... like around 60). Most of it is around my mid section. 5'11", 40 inch waist, but no butt. Anyway, only ever had a problem on 2 rides. One was simply a tight fit, one was a "no go".

Flight of Fear at PKD was a very tight fit for me, even to the point of having a problem of undoing the seat belt. Hersheypark's Claw was the no go. There was no way that the OTSR's on this ride were going to close enough... I figure it has gotta be the restraints... the OTSR's on Great Bear are fine (even in the "non big boy" seats).

However, I know some people that have problems because of size... especially wooden coaster trains. For example, At Hershey again, I know someone who can ride sooperdooperlooper, Great Bear (in the big boy seat), Sidewinder, and Lightning Racer, but not Wildcat and Comet. The reason... PTC trains with set dividers and belts. The GCI M-Flyers on Lightning Racer are fine because of the way the seats flair out at the top, but the straight sided PTC trains with the divider are a no go. Oddly, I know a few people (and have seen many more turned away) on Wildcat. They can fit into the seats, but can not get the belt closed. It is about 2 - 4 inches too short. SOMETIMES they will give a belt extender... Other times they won't... it seems like it all depends on if the op feels like going to the trouble of getting the extender and hooking it up.

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Kind of hard to take a post as objective if a park or coaster name is part of the "user name"

I am a big guy- not fat- just big... 6'3" tall, 250 pounds, and have never been "denied" a ride on a coaster because of my size. But there are a few that have been rather tight fits:

FOF @ PKD - the seat belts were WAY too short... I had plenty of seat belt slack on Joker's Jinx at SFA, however. I wonder why Paramount has seat belts that are MUCH shorter than Six Flags'?

SUE @ SFWoA - again with the seat belts, again another similiar coaster gave me no trouble (Wicked Twister) but this one did.

Schwarzkopf loopers (sooperdooperlooper, Dorney Laser, BGT Python etc.) - no leg room- my knees are firmly into the padding on the back of the seat in front of me

I am fortunate enough to have never been turned away from a ride because of my size, but I feel for those that are. I can't understand why something as simple as making the seatbelts a few inches longer or making the OTSRs ratchet a few more clicks is such a hard thing for manufacturers to do. I could see if the problem with many coasters has to do with the train chassis dictating how far close the seats much be to each other, but what seems to be the issue most of the time is usually something very simple.

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-Rob
A.C.E. member since 1990
Posting @ Coasterbuzz since 2000
E.C.C. member since 2002

Wow, it really seems like parks have to do things to acommodate larger guests. Someone should write them letters.

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Top 3
1-S:RoS @ SFNE
2-Boulder Dash
3-Yankee Cannonball

If the lapbar on sros fit fine, then so should the seatbelts. That was a mistake when Intamin installed them.
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I go to the point each year to have their new coaster break down, thats my life. Dragster and WT may have been closed, but MF is always there to fulfill my thrill needs

A couple years ago, Cedar Point reduced the 54" height restriction on the Force to 48", thus shortening the seatbelt length by about 2 inches or so to compensate for that safety bracket, not that it was needed...

Last year, I had all kinds of problems with fitting in coasters, I got to ride most of them, mind you, but I got annoyed when I had to walk away from some. so I went on the Adkins Diet, and have lost 30 pounds so far......

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Red Garter Rob said:
What you have to remember about seatbelts and thier lenght is they are generally decided upon by the ride manufacture, and in most states (like Ohio) it is illegal for a park to physically modify a ride without the approval of the ride manufacture.

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You want to show me where in the ORC it says that Rob? Section 1711.55, "Duties of Ride Owner," says no such thing. Section 1711.53 (3)(b) provides that the Dept. of Agriculture may adopt certain rules, and these rules are generally ASTM standards. I'm sure RideMan would know more.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com - Luau II Cam 7/19
DELETED! What time does the water show start?

I would think that, say, replacing the seat belts with another material might require some kind of approval, but not something like changing the length of the belts.

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-Rob
A.C.E. member since 1990
Posting @ Coasterbuzz since 2000
E.C.C. member since 2002

Short seatbelts are placed on rides because if the seatbelts were any longer the ride wouldnt be safe for that individual. They dont do it to descriminate against larger riders.