Six Flags Rides

I have read about parks such as Cedarpoint, where guests of certain sizes may not be able to fit in the restraints. I am going to Six Flags Great America on Wednesday with a friend who hasn't had trouble in the past fitting on rides, but may now. Are there any rides at Great America that are not generous with guests of larger sizes that we should look out for?

Thanks for the help!

Five rides he may have difficulty fitting on (listed from most unforgiving:)

V2: This is an Intamin restraint and if he has had trouble fitting on coasters before, you can pretty much assume he wont fit on this one

Batman: The Ride: This is the first inverted coaster in the world, and does not have any big boy seats (there is a seat at the enterance to try)

Raging Bull: If your friend has a larger lower body he might have trouble fitting on this ride (there is a trial seat though)

Iron Wolf: May or may not cause problems

Deja Vu: Has a heigh max (cant remember what it is) but dont worry it will probably be closed anyways

We went to the park once a long time ago, before Vertical Velocity was built. At that time, he fit into Batman. Are Batman and V2 about the same, or is V2 less forgiving?

V2 is much, much, much less forgiving. I have trouble myself from time to time, and the only way I have ever gone on two Intamin Inverts, Volcano (which had a seat belt extender at the time) and S:UE at then SFWOA (which I have no idea how I actually fit.) Lately Ive ossilated from fitting on to not fitting on B&M Inverts and Hypers (usually the latter occuring during the winter when I have no motivation to lose the weight.)

In what ways is V2 less forgiving? My friend has larger thighs, but is not too big upper body wise.

Thank you so much for your help!

It would mainly be upper-waist i believe, but it could be the thighs too. The seat belt clamps are on the sides and seem to have smaller belts compared to the B&M inverts.

As for Deja Vu, I was there this past Friday and it was running just fine. I did notice a rather weird sign in the station. The target pph for that ride is 450! If you are planning on riding Vu, make sure you hit it in the morning or late in the evening.

One thing to note is the problems with people fitting on rides @ CP is due to shortening of seat belts on Dragster & Millenium Force. SFGAm has not adjusted their belts or anything on their rides. To my knowledge, the only thing they did do recently (as in the past couple years) is add seat belts to Viper (very, very long ones at that).

-onceler

Then he should be ok, its the large upper body types that have problems.

I think I can field this question a little better since Im a big guy and SFGAm is my home park.

V2: If your friend has trouble getting on rides with OTSRs, forget it. Intamin has this lovely way of not being as forgiving on thier coasters as the other designers do, If he/she can belt up on BTR and or anyother OTSR without any issuesthe should be able to ride V2 in rows 11, 6 or 3 on the far side. The seatbelts in those rows are about 1 to 2 inches longer then the others, beleive me, It sounds crazy but I know from personal first hand experience on this subject. V2 has no give in the OTSRs so expect not to ride if your a bigger upper body person.

As for BTR: The best way to get a bigger person on this ride is for you to be in a group of 2+ people, each on either side of the OTSR and press down on the silver hand rails while you press down on the top of the OTSR, now keep in mind this is when the person your trying to get on is bearly missing the belt buckle, and will not work when its more then 2 inches from buckling the seat belt. When you just about have the belt buckled, make sure one of your friends presses down on the area of the OTSR just about where the buckle is. This forces the OTSR down a little more, and it should work, Again,I must stress these techniques are for people that just miss buckling the seat belts themselvers, serious injury can and will happen when someone presses down on your chest.

Iorn Wolf: Like said before, IW is a 1st generation B&M and uses old school restraints. For this ride, Usually bigger people like myself have no issues getting on, Stand straight up and pull down on the top of the OTSR, usually that works to get a few clicks needed to get you to buckle the belt, if not the last 2 rows, specifically the 3rd seat (both trains) usually have a longer seat belt. Usually male ride ops will help you as is the case with BTR. If you are bearly missing it, Press down on the area around where the buckle is again, this should work, again if its too tight and it hurts forget it, you will hurt yourself.

Raging Bull: Its all about the red line, as long as this red like is visible, your good to go. If not, try using both hands, quickly pressing the clamshell down, this is useful if the ride op calls out your seat number. This should get you to ride if your boarderline again.

SUF: You need 3 clicks in order to ride the ride, what I usually do is quickly slam down the OTSR and that usually works well, make sure your legs are all the way back in the restraint before doing this however.

These techniques are what I have used when I needed the extra help... Im not an obese slob either, I have ridden well over 130 coasters including TTD and MF, I just have a beer belly lol.

Hope this helps. *** Edited 6/13/2006 4:57:13 AM UTC by SkyRider7***

As for Raging Bull, like stated above it's all about the red line, which on most seats (at least on all row 9's, the only seat I ride in really) is only one click down. If it seems a little tough to get a click, just take the restraint by both hands and quickly shove it down as fast/hard as you can. It will not hurt, and will probably click. The only people I see turned away are VERY large. Also make sure you're sitting as upright as possible. Well anyways, good luck to your friend.

Also, today I rode Iron Wolf on the train with the new restraints and they hurt. They are pretty solid, and it feels like someone punched you continuously in both ears after getting off of it, heh. After a few months of continous headbanging by riders they will probably soften up... *** Edited 6/13/2006 5:48:14 AM UTC by Raging_Bull***

The red line isnt one click down (it locks before that trust me I know too) its more like 3-4 clicks down. Another way to help get that extra click is to have a friend sitting next to you help you push down on the clamshell with you to get that extra centimeter.

The time I visited SFGam, last May/June, I didn't have a problem with any of the rides. I'm 5'7" and at the time weighed around 230lbs. I hope that helps.

I would like to thank everyone for their help. Hopefully we will have a good time at the park tomorrow if the weather holds up. When you say if your friend has a large upper body, how big are we talking?

Thanks again!

^ Its probably better to go by pant size. For V2 Id say that anything more then a size 40 maybe a 42 even in those special rows I mentioned, you wont be able to ride. 44 inches your pushing it.