USA Today Asks the Real Questions

Most US adults are overweight. So why aren't theme park rides bigger?

And they give the real answer: You have to engineer restraints for the widest range of people possible. We knew that here. 🙂

I think we have a little bit of a cultural problem. We absolutely must be inclusive and kind to people. We should not stop doing that. But doing that doesn't mean that we should not recognize obesity as a health issue that needs to be treated. Regardless of cause, whether it's genetic, behavioral or some other cause, it reduces quality of life and life expectancy.

In the future, Americans will be even fatter and all rides will be conveyor belts. Universal is just getting ahead of the curve.

Simpsons did it... :)

PhantomTails:

In the future, Americans will be even fatter and all rides will be conveyor belts. Universal is just getting ahead of the curve.

It's still too far to walk.

When they were designing Villain-Con they asked how they could translate the incredible moving walkway experience from the parking garages to the parks.

One of the things that amazes me about the US is that parking lot trams are a thing.

I walked perhaps five minutes from where I parked in Dollywood, despite the staff suggesting I shouldn't :)

In Dollywood's defense, that is a long, skinny parking lot. If you find yourself in E up by the water park, it's a hike.

Bit of a death march during the summer innit

My dude and I park in Lot D and walk so we don’t feel nearly as bad for eating the cinnamon bread.

I pay 40 bucks for Preferred so I don’t have to walk so far carrying my cinnamon bread.

Has anyone ever bought the whole apple pie at Dollywood? I want to do that some day. Sort of a bucket list thing for me.

I heard of the cinnamon bread, so I had to get some. I didn't expect it to be so damn big. There were 5 of us and it was still probably too much. I can't imagine a Dollywood apple pie.

Jephry:

My dude and I park in Lot D

Is that what the kids call it?

Controversial opinion but the cinnamon bread at Hershey is even better. It's just like Dollywood's but with cinnamon crumble on top.

Speaking of giant food, I was disappointed to see that Dollywood got rid of their giant 1 pound pizza slices.

Saw this a couple weeks ago. Similar high level issue but the dynamics involved are different.

https://www.cnn.com/travel/...index.html

Companies will need to figure out how to address issue going forward given that the issue isn't going away (and looking at young people today likely will get worse).

I hang out with young(-ish) people all day. I don't think much has changed in the last 25 years, but it is also true that I am looking at a privileged subset of them.

As for the Dollywood cinnamon bread: if I buy it, it is usually to put it to use as french toast the next morning for the family. It's really good that way, but you absolutely need a non-stick pan or you are going to be cleaning caramelized sugar for the next week. Also, don't sleep on the apple bread at Applewood in Sevierville.

I see more overweight/obese young people than when I was a young person. Being overweight/obese was rare enough to stand out a lot back then. Today, much less so. There is a tendency to gain weight as we age. If more people are overweight/obese when they are young, seems to me likely that there will be more people who are overweight/obese as adults in 20-30 years.

https://www.medpagetoday.co...sity/95828

And I don't know how the percentages of people in college who are overweight/obese has changed over the past several decades. If I had to guess, would say it has increased but at a smaller rate than that for the population as a whole.

I have to say this one seems like there is as much variance park to park as possible. For example, riding a wing coaster at Six Flags Great America, I can get the belt in but it is a tighter squeeze than I'd like it to be. Similar thing at Cedar Point. But at Holiday World, it was a non issue. Similar story with the restraints on the inverted coasters. Batman is a challenge. Again, I get it in, but it's not as easy as I would like. But Alpengeist, no problem what so ever.

The other piece that somewhat surprises me on B&M is the middle rows being larger. At several parks, there are signs indicating that the middle rows may be more accomidating. The question I have is if those rows can be engineered that way, why can't the other rows also be engineered that way?

Brian Noble:

Also, don't sleep on the apple bread at Applewood in Sevierville.

Or the apple fritters. Or the Apple Juleps. Never have left Applewood disappointed, or hungry for that matter!