The newest ride at Universal Studios Hollywood, Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge, introduces visitors to the classic Nintendo game using augmented reality and animatronics. It also warns that they may not be allowed to drive if their waist measures 40 inches or more.
The ride, one of several at California Park with the admonition, shows how navigating theme parks has become more difficult for plus-size visitors as parks balance accessibility with heightened safety requirements.
Universal Studios, SeaWorld and others are putting tighter restraint systems on rides to ensure small children and others cannot wriggle out of the seats. The new seats can get tight for some visitors, and riders have said staff declined to put them on some rides because of their size.
“Our first priority is always the safety of guests and employees,” said Jim Seay, president of ride manufacturer Premier Rides, which has built roller coasters for Six Flags, SeaWorld and Universal Studios parks. “We’re balancing this with a very focused effort to make the rides as accessible as possible.”
Universal has drawn online criticism from theme park fans, who say the slow-ride design is off-putting when government statistics state the average waist measurement is 40.5 inches for men and 38.7 inches for women. The park faced similar criticism in 2021 because seats on its The Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash ride had dividers that made it difficult for some taller people to fit inside.
Universal’s warnings, as well as test seats outside of the rides, are designed to help visitors, says Jeff Polk, senior vice president of resort operations at Universal Orlando Resort.
“We want our guests to know what to expect and what to look for when coming to any of these attractions,” says Mr. Polk, adding that the park welcomes feedback.
Epcot Theme Park at Walt Disney World.
Photo: Zack Wittman for The Wall Street Journal Ride Hacks
Some theme park fans say the potential restrictions on rides like Bowser’s Challenge are emblematic of the stress and anxiety many oversized visitors can feel at theme parks. Several social media groups offer advice to these visitors on navigating theme parks. A Facebook group focused on Disney has more than 84,000 members.
Dean Paris, a Facebook group moderator and insurance broker from central Illinois, combs through YouTube videos to see people getting into vehicles and negotiating the restrictions. “If it looks like it’s absolutely not going to work, I don’t waste my time,” he says.
Travel agent Sarah Goff says she’s been on several trips where she might not have fitted if she’d been a few pounds heavier.
“It seemed like the theme park rides were getting smaller and I was getting bigger,” she says. Ms Goff, who lives in Lima, Ohio, says she feared embarrassing her family if park officials told her she couldn’t fit on a ride. In March, she’s launching a website with advice for plus-size visitors to Universal Parks.
Ms Goff, 47, says she wears compression leggings to theme parks, partly because their texture allows her to sit further back in the ride seats, giving her more room for seatbelts. Other strategies travelers use to fit into rides include pulling out their seat belts before sitting down, or pulling down a ride’s lap bar while seated to improve their leverage.
Tighter security, tighter seats
Before queuing for a ride, park visitors can try test seats at the ride entrances to see if the restraint systems can accommodate them.
Visitors say the test drives can be uncomfortable, and some told The Wall Street Journal the models can be less forgiving than the actual seats on the ride. Universal says differences may be due to wear and tear on test vehicles, adding that it’s looking at ways to give testers more privacy.
While Disney classics like Pirates of the Caribbean or It’s a Small World don’t have restrictions, today’s rides are often designed in what ride experts call “100% containment,” meaning a person won’t get off or get hurt during the ride can be.
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Stricter safety standards demanded by insurers and concerns about visitor complaints are affecting ride design, says Jason McManus, a director at Thinkwell Group, an experience design company.
“What may seem like a fairly harmless ride still has to take into account that a very young child may need to be contained,” says Mr. Seay. Children may not understand the risks of exiting a ride in motion, and even a slow ride involves complex and potentially dangerous machinery. There is also the problem of people trying to jump off rides to film a video for TikTok.
However, full containment rides may not fit larger adults. “When you size each seat for the largest possible person, you guarantee that a smaller child won’t be able to ride,” says Jim Shull, who has worked for more than 30 years as a Disney Imagineer, a term for the Walt Disney Co. park designer’s theme.
NBCUniversal, part of Comcast Corp., says it’s looking at ways to update rides to fit more guests.
Retrofitting an amusement ride for more riders needs to be done carefully. After a 14-year-old Missouri boy died last March after falling from a ride at an entertainment complex in Florida, an autopsy found he exceeded the ride’s weight limit. An investigation found that adjustments to the ride’s seat belt contributed to the accident.
Some rides, like the Incredible Hulk Coaster at Universal’s Islands of Adventure Park in Florida, have some seats designed for taller guests. And other newer theme park attractions are notable for accommodating people of different heights, such as a new roller coaster based on the Guardians of the Galaxy film series at Disney’s Epcot Park. Disney declined to comment.
“It’s the most comfortable vehicle I’ve ever seen and it can accommodate a lot of people,” says Thinkwell’s Mr. McManus.
Write to Jacob Passy at [email protected]
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