Are the height restrictions scaled up a few inches?

[Roll-Tide]

Just curious about this because my son is 52" and we were just at Wild Adventures in Valdosta, GA. Anyway, their restrictions for their inverted roller coaster was 48". My son just barely made it. I was shocked. The people working their told me you had to be 4' tall. Well......he is over that and his head just barely came to the top of the line. Why do they add on inches? Is it the same at IOA? We are going to US/IOA in June next year and he is hoping he will grow enough to ride the Hulk & DD. If they add on inches, more than likely he will not get to ride. Does anybody know for sure?


Thanks,
Kim

 

[Earl]

No, they do not add on inches at Univerasl Orlando.

 

[Roll-Tide]

Good news! Thanks Earl...............hopefully my son will grow 2" in the next year and get to ride with me.

Kim

 

[CoasterFEV]

Correct. I can assure you that Universal does not "scale up" attraction height requirements.

The coaster you are speaking of is a suspended looping coaster by the name of Hangman. It is manufactured by Vekoma (same company that built Disney's Rock n Roller Coaster). All Vekoma SLCs (as they are called) have a 48" height requirement.

Dueling Dragons, the dueling inverted coasters at IOA, are manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M). I can't think of ANY B&M coasters that have a height requirement under 54". These requirements are set by the manufacturer, not the theme park the ride operates in.

 

[joe]

Sometimes employees get coasters confused or don't know what the requirement is and just blurt out a familiar number. The reason your son just barely made it is because on the HANGMAN suspended looping coaster the height requirement IS 52". There is no park in existence that would have the height sticks 4" over the posted requirement. The requirement is listed on their website and I remember seeing it when I visited earlier this year. Not too many coasters have the in-between requirement of 52"(instead of 48" or 54") but this is one of them. I believe the PHOENIX coaster( in Kennywood, PA I think) is another one with a 52" requirement.

 

[Roll-Tide]

You guys are right as usual. I went on the website and checked out the restriction also. It is 52". That does make me feel better. I couldn't believe they would raise the bar 4 whole inches. I have heard that disney will raise it an inch to compensate for shoes (I guess). We are really hoping DS will grow two inches over the next year. He wants to ride HULK sooooo bad! Wish us luck!

Thanks again,
Kim

 

[EUROPA]

When in doubt bring your own tape measrue. I would love to see the look on someones face when you take that thing out and mearsure you child. I think if more people did this at Disney then, those measuring sticks might go back to the correct size.

 

[KHansen454]

I work for Universal out here in CA and we defiantely do not raise the height markers. We actually check them witha measuring tape frequently. In fact, a lot of employees carry tape measures on them, just so we can measure Children who's parents are insistant on their child being tall enough to ride ( usually when the child is far below the restriction sign!!!). If you are ever in doubt of a the correctness of a height marker, you can ask an employee to measure it with a tape measure or bring your own a long. It is not often that the signs are off from what theya re suppose to be. Hope this helps!!!! - Karen