Walk Of Shame? Theme Park Wise

[DOCTOR DOOM!!!]

Ride ops on Wicked Twister have to press down hard for the seat belt to click in for me... Haven't had any problems on any other rides including Top Thrill Dragster and Millennium Force!

[Lone Wanderer]

Had my first "denial" two days ago at Cedar Point on Wicked Twister , I'm a bit short and trying to get up into the seats without pinching the hell out of my nuts is hard. I got in and put the shoulder-restraints down and was trying to reach the seatbelt when a employee comes up and says, "you won't be able to ride". She barely even made an attempt to buckle the belt, I waited less than 10 minutes to ride so I just bailed without arguing.

[KevinPage]

Back in the day (10 years ago), nothing, but a couple of close calls on the B&M hypers and Xcelerator when it first opened.

 

Last year: couldn't fit on Wicked Twister and TTD (only 1x)

 

My friend would sit behind me, push on the fatty part of my hip and the ride op would just be able to get the seatbelt to click.

 

Planned on visiting SFoG at the end of September and SFoT at the end of October, so I think I could spare to drop a few inches all over to make sure.

[Schrecken]

I had a real scare on TTD last summer but in my case (this is a problem that would likely only happen to women due to the body shapes that many of us tend to have) it has a lot more to do with my shape rather than my weight. I'm short but have broad shoulders and wide hips (but have a flat belly, so no problems with coasters that have little room for the belly), and that day I happened to have on shorts with zippered side pockets, one of which I had my car keys and some other stuff stored in. The bulge in my pocket combined with my girth below the waist meant that I just barely was able to get the seat belt closed. The ride ops were helpful in getting it snapped closed and they didn't struggle, but still it scared the crap out of me that I might one day be denied a ride on one of my favorite coasters.

 

But this summer I went on a diet 6 weeks before I went to CP, lost 12 lbs and the problem was solved - I had almost a couple of inches to spare on the belt on TTD and perhaps a bit more on MF. If ever there was a reason to watch one's weight, those two coasters are it!

 

Otherwise, I've never had any trouble on any coaster, even on what few kiddie coasters I've ridden. It does help to be short when it comes to leg room on coasters, however, lack of height can backfire when it puts your head and ears right in the prime head-bashing on certain coasters with OTSRs.

 

My friend from Ohio who I go to CP with most years is very short - about 4'11, and while she's never had any kind of walk of shame, she has a terrible time trying to get into the seats on Intamin impulse coasters like Wicked Twister and Volcano. This past summer she literally climbed up onto the seats like a monkey, turned around while crouching in the middle of the seats, and then sat herself down.

 

As for seeing others do the walk of shame, I've never had it happen to anyone I've been to a park with, but I did see a man with a big belly being stapled half to death by two ride ops at one time on El Toro. The two ride ops were both pushing their full body weight down trying to get the restraint to close on this guy's belly. That must not have felt very good at all! But at least he made it onto the ride and didn't have a WOS - though I imagine his ride may not have been very comfortable.

[ECZenith]

I saw a woman denied on Harry Potter because of her breast size. I felt really bad for her, it must have been embarrassing. I believe they have since made modifications to the seats or restraints.

 

I often see larger guests turned away from Bizarro at SFNE. Having been a ride op at Disneyland for 5 years, it was always hard for me to turn away riders that could not get the restraint to the safe position, especially after they waited an hour in the hot sun.

[Coaster Curt]

Last year on Raptor, 2 operators were trying to get a guy latched in..........didn't work and off he walked.

[garbanian]

When I was in high school I was too hefty for all rides at CP except for Maverick.

 

I've dropped a lot of weight since then, 45lbs, and now I'm only not able to get on the MF and TTD.

 

I also had the boot on El Toro though, but a nice Ride Op squished me in and it was fine.

 

Still working on dropping more weight.

[DCA_Chris]

I've had toooo many instances of my day at a park being ruined cause the guy I'm with had to do the walk of shame.

 

I guess it comes with the territory when you only date bears

[azza29]

Never been denied a coaster, and after losing 20kg I no longer need attendants to give the restraint a shove to make it lock. Still have a bit of a way to go since some seats are still fairly snug, and earlier this week I was 2kg too heavy for the AquaLoop at Wet 'n Wild. Odds are I would've been OK but understandably the ride ops have to stick with the rules.

[cfc]

I was denied a Golden Horse knock-off SLC and a looping toboggan in China, but that was more of a "Walk of Relief."

[Angry_Gumball]

I was a little worried a couple weeks ago at SCBB when I boarded their S&S tower, Double Shot. I took one of the end seats facing the beach, pulled down the restraint and then had a tough time getting the belt to reach. Concerned that I would be too big for it though I've lost about 15 lbs since I last rode it, I was baffled. I found out that that particular seat's belt was cut a bit short. Riding in the other seats a couple more times that day I was perfectly fine, completely avoiding that one seat that could have denied my ride.

[redsd2121]

Once at Six Flags New England on Batman. I had a broken wrist last summer and although the website did a good job telling me I was unable to ride Cyclone, Thunderbolt, Catwoman's Whip, and any of the upcharge attractions, no where did they say Batman was also on that list. Only recently did they add Batman to that list of unrideable attractions.

[GayCoasterGuy]

I couldn't ride the Skydiver at Lakemont Probably could have done it solo, but they no longer allow single riders on Skydivers anymore. I need to loose 30 lbs, either way!

[caffeine_demon]

One of our group members had a real struggle getting on shambhala at PA last year - it was down to his thighs rather than overall weight (first day couldn't fit, second day took a good squeeze)

 

I needed a good squeeze on hurakan, and a little squish on baco (the restraints are definitely tighter than the usual intamin ones) second time, I only needed about an inch of squish, but the ride op called a mate over and really squashed me! On the 2 rides I decided I hated it with a passion, and if it wasn't for the fact that hurakan condors rather good, I'd consider gaining a few pounds so I'd have the ideal excuse for not riding!

 

And I'd probably fail the family guy scooter test

[Wes]

I couldn't ride the Skydiver at Lakemont Probably could have done it solo, but they no longer allow single riders on Skydivers anymore. I need to loose 30 lbs, either way!

It's not hard.

[PeggedSole]

I've been denied rides several times.

 

-One time was with a Zipper. A tiny fair popped up in the parking lot of our local shopping mall. I saw the Zipper while driving by and just had to ride it. I remembered that some Zipper operators had started to require two riders at a time so I asked about that before buying tickets at the ticket booth. The ticket lady said it would be no problem for me to ride by myself. Well, after purchasing the tickets and walking over to the Zipper, I found out otherwise! The guy operating the Zipper apologized about the situation, but said it was the company policy (or maybe even the manufacturer policy) that no single riders were allowed. I waited around for some time, but I was the only customer in the whole place so I finally gave up and left. I wound up going back a few hours later, and a few other customers were there this time. I waited by the Zipper for a bit, and luckily another single rider walked up so I finally got my ride. I asked the operator to really spin our car, and he did. That made it worth all the trouble.

 

-Another time was with the Twist n Shout wild mouse at Magic Springs. I'm slim, but fairly tall (6'-2"). The Twist n Shout cars were too tight of a squeeze for me. I just couldn't get the lap bar to come down over my knees no matter how I contorted. I've had some tight fits on other Wild Mouse coasters, but that was the first one where I just couldn't make it work. (Note: I almost got denied last season on Flight of Fear at KD for the same thing, but I somehow got my knees crammed in under the bar. However, it left my upper torso in a weird, bent, hunched position which made the ride experience awful. I don't remember having that trouble with Poltergeist at SFFT, but then again that was back when it had OTSRs.)

 

-The third time was with Montu. I injured my lower back many years ago, but I've asked my doctor if it's okay to ride coasters and he's said there's no problem. Even so, I thought I'd wear a quick-release, velcro, back support strap around my waist (like guys who do heavy-moving or lifting often wear). I didn't have to wear it, but I just thought it couldn't hurt. I didn't want to wear it full-time so I would just strap it on right before boarding a coaster train. I had previously done this at numerous amusement parks and even on Montu before with no problems. However, the last time I got on Montu, a ride operator up in the control booth called down to one of the workers doing the loading and had her kick me off the train. The girl couldn't have been nicer about it and was quite apologetic. I told her it was okay and not to worry about it. I casually got off the train and took my walk of shame, but it really wasn't that big of a deal. Unfortunately, the USA is a sue-happy nation and with all the frivolous lawsuits, I can understand if amusement parks are having to become more and more stringent and proactive when it comes to their rides.

Soooo...I don't wear that thing anymore.

[David H]

I was denied a Golden Horse knock-off SLC and a looping toboggan in China, but that was more of a "Walk of Relief."

 

I was denied the same two coasters with Chuck, plus an Arrow looper knockoff at the same park as the SLC. At least for that one, they let me try to get in, but the restraint didn't lock. They didn't even let us try on the SLC, and I suspect we'd have fit. As for the looping toboggan, you know you're not missing much if they make you wear a padded helmet on a coaster! But Robb tried his best to push down the restraint to gte us locked, but the ride ops didn't really try too hard to push the release out while he was pushing. With some effort, I suspect we'd have made it. But none of us wanted to make a big deal out of a crappy coaster!

 

Also, at Knight Valley in China, they had a big ride on the top of the mountain on an arm that had a weight limit that wasn't posted (at least not in English!). After waiting in the queue for a bit, the ride op saw me and asked my weight. The limit was actually really low. I doubt many of the people in our group would have made it, actually. Given that it was a big long arm on the side of a mountain -- with Chinese construction, at aprk that killed a bunch of passengers on their Mission Space knockoff -- that was actually somewhat of a relief! I could mentally see the entire ride falling down the mountain with me on it! Then again, that would be a pretty spectacular way to go out, eh? But not before Hong Kong and Tokyo Disney, which I was visiting after that!

[gisco]

I think if I ever was denied a ride I would immediately stop eating for a month.

[Miracleman]

-Another time was with the Twist n Shout wild mouse at Magic Springs. I'm slim, but fairly tall (6'-2"). The Twist n Shout cars were too tight of a squeeze for me. I just couldn't get the lap bar to come down over my knees no matter how I contorted. I've had some tight fits on other Wild Mouse coasters, but that was the first one where I just couldn't make it work. (Note: I almost got denied last season on Flight of Fear at KD for the same thing, but I somehow got my knees crammed in under the bar. However, it left my upper torso in a weird, bent, hunched position which made the ride experience awful. I don't remember having that trouble with Poltergeist at SFFT, but then again that was back when it had OTSRs.)

 

Twist n Shout: I barely fit on. I'm 6' and have an average build, but long legs, and I just managed to squeeze in.That was the worst coaster ride experience I can remember. My knees still haven't forgiven me. I've never had that tight of a fit on any other Wild Mouse. Luckily, I've never had to do the walk of shame, but that one makes me almost wish I had.

[Cullvion]

I was not allowed admission a lot as a kid as I was tall enough, but I was too skinny for the restraints to properly reach me, if that makes sense.

[goatdan]

Interestingly, or at least I think so, B&M OTSR are usually relatively accommodating for people with larger bellies, but from what I know there are two groups of people that they don't accommodate very well:

 

1) Chesty females. If you have a, uhm, well endowed guest, you have to explain that their... endowment may not allow them to ride. I've seen some interesting... chest arrangements that some people have done to be able to fit in the harnesses.

 

2) Buff dudes. I saw someone else mention that they would stop working out before coaster season, and that does happen for sure. Having said that, if you acknowledge the reason they can't ride in a positive way, they generally take it as a walk of fame.

 

"Heyya, uhm, we're probably not going to be able to send you because your chest is too ripped for you to fit in the harness?"

 

"Really?"

 

"Yeah, I'm really sorry."

 

"No man, that's *awesome*."

 

From what I understand, this usually ends with them walking away sort of flexing as they go to the exit.

 

...The one time I almost did a walk of shame, I was taking my son on a carny Dragon Wagon - his first "coaster". He had to have someone ride with him, and I only fit in sideways. The operator told me not to even bother with the seatbelt. Of course, I was mashed in, but my son was quite loose (although locked in with my legs, more or less) but it was about the most terrified of a coaster I've ever been. Thanks, church carny guy, next time have me walk the walk of shame for having adult legs.

[JonnyRCT3]

I have walked the walk of shame, if embarrassment counts?

 

I remember riding Raptor @ CP, and while waiting in the brake zone, my legs (kneecaps) locked. That was an awkward & long process to get out of my seat.

 

That whole experience was rather odd.

[Kyle Coleman]

Also had to take the walk of shame at wicked twister. But, fit ok on the other itntamins at cp just fine so wasn't too upset about it.

[arby]

I have been denied a few kiddie coasters because I was too tall.

 

Otherwise, I've never been turned town for riding any ride I wanted to. I wish they would have denied me a boomerang or three but unfortunately they let me stay.

[Midgetman82]

I've never been turned down, but I have seen a guy denied a ride on a B&M stand-up coaster because he was way too tall.