GigaG Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 The title is self-explanatory- Cedar Fair has high height restrictions, but not overall ludicrous. The "ludicrous" honor goes to Galaxyland. Mindbender requires a 59"restriction, while the Solar Flare flat ride requires a 62" height. http://www.wem.ca/media/43315/gld-ride-information.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djboss302 Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 OK, I know Schwarzkopfs are pretty intense, but 59" is absolutely ridiculous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.J. Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 OK, I know Schwarzkopfs are pretty intense, but 59" is absolutely ridiculous. Height restrictions don't have anything to do with the ride intensity in most cases, it's about the restraint system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SingleRiderCam Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 OK, I know Schwarzkopfs are pretty intense, but 59" is absolutely ridiculous. Height restrictions don't have anything to do with the ride intensity in most cases, it's about the restraint system. It looks like Olympia Looping has the same restraint system, and you must be 45" to ride it. Does Mindbender's lap bar system have less "clicks" than a normal Schwarzkopf lap bar or something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.J. Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 I have no idea honestly. They both use what appears to be the same accordion-style shoulder harness though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GigaG Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 If anything, Olympia has more loops with similar Schwarzkopf intensity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoshiFan Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 (edited) Carolina Goldrusher going from 36" to 48" after Cedar Fair bought the park and nothing about the ride changed. I guess because other mine trains in the chain are 48" but it must have been annoying for kids to ride the coaster and then be told they are too short. Dorney raising Wild Mouse from 42" to 44" and adding an age requirement that you have to be 8 or older to ride even if you meet the height requirement. And for maximum height the Wild Mouse at Rye Playland has a height limit of 6 feet. No other Zamperla Wild Mouse has that restriction. Edited February 13, 2014 by YoshiFan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GigaG Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 Carolina Goldrusher going from 36" to 48" after Cedar Fair bought the park and nothing about the ride changed. Dorney raising Wild Mouse from 42" to 44" and adding an age requirement that you have to be 8 or older to ride even if you meet the height requirement. Not quite the wild mouse, but the Goldrusher seems like a pretty crappy idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkTums Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 Jaguar at Knott's Berry Farm. 48". That means when a kid in SoCal turns 48" they can choose between riding X2 at SFMM or Jaguar at Knott's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJeXeL Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 ^Don't speak ill of Jaguar! It's the big cat of coasters! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
megametal Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 The title is self-explanatory- Cedar Fair has high height restrictions, but not overall ludicrous. The "ludicrous" honor goes to Galaxyland. Mindbender requires a 59"restriction, while the Solar Flare flat ride requires a 62" height. http://www.wem.ca/media/43315/gld-ride-information.pdf Could that be due to the weird OTSR the coaster uses? The ones where they are stationary, so you pull the whole headrest down to fit it over your shoulders? I think Viper, formerly at SFGAdv. had that type of restraint too though, and didn't have that high of a restriction. Could be due to that and the accident in 1986? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
downunder Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 ^Don't speak ill of Jaguar! It's the big cat of coasters! The excalmation mark in "Jaguar!" coaster name always intrigued me. I'm 6' 2" and I couldn't get on the Wild Mouse at Rye Gunplayland because I was too tall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillrider Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 Any Cedar Fair parks height restrictions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GigaG Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 Any Cedar Fair parks height restrictions. To be fair, while CF does more weird height restrictions, there are a few things that CF does better. Such as large Arrow loopers being 54" at SF parks, while the comparable (slightly smaller) Vortex is 48". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillrider Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 Not really.... One example would be demon at sfga. It has a 42" height requirement, while the corkscrew at cedarpoint has a 48" requirement to ride. Another example would be witches wheel at cedarpoint has a height requirement of a whopping 54", while six flags version you only have to be 42" to ride. I could go on forever and compare rides between chains, but cedarfair is by far the worst park chain for family friendly height requirements. Sources.... https://www.sixflags.com/greatamerica/attractions/ride-list & https://www.cedarpoint.com/plan-a-visit/rider-height-requirements Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GigaG Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 The Witches' Wheel always confused me. Although, as for the loopers, I was only talking about the larger ones. The mega-loopers and Vortex being in that category. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajfelice Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 What I have noticed through reading official ride manuals from the manufacturers of old rides from the 1950s until new ones just installed in 2013, is that the older you go the more the minimum height requirement varies for the same ride in different parks. The reason being this is that for many older rides there is no manufacturer minimum or any suggestion at all. In other words, the decision on minimum height for many old rides is up to the park, state inspectors, and insurance companies. It's not until the past 25 years or so of rides that the manufacturers had more strict requirements in the books that parks were required to follow by law. Branching out from what I have read, I base my argument that many of the older rides and coasters from the 60s and 70s were in many cases set independently so there is more variance across the industry. Some crazy high restrictions I have seen are 48" for a mine train at CP (yes, I talked about this earlier today), and 60" for Darien Lake's UFO. Both of those seemed way off for their respective ride categories across the industry. I initially dropped my jaw when Waldameer announced a 52" minimum requirement for our new Music Express, until I realized that the manufacturer requirement by the book for that ride program is in fact 52". Since we intended to operate it as an extreme thrill, and it did very well with that for its opening year, we are keeping that ride program for the time being. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GigaG Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 What I have noticed through reading official ride manuals from the manufacturers of old rides from the 1950s until new ones just installed in 2013, is that the older you go the more the minimum height requirement varies for the same ride in different parks. The reason being this is that for many older rides there is no manufacturer minimum or any suggestion at all. In other words, the decision on minimum height for many old rides is up to the park, state inspectors, and insurance companies. It's not until the past 25 years or so of rides that the manufacturers had more strict requirements in the books that parks were required to follow by law. Branching out from what I have read, I base my argument that many of the older rides and coasters from the 60s and 70s were in many cases set independently so there is more variance across the industry. Some crazy high restrictions I have seen are 48" for a mine train at CP (yes, I talked about this earlier today), and 60" for Darien Lake's UFO. Both of those seemed way off for their respective ride categories across the industry. I initially dropped my jaw when Waldameer announced a 52" minimum requirement for our new Music Express, until I realized that the manufacturer requirement by the book for that ride program is in fact 52". Since we intended to operate it as an extreme thrill, and it did very well with that for its opening year, we are keeping that ride program for the time being. Cedar Point's Super Himalaya (Music Express type ride) has a 52" restriction to ride alone, but is lower to ride accompanied. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerstlaueringvar Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 Any maximum height restraints on kiddie coasters that stop us credit whores from getting in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.J. Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 Any maximum height restraints on kiddie coasters that stop us credit whores from getting in. I'm like 5'10" tall and incredibly skinny (last time I checked) and I have to slide myself into Miler kids' coasters like Kozmo's Kurves and Ravine Flyer 3 - and when I'm finally in the seat and the lap restraint is down my knees are up near my stomach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyteowl Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 Jaguar at Knott's Berry Farm. 48". That means when a kid in SoCal turns 48" they can choose between riding X2 at SFMM or Jaguar at Knott's. I have a faint memory of it being 46" back in the day when I was a young kid and my mother worked at Knott's. Did it change when cedar fair took over or am I just imagining things? Regardless, 48" is ridiculous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcdude Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 ^Jaguar was originally 42", but was changed to 48" when the seatbelts were added. I'll never forget this one because it led to one of the biggest crying sessions I've experienced at a park. On one visit, my sister could ride, but on the next (about a month later) she was suddenly several inches too short and that was her favorite ride in the park. Outside of Jaguar, Cedar Fair is really the only company that seems to have numerous excessive height restrictions. Many of their rides are one or two height categories higher than what most other parks require. I will say that their new attractions don't seem to have this problem (probably due to the new company direction), but almost every coaster that had seatbelts retrofitted got a height restriction increase. Outside of Cedar Fair, I would say any family ride that cannot be ridden by 42" children (if accompanied) is a bit ludicrous as it blocks a significant portion of the target audience of the attraction. Additionally, any height restriction exceeding 54" seems like overkill as there are plenty of intense rides with lower restrictions and restraint systems that can accommodate much smaller riders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoasterGuy06 Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 Sources.... https://www.sixflags.com/greatamerica/attractions/ride-list & https://www.cedarpoint.com/plan-a-visit/rider-height-requirements Witches Wheel is a Huss ride, and they set the requirement at 54", not CP. I will say I wonder why CP hasn't lowered Power Tower's height restriction to 48" yet. When I rode it in 2012 it seemed to have the modifications made that would allow them to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GigaG Posted February 14, 2014 Author Share Posted February 14, 2014 Sources.... https://www.sixflags.com/greatamerica/attractions/ride-list & https://www.cedarpoint.com/plan-a-visit/rider-height-requirements Witches Wheel is a Huss ride, and they set the requirement at 54", not CP. I will say I wonder why CP hasn't lowered Power Tower's height restriction to 48" yet. When I rode it in 2012 it seemed to have the modifications made that would allow them to. I once emailed S&S. They said that some restraints are different on 48" towers. What is the difference? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoasterGuy06 Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 New style. The gap between the seat and arm rest is smaller and the part over your lap is much thicker. Old style (52" requirement) Note the part over your lap is smaller and the gap between the seat and arm rest is bigger. The seats/padding are different. Power Tower has the newer style but still has the 52" requirement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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