Height Check

[richmondrider]

I’m sure there is a more appropriate place to post this, so please move mods if so…

We celebrated a big milestone yesterday as my almost 8 year old barely crossed the 54” mark and could now try every coaster. We started the day at Griffon, which he loved, and then went over to Alpy (down unfortunately) and eventually Tempesto and the rest of the rides.

Before leaving, we wanted one more on Griffon. This time, they measured him in the station and the lady claimed he wasn’t tall enough. By her measurements it looked close to right, but he could have been having bad posture or tired from the day. I knew better than to argue - only offering a “he rode it earlier today and Tempesto” but know it’s her job and she was doing the right thing.

My son, on the other hand, cried hysterically and got so upset. I tried to explain it to him and he was also beyond exhausted.

I just don’t understand why BG can’t implement a system like so many other parks at the front of the park that officially measures, then provides a wristband. It seems so straightforward and simple that im either missing the downsides to why they haven’t done it or they just don’t care. Anyone have insight into this process?

 

[Zachary]

I just don’t understand why BG can’t implement a system like so many other parks at the front of the park that officially measures, then provides a wristband.

This was a thing for years, but seems to have been discontinued—presumably due to costs?

I know there was an issue recently at another BGW attraction where a measurement device was found to be notably incorrect and was leading to issues like this. May be worth mentioning the issue at guest services if the problem continues—not in a complaining way, just a "hey, um, this measuring stick seems to be different than all the others of the same supposed height, you should have someone go check it out with a tape measure."

 

[horsesboy]

I’m sure there is a more appropriate place to post this, so please move mods if so…

We celebrated a big milestone yesterday as my almost 8 year old barely crossed the 54” mark and could now try every coaster. We started the day at Griffon, which he loved, and then went over to Alpy (down unfortunately) and eventually Tempesto and the rest of the rides.

Before leaving, we wanted one more on Griffon. This time, they measured him in the station and the lady claimed he wasn’t tall enough. By her measurements it looked close to right, but he could have been having bad posture or tired from the day. I knew better than to argue - only offering a “he rode it earlier today and Tempesto” but know it’s her job and she was doing the right thing.

My son, on the other hand, cried hysterically and got so upset. I tried to explain it to him and he was also beyond exhausted.

I just don’t understand why BG can’t implement a system like so many other parks at the front of the park that officially measures, then provides a wristband. It seems so straightforward and simple that im either missing the downsides to why they haven’t done it or they just don’t care. Anyone have insight into this process?

Even at parks that have a designated height check station the ride ops have the description and responsibility recheck if they suspect that the rider doesn't actually meet the requirements. shockingly I have personally seen families slip bands of one child to put them on another child that presumably is close but doesn't quite reach the mark. That said I would guess that BGW did away with theirs do to staffing issues.

 

[RKRCC]

I’m sure there is a more appropriate place to post this, so please move mods if so…

We celebrated a big milestone yesterday as my almost 8 year old barely crossed the 54” mark and could now try every coaster. We started the day at Griffon, which he loved, and then went over to Alpy (down unfortunately) and eventually Tempesto and the rest of the rides.

Before leaving, we wanted one more on Griffon. This time, they measured him in the station and the lady claimed he wasn’t tall enough. By her measurements it looked close to right, but he could have been having bad posture or tired from the day. I knew better than to argue - only offering a “he rode it earlier today and Tempesto” but know it’s her job and she was doing the right thing.

My son, on the other hand, cried hysterically and got so upset. I tried to explain it to him and he was also beyond exhausted.

I just don’t understand why BG can’t implement a system like so many other parks at the front of the park that officially measures, then provides a wristband. It seems so straightforward and simple that im either missing the downsides to why they haven’t done it or they just don’t care. Anyone have insight into this process?

They used to have a kid height station in England as soon as you walked in. It was operated by park staff and kids would get a colored wristband identifying which rides they could ride. Sadly, this went away a few years ago.

BGW also used to have staff out front of each coaster that would measure kids before they went in the queue and told people to put their bags in lockers. Sadly these workers went away a year or two ago now.

Now, the lack of having either of these leads to slower coaster operations. Last time I went, almost every ride a kid or two had to be pulled off the ride to be measured by staff or someone had to get up to put a bag or loose article in the bins beside where the coaster loaded. Both of which slowed down operations on a busy day

 

[Fenrihr]

Had a similar situation with my kid at 48", Verbolten staff let him ride, but Darkoaster staff wouldn't. He was about 1/32" below 48" when they called me over to confirm. He basically melted down. It would definitely help to have a measuring station handing out bands. One, it would prevent a situation like the two above; two, it would speed up operations, since there would be no need for the "Let me check his height quick" in the station. Three, (basically for parent sanity), it would prevent us having to deal with a kid being horribly upset that he was able ride one coaster but not the other (despite me telling him he may not be tall enough; once one let him on, he was expecting to get on all of the 48" rides.)

EDIT: I can totally see some people slipping a band off a taller kid's arm onto a kid that is close to tall enough, so I do get that.

 

[richmondrider]

This was a thing for years, but seems to have been discontinued—presumably due to costs?

I know there was an issue recently at another BGW attraction where a measurement device was found to be notably incorrect and was leading to issues like this. May be worth mentioning the issue at guest services if the problem continues—not in a complaining way, just a "hey, um, this measuring stick seems to be different than all the others of the same supposed height, you should have someone go check it out with a tape measure."

Good idea. I'm hoping that by the next time I come back in a few months, he'll be well clear of It (fingers crossed). But I should still nicely suggest it.

Even at parks that have a designated height check station the ride ops have the description and responsibility recheck if they suspect that the rider doesn't actually meet the requirements. shockingly I have personally seen families slip bands of one child to put them on another child that presumably is close but doesn't quite reach the mark. That said I would guess that BGW did away with theirs do to staffing issues.

You're right, it could 100% be abused and I am certain families would do it. Again, not angry and understand their responsibility, just think it could be a more consistent process.

 

[Coasternerd]

This was a thing for years, but seems to have been discontinued—presumably due to costs?

Thank the guests who abused them. They would have one kid measured who met the height tree in question and then after measuring and recording a wristband, would then take the wristband and put in on their shorter kid to try and skirt the rules. Evidently it happened enough because they’re no longer a thing.

 

[dsdl]

Thank the guests who abused them. They would have one kid measured who met the height tree in question and then after measuring and recording a wristband, would then take the wristband and put in on their shorter kid to try and skirt the rules. Evidently it happened enough because they’re no longer a thing.

While there are surely many who abused the system, this has to be a purely cost-cutting measure. Just like removing the entrance position at each coaster. It's fine to get rid of the height check station I suppose but I think it's crazy to not have the entrance position to catch height issues before waiting however long in line to get to the platform and then find out your kid is too short.

 

[dawno]

They could use a stamp and black light. Or just a simple ink stamp that changes day to day. Have a booth at the entrance, get measured, stamped and you're good for the day.

 

[mikes]

Consistency is the biggest issue. the straight yard stick style measurement is often open to interpretation (by someone that can't measure). Get the ones where the kids stands under a swinging bar and if the bar clears freely, they aren't tall enough. These should be checked for accuracy occasionally. My son is just at the 48" mark and I'm dreading trips with him right now.

 

[warfelg]

Yeah, any sort of bar you have to pass under is a no go for me. I'm 6'8. Guess I'll just have to hope SEAS (or whatever it is now) reexamines the height limits at some point. 3 straight coasters with max height limits is ridiculous

I want to start by saying that I’m sorry that at your height it can be tough to find accomidations.

However I do want to push back on building coasters with height limits is ridiculous. Because there’s a safety element to it. Going through the three:

~ Pantheon: First there’s the supports on the inversions. They are trying to make a big enough ride envelop to have space, but at the same time they want to make sure there’s some thrill to the elements. Then there’s the head chopper effect where, unfortunately, at your height that ends up outside the ride envelope enough that there’s a risk of possibly loss of limb. Designing to allow for someone for someone that’s at the extreme end of this bell curve:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Standard_deviation_diagram_US_men_heights.svg

Tends to mean for a majority of the population, the head chopper effect loses out on its impact. At 80”+ you represent 0.1% of all men in North America.

~ DarKoaster: This gets even more complicated as your ride window is restricted by the size of the building and trying to squeeze the coaster in there. If they went much bigger with the ride window currently set, there’s likely no overlap of the track, which shortens the ride significantly and likely makes it so it doesn’t exist at all.

I’m assuming the the third one is InvadR since we don’t know anything about the limits for the Festhous Park project, and that’s maybe the only one with something over the track that doesn’t need to be there. But then again that brings in the part I haven’t talked about yet.

The trains could also be another issue. With some rides like VBolt, Apollo, Alpie, Griffon it’s not a just issue with the trains because there’s so much space around the seats. But given that you are down in it a little more with LNM and InvadR the train size may come into consideration as there’s limits to how long the femur is from seat to train front, will the restraint close properly with shin length.

So there’s two spots alone that would require significant alterations to a ride layout or train design for 0.1% of the population that you land in. Again, I feel bad for you that it’s the case that there’s some rides you are eliminated from being able to ride because of height, but that much of an alteration that could effect everyone within 2 standard deviations of the center of that bell curve to fit the 4th deviation is unlikely to ever happen.

 

[Jonesta6]

but that much of an alteration that could effect everyone within 2 standard deviations of the center of that bell curve to fit the 4th deviation is unlikely to ever happen.

Someone paid attention in stats class... But how did we go from a 95% confidence range to 99.99% while skipping 99%? What happened to the third deviation?

 

[nick]

I got my son onto Pantheon by showing them my PhotoKey photo from earlier in the day with him on Pantheon.

 

[Coolguy15]

My dad is technically too tall for Pantheon, as he's 6'6". But they give him an exception due to his head being supported by the headrest. When we were there yesterday, employees told us that there were talks about removing the upper height limit, but I don't know if it's an Intamin thing or a BGW thing.

 

[richmondrider]

We weren’t sure if the pool was going to be an option and saw reports that the park was mostly empty, so I grabbed my two boys for a quick trip to Kings Dominion.

I was a bit nervous my younger son would face the same inconsistency as he did at Busch Gardens.. first 54” ride we approach is Dominator and they don’t even measure him. Then we go to Flight of Fear and she measures and says he isn’t tall enough out front, but the line is too long anyways so we head to P305. Again, no measurement and crushes the ride twice. Then back to FoF and I believe it was the same lady, but she either didn’t care or missed it and we walked right by and rode.

So…Kings Dominion just doesn’t care as much maybe? They do have the big height board right in front but it seems more generous than the individual sticks they have.

 

[Coolguy15]

We weren’t sure if the pool was going to be an option and saw reports that the park was mostly empty, so I grabbed my two boys for a quick trip to Kings Dominion.

I was a bit nervous my younger son would face the same inconsistency as he did at Busch Gardens.. first 54” ride we approach is Dominator and they don’t even measure him. Then we go to Flight of Fear and she measures and says he isn’t tall enough out front, but the line is too long anyways so we head to P305. Again, no measurement and crushes the ride twice. Then back to FoF and I believe it was the same lady, but she either didn’t care or missed it and we walked right by and rode.

So…Kings Dominion just doesn’t care as much maybe? They do have the big height board right in front but it seems more generous than the individual sticks they have.

It's funny that she wouldn't let him ride FoF but got on P305 without a hitch. P305 is a hell of a ride, but I'm glad he enjoyed it!