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Theme parks aren't one-size-fits-all, and larger fans say they're paying the price with their comfort and confidence
03.08.2023 - 12:11 / insider.com / Disney World
When the new Tron coaster opened at Disney World's Magic Kingdom back in April, theme-park reporter Madison Blancafor, couldn't wait for her chance to ride the high-speed coaster, based on the popular sci-fi franchise.
But when her opportunity to test-ride the Florida attraction, renamed Tron Lightcycle / Run, during a preview event finally came, the ride attendants told her she wouldn't be able to sit in the regular seat because of her size. Blancafor wears a US size 20 and identifies as plus-sized.
"The cast member up front was kind and gave me a few tips for how to shimmy my legs deeper into the knee hold for the seat," she told Insider, referring to the ride's bike-style vehicles. "But there was no amount of wiggling my hips or changing the angle of my knee or sucking in my stomach that was going to make that metal bar fit over my calf to lock me into place."
When the ride was still in previews, plus-size — typically size 18 and up in the US — Disney employees and early riders began sharing first-person accounts of not fitting safely on the new attraction because the seat didn't lock into place. Their only alternative was to ride the more accessible bench seat attached to some of the trains, which required waiting in a second line.
"I get a small spike of anxiety every time I step in line for a new coaster these days: Am I going to fit? If I don't, will the other riders in line be rude as I try? Will the ride operators be frustrated that I attempted?" Blancafor said.
Insider spoke to seven other US theme-park fans who said riding roller coasters isn't accessible, let alone comfortable, for every body type.
What started as an innovative way to experience an attraction with bike-style ride vehicles is now causing issues for anyone with a larger body type.
"As I tried to board the bike, the employee who was helping me started pushing the bar near my knees until I felt like I'd get bruises," Molly Kay Nelson, a size-16 content creator who regularly visits Disney World and Disneyland, told Insider of her experience on Tron. Representatives for Disney did not respond to Insider's request for comment.
The theme-park fan said she eventually asked to ride in one of the more accessible bench seats because she was so uncomfortable.
"It was also embarrassing, and it made my ride experience entirely unenjoyable because of my own mental block," Nelson told Insider.
Animal Kingdom's Flight of Passage, an Avatar-themed flight-simulation ride that opened in 2017, has a similar bike-like ride vehicle with back and leg restraints.
"I waited in the long line with friends and then was the only one who didn't fit and couldn't ride," Erin Leighton-Herrmann, who's a size 20, told Insider. "It's embarrassing as everyone
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