Theme parks are required to operate at the highest safety standards. All rides require daily testing and inspections. When problems slip through the cracks, safety issues arise. We saw this most recently with the Fury 325 roller coaster at Carowinds. It was truly a frightening experience to see a roller coaster fly past a broken steel support beam. Because of this incident, Disney is implementing a weight limit on many rides at Disney World and Disneyland.

Weight limits at Disney come after Carowinds roller coaster issue
Weight limits at Disney come after Carowinds roller coaster issue. Photo via Jeremy Wagner

For those not familiar, a few weeks ago, one guest spotted a crack in the Fury 325 roller coaster at Carowinds. This video went viral and forced the immediate closure of the ride. Clearly, operating a roller coaster at high speeds with a crack is dangerous. A new beam is now installed, however, this wild scene caused Disney to reevaluate their safety standards, which is why they are now adding a weight limit to their rides.

Making Disney Rides Safer

Disney rides have been top of mind when it comes to safety recently. For example, the man who lost his hands on Space Mountain. Also, we saw Disney remove the seat belts from the Tower of Terror. This was deemed safe and to make the ride more thrilling. You can read about that here. Disney is even talking about making a euthanasia roller coaster, which is the least safe ride in the world because the goal is to kill you. Despite all of the bad news on safety, there is some good news from a safety standpoint.

Recently, Disney increased the minimum height requirement for many of their rides. They increased the minimum height requirement to 65” or 5’5” for their most thrilling rides. You can read more about that change here. The reason for this is to make rides safer and to have fewer injuries. When there is an injury on a ride at Disney World, the negative PR is off the charts and right now, Disney is swimming in negative PR with all of their poor decisions.

A maximum weight limit is the newest addition to Disney rides. This is primarily to maintain the structural integrity of the rides. Disney saw what happened at Carowinds and rather than experiencing this themselves, they are going to have a maximum weight limit. The logic of course is lighter riders mean the cars on the track are lighter, which means less stress on the tracks.

Weight Limit on Disney Rides

Disney will only allow guests 180 lbs or less to ride certain rides. As mentioned above, this is to maintain the structural integrity of the ride and reduce the wear and tear on the rides and the supports. We reached out to a world-renowned physicist to confirm Disney’s theory and they mentioned that Disney is spot on. With more weight, there is more force that is exerted on the track, increasing the likelihood of ride supports being damaged and needing to be replaced.

This is a way to keep rides safer and save Disney money. They won’t need to replace supports as frequently, which is a great cost savings measure. The rides included thus far in the maximum weight limit are extensive. However, some of the rides included are Tower of Terror, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, Mad Tea Party, Space Mountain, Tomorrowland Transit Authority Peoplemover, and more.

Disney will have a scale at the entrance to all of the rides with a maximum weight limit, much like they have for height. They will weigh guests before getting in line to ensure they are within the acceptable limit. They will also weigh you before boarding, again, as they do with height. If a guest doesn’t fall in the range, they will not be allowed to ride. Despite the effort to make rides safer, many Americans are angry about this new weight limit and are taking their anger to Twitter.

What do you think of the maximum weight limit coming to Disney World and Disneyland? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

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