[justin872]

me and my friend just went to carowinds today, and i will add my friend is a little over weight. They would not let her ride intimdiator after standing in line for it after they told her at the test seat it was ok. when we got on the ride, they told her in her face she couldn't ride it and to get off. they were not polite about it either, laughing at her. the seat locked tight and everything I am considering a law suit this is complete discrimination. I understand the rules but they did not have to be rude like they were.


oh and believe me the papers will hear about this!

[justin872]

to the moderators: I am sorry i am not trying to take it out on here, and i love carowinds i really do, but that really made me mad that the intimidator staff would call her fat right in the open; making everyone on the ride laugh at her. I mean if she couldnt ride it they could of said something silently to her. If the general manager of carowinds reads this, please train your intimidator staff to be a little bit more considerate and not discriminate against people who can not ride!

[jasonwilson88]

If anything was said loudly to her that is very rude and should absolutely be dealt with, but threatening lawsuits and the like will get you nowhere.

You have to face the fact that America is an insanely unhealthy country by most accounts. 34% of the south is now obese according to certain studies. A roller coaster manufacturer can't be expected to design a seat that covers people all the way from 48" to 400 pounds (I realize your friend was not 400 most likely but I'm making a general point) so they have to do the best they can. I've seen very unhealthy people fit into Intimidator 232 before with little trouble so they apparently did a "decent" job of seat design.

From your account the ride op at the line entrance correctly did their job and tested the person of suspect size before they entered the line - if their response differed from the people in the station it could have been a lack of communication or even that your friend was sitting differently in the seat resulting in fit problems.

I guess they should just be happy that our rides aren't like Cedar Point's where unhealthy people (or even some extremely muscular people) can't fit into a large portion of them. I've seen people get successfully restraint tested at the front gate of MilF and wait TWO HOURS to get into the station where they found that the belts were a different size leading to the most sad and embarrassing walk of shame out the chicken exit ever.

Getting rejected from any ride must really really suck but i232 seems to be pretty forgiving to people comparatively. I've actually seen a few people on various forums make some very healthy lifestyle changes just to fit in CP's rides - something that everyone can agree is a good thing for themselves and the public health system.

[justin872]

Oh yes I do agree that this is a good point about some rides encouraging people to lose weight. After i cooled down, i thought about it and i understand that today is a extremely crowded, and some of the employees may not of been 100% or even grouchy, as i have been there and done that myself at my job. I mean I just talked to her and told her its for safety reasons, i just do not like the fact that everyone in the train had to laugh at her, just proves how immature people are. thanks for explaining this to me.

[Blue Moon]

I wasn't there working today, so I didn't witness this but I have a few things to mention.

Was it an employee or a guest at the front that said it was ok? Keep in mind the restraint CAN lock, but won't meet the requirements of the ride in order to successfully dispatch. The restraint has to click/lock three times, which will signal the green light at the test seat. Make sure the light was green. When it is very sunny out there, you may have to have a buddy block the sun from the lightbulb with their hand to make sure the color is green due to a glare the sunlight creates. If you have to try really hard to get that green light at the test seat, say like 30 seconds of constant pushing, chances are it may not work in the station due to time constraints. Plus, it would then attract the attention of everyone in the station. A friend on a personal level may be able to push that restraint extremely hard, but keep in mind that employees have to be careful with our guests to make sure nobody gets hurt either. Again, this all comes down to safety.

We certainly try our best to get every guest on the ride, but these restrictions are due to the ride's design. I may be out of the loop here but I don't see how an employee can be finding it funny to tell someone they can't ride. Perhaps they unknowingly gave that impression? I know personally that telling someone they are unable to be secured is the hardest and most unfavorable thing to do at the job, as it can potentially ruin a guest's day too. I would certainly hope the others truly feel this way too. I'm sorry to hear about your foul experience, and I hope you still were able to enjoy the rest of your day.

[flyer1965]

i saw a guy who was large but not EXTREMELY obese try to close the restraint while we were loading. He got only to one click apparently, and after trying with several other staff, they couldn't get it far enough down (didn't realize 3 clicks is the magic number but makes sense). He and his girlfriend got up and walked out, I mean there were two trains waiting to unload, you can't stay there all day.

However a guy who looked far larger was on the train to my right and I couldn't figure out how he was able to fit bigger and get 3 clicks while the smaller guy couldn't make it fit.

For those who have a big belly, it would seem like if you can lift everything up and over the front of the black restraint, it will close, but if you are trying to get everything under the restraint, it won't fit.

It's ashame our population is growing so obese and having worse health problems. The menu of food at most places in the park doesn't help any. I am happy to see they are offering fruit cups this year in certain places, i have not noticed those before. I agree with the other poster who said that maybe being able to fit will inspire people to eat healthier and exercise more so they can fit.

[justin872]

Its all ok now, i do not think that guy intentionally tried to tell her loud enough that she couldn't ride, but he defently said it loud enough where a good amount of people heard it. I have been on Intimidator plenty of time this year, and i have yet to see a bad staff, so maybe it was just a bad day for someone. It is ok now, out of respect for her i wont ride it when im at the park with her, but i have a season pass so there will be plenty of chances for me to ride. thanks to the intimdator staff for understanding and talking to me about this.

[Skycoastin Steve]

I personally know every single person on that team and I can guarantee you that nobody was laughing "in your face" about her not being able to ride the ride. That's really all I'll say before I get impolite.

[justin872]

Its fine, we were so upset after the people on the train were laughing at her, we were not thinking straight. its ok now its settled. I apoligize so can someone please lock this forum?