Curious about the ADA accessible log, since I had extreme difficulty getting out of one of the regular logs last time I went--and that was when I was at my lowest adult weight. I'm tall and the Dudley DoRight logs trap my legs so I can't bend my knees, leaving me to dead lift my entire body with my arms at a very awkward angle. Can the ADA log be requested, or is it reserved only for guests who have formally sought accommodations? I'd get them not wanting just anyone to ask for it since it'd make the wait longer for people with disabilities, but I had such a bad experience with it that I've just given up on riding Ripsaw Falls otherwise.
Oh it's been so long... I can't remember if I'd read about it here, or if the TM at the bottom of the line mentioned it. When we got to the seating TM he asked for it, we waited until it came around again, and we were seated. It still involves using upper body strength, but there was more room for his legs or something like that.
Even when I'm not at goal weight, I've never had trouble fitting on a Disney thrill ride
Lucky. xH couldn't ride two rides at
disneyland. The no-longer-in-existence ride that was a lot like Doom...Maliboomer? Those two rides are like Hulk, where you sit and then the harness has to click down AND have the little seatbelt buckle work. He couldn't get the buckle to work. (nor could he on Hulk, and I think he never even tried Doom) The other ride is the renamed former-Mulholland Madness now-Goofy's Sky School. That day sucked because it was a trip while he was in the diagnosis process for a pituitary gland tumor AND apparently everyone around us on that ride was in running for biggest jerks on the planet. We'd also made the mistake of seating our son with him, and son was too young to ride alone, so when xH couldn't put the lapbar down he had to get out and I had to get out and move. It was awful and awkward and rotten and the "humans" in line with us were absolultely horrid. Given that the tumor creates prolactin, which causes extra emotions, it was a horrible horrible day for him and also for me supporting him.
He's 5'10" and solidly in the 300 range, and learned to enjoy Universal for other reasons, not the big-fun-ride reasons. Meanwhile, I, the relative chicken, got to ride those things with our son. So xH sat alone while I had my wits terrified out of me... At least the kidlet had fun on the rides!
(I've written about all of this before when we were married, so I hope it doesn't come across as me being gossipy or rude about him. The poor guy has THE most messed up metabolism I've ever known of, and then he has the tumor on top of it all. It's an awful situation and I feel terrible for him about it all.)
The other thing that strikes me is that if they're going to modify seating by just having the shoulder harness lock further out from the seat, that doesn't help everyone
Correct.
xH never was able to ride any of the rides he yearned to ride. Even out at US Hollywood he can't even ride Hippogriff, because the restraints are more like Mummy/Gringott's.
It is what it is. The manufacturers make what they make.
I'm sure that if Universal could cause the manufacturers to make rides with seats that are actually molded differently, they would have done so by now.