Back in 1963, when the boats that carry customers through Disneyland’s “It’s a Small World” ride were designed, the average male weighed 175lbs and the average female 135lbs.
Not anymore. Nowadays the boats frequently bottom out, overloaded with extra flesh, says CalorieLab:
The Small World ride now must accommodate adults who frequently weigh north of 200 pounds, which it often cannot do. Increasingly, overweighted boats get to certain points in the ride and bottom out, becoming stuck in the flume.
The ride monitors attempt to leave empty seats on many boats to compensate for the hefty, but this routinely antagonizes the hundreds of paying customers waiting in line. When a boat does bottom out, a long line of other boats backs up behind it, their passengers slowly going mad from listening to the ride’s theme song.
The ride monitors must then track down the stuck boat and attempt tactfully to help a rider or two to exit at one of the emergency platforms, which the riders in question do not always deal with graciously.
Disney is now undertaking a massive renovation in which the boats will be redesigned and the flume deepened to accommodate the additional poundage. It’s a new, bigger world.
Small World ride revamped for bigger passengers [CalorieLab]
(Photo:cokeisit7)
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@mconfoy: process food may be true, in a comon sense way but is not necessarily the true underlying reason,smoking has proven by studies to reduce apetite significantly in many cases, but i believe the true reason to nearly all cases of obesity, fat people are fat due to poor nutrition or over eating (it is sometimes genetic, but is extremely rare)
@ceejeemcbeegee:
I’m 6’2″ and around 190 which is just about kicking into the overweight category. Men 6′ and 200# or over are over weight unless they are professional athletes.
When you are taller you can carry an extra 10-20# and not show but you are still overweight. It’s easy to see ehen you compare the body pictures of either active or health weight people who are a few over.
@mconfoy: All you have to do is look at all the lab studies that drive CA to label food as cancer catalysts. There are numerous additives to our food that cause issues; Saccharin, added sodium, HFCS. RBGH etc. These are all under scrutiny for causing health issues.
Again I am not saying it is anyone’s job but our own to eat right and exercise, only that this is another sad indicator of where fast and cheap food is taking us.
the move to stop smoking has nothing to do with the increase in the number of fatties.
the increase in fatties is due to two things:
1) fatties eat more food that they should
2) fatties don’t exercise like they should
our society is also more tolerant of these people. hence, no fear of being the only huge person in a sea of people at theme parks. so….dare i say it? we need to become less tolerant??
@forever_knight:
That kind of attitude has always amazed me. I agree that overweight people more than likely exercise less than they should, but when it comes to food I’d say it is more of eating the wrong thing moreso than eating too much. Like other posters have said, processed foods contribute greatly to the obesity epidemic, and the “eating too much” argument falls apart when studies I have read in the past show a great deal of obesity occurs in lower-income areas. Processed food is much cheaper than healthy, nutritional options unfortunately. It also is possible the people are not educated in making healthy living choices. However on the other end of the spectrum, mass media has an unrealistic expectation of todays women to look like skeletons. Given the choice, I’d rather be a tad overweight than look like death passed me over.
Another thing that has suprised me is how readily someone overweight even a tad is called a fattie or pig or the like, but a smoker who has an equally detrimental lifestyle is quite accepted. In some workplaces they even have an advantage over other workers with their paid “smoke breaks”. Everyone else has to work, but the smokers are “privileged”. Its considered rude to tell someone to their face “Hey you’re fat! Go out and exercise, tubby!” but some people seem to find joy in doing so. But no one I’ve ever seen walks up to a smoker and says “Hey, you’re a smoker! Toss out your pack of cigarettes and never smoke again!”
Yeah it is sad that Disney has to redesign a ride for the new size of America, but the multinationals and Disney brought it on themselves by advertising for people to sit still and eat their greasy unhealthy food.
I hope theme parks start making the rides easier for us tall people, I’m 6’4″ and not overweight and even some new roller coasters I just barely fit in.
Not to derail anyone’s thought processes, but this looks like a very unconfirmed report. probably an urban legend. The article is suspiciously free of any sources, let alone quotes official or even unofficial quotes Disney, or its reps or employees (who are the only people on earth who would know if this is true.
I’m taking bets: I say this is fake, and there is no need to redesign the ride for fat people.
@Douglas7:
I hear you. When I win the lottery, I will open an airline called TALL-AIR. Legroom out the wazoo, I tell you. Also, a chain of movie theaters.
(I’m 5’10″, DH is 6’2″. My “little” brother is 6’7″. It’s like the world *wants* our knees to be permanently wrapped around our ears. Erm. Not in a dirty way, though.)
The last two times I’ve been to Disneyland in four years, I have become totally amazed at the increasing amount of weight entering the park.
It’s just pure luck so far that rides other than the Small World boats haven’t failed yet.
My just shutting up and being politically correct about fatties would do nothing to improve their condition or the ripple effect they have in society.
My bringing the issue up won’t help them either. They need to help themselves to something other that the types and amounts of food they consume.
They are a health problem to themselves and a safety problem to others in many instances. Medical insurance rates for all of us have increased as a side effect.
I can hardly weave a cart through the isles in supermarkets anymore.
Airlines often have to sell them two seats.
Food has always been around but personal responsibility for its use is on the wane.
@HappyPuppy: I hear you. I’m 6’3 and flying sucks. My knees are always pinned to the back of the chair in front of me. I can definitely loose a few pounds (and am working on it) but being too tall just sucks some times.
I was at Disney World this weekend, and I am fortunately not fat enough to back up any of the rides. I was pretty nervous.
@spookyooky: Smoking suppresses your appetite, it was advertised as doing such and many women used to smoke as a diet aid. I actually know grown women who are still afraid to stop smoking because they don’t want to put on 20 lbs.
@joebloe: Yeah, that huge weight-loss industry has sprung up because it’s so easy to “just loose” some weight. If weight loss and a healthy lifestyle were easy to “just do”, then all the lazy americans would be skinny, not fat. It’s easy to put on weight, it’s hard to keep it off. It’s incredibly rewarding, satisfying, and energizing to maintain a healthy lifestyle – but it’s not something you “just” do.
@Namilia: I’ve told plenty of smokers they should stop doing it, and have had very few people actually tell me to change my weight. But you’re right, both are rude. However, when it comes to someone you care about, sometimes you have to say things that might hurt their feelings because you care about their well-being in the long run. My husband quit smoking because I said I’d never date a smoker. Yet he has never once said anything about my weight or activity level. Perhaps if the people who cared about me and my health would have said something to me 5 years ago, I would have realized I had a weight problem a lot sooner. And now I am expected to sit and watch my baby brother join the ranks of our nation’s obese children because it might hurt his feelings to point out that he’s too fat to ride a bike? I really wish someone had set an example for me or at least pointed out that my eating habits were unhealthy at his age, instead of having to figure it out for myself as an adult.
It’s rude to point out to people you don’t know that they are overweight, because you don’t know what they’re doing with their life. For all you know, they are actually losing weight and are just still in the process. For all you know, they have a serious medical condition. It’s no business to a stranger. But to the people who love you, it is their business to make sure all of you are around for as long as possible and enjoy life.
If this Disney rumor is true, I think they are making a big mistake. Something like that embarrassing experience of being told you don’t fit on a ride, or holding up the line because of your weight, might be enough to make someone take stock of their life. For me, it was finding out that I could either lose 80 lbs or gain 10 and have the lapband procedure. Knowing that I was almost so fat that I was a candidate for weight loss surgery was enough to jump-start me on a healthier lifestyle.
While it’s true that for many men, 200 lbs is not fat but rather height and muscle, that’s not the majority. For women, being muscular should be lean, and not the sort of body-building that makes you weigh 200 lbs.
I think that’s all.
Screw this 175# BS. I’m 6’4, 240 and not fat, if I was 175 I’d look like an anorexic.
Granted a 5’5 woman at 220 is pushing it and should do something about it, but for those of you that can lose or maintain weight easily, blow me. It’s hard.
@mrestko: Most thinking people know that taking an overly simplistic pseudo-mathematical model and applying it over a vast and varied population is a recipe for a whole lot of useless stereotyping.
I’m not mad at the tool, though I do find it to be less than useful. I’m pointing out that saying someone who weighs 200 pounds isn’t necessarily Fattie McFatterson, no matter what said tool might indicate.
@jesirose: Should be lean? Forget that, women can be built, too. At the peak of my athletic years, I had been 5’3” and 160lbs. It might not have made me a flower of femininity, but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with building muscle.
Just think what’s going to happen to our health system when the obese Baby Boomers are all on Medicare! Chronic diseases are very expensive to treat and with a burgeoning population of diabetics, our health dollars will get sucked right down the toilet. Yes, it’s hard to lose weight, but is it easier to take insulin for the rest of your life or risk foot problems and amputation? Your choice….
The name of the ride is
It’s A Small World.
Not “It’s A Lard Ass Wordl”.
Nice to see everyone just jumping on the pseudoscience bandwagon provided for your discriminatory amusement by your friendly neighborhood multi-billion dollar weight loss pharmaceutical industry! Do some real research (BTW, watching weight loss ads on late-night TV is NOT research) and you’ll find that being fat not only does NOT cause all those horrible diseases used to flog the average person into anorexic habits, but being overweight and physically active means you have a statistically longer lifespan than a skinny sedentary person. Fat is not bad for you, laziness is. But everyone assumes it’s the same thing, and that people choose to be fat. Genetically, can work out twice daily at the gym and eat a low calorie, balanced diet, and still be a size 20. I determined this over the course of three years in my early twenties, devoting three hours a day to exercise and cooking healthy meals. A famous aerobics instructor in San Francisco does four classes a day at a size 16. She’s incredibly fit, but you’d still call her a “fatty” or “lard-ass” if you met her on the street. Next time you decide to throw verbal abuse (or worse) at someone simply for looking different than you, consider why you’re so afraid of them that you react with anger. Why do you feel threatened by fat?
@3drage: “ideal weight” for a 6’3″ man of medium frame is 167-182lbs according to the infamous MetLife insurance tables.
@JoGeek: i’d like to hear more about the “fat” people living longer than sedentary “skinny” people. where did you read this? was it a study?
if true, then i must say that fit fat people are definitely outliers. most fat people are simply not fit.
@Namilia: i think the distinction you are trying to make does not exist. eating the wrong thing usually means eating too much. it all comes down to caloric intake. as seen by the movie supersize me, you can eat every meal at mcdonalds and gain a ton of weight and feel really bad. but people can do the same thing (eat at mcdonalds for 30 days) and lose weight [www.dietsinreview.com] as long as they make the right choices about what they are eating and portion sizes.
Yeah, I am north of 200, no one believes me though. I am 6′ and last time I checked I was around 210. I used to unload trucks, so it was all muscle, now I have a sitdown job programming again and not so much muscle… I will remember that I have an excuse now if I go to Disney Land.
To each their own, but to clarify I think it is just as much eating too much OR eating the wrong things OR a combination of both. Also, like Jesirose mentioned, it is possible they have a medical condition, perhaps with their thyroid or metabolism. I also saw the movie Super Size Me, and if you remember in the end his liver began to have problems and his doctor was advising him to abort the experiment. My other point (that I think I forgot to put in my original post) is that multinationals and corporations make it very hard to find proper portions or healthy choices for a reasonable price. And no, the Burger King/McDonald salad options do not count – with dressing, cheese, and croutons all included they are almost just as bad for you as their cheeseburgers (example-Asian Salad with Crispy Chicken has 380 calories and 17 grams of fat as well as 1,030 mg of sodium whereas a standard cheeseburger has 300 calories and 12 grams of fat with 750mg of sodium).
Jesirose, I should have been more specific. I fully believe in concerned family members or friends trying to help someone out with either obesity or smoking, but what I consider rude and uncalled for is random strangers walking up to someone and harassing them for either habit; it is not their place to make such comments. People can be very cruel, I know that all too well. Just saying there’s a right way and wrong way (and person) to go about it. I also get your point about bottoming out the boat being a “wake up call”…I’ll have to think on that one because it makes sense. A lot of people know they are overweight but don’t realize just how much they are (self image). I might come under fire for this, but I know that personally I need to lose some weight because I do not want to end up with heart disease, diabetes, etc (plus it would be nice to shop in the misses section again..)
@pinkpuppet: I’m talking about a woman who has larger muscle than Arh-nold. Not a 160 lbs woman who is althetic. What you’re describing is not what I was refering to, sorry if I offended.
@Namilia: A lot of people know they are overweight but don’t realize just how much they are (self image).
I think it’s very true that most people just cannot gauge their own health. That’s why we have doctors (the kind who treat, and the kind who study and research).
The same thinking that causes underweight teenage girls to continue to think they aren’t skinny enough and keep trying to lose weight, leads to overweight people not realizing how overweight they are. Especially when you’re surrounded by people who are more overweight and tell you you look perfect and they love you no matter what. After a while, you begin to believe that it’s okay because you’re not as overweight as them, or something like that.
Maybe that makes no sense, but whatever.
Oh, and actually being able to shop in Juniors before you’re old enough to drink? A great feeling.
Yeah the health benefits are more important, but new jeans are immediate 
Being able to keep shopping there as you get older and NOT fatter? Even better. Buying a new wardrobe really motivated me
@forever_knight: Several studies, actually:
[ije.oxfordjournals.org]
[www.f1000medicine.com]
[www.ccmjournal.com]!1821113646!181195629!8091!-1
[www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]
[www.nytimes.com] ex=1297573200&en=5aa3d31aa72ba78c&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
[medicine.plosjournals.org]
It’s untrue that “most” fat people automatically live unhealthy lifestyles, just as its untrue that thin people automatically lead healthy lifestyles. The social assumptions of fat people as “lazy, stupid, weak-willed, lacking in ambition, selfish, greedy, gluttonous, sedentary, and ugly” are the same assumptions that have been used in past centuries as an excuse to withhold legal protection and social respect from Jews, African Americans, Mexicans, the disabled, the poor, and every other “scapegoat” class. It begins with an assumption that a person’s weight is entirely under their control (which is not supported by the evidence that 98% of all diets fail within 2-5 years, the dieters gaining back an average of 14% MORE than they lost) and that assumption provides an excuse to subject the scapegoat people to various atrocities.
Are some fat people fat because of overeating and lack of exercise? Of course. Just as some thin people are thin DESPITE chronic overeating and lack of exercise. Both are heavily (no pun intended) influenced by genetics. But the presumption that fat, by itself, is somehow dangerous and offensive to the fat person and those around them is ridiculous. Somehow, however, people are more offended and even enraged by the sight of a fat person than the sight of, say, a smoker, or even an anorexic. Why is that? Why is fat more offensive than something far more likely to destroy a person’s health?
I would like to address some of the people on here. First of all, JOEBLOW: How do you “LOOSE” weight?? Maybe you need to go back to school and learn to spell before posting. Nuff said. EDEBABY: Maybe you should stop judging people and realize that maybe their obesity was caused by a health problem in the first place and that’s why they’re riding a cart. HUMPHRMI: Me too! I rode every ride I wanted to at Disneyworld with no problem whatsoever with my 230 pound ass! I didn’t hang over the edges, nothing bottomed out. It was great fun. I HATED the Small World ride. So creepy. SPOOKYOOKY: Sounds like a possibility. I quit a 2 pack a day 20 year habit and, you guessed it, now I weigh more!! Go figure and the doctor just told me I added 20 years to my life by doing that! CURBRUNNER: I help myself every day by avoiding losers like you. PINKPUPPET: I’m there with you! I was a strict vegetarian and did 40 minutes of strenuous cardio every day and still weighed 185! EveryBODY is different! That was before I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and today I’m lucky that I can get out of bed! Oh but I better not ride a cart or somebody will say my illness is self-inflicted!!!
MERMOM, I just had to respond to your ill-informed post as well. I know several diabetics, and none of them are fat. Not even close. I’m 43. I am 5’7 and I weigh 230. My blood sugar is perfect. As is my blood pressure, pulse, and cholesterol. My blood pressure hovers around 100/65 and my pulse around 65 or 70. Cholesterol 156 (thank ya, thank ya very much). My granny always ate whatever she wanted (unfortunately, that included LOTS of vienna sausages *gag*). When she was 94, the doctor told her she was the healthiest 94 year old he had ever seen. Genetics, my friend.
PS: I am so happy for the people on this board who consider themselves such perfection that they may judge anybody who doesn’t fit their mold of the same. Oh wait, my experience has been that people who do that are actually very unhappy.
@flowergirl: I think you just scored a fat hate bingo. Congratulations.
You are also a scientist!
@forever_knight: I find that being less tolerant of people different than me is generally the answer to most of life’s problems.
I always wondered why amusement parks attract so many fat people…. then I figured out that it’s because their weight and fitness level prevent them from getting an endorphin rush from running, cycling or any other aerobic activity. So they have to strap themselves into a ride that will fling them around. Sad really.
I just love reading these posts. It reminds me that, although I am a fat person, I have loads (no pun intended. well, maybe) more self-esteem than any of the so-called “healthy, skinny” people on this board. I don’t have to put people down based soley on their appearance in an apparently unsuccessful attempt to somehow improve my outlook on myself. Also, I’m reminded that I actually take an educated view of any situation before I spew putrid, hate-filled judgements out there at other people. Yeah, I really love myself when I look in the mirror! I am a loving mother, devoted wife, lover and rescuer of animals!! That makes me proud and loved by many. In fact, the only people who ever hated or loathed me were those who were jealous of me.
“I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence.”
Frederick Douglass (1817? – 1895)