Weight limit water park rides moving forward?

[Animaniac93-98]

I really comes down to the tradeoffs of ride design. What do you have to give up to make a ride all inclusive.

The only thing you can build with no restrictions is a show with bench seating where there's no fixed seat size or restraint that could be too small. Obviously these park's are designed to have a mix of attractions, some of which will have height restrictions or just make people sick.

It's unfortunate that some people can't do every ride, but not every ride can be designed that way.

 

[DDLand]

Universal sued after tourist says he suffers paralysis on water slide; report called it ‘numbness’

A New York tourist who said he was paralyzed and nearly drowned at Universal Orlando Resort’s Volcano Bay has sued the theme park company. Universal described the man as experiencing “n…

www.orlandosentinel.com

Dang, that story is actually pretty scary. I’m a little dumbfounded by how it all went down though. Obviously people heavier than him had gone on the Punga Slides before. What made his experience so violent? Was he doing something in particular that made him suffer the accident? Did he have a preexisting condition that worsened things?

There are not too many times when I think someone should win a lawsuit, but if that story is true, that guy deserves every penny. Pretty spooky.

 

[Magic Feather]

Dang, that story is actually pretty scary. I’m a little dumbfounded by how it all went down though. Obviously people heavier than him had gone on the Punga Slides before. What made his experience so violent? Was he doing something in particular that made him suffer the accident? Did he have a preexisting condition that worsened things?

There are not too many times when I think someone should win a lawsuit, but if that story is true, that guy deserves every penny. Pretty spooky.

The end of Punta was very violent for me, as well. Many of my friends have refused to ride the attraction offer their first time. Most likely, there was a minor fault that was aggravated by this for him, or he just came in at a bad angle.

 

[Victor Kelly]

Have you ever eaten at Sci Fi Drive In restaurant at DHS? To fit in those little tiny cars to eat your fried chicken, fries and milkshake is a challenge if one is obese.

Yeah I have. They are so small. My ex was a bigger girl and her were practically on the table. Which means way too small of a booth.

 

[Orangeanna]

The weight limit was because of the accident. I'm assuming his weight caused him to go down the slide faster and then hit the water more violently. I'm sure they wouldn't have built it with that weight limit in mind. Most adult men and many teenage boys couldn't ride. There are also not a lot of adult women who could ride. It's essentially a children's ride that's too intense for most children. Time to tear it down and build something new. It's a no brainer. Volcano bay has definitely been working out some kinks. I told my kids were waiting to go until I feel it's safer and time tested. Water parks, which we do a lot, can be dangerous under the best management. We already have had one water park e.r. visit bc a lifeguard sent my daughter down a slide with someone at the bottom. It caused a bad collision. Yes, i was watching her and thats what happened. We didn't sue. Luckily she's o.k. You must be vigilant and use your own judgment at these places when you can.

 

[Victor Kelly]

The end of Punta was very violent for me, as well. Many of my friends have refused to ride the attraction offer their first time. Most likely, there was a minor fault that was aggravated by this for him, or he just came in at a bad angle.

There is a coaster Hershey park that until the trains were replaced they were extremely tight and cause me to have severe leg cramps. But the new cars were perfect.

The fella that got hurt sounds like a perfect storm injury. I just don't believe his weight had anything to do with it

 

[Orangeanna]

So I did a little research. The problem with this ride is that the run off at the end is far too short. If you've ever ridden these race type slides normally the end flat part is quite long and the water depth is quite shallow. Punga racer has a very short run off and deeper water so you it stops you too quickly. Apparently volcano bay had very little space and wanted to build as many attractions as possible so they got creative. Many of the slides have lower weight limits than other parks. Some of the other slides drop you into the water from above. I think I'll take a pass on this park for now. I don't want to be humiliated in the park, I'm 155 lbs, and feel like I've been beaten up by the time I leave. Plus id worry about my kids too much. To be fair all water parks have weight limits on slides, these are just much lower.

 

[MiddKid]

To recap with some additional context.

When VB first opened, all three "capsule" drop slides in the volcano had a 300lb weight limit. The straight-down slide (Ko'okiri) has stayed 300lbs since opening. Kala and Tai Nui also start with trap-doors but twist on the way down. These slides are INTENSE. Due to the velocity being reached they dropped the weight limit to 200lbs and have now settled at 275. When I visited it was at 200lbs. I was at about 195. Upon entering the line there is a scale built into the ground and they weigh you. It's very subtle and the cast member was quick and efficient. Side note: many of VB's multi-person tube slides also have scales to get the overall weight right.

Punga Racers is a slide complex where you ride on your stomach on a mat with handles similar to Snow Stormers at Blizzard Beach and many "racing" slides at other parks. I've been riding all sorts of water slides for over 30 years. Mat slides have always been a favorite. I had already read some online buzz about the ending being hard so I took advice (curl the mat up at the end) and it was still painful to me. You hit a wall of water HARD. Side note, during my visit they had already declared that the "orange" slide was for kids only due to the speed/ending. You can see below that orange has the tightest 360 degree helix right before the end. This was sending people up the walls and putting them in a less-than-ideal entry point to the ending. The other two slides didn't have a weight limit.

As mentioned previously, mat slides typically have a LONG runout that you skim across. For whatever reason (despite what was mentioned in a previous post, there is plenty of room for a longer runout) VB gave Punga an extremely short run-out with necessitated a large volume of water to slow you down. This has a violent effect. Even with me expecting it, I still tweaked my neck. I saw numerous adults (who go faster) "crashing" upon ending. I'm all for working a bit for my water slides, but I only rode Punga once.

Here is an aerial view of Punga zoomed at 20ft via Google Maps...note the extremely short run-off at the bottom left corner:

Compare to the run-out of Aquatica's mat racer (same zoom level)...the runout starts just about where the walking path curves off:

The weight limit was subsequently dropped to the aforementioned 150lbs this past Summer. The news of the lawsuit (linked previously in this thread) makes it obvious why. I'm the first to roll my eyes when it comes to frivolous theme park lawsuits but having ridden Punga I'm afraid this one may have some merit.

 

[Rob562]

The end of Punta

*Punga...

 

[Orangeanna]

Thanks for the additional context. I still do believe they have space constraints as I have read that several places. Regardless, it appears the lawsuit has merit and this poor man will suffer because of their carelessness. I'm glad he didn't drown. Guest beware at water parks. They have inherent dangers. I love them but I am vigilant about my kids safety. I do not ever rely on life guards to watch them, and I've seen so many people fall asleep and let their kids swim! Watch your own kids! Talk to people after they've ridden. Ask their opinion. Was it safe? Did it hurt? Would they recommend it for small kids etc. Ive asked and had people tell me not to let my kids ride.I do wonder why it took so long to hear about this accident. I trust Disney way more. I've been to their pools and water parks. I feel soo much safer with them and we've been around.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

Punga Racers first person PoV. Watch how hard you come in.

Hindsight is 20/20, but surely this was not a good idea...
Then again, I say the same thing about Summit Plummit too, which roughs me up real good every time too.

 

[Lilofan]

Punga Racers first person PoV. Watch how hard you come in.

Hindsight is 20/20, but surely this was not a good idea...
Then again, I say the same thing about Summit Plummit too, which roughs me up real good every time too.

No question that Universal is light years ahead of Disney in the intensity of water slides and roller coasters.

 

[seascape]

No question that Universal is light years ahead of Disney in the intensity of water slides and roller coasters.

Is that a good things when someone can get permanently injured? I enjoy thrill rides but not ones that leave me with some pain. There has to be a proper balance and it sounds like this slide was not properly planned. I hope he wins several million dollars and Universal fixes the slide rather than remove it.

 

[Dead2009]

We already had a thread talking about the slide with the weight limit issue

Universal sued after tourist says he suffers paralysis on water slide; report called it ‘numbness’

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/tourism/os-bz-volcano-bay-lawsuit-20191017-k27wudbcpzfkzbvsrq4uxyvgxa-story.html It's a long article and I remember seeing something on here about rides and weight limits but I cant remember if it was this specific incident.

forums.wdwmagic.com

 

[lebeau]

Oh yeah. I rode this one once. The wall of water shot up my nose and nearly knocked the contacts out of my eyes. Took about 15 minutes before I could see correctly through them. Won't be riding it again, but then I don't meet the new weight limit anyway.

 

[WDWFREAK53]

Universal Volcano Bay water park Punga water slide has a posted 150lb weight limit to ride. Is there a scale that you need to step on?? I don't think that would go over well at Typhoon and Blizzard at WDW.

The majority of the attractions at Volcano Bay have a scale. It's a pad you step on (it's rather large to account for multiple people if it's a multi-person slide).

The Punga does have a 150lb weight limit and many of the parents were sitting this one out waiting for their kids to come down but it's not a "kiddie" slide.

 

[Rob562]

And for those who haven't been to the park, for privacy the scales don't display any numerical weight information. They simply have red/green lights indicating whether or not the set limit has been exceeded.

-Rob