My Big Small World
"It's not such a small world, after all" by Catherine Bodry
"Although the Disney company doesn't admit that plus-sized tourists are causing "It's a Small World" boats to bottom out, longtime Disney watcher Al Lutz notes that "heavier than anticipated" loads have caused boats to come to a standstill on more than one occasion. The problem has become common enough that Disneyland has built a platform next to one tricky area where boats commonly get stuck. Disney denies that weight issues are the cause of stuck boats. Instead, the company suggests that "layers and layers" of fiberglass have built up where maintenance teams have patched and re-patched problem areas. Nevertheless, "It's a Small World" will be getting an inch more of water, and some lighter boats. The ride will be closed for ten months beginning in January 2008."
Disney is really in a bad spot here. If it were me and I'm sure Disney would rather do this to, I'd simply put weight requirements on the rides and if you weigh to much then you just wouldn't be able to ride that particular ride. The problem then becomes Disney discriminating against over-weight people. Which is exactly what the first of many lawsuits against the billion dollar company would say.
Not to be overly negative about this whole situation but in the end the people who will get penalized will not be the folks who refuse or simply cannot lose weight or deal with the fact that because of their size there will be some things in life they can't do. The penalized folks will be the ones that have no problem riding any amusement ride they want. By company's like Disney having to spend millions to remodel rides and whatnot for our ever "expanding" society, they'll have to make that money up somewhere else. Which will in the end be ticket prices. Which means the healthier amusement park goers will pay more so the not no healthier park goers can still ride "It's a small world" (which is currently being renamed to it's a big world)
"Although the Disney company doesn't admit that plus-sized tourists are causing "It's a Small World" boats to bottom out, longtime Disney watcher Al Lutz notes that "heavier than anticipated" loads have caused boats to come to a standstill on more than one occasion. The problem has become common enough that Disneyland has built a platform next to one tricky area where boats commonly get stuck. Disney denies that weight issues are the cause of stuck boats. Instead, the company suggests that "layers and layers" of fiberglass have built up where maintenance teams have patched and re-patched problem areas. Nevertheless, "It's a Small World" will be getting an inch more of water, and some lighter boats. The ride will be closed for ten months beginning in January 2008."
Disney is really in a bad spot here. If it were me and I'm sure Disney would rather do this to, I'd simply put weight requirements on the rides and if you weigh to much then you just wouldn't be able to ride that particular ride. The problem then becomes Disney discriminating against over-weight people. Which is exactly what the first of many lawsuits against the billion dollar company would say.
Not to be overly negative about this whole situation but in the end the people who will get penalized will not be the folks who refuse or simply cannot lose weight or deal with the fact that because of their size there will be some things in life they can't do. The penalized folks will be the ones that have no problem riding any amusement ride they want. By company's like Disney having to spend millions to remodel rides and whatnot for our ever "expanding" society, they'll have to make that money up somewhere else. Which will in the end be ticket prices. Which means the healthier amusement park goers will pay more so the not no healthier park goers can still ride "It's a small world" (which is currently being renamed to it's a big world)
Comments