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Change of height limit for Dragon falls, CWOA

Ian

Ian

From CoasterForce
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The minimum height limit for Dragon Falls (the log flume) has changed from 0.9m to 1.2m.

As one of the UK's leading theme parks we regularly review all of the safety and visitor information relating to all our rides – working with independent experts and the manufacturers. As part of our regular review process a decision has been taken to increase the height restrictions on our Dragon Falls ride to 1.2m. We understand that this may be disappointing for a small number of our younger/family visitors as this is a very popular ride, but hope that you bear with us and will enjoy the many other attractions in the Park.
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Source: http://www.chessington.com/explore/myst ... falls.aspx

Not really huge news, but it does make me wonder. The ride has operated perfectly fine without incident but now some health and safety person is dictating a change. I'm tutting and rolling my eyes. A shame for the kiddies, but there are other rides to enjoy.
 
Surely Logger's is MUCH more volatile than Dragon Falls, and a lot more, like, likely to eject someone with that double drop...

This is just weird and silly tbh. It's such an excessive change <//3
 
Forgive me if I'm being stupid, but how does someone's height affect how likely they are to be ejected from the ride??

Edit: Actually, could it be to do with the weight?
 
I know Storm Force used to be 0.9, but after a kid slid forwards too far and hit the restraint and knocked out a load of teeth, they increased it to 1.2m

This is an external company reviewing, and some dick in the insurance company or H&S has done a risk assessment and there's a chance that a kid may hurt themselves once every 250,000 years, and it's just a risk they can't take.

Same reason we're not supposed to use a kettle at work ;)
 
Makes people more likely to know how to behave as with age comes increased height. Not saying I agree with this and it is far from a perfect way of doing things but it is used (as I have discussed elsewhere recently).

However, supervision/accompaniment should be used to combat the problem of youngsters messing about, so who can be sure of the reason.

I'd suspect an incident has provoked this change though. Anyone heard anything?
 
Aren't children supposed to sit behind adults on flumes anyway? So I cant see sliding about being a problem.

Anyway, for a family park, this is kinda disappointing. Makes you think of what will be next.
 
I think the main problem with this is the way they went about it. There's been no kind of prior warning, and there's already a lot of people bitching on their facebook page about disappointed kiddies. Someone mentioned that this year's park maps still display the old height limit? I didn't pick one up when I went the other week. Can anyone confirm this?
 
Dunno if anyone is interested, but got an Email from Mack today... Seems it was them+a outside firm who decided it, and not anything to do with the park :s

"Dear Mr. Cooper,

thank you for your email and the interest in our log flume rides.

In the long history of MACK Rides we always built our rides with the most actual safety regulations and update these if it is required. As you certainly know, the logflume boats are not equipped with lap bars and so we have to make sure that the age of people that are transported is at a certain level. Together with TUEV Sued, one of the most experienced teams to provide us with consultations and tests, we came up to change the height restriction to 1.2 meters.

Let me state here a part of the TUEV website:

"The German safety standards on which acceptance tests or periodic testing and inspection are based are very strict and thus frequently require considerable improvement for amusement rides before going into operation. Any Amusement Rides to be operated in US, Europe or Germany today has to satisfy the requirements of strict standards like DIN, EN and ASTM safety standards. Beyond any detailed standard - like ASTM or EN - chosen by the owner or manufacturer to be applied for the approval of a ride we base our approval also on the requirements of DIN 4112 which has provided a quality experience over the past decades."

The height restrictions of 1.2 meters is one of this improvements. For the safety of their own children the parents should understand that this decision is just is just a precautionary safety issue and we always know that this will disappoint some of the families visiting the park.

I hope we could make clear, how the height restriction changes came in place and that you understand the purpose of it.

If you have any further questions please don't hesitate to contact me.


kind regards

Maximilian Röser"
 
Interesting, cheers for sharing, Matt.

I assume that Logger's Leap will soon be following suit as it's a manufacturer recommendation.
 
Oh how silly. The thing I don't understand is: The other's in the UK won't change (probably) so why should these?!
 
Ian said:
Interesting, cheers for sharing, Matt.

I assume that Logger's Leap will soon be following suit as it's a manufacturer recommendation.
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Same for Flume at Towers, but... I don't think either of them have changed as quickly as Chessie's has...

Still, it's annoying for the park and its guests, glad I won't be working on it that's for sure... You know something's up when they have two or more staff members on the entrance of a ride...
 
I wonder if this kind of change helps the public see that height limits have got nothing to do with the scariness of a ride, because genuinely... thats what many of them seem to think.

I dunno if this is stupid or not. I see people, adults included being idiots on log flumes and rapids rides all the time. Any ride where you can physically get out of your seat and people will.
 
Joey said:
I see people, adults included being idiots on log flumes and rapids rides all the time. Any ride where you can physically get out of your seat and people will.
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I went on Dragons Falls and I saw three chavs stand up in the boat. They were told to sit down by a nice lady (over an intercom). Guess what, they didn't sit down! Once again, the lady requested for them to sit the **** down. They don't. They stood up three times before the drop and one afterwards. They got a **** sharp telling off for that!
 
Judging by this hilarious facebook comment, it looks as though Towers have done the same for the flume;

My son has been on the flume 4 the past 12 months and today u put the hight up to 1.2m u have just ****ed up my sons day so we r on our way home thanks 4 a **** day and oh by the way get rid of thi3teen it is never workin
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Love it!
 
Flume have indeed done the same... Certainly changed between last Monday and today...

Also, Marauder's Mayhem (Teacups) has also gone up to 1.1m... Sad times...




EDIT - Loggers is also 1.2m now... Complete Mack blanket...
 
Just to confirm Loggers has gone from 0.9m - 1.1m acc by adult, to 1.2m - 1.3m acc by adult.. And Storm in a Teacup has gone from 0.9m - 1.1m acc by adult to 1.1m - 1.3m acc by adult.

and from what I've heard, the decision has come direct from Mack, rather than the parks H+S dept.
 
Joey said:
I wonder if this kind of change helps the public see that height limits have got nothing to do with the scariness of a ride, because genuinely... thats what many of them seem to think.
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I was thinking this as well. I can understand the whole "being able to stand up" argument, but it seems silly to me that a simple log flume can have 1.2m height limit, when something like Tower of Terror at Disney is only 1m, minimum age of 3 years old.
 
It's about time Thorpe just gave up and put a height-stick outside the park, and a sign along the lines of 'We regret to inform our few remaining family guests that this park is entirely unsuitable for anyone under 1.2m... we suggest you take your money a little further around the M25. And quickly, before Chessington goes the same way!'
 
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