It's a Fat World After All

Thanks to RG reader Nick Valison for sending me a link to a rather pathetic story. He clearly knows the types of stories I find interesting.

Apparently Americans have become so obese that Disneyland is having to shut down their popular "It's a Small World" boat ride on account of the boats regularly becoming stuck and riding too low in the water due to the increased size of passengers. They have a similar problem with other rides, too. They say the average American is 25 pounds heavier today than we were in 1964 when the ride was built.

Let this be a lesson for people attending amusement parks. If the ride operator gives you an empty seat next to you, it's not because he wants you to be comfortable. Consider it his way of suggesting you ought to forego the monorail and hoof it back to your hotel.

From Wired.com:
Employees -- Disney calls them "cast members" -- have been aware of the issue for some time now and so discretely leave empty seats in boats carrying heavy riders. But backups persist, and in some cases no one realzes there's a problem until boats stop emerging from the ride.


Read the full story here. Thanks again, Nick.

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