A 6-year-old boy in Florida was left severely injured at a theme park after apparently falling from a ride that was nearly two dozen feet above where he was found, authorities said.
A 6-year-old boy in Florida was left severely injured at a theme park after apparently falling from a ride that was nearly two dozen feet above where he was found, authorities said.
It was a vertical drop ride at the nearby Icon Park and the investigstion found that the harness had been improperly modified by the park at some point to theoretically accommodate large people in such a way that if a big enough person sat there it would fail to lock without any alert or warning; the scary thing is that it was probably like that for a long time. One thing the major Orlando parks have going for them is extremely tight safety standards, these side parks always seem like low budget attempts to prey on people who can't afford Disney lol
Our version of this ride at Michigan Adventure requires a height of 44 inches. My kid was 5 (almost 6) in June and was 45 inches. He's particularly small. It was his favorite ride. I'll be putting my arm around him next time we ride it.
Only the tiniest of children are severely limited at amusement parks. A lot of 6 year olds hit 48 inches and can ride basically anything.
Just stick with the big parks that take safety seriously. Disney has few extreme rides anyway, they lean more into experiences. For example, the main Star Wars ride is built around factory robots that follow a line in the floor with only a drop on the elevator. It is the best ride I have ever been on. Universal is full of extreme rides but they have a great safety record.