It's a fat world at Disneyland ?
Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2007 12:26 pm
November 11 - Sydney Daily Telegraph
DISNEYLAND will close the popular It's A Small World attraction for renovations next year, in part to deal with the problem of bottoming-out boats from overweight patrons.
Disneyland denies that the plans to close the 41-year-old water ride in January for a facelift has to do with the growing waist-lines of its patrons.
Heavy loads have been causing the boats to stall in two different spots, said Al Lutz, a long-time Disney watcher, whose website MiceAge.com first reported the refurbishment plans.
Lutz said he'd been on the ride when several guests were asked to get off to lighten the load.
"They've even built a platform (there) ... because they've had so many problems,'' he said.
But Disneyland, which will deepen the water by 2.5cm and build lighter boats, said overweight tourists are not to blame.
The boats get stuck because "layers and layers'' of fibreglass have built up, where maintenance teams have re-patched problem areas, a spokesman said.
Disneyland has recently redesigned costumes in larger sizes to accommodate patrons' wider waistlines.
DISNEYLAND will close the popular It's A Small World attraction for renovations next year, in part to deal with the problem of bottoming-out boats from overweight patrons.
Disneyland denies that the plans to close the 41-year-old water ride in January for a facelift has to do with the growing waist-lines of its patrons.
Heavy loads have been causing the boats to stall in two different spots, said Al Lutz, a long-time Disney watcher, whose website MiceAge.com first reported the refurbishment plans.
Lutz said he'd been on the ride when several guests were asked to get off to lighten the load.
"They've even built a platform (there) ... because they've had so many problems,'' he said.
But Disneyland, which will deepen the water by 2.5cm and build lighter boats, said overweight tourists are not to blame.
The boats get stuck because "layers and layers'' of fibreglass have built up, where maintenance teams have re-patched problem areas, a spokesman said.
Disneyland has recently redesigned costumes in larger sizes to accommodate patrons' wider waistlines.
