Height Restrictions

[Munchy Road Hippopotamus]

My family and I have just come back from a trip to Great Yarmouth which was pretty good but one thing that struck me was the inconsistency in height restrictions. I have two boys, one who is 10 and 138cm, the other is 4 and 105cm. The rides they could go on (or not) seemed very strange, especially the youngest.

Twinlakes

Eldest could ride everything.

Youngest could ride everything except The Excalibur (SBF Swing Tower) and the Icarus Sky Flyer (Zamperla Torture Device) including the Log Flume and the Pirate Ship.


Pleasure Beach Great Yarmouth

Eldest could ride everything

Youngest could ride a lot if accompanied but not the Log Flume or Twister. He was fine on the Waltzers (I was not) and the Fun Factory both of which were pretty violent. Roller Coaster is 90cm if accompanied whilst the Big Apple Coaster (a Wacky Worm) was minimum of 100cm? He could ride The Bonanza (horsey thing) which was 100cm but was unable to ride The Pirate Ship as you had to be 110cm.


Pleasurewood Hills

Eldest was able to ride the Jolly Roger drop tower despite it's 140cm restriction

Youngest could go on the Log Flume and the Kite Flyer (Zamperla Torture Device). The Pleasurewood Ponies (horsey thing) was 90cm despite being the same as The Bonanza at Pleasure Beach. He could even Ride Cannonball Express which again is pretty violent and was perfectly fine to ride Pirate Ship here.

It's quite hard to explain to a 4 year old that he's allowed on one Log Flume but not a different one so some tears ensued but rules are rules so we didn't moan, it just seems odd. My eldest is not tall enough to ride Nemesis yet but if were @Busch Gardens Tampa (like we hopefully will be next year) he'd be fine to go on all the B&Ms.

 

[The Undead Creature]

In my experience, smaller independant parks tend to add 10cm onto the ride manufacturers minimum restriction whereas larger parks dont.
It can be really confusing for people who visit many different parks, it even leaves us shrubs scratching our heads at the logic behind it sometimes. Even the method for checking heights varies from one park to another. Some parks are strictly no contact relying on the operator to visually compare against the height board. Others use a ruler and straight edge on the top of the head to physically do the measurement.

 

[VonRolland]

It's rather interesting what parks do regarding height requirement's.
Interestingly enough I believe Eurofighter's and maybe even Infinity's have a 1.2m requirement but of course Merlin whack that up to 1.4m.
However other parks run on or slightly above that such as: Speed 1.25m, Rage 1.20m, Falcon 1.20m and even Karnan at a 1.30m.