Super Nintendo World's Mario Kart Ride Has A "Waistline" Limit (US)

Wario's not going to be happy about this...

Uh oh. Mario just received another letter:

“Dear Mario: Please come to the castle. I’ve baked a cake for you. Yours truly - - Princess Toadstool”

Could be an issue for the average American Mario fan unfortunately. lol

Reasons to get fit and lose weight:

• Get Beach Body Ready (TM)
• Feel more energetic
• Live a longer, healthier life
• Wear better fitting clothes
• (New! ) Ride the Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge ride at Universal Studios Hollywood

This is a bit of a nothingburger to be honest, I have a waistline over 40 and I (and several other people who look like they have waistlines over that limit) was able to go on Bowser’s Challenge during Super Nintendo World’s technical rehearsals and its Pass Member Previews.

These rules are generally enforced by sight and tend to target people whose waistlines are over said measurement even AFTER engaging the ride’s safety features. If the ride’s safety bar engages without issue then you’re fine.

I've been to theme parks and attractions with far less restrictive guidelines, and they hadn't had accidents in years, if not decades. This just seems exclusionary for the sake of exclusion ☹

[Really, really hoping this comment section won't descend into some blatant fatphobia guised as "health concerns" and/or "jokes."]

Reminds me of when a dude got pulled out of a Harry Potter ride for his weight. And he made it a self-challenge to get in better shape to be able to get on the ride. And he actually did, it was very cool to see that he did his best and his story had a happy ending.

I used to be just passing 40” before I lost weight before starting college and kept it off since.

Word of advice: If you can be deemed overweight and you have desire to change your lifestyle, change it while you’re young. Your metabolism is a lot more shiftable as a young adult and you’re still making habits for yourself that will be harder to revert later in your age.

I’m sure somebody on twitter will try to say this is discrimination, but they are doing the right thing here. No you shouldn’t make fun of somebody for their weight, but there is a difference between that and treating obesity like it is healthy. But apparently saying that is to offensive over here in America.

Oh dear, I am too fat for this ride

Carnival and amusement park rides have always had physical requirements for the sake of safety. I'm sure this article is trying to sucker people into being riled up and thinking this is some kind of fat-phobic exclusionary thing, but, c'mon ... is anyone really gonna believe the ride wants LESS customers?? If people signed a waiver not to sue, amusement parks would strap people to a rolling bolder if they thought it would make coin. =P

@Kyloctopus It's actually amazing how much it can change even in a short amount of time. I lost a nice bit of weight a couple of years back just as a "can I do this?" challenge. Wasn't too difficult, but I ended up losing motivation to keep living in moderation and started being a bit of a glutton. Then, my weight went up to my all-time high in 2022 and I decided "I better lose weight again, but this time out of necessity."

It has not gone nearly as smoothly this time around despite doing basically the same thing. Only real difference is I'm a few years older.

Ironic that this would be in America.
The obesity rate in the US is startlingly high, and not to mention that people would say this is "fatphobic".

That's one way to push for a second/third wind for Ring Fit Adventure sales!

Need more of this in our country, maybe obesity wouldn't be such an epidemic.

Hahahah we really are so fat 🥲. Good on Nintendo for being the change they want to see in the world.

@Key19
Currently trying to lose weight myself. I’m on the tail end of it, but it’s starting to get hard to stay at my calorie limit. But I feel a ton better.

Hope things start going smoother for you

So, apparently Nintendo doesn't know that most gamers are fat? What happened to "accessibility?"

@CharlieGirl guided as health concerns lol being obese or fat is a health concern. I do not know when this became debatable.

@Gbdub209 She's not saying obesity isn't a health concern, but that some people act like jerks towards overweight folks by pretending they care about the people in question, much less the core issue.

Basically, it's the fallacy where a person only looks at a societal/systemic issue through a binary lens and a bias of "rugged individualism", to justify their apathy or ignorance. It's ultimately unproductive, and even counterproductive (as the extreme ends of "body positivity" are a push-back against toxic rhetoric towards overweight people).

This is nothing new. Rides of all sorts have enforced height, size, weight, and balance rules/limits for decades. It's all in the name of customer safety. There are plenty of unfortunate examples as to why these rules exist.

It seems Bowser’s Challenge was just getting onto the ride. He’s a fairly girthy turtle, after all.

If it's for safety then I'm all for it, last thing you would want is to either fly off the seat or have the belt dig into your sides, and both hurt. Not speaking from experience, just the thought of people getting hurt worries me.

@Gbdub209
How did you interpret that comment that way? No one in this comment section is saying obesity is positive, but there are a number of comments complaining that people do. Being kind and empathetic is far from promoting obesity. I swear Nintendo Life comment sections are just full of people trying to start fights.

@JeanPaul The dude got what on a Harry Potter ride???

Good incentive to exercise, I suppose

Sounds normal. I've seen someone get turned away from the Batman roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain because of their size.

That’s hilarious.

Won’t be surprised with the ones who’ll simply call it being “fat-phobic” instead of bettering themselves.

Ironically standing up outside in a slow moving 2 hour long queue is one way to burn calories.

You can be whatever weight you want for all I care, just please understand that this is literally for your own physical safety and not discrimination or fatphobia.

I don't understand why we have to label everything as "_____phobic." A phobia in the literal sense is an irrational fear of something. If someone experiences paranoid delusions that all Muslims are terrorists, then I think Islamophobia is an accurate way to describe it. But I don't think anyone is actively afraid of overweight people; that's just bullying. Both can be forms of prejudice, sure, but I don't think it's in nearly the same league. People who have a fear of something are going to respond more strongly, often in the form of hate crimes. Hence why churches, synagogues, and mosques may be targets of mass murders--because people feel threatened by what they don't understand--but this same level of hatred generally does not happen to overweight people. It's not like people are shooting up obesity clinics. Ergo, I don't think "fatphobia" is a very accurate description.

@bonjong23 : Nintendo is the home of the Wii Fit series and Ring Fit Adventure (and not counting the myriad of third-party titles), and let's not forget all of other motion-controlled games in Nintendo's catalogue.

If anything, the average Mario fan should be ripped.

Well I sure am glad I'm already hitting the gym in order to lead a healthy lifestyle!

@Not_Soos it’s easier to label all challenges you face as phobic than to actually deal with them.

@Not_Soos I dunno, as someone who often has to ask for a seatbelt extender when on planes I understand someone being afraid they'll have to sit next to me lol, it's not that irrational a fear to think "he's gonna take up all that armrest"

It could be like planes where the fat person starts taking the seat of the person next to them. They make people pay for two seats, maybe their missing a trick and should do the same.

At my fattest, I was over 270 lbs. Then one day at Universal Studios Orlando, I was shocked to discover that I could barely fit in the rides.

As soon as I got home I ordered a treadmill, ran my butt off, and got to a healthy weight over a couple of years.

Hopefully these ride restrictions can be similar incentive to others.

@Not_Soos : No, it certainly isn't. There's being rude for the sake of being rude, but there are also legitimate concerns for their wellbeing and by people whose rights are encroached by (specifically) obese people in public spaces. We are each responsible for how we conduct ourselves in public, and it's not up to strangers to indulge our lifestyle choices if such choices may ultimately impinge on the rights of others (which can include infringing on one's space, damaging property due to their abundance, and of course being a mostly avoidable burden on the healthcare system).

I once chauffeured four overweight people (of whom three were minors). I even got them to sit where their mass would be (somewhat) evenly distributed (I was the skinniest by a wide margin, no pun intended). I could already feel the car sink as the passengers had all taken their seats, and the car had travelled a lot slower than usual to the location, and upon arrival, it was plain to see that all of the tyres had gone flat, and I was forced to make alternate arrangements to ensure that the children were escorted home safely (which frustrated me most given the responsibility that I had assumed for their welfare while they were in my care).

And these are kids who of course didn't know any better and perhaps I should have exercised better judgement. From that point on, I refused to escort all four of them together to prevent the same from happening again, which sometimes meant that I had to make alternate arrangements for my adult friend (who is blind and obviously couldn't travel alone), which wasn't always possible, and I will defy anybody with the audacity to accuse me of lacking compassion or consideration for people's individual circumstances.

But as for the adults who make excuses for themselves... if you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen (figuratively and literally). I have several loved ones who had undergone a gastric bypass instead of changing their lifestyles (and most of them weren't excessively overweight either, which made this "quick fix" all the more baffling considering the multitude of potential long-term health complications). I am sympathetic to the fact that some people may have health/genetic issues that make it more difficult to put off the mass, but this is far too often exploited as a convenient scapegoat by indignant/lazy people to play the "victim". Being overweight is the opposite of being a victim. It's overwhelmingly indicative of perverse indulgence, and I can't say that I find the "plight" of gluttony to be particularly sympathetic, especially as the "body positive" movement is hell-bent on making people content with their poor life choices. And I'm certainly not talking about people who are merely "curvy" and/or embracing unconventional beauty standards or other irregularities that perhaps most wouldn't consider beautiful (and I say this as somebody with an unsightly physical deformity that I personally would not consider to be "beautiful"). Being of moderate mass isn't merely a "beauty standard"; it's a health standard.

So I am not willing to abide excuses for being selfish and gluttonous. With that said, I'm not one to go around trying to humiliate anyone for merely being overweight, but I will not take kindly to one who infringes my rights and feigns victimhood either. Adults should know their limitations and act appropriately.

All I'll say is that 40" is not actually that big, and I'm surprised there's a ride system where it's considered so. I used to be 32" at my absolute peak fitness and there's no way I could have got smaller than that. Now I'm not saying that I'd still be fit if I were 40", but this seems quite unusual for an American or European theme park ride.

@Not_Soos It perhaps isn't, but I think this is "putting tomato in a fruit salad" kind of thinking. Tomato is technically a fruit, but most people wouldn't put it in a fruit salad.

You're right that this or that "phobia" probably doesn't describe real fear, but it's what people use to communicate the feeling that someone hates their group and I think that meaning comes across clear enough.

(For what it's worth, as a thin person who doesn't like amusement parks I don't really have any dogs in this fight and someone who does might chime in more articulately. I just find your comments often thought-provoking and felt like engaging a bit.)

Welcome to the modern world where even fat people are considered oppressed, even though millions are still starving.

There was never a time where fat people were enslaved or arrested, or forbidden to vote or marry, just for being fat, we don't see fat people lynched on the streets just for being fat either, but no, "fatphobia" is totally a thing, fat people are just like black people.

Go ahead and Google “average US adult waistline” … welp!

I'd phone someone to complain about this but unfortunately I'm still awaiting my dialling wand.

That's roughly 102 cm for civilised people.

@CharlieGirl Are you kidding? Fat jokes are my weakness. 🤣

Joking aside this isn’t good though. It’s hard for me to keep a consistent weight and when I do I only just fit in these sorts of rides. It’s a shame as this ride looks really fun.

@nessisonett I’m surprised park staff do that kind of thing 😏

Safety measures are commonplace ir amusement parks.

We´re talking about installations that have many mechanical and eletrical elements that can be harmful for guests or even cause deaths, even in slow rides.

Height and/or weight requirements depend of the mechanics and physical forces applied to its movements, some rides just can´t handle very short/tall or very fat/skinny people.

That said, saying that these measures, aimed at the safety of guests, are "fatphobic" or "exclusionary" is just plain stupid.

@CharlieGirl,

How can something be about being none inclusive, when in effect people are excluding themselves. This is all about safety, how strictly the regulations will be followed is another matter.

@TioRogerio,

Totally agree, but not surprising some on here are looking at this the wrong way, and of course looking to be offended.

@victordamazio I mean... obviously being a jerk to overweight people isn't the exact same as other terrible -phobic, -ists, or -isms, but lets not pretend our society hasn't warped the perception of "health" by tying it near-exclusively to a number on the scale to the point where people have eating disorders or confidence issues (even after losing weight), or the fact that the sugar industry successfully campaigned to convince people that "fat" in food is the culprit to obesity, or the fact that an entire industry surrounding "weight loss" that profits off of selling magic bullets.

We can call out multiple screwed up things in the world without acting like they're equal terrible across the board.

Well, these comments have panned out exactly as I imagined. lol

@SwitchplayerJohn It was a half-joke, but I sincerely believe just about any motivation that gets one to finally take that step is a million times more valid and effective than any amount of shame, ridicule, or bullying- sorry, I mean "tough love".

Hope you can reach your goal in time!

@DTFaux Respecting people with a disease is one thing, claiming that the disease is cool like a tattoo or a punk hair, and you shouldn't cure it, is another thing.

@MetalKingShield “not that big”

This was my thought as well. I’m 5’10 165 and while I’m a size 34 I undo my belt if I eat too much.🤷🏻‍♂️ So I thought, maybe this was a kids ride. We go to a lot of amusement parks, there are a lot of rides built only for kids, entire sections in some, but the article didn’t say that.

Then I thought of the poor park attendants standing there with a 40” piece of string seeing if they could get it around each person’s waist or not. That sounds like a fun job.😝

If 40” is the max then obesity prone USA probably wasn’t the place for this adult ride. Maybe they can retrofit it to 46 or 48, something that actually sounds too big for a ride.

@Tendogamerxxx This comment is unnecessarily cruel.

This tragic incident got national attention stateside a few months ago and has probably caused a lot of parks to get stricter.
https://metro.co.uk/2022/03/30/teen-who-died-on-florida-ride-was-rejected-from-other-rides-over-size-16376158/

At the same time, there is some irony here given that Mario Kart has literal weight classes.

@Tasuki
Other universal rides have had similar requirements and they’re still running just fine.

Safety first. Ladders have weight limits too but I’ve never heard anybody complain about them. I work in a warehouse, not everyone can do everything, I’m straight up too short for some things and as a rule I have to ask tall people for help. If you can be too little for a ride, you can probably be too big for a ride. Keep in mind, a short person who’s way overweight would still fit on this ride. I would know.

At 5’7” I’ve weighed as little as 120 and as much as 215 (definitely obese) at various points as an adult. I don’t understand this thing some people do where every single thing is a matter of pride or community. There are people who are so desperate to be part of something that they’ll choose anything as their key identifier (looking at you, incels) just to validate whatever feature they’ve selected. If I’m 5’7” and 220, I’m shortening my life. I don’t want to join a community of people who are proud of this. Identifying as and accepting a negative that you may have the power to change is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Real talk, as a chronic depressive who has managed not to kill himself this whole time, I despise self-fulfilling prophecies. Whatever your darkness is, you are better than it.

@victordamazio Sure, we shouldn't be entertaining the extreme ends of "body positivity", but it's important to understand that the crux of "body positivity" in the first place was to push back against toxicity towards bodies that didn't fit conventional [and arguably, propagandistic] beauty standards.

IMO, a lot of folks seem to miss that our obesity problem (at least in the US) is systemic and that the better approach is to incentivize good habits and relationships with food than to punish bad ones (the latter, far too many seem to fantasize over...).

@MetalKingShield Ditto. I was 32" during the worst years of my eating disorder and I'm only 6' tall. Hair falling out from malnutrition and still 32". Americans are just bigger on average, not even taking into account excess body weight. That's just how it is. I don't understand how a ride like this even got past the planning stages without considering altering the ride to accomodate larger passengers. And I also don't understand how a multibillion-dollar, multinational company with a PR army could let a statement like that get out when common sense would alert even the most tech adverse among us that it's going to start a s***storm online. Just poorly handled all around.

@World Aw, thank you for saying my comments are thought-provoking. I really appreciate that. This particular issue doesn't directly concern me either, but I still like to weigh (erm, no pun intended) in on these topics. My issue isn't so much about the semantics of whether or not it constitutes as a "phobia" or that heavy people don't face hatred. But rather that the general amount of hatred against 'fat' people pales in comparison to someone who is persecuted because of their ethnicity, sex, religion, etc. The latter groups may be subjected to threats of bodily harm or death whereas a heavy person only really has to worry about social shaming. Maybe some kid in elementary school tries to beat up the fat kid, but that's really juvenile stuff and not the kind of behavior an adult is going to commit. So although bullying of any kind shouldn't be tolerated, I guess I just think it's a bit tone-deaf to groups facing much worse persecution to appropriate the term "phobia." If that makes sense.

That may sound like harsh words, but it's honestly not something I'm super impassioned about. My intent isn't to put anybody down or say they have to use different terminology because I'm not the morality police. It's just food for thought. (Gah, I did it again!)

My wife's family is going to be so hurt by this. I'll just send them pictures of me on the ride they can't ride, that should cheer them up.

@TioRogerio Dig one layer deeper. If it's common knowledge that Americans are bigger than global average, and that Americans have a higher obesity rate than global average, and you're making a custom built amusement park ride FOR AMERICA but refuse to adapt the ride to accomodate bigger bodies - is that not exclusionary or fatphobic? It's not like this is some traveling carnival kit ride that you can order online. This is a custom built ride that probably costs tens of millions of dollars. They couldn't take an extra few weeks to make some changes to the ride so that that won't have to turn away half of their guests?

@ThisisJosh Yeah it’s a funny thing to say but I think a lot of people don’t realize just how big the average tall person is, especially tall men. Hands like frying pans, big all over, automatically strong as hell.

I wonder what they actually mean by “waist” in this case. A woman’s waist might be considered above her belly button but a man’s might basically count as the hip. The slimmer I am the higher I want my pants, but it’s pretty variable across all types. The old English pro wrestler Big Daddy probably had a 70” waist (or more, his /chest/ was 64”) but he certainly wasn’t pulling his pants all the way up there and he had little chicken legs.

@Not_Soos (I think you argue in good faith, which is incredibly rare on the Internet, on topics I also think about so it's good! I'm often too busy to engage, but sometimes think about doing so and instead just lurk and nod thoughtfully, lol)

I think we could say there are probably barriers that fat people face that thin people don't (like if a fat guy goes to the doctor with symptoms of cancer and the doctor just keeps telling him to lose weight) and aren't just bullying (which, as you said, is often just juvenile), but I can also appreciate what you're saying.

Since this issue doesn't affect me personally, I'm inclined to just believe people when they say something affects them negatively. I can see what you mean about sort of needing a word to separate an existential threat from like a structural barrier. That makes sense (and, you know, it's certainly been tried; years ago, people tried to make -misia the suffix for situations like this, because that means hate and not fear, but people just kept on with the -phobia suffix).

(Oh and this might be controversial, but: puns are good and cool.)

does universal realize that 50% of america is overweight, and im pretty sure when you go to gamers as a whole that percentage goes up... point is by doing this they are severly limitting who will go to this park and cutting out a huge portion of the population who would love to ride these rides.

All theme park rides have a limit, they are all limited to what will fit safely on them, this can be height or size restrictions. And when they sate a waist restriction, why do people automatically think of overweight people, pretty sure there would be people who work out that are too big for these rides, just like taller and shorter people.

This article is pure click bait from Nintendo Life, and the usual suspects are out in force, ready to be offended on somebody else's behalf.

It's baffling to me that this comment section is full of people outraged at outrage that doesn't exist. The amount of people that "support obesity" and claim this is fatphobic must be miniscule, and I've seen none of them in this comment section, yet every other post is complaining about them. I wish I could say I expected better.

@Key19 It should still work for you if you're actually still losing weight at a slower pace, but lower metabolism means you'll have to keep up the dieting and exercising routine for much longer this time.

TIL a lot of people here think that being fat is a choice or simply the result of not exercising or being gluttonous with food. You people really need to go back to school and study, because you're wrong and you're revealing your ignorance and stupidity in public. Your rudeness, narcissism, and lack of empathy is more of a choice.

And yes, discrimination against people who are fat is just as bad as other -isms. If you don't understand why, then you're not very bright.

@CazSonOfCaz

Some people are naturally large, sure. And no, not everyone should be thin. Personally, I am "overweight", 5' 10", 212 lbs....but I hit the gym at least five days a week, and it's mostly muscle.

If I didn't work out, I know that I would be fat. I was when I finished college, and got up to 235, but I decided that I wasn't feeling that. And being fat isn't so much an image problem, as it is just being plain unhealthy. No, folks shouldn't be expected to look like Superman or Wonder Woman, but all too often there are people making excuses and just being plain lazy.

That's not toxic, or narcissistic. That's truth. Obese people are more likely to die, and the only way to truly manage something like that it to be more proactive about managing one's health. It's one thing to be okay and positive about your body - nobody should be pressured to be perfect, but if you can't walk a flight of stairs without being out of breath, that's a problem. That's reality.

Why are so many people making a fuss about this? It’s just a standard safety feature…

@ChaoticKirby
Because people need to get offended about everything.

@ThisisJosh

It's absolutely not. We shouldn't let obesity become the standard. Spend more time walking and doing physical activities, learn portion control. Sure, some people are naturally fat and big (I'm well over 200 lbs myself), but society should stop encouraging complete and utter disregard for physical health in the name of "acceptance". Also, I'm an American, and it's sad seeing so many unhealthy people. I never make fun of fat people, but I'm "fat phobic". If we're going to have this discussion, can we at least have a little grey area?

Because I can have a problem with disregard for health, and also NOT hate someone for being fat. In fact, I don't hate anyone for being fat, but I don't like how so many assume one is "fat-phobic" for factoring in a bit of discipline and self-control into the equation of a nationwide (and world-wide) health issue.

And yes, I'm aware that some people are genetically inclined to be large - I have a cousin who is big, no matter how hard he diets. He wouldn't look right if he was thin.

I still think that taking care of oneself and having some personal responsibility is a good thing, and not at automatically "fat-phobic", in nearly every conceivable situation, like some people are claiming.

Grey. Area.

@Not_Soos this sort of literal semantics feels adjacent to the simpsons "i'm a rageaholic! i just cant live without rageahol!" joke

All the more reason to lose those pesky pounds!

More like, putting ignorance first. You it cut your market in half.

@CazSonOfCaz You’re the person that apparently didn’t exist (removing all agency from themselves and calling things fatphobic), yet here you are.

Americans are bigger because of all the unnatural ingredients/boosters in their overly processed foods. And in many cases, gluttony / laziness. To deny this is ridiculous.

Such negativity, look at the bright side, less waiting times for us and the kiddos that can get in the ride.

@bonjong23 Stereotyping a country isn't funny.

Very best of luck to all the commenters wanting to make a positive change in their lives! I absolutely love to see it and I'm rooting for you all.

Total mid wits that defend people living unhealthy aside, it's great to hear about some experiences of people changing their lives after they were confronted with amusement park safety restrictions of all things. Makes for a great story to tell haha.

I came back to this thread just to read the fun stuff.

They usually test this before making the rules.

@ThisisJosh
Sometimes, the mechanics and the physic forces of certain rides don´t allow much room for adaptation to larger or even smaller/thinner people. Remember that there´s also limitations to the low end of the spectrum.

Rollercoasters and spinning rides are particulary very, very trick to adjust due to the G-forces applied over the human body. Rides, even small ones, are always designed and engineered considering the amounts of weight, body mass, speed movement, G-forces etc. that allow the ride to work properly without any room of risk.

I know we´re talking about a slow ride here, but there´s a lot more to safety in any ride than just small body adjustments. We need to know how exactly the ride works, the capacity of movement/weight of the track, its relation with the scenic elements, and verify if the ride itself would operate properly if any of its mechanical limitations is surpassed.

@daveMcFlave I'm not arguing the healthiness or unhealthiness of being overweight, or nature vs. behavior, or personal responsibility vs. the system, or any other idea larger and more consequential than this: Americans are bigger, so you should make your expensive American amusement park ride accessible for bigger people. That's it. My rhetorical question was just that - rhetorical, in an attempt to contrast all of the voices in here confidently saying that this absolutely is not fatphobia with my own "well maybe it could be?"

@TioRogerio Immaterial to my argument. The ride was developed and tested for a certain weight range and body size range for the Japanese park. They knew they were bringing this ride to two American parks for YEARS. Everybody knows Americans are bigger than the global average. So why couldn't the ride be redesigned and retested for larger bodies?

Is it fatphobia? Is it cost cutting? Or is it just incompetence? None of us know. But it's definitely dumb as hell and inconsiderate.

@ThisisJosh

That's fine. I'm just going to push back against extremely broad, blanket statements that overlook critical thinking.

@ThisisJosh
We don´t know for sure why it was not redesign and we can´t argue unless we know all the specifications and limitations of the ride´s mechanical engineering, as I stated before . Maybe a redesigned ride just wouldn´t work properly and it would need to be rebuilt from scratch, what is not cheap by any means. Rides are extremely expensive equipments that sometimes take many months to start generating returns to their owners.

Some people with very limited understanding of how rides work, of the engineering required in their design, and the safety limitations they need to operate properly, may see this case as "fatphobia", but considering that rides also have a limitation in the lower end - people too short or too slim can´t ride certain rides - this argument get just pointless