When visiting Disney’s Blizzard Beach Water Park, we noticed that there are no posted weight limits for any attraction at the water park — despite a recent lawsuit involving a guest over the weight limit being injured on the Downhill Double Dipper.
No Posted Weight Limits for Attractions at Blizzard Beach
According to local Orlando News 6 WKMG, Eugene Strickland filed a lawsuit against Disney for “dangerous conditions” at Disney’s Blizzard Beach. During his visit in July 2021, he chose to ride Downhill Double Dipper despite exceeding the slide’s “posted weight limit.” He weighed around 334 pounds at the time, while the slide has a limit of 300 pounds. According to the lawsuit, Strickland became “momentarily airborne” as a result of the slide and his innertube becoming dislodged. As a result, he landed on the surface of the slide and now suffers from “permanent catastrophic injuries,” which are not disclosed.
After initially looking into posted weight limits online, we found several instances where panelists of planDisney stated that the only attraction at either of the water parks at Walt Disney World with a weight limit was the Chairlift at Disney’s Blizzard Beach, which is capped at 375 pounds and can hold up to three guests per lift. However, the webpage on the Walt Disney World website for the Chairlift does not mention any weight limit.
At the front of the park, posted signage details the rules that guests must follow, which include “but [are] not limited to” various safety precautions, like ages for unaccompanied guests, rules against smoking and vaping in the park, and prohibited items. Guests are directed to DisneyWorld.com/Rules for a complete list of rules or to visit Guest Services. Nowhere on this sign is any mention of a weight limit for select slides or attractions.
On the Disney Water Parks map, yellow triangles are used as a designation for attractions with “physical considerations,” but only list height requirements.
The same can be said of the in-park map signage, which includes the physical designation yellow triangle, but no mention of a weight limit for any attraction.
When we went to check the safety signage for the Downhill Double Dipper, the sign details that guests “should be in good health and free from heart conditions, back or neck problems, or other conditions that could be aggravated” by the slide, as well as deterring those who do not meet the minimum height requirement of 48 inches (122 centimeters). The aforementioned “posted” weight limit of 300 pounds is nowhere to be seen.
Moving uphill to the entrance and tube pick up for the Downhill Double Dipper, the sign here is the same as the one at the bottom of the slide, with no mention of a weight limit.
At the Chairlift, the one attraction that has a weight limit according to planDisney, signage only designates the minimum height requirement of 32 inches and the maximum of three riders per chair. The 375-pound weight limit is not disclosed.
When checking all other safety signage in the park, we could not find any guest-facing mention of a weight limit for any attraction or slide. If weight limits are posted, they are not in an area that is easily accessible to guests. We also noticed that there are no scales to measure guests exactly to see if they meet or exceed said limits.
When it comes to size restrictions on attractions, including water slides, they are mostly dictated by the manufacturer rather than the park at which they are located, and those attractions are not declared safe for guests outside of the limits, whether they be height or weight. In this case, the water slides at Blizzard Beach are manufactured by ProSlide Technology Inc. The specific design for the Downhill Double Dipper is their TurboPIPEline, described as a “high-speed version” of their original PIPEline, but standard restrictions are not listed online.
Florida Statutes § 616.242 (i) states that “Signs that advise or warn patrons of age restrictions, size restrictions, health restrictions, weight limitations, or any other special consideration or use restrictions required or recommended for the amusement ride by the manufacturer shall be prominently displayed at the patron entrance of each amusement ride.”
Fox 13 News in Tampa Bay reported that an expert described this portion of the statutes as a “loophole” that allows parks to avoid disclosing weight limitations via signage if the manufacturer doesn’t recommend it. This “loophole” may have prevented a “maximum weight” sign from being displayed at the defunct Orlando FreeFall ride at ICON Park, where 14-year-old Tyre Sampson died after falling off the attraction in 2022.
When WDWNT reached out to ProSlide to ask whether it is recommended that their slides at Blizzard Beach have a weight limit, we were told:
While ProSlide does not comment on specific rides or specific parks, ProSlide complies with ASTM requirements and communicates any weight limits to the owner/operator at the time that a ride is verified and through ProSlide’s Operations Manual. Florida statute and the industry standard ASTM F2376 (which has been adopted in Florida) state what must be included on park signage, at a minimum.
A spokesperson for ProSlide Technology Inc.
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