Fat Muggles Turned Away at Harry Potter Theme Park

More than 265 pounds? No Forbidden Journey for you
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 27, 2010 11:25 AM CDT
Fat Muggles Turned Away at Harry Potter Theme Park
Hogwarts Castle is seen at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando theme park in Orlando, Fla., Wednesday, June 9, 2010. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter opens to general admission ticket holders June 18.   (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Weight, not the wait, is turning out to be the big problem for some parkgoers eager to go on the "Forbidden Journey" ride at Orlando's new Harry Potter theme park. With its weight limit of around 265 pounds, portly Potter fans are finding themselves banned from the much-hyped ride on the grounds that they're too large for safety harnesses. Denied the ride that the park promises will make them "feel things no one has ever felt inside a theme park attraction, move in ways no one has ever moved” (read ride reviews here), what they're feeling is upset.

"What surprised and disappointed me the most," blogged one rejected rider, "was that many of Universal's other rides contain 'modified seating' rows for larger guests, and—let's face it—a good number of people in the Harry Potter fandom are a bit heavy, so why didn't Universal anticipate and accommodate us here?" Adding insult to injury: Rumor has it that 265-pound Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard was allowed on the ride, notes AolNews.

(More Wizarding World of Harry Potter stories.)

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