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[quote=Anonymous]It seems like the biggest issue here was the dumb Velcro straps.  We got to a LOT of amusement parks, and I don't think I've ever seen anything attached by Velcro.  There are two big problems with Velcro:  (1) it wears down over time/use especially as fuzz gets stuck in it; and (2) it's really prone to user error.  Amusement park rides should not really have *any* room for user error, particularly when they allow children to ride.  Most rides have a tug strap on the buckle, so that the ride attendant can come along and tug it to make sure that the rider has correctly fastened the buckle.  I have definitely seen riders who did not fasten correctly, and it came apart.  My own child once had a belt come off mid ride because she did not fasten it correctly and apparently the ride operator did NOT check hers before they took off.  (I was not with her on that ride.)  I can imagine that if the Velcro wasn't really aligned properly, it would not be readily apparent to the ride operator (who was probably a teenager making minimum wage).

That aside, I do think that the rides, even at the "good park" are not necessarily correctly tested for really thin children.  I can recall once as a child being able to slip out from under a lap bar that was fully pulled down.  (I was extremely thin.)  It horrified the woman next to me, but I slipped out and jumped off the ride before it started.  (It was not a super big coaster.)  I have noticed that, even at places like Hershey, my very thin children would appear to be able to do the same thing with the rides where there is just a lap bar (particularly if you are sitting on a bench with larger adults, there is often a gap of several inches between your thighs and the lap bar, if you are a small person.)  I think the engineering theory is that this is okay because in those rides, the G forces push you against the bar, rather than up and over or down and under....but you really need to trust that those engineers have made those calculations correctly AND you need to trust that you child is going to sit the way that the test dummies sit...not be squirming/slouching down in the seat.[/quote]

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