Planning a Trip to WDW

By Guest Columnist Joshua Olive

Every
so often, I'm reminded that one of the joys of Walt Disney World is that
the World really comes close to being One Size Fits All. What brought
that on? Well, a friend here at work just got a snazzy new car. A BMW,
no less. It's beautifully styled, with a luxurious looking interior. But
here's the rub: I don't fit in the car (at least not in anything resembling
comfort). I'm too tall and too wide – it just isn't going to happen.

If
you're wondering how that reminded me of Walt Disney World, I'll be happy
to explain. Attempting to get into that car reminded me of the last trip
I took to Six Flags over Georgia, several years ago. With some WD-40,
I might have been able to squeeze into a handful of the good rides at
that park (emphasis on might), but I didn't have any WD-40 on me, and
so I was left with a miserably long day of watching other people have
fun. I did manage, just barely, to squeeze into The Mind Bender, one of
my favorite roller coasters as a child, and it was painfully uncomfortable
from the get-go. Half-way up the lift hill at the start of the ride, my
hip seized up in a tremendously painful cramp due to the way I was pretzeled
into the seat. I was hollering long before we ever even got to the first
loop. When the ride was, mercifully, over, extricating myself from the
ride vehicle was an excruciating process, but I couldn't do it fast enough!

NOTE: Due
to my size and rather snug fit in the ride vehicle, my lap bar actually
disengaged mid-ride on The Georgia Cyclone and lifted up, leaving me free
to, potentially, fall out of the ride vehicle. I love roller coasters,
and I'm not one to freak out aboard one, but that pretty well got my blood
pressure up, I can tell you. There's nothing quite as exciting as literally
hanging on for dear life aboard a normally pretty tame roller coaster.
Needless to say, I haven't been back to that park since.

At any rate,
this lovely yet small new BMW, coupled with a post-traumatic flashback
to the Mind Bender, reminded me that I rarely feel like I don't fit in
at Walt Disney World. Sure, there are exceptions – like the Tomorrowland
Indy Speedway – that are just not built on a scale large enough to accommodate
my frame, but those are few and far between at the World, where they are
the norm at most amusement parks.

As a matter
of fact, I have determined that I can enjoy 97.5% of the attractions at
Walt Disney World. If you're wondering, yes, that is an actual calculation,
performed by some of my more mathematically inclined friends with engineering
degrees. The only ride in the parks I absolutely cannot fit into is the
Tomorrowland Indy Speedway. And, while I can fit (by the skin of my teeth)
into the Mad Tea Party tea cups , I don't usually find much reason for
squeezing into them, so I opted to count that one as a negative for purposes
of this calculation. That's out of 80 attractions/shows on property at
Walt Disney World (I didn't count things like Pooh's Playful Spot or the
various houses at Mickey's Toon Town Fair). I even fit in Goofy's Barnstormer,
for crying out loud, and that's purposefully designed for children.

That's not
to say that every ride at WDW is comfortable for larger people. Some of
my favorite rides are less than comfy. Splash Mountain, for example, is
an absolute knee killer, due to the combination of my height and weight
and the way I fit in the ride vehicle. Some of the rides at WDW are extremely
comfortable (Rock'n'Roller Coaster, Expedition Everest, Big Thunder Mountain
Railroad, Soarin', Mickey's Philharmagic, etc.), but several of the rides/attractions
have some degree of discomfort associated with them. Clearly, none of
them are intolerable, because I keep going back and I keep riding these
rides. And, perhaps more important, I feel safe at every attraction at
WDW; not once have I ever felt like life and limb were at risk there.

Some rides
– and we've covered this territory before in previous editions of The
Big Picture – can have any discomfort you may experience mitigated in
some way. On Test Track, you may not fit or be comfortable in just any
seat, but the middle seat of the front row is great. If you're hitting
your knees on Pirates of the Caribbean or It's a Small World (another
real knee offender), a front row seat will absolutely take care of that
problem.

Here's the
key: Don't be afraid to ask! I have yet to encounter a Cast Member who
was anything other than gracious and discreet when I put in a request
for a special seat due to my size. I've heard the occasional negative
report from other At Large guests, but I haven't personally experienced
any negativity from a Cast Member in this regard. Sometimes you have to
be a little patient as they work out the seating for a particular ride,
but it really makes a difference when you experience an attraction in
(relative) comfort instead of pain. When in doubt, ASK!

Another way
that WDW makes their At Large guests feel at home is that they actually
have merchandise available in some larger sizes. It's not always easy
to find a t-shirt here (I can't speak for other articles of clothing –
pants, dresses, etc. – as I haven't looked), but things have improved
steadily on this front in the past few years. Mouse Gear at EPCOT routinely
carries shirts up to 5XL now, and the World of Disney store at Downtown
Disney does the same, carrying up to 6XL on occasion.

I don't want
to complain, because, up until very recently, there were no plus size
shirts to be had at all, but you should be aware before you go shopping
that they only carry the generic WDW t-shirts and the generic t-shirts
with the year on them in the larger sizes. If you're just itching for
one of those cool Pirates of the Caribbean t-shirts or one of the funny
Monorail shirts with the Spanish safety spiel on it, you'll have to get
creative and figure out another way to get one, because they simply don't
carry them in the larger sizes some of us require. My last visit, I spoke
to a manager at World of Disney, and he was very apologetic, but said
that, as far as he knows, there are no plans to expand the variety of
larger sized shirts at this time.

So, if you
consider yourself to be a person of size and you wonder if a trip to WDW
could really be worth it for you, my answer is an unequivocal and resounding
YES! In all likelihood, there will be very few attractions – even at the
water parks! – you can't enjoy, so you can rest assured that you'll fit
in at WDW. And you might even be able to bring home a t-shirt that will
fit to commemorate the occasion. As they sing in one of my favorite old
Disney movies, Pete's Dragon: "There's room for everyone in this
world!"

Read
More by Joshua Olive.