New Mario Kart ride called 'blatantly fatphobic' over seat waist size restriction

Some people are outraged at the new Mario Kart theme park ride at Universal Studios in Hollywood, California, over a restriction on waist sizes.

The ride is a part of the highly anticipated Super Nintendo World part of the theme park. Riders are thrilled with augmented reality and animatronics — unless their waistlines are too large.

The rides can only accommodate people with waistlines less than 40 inches, which is slightly less than the average waistline for American males.

Critics complained about the ride's bigotry and discrimination on social media.

"Still mad about that 40-inch waistline requirement for the Mario Kart ride. It's just blatantly fatphobic, there's nothing about it that can't accommodate a bigger human. Let alone an average-sized one, as 40 inches is hardly monumental. I'm a few pounds from there myself!" said one user.

"Mario Kart is the latest ride they’ve introduced where the restraint makes absolutely no sense for the type of ride it is. I honestly cannot see any motive for insisting on these restraints other than to fat-shame," said another critic.

"I'm really hoping I've lost enough weight to ride the Mario Kart ride, but the fact that they STILL don't make theme park rides with fat people in mind, especially one as slow as the MK one, is really f***ed up," replied another detractor.

Theme park designer Jim Shull pointed out that there are tradeoffs to the size restrictions.

“If you size every seat for the largest possible person, you’re guaranteeing that a smaller child cannot ride,” Shull said.

A spokesperson for the theme park said in a statement that they are trying to address the issue.

“We have a company-wide task force actively working with this community to make changes that can help them safely increase access to our experiences,” the statement said.

There about 4.5 fatalities related to theme park rides in the U.S. every year. In 2019, there were 1,299 ride-related injuries at theme parks in the U.S., which works out to 3.7 injuries per one million visitors.

Super Nintendo World is scheduled to open to to the general public on February 17.

Here's a local news video about the fatphobic ride:

Mario Kart ride restrictions causes a stirwww.youtube.com

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