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Eagle Height Restrictions?

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Postby anewman35 on July 3rd, 2016, 11:48 pm
Just realized that the Eagle's height restriction is 48" - has that always been true or did it change at some point? I was so sure that it was 42" that I took my 44" or so daughter on it today and didn't even check the sign, and nobody stopped us...
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Postby Re-Check 9 on July 4th, 2016, 9:56 am
anewman35 wrote:Just realized that the Eagle's height restriction is 48" - has that always been true or did it change at some point? I was so sure that it was 42" that I took my 44" or so daughter on it today and didn't even check the sign, and nobody stopped us...


I believe they raised the min height on Eagle because parents were complaining about stupid nonsense ("Why can't my kid ride Viper? He was able to ride Eagle!").
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Postby ilrider on July 4th, 2016, 6:47 pm
I have had kids riding coasters there for 12 years and Eagle has been 48" that whole time at least. PTC train coasters like Eagle are 48" everywhere I have ever been (maybe there are some at 42", I have just never ridden one myself). Ever having Eagle at 42" and Viper at 48" makes no sense to me, as they both use PTC trains with identical restraints. Correct me if I am wrong.
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Postby Guy_With_A_Stick on July 4th, 2016, 7:02 pm
I think it was 42 when Eagle had the buzzbars. I was just at Adventureland the other day, and Outlaw and Tornado both use Buzzbar PTCs, and both of their height restrictions were 42. Might be state laws, but I do think the buzzbars have something to do with it.
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Postby ilrider on July 4th, 2016, 10:28 pm
Guy_With_A_Stick wrote:I think it was 42 when Eagle had the buzzbars. I was just at Adventureland the other day, and Outlaw and Tornado both use Buzzbar PTCs, and both of their height restrictions were 42. Might be state laws, but I do think the buzzbars have something to do with it.


That makes sense. I have been riding Eagle since 1981 when it opened, so I remember the buzzbar rides! No seat dividers either then (hate those things).
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Postby stergmi on July 5th, 2016, 6:48 pm
ilrider wrote:
Guy_With_A_Stick wrote:I think it was 42 when Eagle had the buzzbars. I was just at Adventureland the other day, and Outlaw and Tornado both use Buzzbar PTCs, and both of their height restrictions were 42. Might be state laws, but I do think the buzzbars have something to do with it.


That makes sense. I have been riding Eagle since 1981 when it opened, so I remember the buzzbar rides! No seat dividers either then (hate those things).

Yup. I was just at Indiana Beach yesterday. Cornball Express and Hoosier Hurricane also use the buzz bar PTCs and they're labeled as 42" w/ adult or 48" if riding solo.
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Postby anewman35 on July 5th, 2016, 11:17 pm
Weirdly, I also seem to remember having Viper be 48" while the Eagle was 42", and I don't think I'm remembering something with the buzzbar because I don't even remember the Eagle like that. Hmm. Guess I must have just been mistaken.
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Postby ilrider on July 6th, 2016, 6:52 pm
stergmi wrote:
ilrider wrote:
Guy_With_A_Stick wrote:I think it was 42 when Eagle had the buzzbars. I was just at Adventureland the other day, and Outlaw and Tornado both use Buzzbar PTCs, and both of their height restrictions were 42. Might be state laws, but I do think the buzzbars have something to do with it.


That makes sense. I have been riding Eagle since 1981 when it opened, so I remember the buzzbar rides! No seat dividers either then (hate those things).

Yup. I was just at Indiana Beach yesterday. Cornball Express and Hoosier Hurricane also use the buzz bar PTCs and they're labeled as 42" w/ adult or 48" if riding solo.


Yeah, right. My son rode Cornball and HH before he was tall enough for Eagle and Viper.
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Postby FParker185 on July 8th, 2016, 9:37 pm
Eagle was 42" until the early 00's. The park I believe confirmed at an event it was raised for consistently reasons (translate: my kid can ride Eagle but not Viper?)
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Postby ilrider on July 8th, 2016, 10:11 pm
FParker185 wrote:Eagle was 42" until the early 00's. The park I believe confirmed at an event it was raised for consistently reasons (translate: my kid can ride Eagle but not Viper?)


Was that when they transitioned Eagle to the current restraints, then, I'm guessing? There was a period of several years in my early adulthood I did not go to the park, so I guess I missed the transition by a few years.

So, anewman, looks like you were right!
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Postby FParker185 on July 9th, 2016, 4:21 pm
They switched to the homebrew trains/restraints in like the early-mid 80's. That's why there was a lower height requirement, when the park designed the mess that's on Eagle they determined that a 42" height requirement was good enough.
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Postby HuskieJohn on July 12th, 2016, 10:55 am
My Twin girls are 44" at 6yr old and ask every time if they can go on the Eagle yet. My son was 48" at 6yr old so they feel gypped.

We were at SFStL last week and they could ride the "Screamin' Eagle" at SFSTL since it is still 42". My girls were thrilled that they could ride so much so that I had to go on it 3 times. The restraint was an individual seat belt on top of the lap bar. As a parent I felt comfortable with the restraint for them though the ride was just as rough as our Eagle...however I found the SE cars to be more comfortable/safe.

Side note...
I think if SFSTL would upgrade the SE track to a steel coaster with a bit of a banking turn that the ride would be great.
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