December 13, 2025: Weight & Height Restrictions
Hello from somewhere south of Cuba. Bad weather has us skipping Coco Cay (Bahamas), and doing circles in the Caribbean, so I'm catching up on work.
I've been trying to post on Instagram because there have been SO many incredible user experience (UX) design elements on this ship that could translate to any land-based aquatic facility. I'll be posting for another week just to cover everything I've seen on this ship before we jump on another ship next week, so please follow along for more or subscribe to our YouTube channel for a vlog going up in early 2025.
The big news when we landed in Miami last week was this legal judgement -
Jury awards $310 million to parents of teen killed in fall from Orlando amusement park ride
This is an incredibly tragic story where a youth who exceeded the weight limit of a drop ride fell to his death, in part, because there was no safety redundancy such as a seatbelt. Right on the heels of this story, a related story popped up in the Canadian news media.
A Windsor water slide has a new weight limit. This woman says the way it's being enforced should change
Respectfully I'm going to disagree with the need for too much sensitivity when it comes to black & white safety requirements such as minimum height and maximum weight. I understand we're living in contentious times when people have strong opinions about body size, especially as weight loss drugs proliferate, but water and physics are immutable. We can't be soft on safety.
If you're wondering about what "discrete" options exist in terms of weight scales for water slide scales, here is a platform at Mont Cascades, Quebec - owned by ProSlide - that provides a simple red/green light system when someone is under/over the slide's operating parameters. The slider's actual weight is visible to the lifeguard or slide attendant, but not the riders queuing off to the side.
New Pool Safety Campaign: Keep your Cool at the Pool
I want to highlight this campaign I also shared on our Facebook page because the reality is that employee harassment by customers has dramatically spiked in the last five years. Does your aquatic facility have an actual anti-harassment policy? Is there physical signage posted? How do you support your team from serious potential physical and/or emotional abuse? It's important to implement standards before something actually happens.
B.C. man reunites with Nova Scotia stranger, 56 years after being saved from drowning
Let's end on a good news story, shall we?
I've been following Jason Feifer's newsletter for about six months. This week's edition really spoke to me, and I hope it does the same for you.
"What did you start this year? A new job? New project? New relationship? Congratulations!
Now, ask yourself: What did you end this year? And did you congratulate yourself for that too? ... I realized: To add something to my life, I also needed to subtract.
What did you subtract from your life in 2024 and/or what do you hope to subtract in 2025? Please share anonymously here, I'd love to compile your ideas with mine in next week's newsletter. Submissions can be personal or professional; a lot of us can't separate those two spheres of our life.
I'll be back next week (December 20) with some final words to close out 2024 before we take a two week hiatus over Christmas & New Years.
Katie Crysdale
Lakeview Aquatic Consultants Ltd.
ICYMI - last week I chatted about some new products I love. I received some important feedback from a reader whose facility had the following experience.
"We used those EZ Tensioners this year and we had to replace the set of 6 twice. They were rusting, and they were also jamming and getting stuck and not releasing so they became a big hassle for the staff. I will say that the company that sells them has impeccable customer service and really tried to trouble shoot with us and made sure that they were as accommodating as possible."
A reminder that I always want to know what is and IS NOT working at your aquatic facility - good, bad, ugly or otherwise! Whether it's a product, a service, a software - please share that information with me (I'll keep it anonymous) so I can keep accurate records and help other aquatic facilities prevent future pitfalls.
Has anyone else worked this product? Please hit reply on this email and let me know either way - I would truly appreciate it.