I have had 1 stent fitted back in 2015 after being diagnosed with having had a heart attack & will be going to my doctor's for advice regarding going on roller coasters as we are having a family holiday to Florida later this year. Has anyone else been in a similar situation?
I am 61years old & reasonably fit so can't see a problem myself & I know each case can be different, but am just looking to see what the general reaction to this is?
Thanks.
I have posted a similar reply in the past to a new poster asking, so apologies for a bit of repetition!
We had a holiday in October 2017 to Florida and did a 14 day combined Disney/ universal pass with my family (including 14 and 9 year olds - I'm a reasonably fit (other than slightly knackered heart) 51).
I've previously had a MI (heart attack) in 2003 and more recently a cardiac arrest in May 2017 with ICD (defibrillator) fitted thereafter & then repositioned in late August. We had the holiday booked way before my CA. I spoke with my cardiologist prior to going on holiday to gauge his opinion, as I'd kind of resigned myself to have a watching rather than participating role. He told me to go enjoy and get involved, which I did. The only coasters I didn't do were the upside downy ones in universal (Aerosmith, rip ride rocket, hulk) which involved a shoulder harness and that was because of the possible impact with the ICD. I didn't do the more mental water park slides either for similar reasons! Apart from that the rest were fair game though the parks obviously cover themselves with warning caveats not to ride if you have an existing heart condition. There may also be issues regarding your travel insurance being invalidated which if you were concerned you may want to check out (I got cover with saga). If you're worried about waiting in line in excessive heat you can get return time passes from the customer services at both universal and Disney.
Any other questions just ping me a message!
Enjoy and good luck!
We are in the exact same situation too. Had annual insurance in place before heart attack and asked insurance if rides were OK. Said we were totally covered as long as doctor gave permission, which he had done, then weeks later when I asked about another matter and brought up the rides issue, they said that we wouldn't be covered if warnings were in place...a point I had already stressed to them when they originally gave the go ahead. I think we will now need to cancel which is horrid as this was to celebrate our golden wedding but I really object to them giving false information first time round, which, if we had gone ahead, might have been a very expensive incident, especially if they then, at the point of a medical issue, would have denied giving permission to ride. Like you, we would not be going on the big boy rides..but for goodness sake, even the tomorrow land speedway...for little ones...has the same warning sign!!! And to make matters worse, they now won't insure my husband at all even for Europe, for the remained of our policy as heart attack is now a new condition. Pretty disgusted. But won't take any chances obviously, either medical or financial!!! Perhaps trying various insurance companies will be an option for you too. Best of luck! Maybe we will all be watching others having fun on the rides together!
I’ve done it but my future mum in law is a doctor and she isn’t pleased that I’ve done it, she’s told me to avoid even the smaller rollercoasters that I’ve done.
Hi, I went to California Disney 4 weeks after an ablation back in 2014. I stuck to the small rides - not sure whether it was the heat or the rides or a combination of both - but I went into arrhythmia in the Park. I then had to sit in the hotel room until it went back into NSR 12 hours later. I personally wouldn’t risk again but everyone is different and you should take the advice of your cardiologist.
Hi Tony - a common question from thrillseekers! There isn't really a straightforward answer, so all you can do is take the advice your cardiologist gives you. Theme parks are very quick to cover themselves, so they will commonly list any heart condition under one big umbrella to avoid taking 'responsibility' for any cardiac events on their rides. We're also not able to do a robust study into the relationship between heart conditions and rollercoasters as I'm not sure it'd pass through an ethics committee...
Off to Florida at Easter with my 10 year old, and from past experience I’m not even going to chance it - prior to developing SVT, I’d ridden some of the best rollercoasters in the world (including all the ones in Florida in the late 90s) so not riding is going to be a far bigger wrench than being bag man for just a day at Alton Towers, but depending on how I feel on the day, even a waltzer can set my arrhythmia off. It would also invalidate my travel insurance and needing ER treatment to stop my heart if I got a bad episode is not an out of pocket expense I could cover without a lottery jackpot win. Cardiology advice for me was a flat ‘no’ and ignoring that has led me to sadly agree: as others have said, see what they say for your specific circumstances. Whatever happens, I hope you have a good time.
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