If you've ever been a small child, emphasis on the "small," at a theme park, or brought one with you, then you likely know the pain that comes with height requirements on attractions. It sucks when you can't go on a ride you want to, and it sucks for the parents of that child too, who want their kids to have a great time. Chris Hemsworth recently revealed on Jimmy Kimmel Live that when his daughter was too short to go on the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror at Disneyland a couple years ago, he took matters into his own hands, by stuffing her shoes. According to Hemsworth...
I took my daughter on [Guardians of the Galaxy — Mission: Breakout] a couple of years ago when it previously called the Tower of Terror. And she wasn’t tall enough, and she was really upset. And I was like, ‘No, forget this. Come here.’ So I grabbed a couple Snickers bars and things, and slammed it in the back of her shoe under her heel. So I propped her up, she was like this much short, walked up, was like, ‘What about now?’ So they’re like, ‘Okay, in you come.’ Snickers work.
Basically, Chris Hemsworth created make shift high heels for his daughter that pushed up the back of her feet enough to raise his daughter's height to the necessary limit. Clearly, she was really close to the limit, which is 40" if you're keeping score. I'm not sure what to think about those cast members if they had only measured her moments before and found her too short, maybe they decided they didn't want to make Thor mad twice.
Hemsworth appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live along side his Avengers: Endgame co-stars Paul Rudd, Scarlett Johansson, and Robert Downey Jr. They were less than impressed with the actor's tale, pointing out that these height requirements exist for a reason and he shouldn't be commended for subverting the system.
To his credit, Chris Hemsworth understood the reason for the requirements as soon as his daughter actually got on the ride, as it seems the restraint system was not sufficient to hold her in place.
It gets worse. So I was sitting in the chair, and this thing, it’s I don’t know how many hundreds of feet high and whatever. We’re at the top and I’m looking at her. She’s strapped in, the seat is massive on her. And I’m like, ‘We beat the system, honey!’ And then it drops and she’s like [slightly raises himself up and makes weird noise]. I grab on to her, she’s screaming the whole way down, like a cat. I was like, ‘Maybe there’s a reason that there’s a height size.’ So don’t do that. She’s fine, she’s well.
The restraints on the Tower of Terror (now Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: Breakout) are nothing more than a simple seat belt, but since the ride only moves up and down, little more is needed. I'm not sure why Chris Hemsworth's daughter found herself sliding out of the seat. Perhaps because she was smaller, there was actually space between her lap and the belt, leading to her moving upwards when the ride was pulled down.
As somebody who took longer than normal to reach all of the Disneyland height requirements, I can appreciate the desire to circumvent the rules. Still, one should not condone such things and it's good that Chris Hemsworth now understands the importance of these rules. Of course, when the new Marvel themed land opens up next to Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: Breakout, one certainly wonders if Thor might go looking for Snickers bars once again.
You can check out the Avengers full appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live in the video below.
