7 days ago
Jason Vaughn of 'Fat Tested Travel' on Overcoming His Fear of Roller Coasters
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'Southern Voices' is a reader-submitted series. This personal essay — 'The Ride That Didn't Fit' — comes from roller coaster enthusiast Jason Vaughn of Fat Tested Travel. If you have a story to tell, see our guidelines for submission here. We love to hear about your wildly wonderful, challenging, captivating (and sometimes Southern-centric) experiences!
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Growing up in South Carolina, Carowinds was our park — the place every kid in the Carolinas begged to visit. I have happy memories there as a little boy, especially of that log flume ride that splashed you just enough to feel like a daredevil.
But right next to that ride was a roller coaster. And that one … well, that one stayed with me for all the wrong reasons.
I've been a bigger kid since around age six. In kindergarten, I was a skinny little blond thing. By second grade, that changed. I remember getting on that roller coaster, pulling down the bar, and it wouldn't lock. I don't remember what the ride was called. I just remember the bar not closing, the ride not starting, and the silence that felt like screaming.
I had to do what's known as the 'walk of shame'— getting off while everyone else watched. Were they really laughing? Probably not. But that's the story I told myself. And those stories … they stick harder than the facts.
I didn't set foot in another theme park for over 20 years. I kept telling myself, When I lose the weight, I'll finally go to Disney. I never lost the weight. After COVID, I was the heaviest I'd ever been. Depressed, stuck, watching the world pass by through a window. And then, I found Pammie Plus Parks on YouTube — a plus-size woman calmly walking people through what to expect at Disney: which rides fit, which didn't. And just like that, a little door cracked open.
I had a trip to Fort Lauderdale already planned. I decided to detour through Orlando. I didn't fly (I wasn't ready to ask for a seatbelt extender yet), but I drove to Animal Kingdom. And that's where I faced my fear: Expedition Everest. I got in. Pulled the bar down. Expected to be asked to get off. Instead, the cast member checked it, nodded, and moved right along.
I gasped. I smiled. I held on for dear life. I was terrified. And I was free.
When I got off the ride, a woman approached me and asked if that had been my first time. I told her it was my first coaster in over two decades. She said she could tell — said she'd seen the on-ride photo with her kids and saw me behind them, smiling like someone who'd just won the lottery. She was right; I was hooked. Within six months, I'd gone to Disney three more times, got an annual pass, and — as a joke — started posting 'fat testing' videos on TikTok.
A week later, I had 10,000 followers. Turns out, I wasn't the only one wondering what rides would fit and whether it was worth going. Now, I've got more than 360,000 followers across my platforms, I became a travel agent, and I get messages every day from people saying, 'You gave me the courage to go.' The ones that hit me hardest? The moms. The ones who've made excuses for years about why they couldn't take their kids to Disney … until now.
Yes, I've lost some weight since I started, but that's not really the point. I'm just glad I got up and went. Sometimes, when you move — even if you fail — life blesses you anyway.
Last year, Carowinds invited me back to film a 'Fat Tested' walk-through of the entire park. And wouldn't you know it, when I got to the spot where that old coaster once stood, it was gone. Replaced by something new. I tried it; I didn't fit. But this time? I just moved on to the next one. That's the wisdom life's been teaching me over and over: not everything will fit, and that's okay. There's always another ride around the corner.
There's always joy to be found if you're willing to move forward, even a little. I used to believe I had to earn happiness by changing my body. Now I know the truth — happiness comes in all sizes. And so do people.
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About the Author Jason Vaughn
