Boy, 4, Dies After Riding Epcot Ride @ Walt Disney World

[CapnHook]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 10:42am

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/06/14/disney.death.ap/index.html

How very very sad!!

[SallyBrown]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 10:44am

ahh I remember that ride!

That's so awful!

[liotte]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 10:44am

That's awful!

[timote316]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 10:44am

That is terrible.

[aliceripleysnumber1]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 10:47am

This is so incredibly sad. This attraction IS very intense. One time after riding it I felt VERY dizzy for about 3 hours afterwards. I have never had any problems with any of Disney's attractions except this one.

[morosco]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 10:49am

Tragic. Does anyone know anything about this ride? What causes it to be so intense? How does it work?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 10:49am

"...h e died at Celebration Hospital" really does capture the Disney experience in a nutshell, doesn't it?

The most interesting part in the CNN report is this tidbit:

It was the most hospital visits for a single ride since Florida's major theme parks agreed in 2001 to report such problems to the state. Updated figures were not immediately available.

I do believe that the 2001 agreement was based on reports that people in physical distress at certain theme parks were shuttled out of view of other guests so as not to detract from the "happiness" and "fun" of the environments, wasting valuable time in getting the victims help.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 10:51am

Is it really that bad?

I'm going in December and planned on riding it. This news makes me horrified. I've heard it's intense, but wow.

And what is a mother doing - bringing a 4 year old on a ride like this??? I'm sure it was unintentional, and yes he met the height requirement, but to see all those warning signs - that's enough for me - we're going to Dumbo.

Tragic.

[BEKA531]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 10:52am

the boy did meet the 44 inch height requirement, but maybe they need to make the requirement higher. what mother would bring her 4 year old child on a major ride like that? he'd be a lot better off on a ride suitable for younger children.
Updated On: 6/14/05 at 10:52 AM

[aliceripleysnumber1]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 10:53am

You are enclosed in a VERY small capsule, and it spins at an extemely fast rate, and at times the capsule actually lifts up so that you are facing the floor as it's spinning. The entire time there is a screen in front of you showing you blasting into space on the way to Mars. It is so real-feeling, hence the intesity of the attraction.

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 10:54am

Namo, I'll be the first to admit that shuttling people out of sight sounds a bit, uh, disingenuous at best, but I'll also say that, having worked at a theme park, shuttling a seriously ill park-goer backstage is MUCH faster than trying to drag them through a crowded park.

[SallyBrown]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 11:05am

yeah, I remember my friend was like crying, and she was 13 at the time. Didn't like it at all.

"If you feel queasy, there are barf bags located in the pocket in front of you"


That sets off a warning bell. It was a very intense ride.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 11:40am

So we're blaming the victim's mother now?

[SallyBrown]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 11:47am

That's true, I don't think it's the mother's fault. How could she know that her child, who met the height requirement which is supposed to guarantee a safe ride, was going to die on a Disney World ride? Disney is definately to blame.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 11:48am

It's entirely possible the boy had other health problems before going on the ride. The article is not clear.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 11:48am

Yes, I do partly blame her. What happened was very tragic, and going onto the ride the mother didn't know this was going to happen.

However if I were a parent, and I had a four year old, I wouldn't take the child onto the ride. I have been to Disney World at least a dozen times, and from what I read recently about the ride, there are warning signs everywhere, including audio warnings in the line queue.

There would be no way I would take a 4 year old on the ride, regardless if he met the height requirement. I wouldn't want him to feel unpleasant after the ride and then not enjoy the rest of the day at the park.

[Plum]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 11:50am

I was thinking the same thing, Matt. Maybe the child had some kind of undiagnosed heart problem or something else that would have disqualified him from going on the ride. Why don't we hold off for 2 minutes before passing judgement on everyone involved?
Updated On: 6/14/05 at 11:50 AM

[AbbaRabbit]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 11:50am

That's so sad... it really is. I can't imagine what the family must be going though.

I read somewhere that no one is pronounced dead in Disney's parks, even if they did in fact die in the park. I guess Disney wants to be able to say no one has ever died in the park.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 11:55am

I just read that the boy was revived in the ambulance, but passed out again in the hospital, where he later died.

Apparently, there may have been some sort of heart condition the family wasn't aware of.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 11:57am

That damn mother for not knowing that her kid had an undiagnosed heart ailment, huh Capn?

[Plum]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 11:57am

If that's true Capn, no one's really to blame. Though I'm sure that won't stop the lawsuits or self-righteous head-shaking on the 24-hour news channels.

[DAME]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 11:58am

I hated that ride. I don't see its point other than making one sick. However.. I just don't understand why a 4 year old was allowed by his parents to go on that ride.

[Plum]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 11:59am

Parents take their preschoolers to Saving Private Ryan, too. No one said you had to have an ounce of common sense to have a child.

[robbiej]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 12:09pm

I, personally, loved the ride. But, having ridden it, I would never take a child under the age of 13 on the ride. It's incredibly intense.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 12:23pm

Not everybody who goes to a theme park has been there a dozen times like Capn. And, let's face it, the "warnings" on signs and over the PA sort of add to the suspense and the fun and generally overstate the "dangers."

It's quite possible that the mother heard all that and dismissed it as Disney hyperbole. You know, the way they say a line is 4 hours long and when you get in after "only" 2 hours it seems like the wait was a breeze?

The real question is, do park employees have any say in who gets on a ride? A couple years ago there was an incident at Six Flags in New England where a disabled man insisted he be let on some coaster designed to make a person sick and the staff told him not to get on but he did any way. When he flew out of the car it became Superman: The Re-creation, not Superman: The Ride.

Let's not forget that the park bears some responsibility, as much as we all think the mother should suffer for her bad judgment, she may not have known much about the ride OR an undiagnosed ailment of the kid.