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

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

How very very sad!!

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That's awful!

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.

"...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.

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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

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.

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

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

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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

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.

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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.

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.

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.

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