Orlando Personal Injury Lawyer - Disney injury

Orlando, Florida Theme Park Injury Reports

Ed Normand — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:55:02 GMT

For the second consecutive quarter, Disney World was the only major theme park in Florida to report any guest injuries. None of the other major theme parks - including Universal Studios, Sea World, Wet ‘n Wild, or Busch Gardens in Tampa, reported a single guest being injured in that time period. Disney World reported eight injuries occurring during the third quarter. Neither the Federal Government nor the State of Florida regulate the big theme parks and they are under a Florida based voluntary reporting system that has many loopholes. The lack of reported injuries for the last 6 months at all of the theme parks except Disney shows that the voluntary reporting system is not working and injuries are happening that are not being reported. This is clear from an examination of lawsuits filed against the theme parks. The lawsuits consistently relate to injuries at the parks that the parks never report to the State of Florida or anywhere else.

The injuries at Disney during the third quarter of 2009 include the following:
A 31-year-old woman had a seizure after riding the Rock ‘n Roller Coaster, and a 50-year-old woman experienced chest pains and shortness of breath after riding the same ride. A 54-year-old man had a seizure riding Star Tours, a full-motion flight simulator based on the Star Wars films. A 40-year-old man fell and broke his right wrist while getting off of Test Track, a simulated excursion through the rigorous testing procedures that GM uses to evaluate its cars, culminating in a high-speed drive around the exterior of the attraction. A 52-year-old woman complained of dizziness and memory loss after riding Mission: Space, which boasts that it realistically simulates an astronaut’s trip to Mars. A 66-year-old man felt sick after riding Expedition Everest, a high-altitude, high-speed roller coaster train ride to the “Roof of the World.” A 74-year-old woman lost her balance getting off of Peter Pan’s Flight, fell, and hit her head and broke her wrist. Finally, a 57-year-old woman passed out after riding Splash Mountain, and fractured her skull after collapsing on a concrete floor.

State regulators rely on the big theme parks to voluntarily report any significant injuries to guests. It is clear that many injuries are not being reported. According to these records, Disney is now falling far behind the other big theme parks’s safety records for the second straight quarter. With the lack of regulation it is not clear if this is a sign of safety issues at Disney or, more likely, that other parks are not reporting all the injuries at the parks. It is time that state regulators need to step in. Government oversight is needed as self-policing is clearly not working. For my previous blog on the injuries at the big theme parks for the second quarter of 2009, please check our prior blogs on Disney Accidents.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Ed Normand

Disney Replaces Crashed Monorail

Ed Normand — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:40:54 GMT

Recently, Disney announced that a “new” monorail train, named Teal, is now up and running at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. The monorail at Disney received heightened media attention over the summer, as two trains were involved in a deadly crash which killed 21-year-old Disney employee Austin Wuennenberg. According to reports, Disney decided to use the undamaged, leftover parts from the two trains involved in the crash to build the new Teal train.

For my blog posting over the summer about the crash, please see Disney Accident.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Ed Normand

Disney Monorail Crash and Theme Park Oversight

Ed Normand — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 12:22:36 GMT

In a recent tragic theme park injury a 21 year old Disney employee was killed while operating a Monorail that collided with another Monorail in the Magic Kingdom in Orlando. After the crash the NTSB took jurisdiction and began its own investigation into the crash. Finally we will have some independent evaluation and oversight of the safety procedures at the big Florida theme. We have discussed many times in this blog that the theme parks in Florida have minimal oversight or independent governmental inspection of their safety. Again, why should the big three theme parks that cater to millions of residents and tourists be subject to less governmental safety oversight than is provided to the local County Fair?

In addition to the lack of governmental regulation, Florida has civil laws that bend over backwards to favor the theme parks over consumers. As an example, take the law of Common Carriers. Legally a common carrier is subject to an extremely high duty of care, that of a very careful person. As they should, after all, by offering to transport passengers for a fee they are subjecting them to the very real dangers of high speed traffic. In California, the theme parks are considered common carriers and subject to the high duty of care. Not so in Florida. Here the theme park transport systems and rides are not considered to be operated as common carriers and are not subject to the very careful person standard. Instead, the theme parks get away with the same standard of care in operating the transport systems and rides as the everyday motorist. Surely one would expect these large operations to be held at least to the same standard of care as, say, a Greyhound bus. Sadly they are not.

Perhaps with the intervention now of the Federal Government we can get some oversight and safety nets in place at the big parks.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Ed Normand

Theme Park Injuries Where the Ride Worked As Intended

Ed Normand — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 01:02:00 GMT

Lately we have been seeing inquiries from folks injured on theme park rides where the ride was operating as intended. Case in point, a visitor from England who sustained injuries including a compression fracture of the lumbar spine while riding on a water slide. She did nothing wrong, followed all instructions and yet was permanently damaged. As one would expect, the theme park lobby has effectively kept this type of information hidden from the public. A County Fair ride that caused such an injury would result in a report of the injury and a State inspection. The big theme parks in Florida are legally exempted from reporting an incident like this because of a loophole that allows the big three theme park companies to not report injuries if the person is not immediately sent to an emergency room and is admitted overnight or dies.

The law also favors the big theme parks. A rider injured on a ride must prove that the park was negligent in the way it operated or maintained the ride or in the warnings provided to customers. Of course, the only one who knows if the ride was not operated correctly on the date and time of the injury is the park operator. Since they have no duty to report the injury there is no timely investigation to prove negligence. The theme park can then do a Sergeant Schultz (remember from Hogan's Heroes: "I know nothing........"). More likely they will blame the visitor claiming they must have done something wrong. Florida law should be changed to make a theme park operator subject to the same legal standard as a product manufacturer, that is the the theme park operator is strictly liable for an injury that occurs on a ride when the rider was following ride instructions. After all if the ride is not safe to be used as intended then the park should be responsible for the injuries caused by the ride. If the ride is safe, as they advertise, then they will have nothing to worry about with a legal standard of strict liability.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Ed Normand