EPCOT accident

[orestes.]

I just saw this on Yahoo! news so I'd thought I'd share...



4-Year-Old Dies After Epcot Attraction


LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - A 4-year-old boy died after passing out while aboard Walt Disney World's "Mission: Space" attraction — a ride that has caused previous concerns because of its intensity.

Daudi Bamuwamye passed out Monday afternoon while on the attraction, which simulates a rocket launch and trip to Mars. The Orange County Sheriff's Office said his mother carried him off the ride and employees helped her place him on a bench.

Paramedics tried to revive him, but he died about 5 p.m. at Celebration Hospital.

The sheriff's office said the boy did meet the minimum 44-inch height requirement for the ride at the Epcot theme park, which simulates twice the normal force of gravity.

A cause of death could not be immediately determined and an autopsy was expected Tuesday.

Officials said the boy was from Pennsylvania, but his hometown was not immediately available. He was on the ride with his mother and sister.

The $100 million ride, one of Disney World's most popular, was closed after the death.

In 2003, Disney began placing motion sickness bags in the ride. During an eight-month period in 2003-04, six people over age 55 were taken to the hospital for chest pain and nausea after riding it, though none of them was found to have any serious injuries.

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.

Signs warn visitors about the intensity of the ride.

"For safety you should be in good health, and free from high blood pressure, heart, back or neck problems, motion sickness or other conditions that can be aggravated by this adventure," one sign on view last year said.

Disney officials in a statement after the boy's death that they are "providing support to the family and are doing everything we can to help them during this difficult time."

[Raydawggie]

Damn. That's terrible. I don't know if it was something in the boy's body or if it was the ride, but either way, I'm betting the ride in its current form is finished.

[Andy]

That is so sad.
Mission Space is such an amazing ride, it wont close thats for sure. But people really need to pay close attention to the warning signs that are placed around the attraction. I just hope people will now pay more attention to them after what has happened.
I think the boy must have had something wrong with him.....

[englishboy]

I think that the ride in its current form is finished as well--even if the boy was too short. To be honest, it's not a particularly good ride IMO. I went on it once and because I didn't enjoy it, didn't go back. I was in the park on Saturday. This is truly sad news.

[englishboy]

this is kind of sick--the ride is open again today (Tuesday) for business. No investigation. They didn't even close it for that.

[Mr. Toad]

I found the ride intense. I had my five year old nephew with me and it may have been the only ride at DisneyWorld I would have taken him on, even if he was tall enough.

I have to say it was one of the few rides that I did not enjoy, it was kind of pointless.

Really terrible for something that is supposed to be such fun to turn into something like this.

Prayers for the family.

[Disney-Fan]

this is kind of sick--the ride is open again today (Tuesday) for business. No investigation. They didn't even close it for that.

Maybe no investigation was needed?
This is sad to hear, it's a great ride but being unique as it is, it was bound to run into problems!

[orestes.]

It's pretty sad.

It doesn't sound like they will close the ride but I'm wondering if whoever let the boy on will get into some trouble since he was too short to go on it.

Theme park accidents always bother me. I actually have a greater fear of getting hurt on a ride than flying on a plane although whenever I am at an amusement park there is no worry since I would be having so much fun and worrying about accidents at parks only happens when I hear about them.

If anyone else is interested in other accidents at their theme parks check out:
http://www.snopes.com/disney/parks/deaths.htm

While you're at the site check out the Disney Urban Legends if you haven't read them before.

[RJKD23]

That's terrible news!
They should add in an age limit for that thing... 4 is waaay too young, even if he did fit the minimum height requirement. But I dunno.

Prayers do go out to the family and I hope Disney can do all they can for them at this time...

[Mr. Toad]

Until the 98 accident Disneyland was faultless. Then came T. Irby and his formerly military idiots to the facilities department.

T's comment after the Columbia death was something along the lines of casualties can be expected in any endeavor. Quite the corporate culture Pressler cultivated eh?

[pinkrenata]

The article said that the boy did meet the height requirement. Even so, I think he was way too young to go on a ride like that. I haven't been to Disney World since Mission: Space opened, but I don't have much interest in it. It's one of the few Disney rides that seem to focus more on thrill factor than a really good theme. It's most likely that the boy had something wrong with him that the parents didn't know about yet, so it technically isn't Disney's fault. The ride may be intense, but they properly warn people beforehand. I just don't know what a four-year-old was doing on a thrill ride in the first place. Kids that age are afraid of so many things. Can you imagine what sort of affect a ride like that would have on a kid, no matter how healthy he was? When I was that age, all somebody had to do was show me a picture of E.T. and I was a nervous wreck!

I really hate to hear about things like this, especially since he was so young. Hopefully he had been at least having a good time at Disney World.

[Siren]

I have a 6 year old, I wouldn't let her ride it. The ride is suppost to simulate a real takeoff into space. Simulation or not, when they put in barf bags and people over 55 are going to the hospital, it's likely a young child won't be able to take it either.
I'm not sure what tests Disney did to come to the heigh requirment they did, but perhaps they may need to revise them.
Perhaps not. An autopsy needs to be done to see if the boy perhaps had an unknown health problem, such as heart related. In that case, NO ONE is at fault. If he was healthy, then Disney needs to revise the height requirment and/or have an age requirment. IMO, 8 years old and up. Perhaps keep the same height, but instead says, "Rider must be this high and over the age of 8 years old."
This way, if parents take their 4 year olds on anyways, Disney cannot be held liable.
Kids have been injured before. Some have died. Body Wars had a child death once, but she ended up having a heart condition. At Animal Kingdom, a boy was hurt on the safari ride, but IMO, I bet he was standing up. I rode that with my daughter when she was 4 and she was fine. But then again, she listened to me and the driver and stayed seated, no injuries.

[Mr. Toad]

I agree with Siren. Most people would characterize me as a risk taker both with my own safety and with others. But I refused to take my five year old nephew on that ride. I think it was the only one I refused to take him on. I even took him on one ride he was too short for. You kow that spinning Dinosaur one. I rode it once and could not for the life of me figure out what the height restriction was about. There was no risk, I could figure out.

But that Mission Space ride forget about it. It was not scary, my body just did not feel right doing it, I was disorientated for a few seconds afterwards. No way would I consider taking a small child on it, when their bodies are not fully developed. Didnt want his brain sloshing around in there.

[Siren]

On the whole idea of a 4 year old being on it and he may have not been mature enough...this may not be true. If he is a space nut, then all the warnings in the world might not stop him from wanting to go on.
A few weeks ago, I chaparoned for my daughter's kindergarten class to go to Alligator Farm. My daughter and just about all the boys were all over those reptiles. Wanting to pet and hold snakes and baby gators with no hint they could have been in danger. While I had a group of screaming, frightened girls who freaked at the sight of shedded snake skin. And when I was a kid, I LOVED horror movies. As early as 5 years old I was watching horror. So it depends on the kid if they can handle it.
So maybe his mindset was just fine, thinking he would love it, but then it literally scared him to death.
My daughter wanted to go on Big Thunder, I thought she could handle it, it scared the crap out of her. So perhaps the parents thought their son could mentally handle it. It is his body that failed him

[pinkrenata]

You kow that spinning Dinosaur one. I rode it once and could not for the life of me figure out what the height restriction was about. There was no risk, I could figure out.

I went on the spinning dinosaur ride with my best friend, her younger sister, and her dad. My friend's sister has severe cerebral palsy and is in a wheelchair, and even though she was probably close to five feet at the time, she was very very skinny. With all of us in the car (my friend's dad, like most men his age, had a larger stomache), the bar didn't go down far enough to keep Katrina in. As soon as we hit the first drop, she started slipping down. It was horrible. The entire ride was spent with all three of us holding onto her so she wouldn't fall out. By the time the ride was over, Katrina was almost completely lying down, and the bar was at about her head. My friend's mom had taken a candid picture of us when the ride was just coming to a stop , and even though it wasn't funny at the moment, by the time the pictures were developed, it was a riot to see all our concerned faces and the tip of Katrina's head. But, yeah, that proves the risk of the spinning dinosaur ride.

[Mr. Toad]

No such problem since we had nobody with a fat stomach, but I guess that was it.

[Mouseketodd]

The ride was fun. My wife and daughters (ages 7 and 5 at the time) and I went on it.

You're basically sitting in front of a monitor and controls, and braced to the seat much like with roller coasters. Sitting down, you have no visuals on what is actually happening mechanically. I think before you enter the ride, you are shown motion animation of the machine's motion, so you KNOW what's going on; but once you're actually seated, you have nothing before you but the cockpit scene.

I'm sorry for the family's loss of a child. I believe I read that an autopsy was scheduled for June 14.

[chaychay102royal]

Wow...

That article on Disneyland deaths was fascinating. Besides this one, have there been deaths at Disney World or the other theme parks?

[indianajdp]

Ummm....wow. How very, very sad. You take a family vaction to one of the greatest family vacation places on earth and a child dies. And as the parent of a 4 year-old (was just with my daughter at Epcot in April) I cannot even imagine what they are going thru.

I have to say, though, that I would never let a child that young on a ride like Mission:Space. Never. If it's too intense for a lot of adults there is no way a child of 4 can handle that. Try explaining to them why you cannot close your eyes and why you need to stare straight ahead at the screen and not avert your gaze...it's just not gonna happen. At the very least I'd expect a lot of kids that young to get sick and feel crappy the rest of the day. I wonder if the video patterns didn't cause an epiliectic reaction of some kind.

[Sunset Girl]

Chaychay, an article about deaths at the Disney parks can be seen here.

http://www.snopes.com/disney/parks/deaths.htm

My heart goes out to the family of that little boy.