Two deaths in ONE day at WDW?

[Mr D]

First I hear of a mans body found by divers in the 7 Seas lagoon and next I hear a rumor about a possible suicide or an accidental fall of a cast member at the Contemporary from the 14th floor balcony.

[poohbear2]

I know the one of the mans body found in the seven seas lagoon is true.
It was on local news last night. I guess he was having a disagreement with his wife and he took off. When he didn't show up, his wife reported him missing. I am not sure if there is other information about it. I missed some of the story. I came in half way through. I think he might have been a little drunk. Not sure about that part.

[Mr D]

Here is a link to Yahoo News (http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/wkmg/20020426/lo/1175860_1.html) about one incident, however their is a disturbing absense of news anywhere else.

[wdw4us2]

The incident at the Contemporary is also true. We were there after it happened. The Orange County Sheriffs Dept was still on the scene at 9 pm Friday night. We were at the pin trading event at the CR and I spoke to several people who were there when it happened. We coould see Disney Security on all floors above the Concourse as late as 10 pm. I don't know when any official news will be coming out about this terrible incident. There was nothing on any of the Orlando stations that night or the next morning.

Lisa

[Luv2Roam]

Just curious what the balconies look like. Are they just a waist high iron work? Guess I never looked close enough or paid much attention to them.

[ellyn2000]

You described the "balcony" @CR perfectly. It wouldn't be that hard to go over one.

[TOL]

The balcony that is being discussed is on the inside of the building from what i have been told. The walkways to get into the rooms have a concrete railing that is between waist and shoulder high depending on the height of the person. The balconys on the outside of the building have iron railings. From what I have been told the incedent took place inside of the building.

[Mr D]

Its still not 100% confirmed but this is what little I have picked up, the CM was in Food and Beverage, jumped off the top floor balcony onto the monorail tracks.
I lost my younger sister to suicide, most do this final act privately but this event was done in a very public and terrible manner.
With events such as in Germany lately our younger members of society are terribly fragile and sensitive, this was a statement aimed at Disney according to the profile.
Complete nullification of this tragic event won't prevent another similar or more horrific event from happening again. With the overall poor morale at WDW it was bound to happen.
Mr. Weiss needs to address this issue of poor esteem of working at the parks and resorts immediately or more events of this nature are bound to happen again.

[CM Tinkerbell]

I have to agree with thedscoop. We don't know the reasons why this was done. There could be many. Either way, this person must have been very troubled.

One thing to consider is that this person may have known that this act would get more attention becasue it was done at such a public place like Disney, then if they had chosen to do this in their own home. It could have been for that reason, not necessarily to make a statement against Disney.

It is a very sad thing. :(

[stanley]

another slant on this: with regards to the yahoo story, did everybody notice how many allegedlies and reportedlies were in the story?
"first, let's kill all the lawyers" -william Shakespeare.

[Luv2Roam]

Agree that I wouldn't place the blame on Disney. Everyone is responsible for their own life and what they choose to do with it.
Could be they didn't want to do it at home, considering at least that of their loved ones. And let's face it, we don't know their past history either.
I would think Disney has an Employee Assistant program of some sort.
My heart goes out to their family and the Disney staff who have to deal with this. :(

[raidermatt]

Well said, Mr. Scoop.

Unless there was some kind of harassment or negligence that we haven't heard about yet, WDW doesn't bear any responsibility for this. Certainly they should look into the matter, and validate that the working conditions were acceptable, but unless there is something we don't know, that's about it.

[Mr D]

My sincere condolences to the friends and family of Paul Lambeck who had only worked for a year at WDW. Paul was 28.

[mirlow]

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/reuters20020429_548.html
Here is a link with a little info

[Bob O]

I also agree with Dscoop!!!! I wouldnt at all blame disney for the person's death. That sounds more like union propaganda!!!!

[SandraC]

Very sad news. We were at WDW last week. MK on Sat, never heard a thing until dh just got home and said a fella a work read about it in the paper. S

[eeyore0062]

Both incidents are very sad, and my prayers go out to the families of both parties. As for blaming Disney, no one can be held responsible for the acts that people commit except the person who commits them. This guy must have been very troubled to take his life in such a public manner. My heart goes out to his Disney family, as well!

[Distriv]

I agree with you eeyore0062. About the man in the laggoon, does anyone know much about that besides the fact that he was arguing with his wife. I heard somthing about her coming out of someone else resort room.

[skibunny]

Neither death are the Blame of Disney. How funny that everyone wants to point the finger. The young man who took his life had disturbing news that he could not deal with and this had nothing to do with Poor Morale at Disney. Isn't it enough that the cast of Disney is dealing with losing one of their own then to be rumored to have caused it?

[Pigglets-pal]

It is sad that these incidents happen in Disney from time to time, but anytime you get hundreds of thousands of people a day visiting and working at Disney bad things will and do happen. But they happen in my city,your city and every other city and town in the country and the world for that matter. It is sad to say but death,accidents and crime is not unusual or uncommon anywhere even at Disney. It is bound to happen just by the sheer numbers of guests of all walks of life including psychologicaly,emotionaly and medically.It is looking at life with rose colored glasses to think bad things dont happen there...they do and will.But what makes Disney great, everybody is welcome no questions asked.

[Spirit Feather]

How very sad. I will have to say an extra prayer for everyone involved. A few years ago someone told me that I saved her life because I offered to help her with her young son during a depression that she was going through a year before. You never know how you can effect someone with just a simple act.

We were sitting in Chef Mickey's at that time wondering why the monorail wasn't running. Assumed it was weather related.

DD and I were sitting on the dock at GF about an hour before they found that other body, also.

Its all a little spooky from my viewpoint.

Sorry, just rambling......

[SandraC]

A bunch of years ago at a sporting event, 20,000 people filled the stadium. One poor fella had a heart attack and died. I recall dh saying that 20,000 is the population of a lot of towns and that it's not uncommon for a person to have a heart attack in a town of 20,000 people. On a bigger scale than that, look at the millions of people who visit Disney, I guess there are going to be deaths. I'm surprised we don't hear about a few births too!

We were in WDW when the recent deaths occured. I didn't hear anything about them until I got home to Canada. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary at the time. In hind sight thou, there were two incidents that stick out in my mind.

(1) On Monday night, after the deaths at WDW last week, we were waiting on the monorail platform after Spectro Magic and Fantasy in the Sky and a patron yelled, "Security, Security!" I thought someone might have fainted. CM's came runnning and whatever it was, was over immediately. The monorail service was fine, so I don't know what happened.

(2) We were sitting at the Main Street USA Rail Road platform waiting for the 3pm parade at MK. A security fella was standing behind me chatting on a radio in a very serious manner. I didn't pay attention to what was said until he was right at my ear. Seems he was watching a person on Main Street. He was concerned about someone and said, "I think he's definately up to something." And took off down the steps. It sparked questions in my 8 year old. Haven't heard of anything so I guess it's okay.

Sad things must happen like this all the time. I am sorry for the families and for all the CM's and vacationing families that knew about these events as they unfolded. It must have been like a slap in the face of reality in a place build on fantasy, magic and dreams. Sandra

[kidzmom3]

Its always a tragedy when a young person dies. Hopefully he has found the peace he was seeking and his family will be able to keep the guilt at bay. One person made this decision and since he is gone, I don't think anyone will ever know the real reasons "why?" Hug your loved ones today!

[Helios180]

I find it ridiculous that anyone would even try to point the finger at the Disney company for this tragedy. While this particular individual was a WDW cast member, there is a much larger and more personal issue to blame.

Unfortunately this was a suicide. Personal family problems mentioned in a note in his car was the cause, not his job at WDW. I'm not going to discuss this further, as I don't believe that this is the appropriate venue to air laundry about an event of this nature. I just hope this appeases those that can't go on without knowing everything.

I would also like to use this post as an oppurtunity to say that in our information hungry nature, there is a line that must be drawn. I feel as though simple respects should be paid, and no further discussion is needed about this topic. Again, not to insult anyone, just as a matter of respect for not only the gentleman, but also his family.

Regretful,
Josh
joshuagithens@hotmail.com

[eeyore0062]

Distriv, to answer your question, the man whose body was found in the Lagoon had been staying with his family at the Poly, where his wife went after the argument... he was at the Grand Floridian, where they had eaten dinner. That is what the mix up was with the 2 resorts.