News Story - CNN.com - Woman dies a day afer riding Mission Space

[disneyfan67]

When I did my college program at WDW a few years ago, one of my coworkers and I started talking about people dying in theme parks (after an announcement came through the park looking for a family) Her hubby worked at Universal. . . some sort of manager in one of the areas, he did engineering type stuff. . . can't remember his exact job title now. Anyway, point being he had access to all sorts of logs and information that the general public doesn't see and he said that at least one person dies in an Orlando theme park every day. EVERY DAY. Some from accidents, some from natural causes . . . but every day someone dies. So really, this woman's story, while unfortunate, isn't exactly a rare circumstance. It's just big news because she happened to go on Mission: SPACE and the news outlets can sell the story about someone dying on one of Disney's most intense rides.

I'm sorry but I have to respectfully question the statement above that is bolded. With the money hungry, lawsuit crazy society that we live in today, I don't think that there's any way to keep something like that quiet. I could see Fox News, CNN, ABC, NBC, etc, etc, having the words "BREAKING NEWS: 5 PEOPLE DIED THIS WEEK AT DISNEY". With our news media that is obessed with the "Big Story" that brings ratings, they would love to report this. If your co worker is correct, then with all of the theme parks in Orlando, there should be at least 200 deaths a month.

Disney has 4 theme parks and two water parks and if there was a death in each park every day, then would be at least 6 a day, 42 deaths in a week, a 168 in a month, and 2016 deaths a year ! How come we haven't heard about this? that would be at Disney alone, not including any other parks. I could see about 2 deaths a year in the entire Orlando area due to visiting the parks, but not 1 death per park, everyday. That's kind of a lot, don't you think?

How about Universal and Sea World? 3 parks = 3 deaths a day that come out 21 a month and 252 a year??? Please there's no way that this can be remotely truthfull in any way and it's an "Urban Lengend" in the making. I always wondered how these legends got started?

 

[civileng68]

I'm sorry but I have to respectfully question the statement above that is bolded. With the money hungry, lawsuit crazy society that we live in today, I don't think that there's any way to keep something like that quiet. I could see Fox News, CNN, ABC, NBC, etc, etc, having the words "BREAKING NEWS: 5 PEOPLE DIED THIS WEEK AT DISNEY". With our news media that is obessed with the "Big Story" that brings ratings, they would love to report this. If your co worker is correct, then with all of the theme parks in Orlando, there should be at least 200 deaths a month.

Disney has 4 theme parks and two water parks and if there was a death in each park every day, then would be at least 6 a day, 42 deaths in a week, a 168 in a month, and 2016 deaths a year ! How come we haven't heard about this? that would be at Disney alone, not including any other parks. I could see about 2 deaths a year in the entire Orlando area due to visiting the parks, but not 1 death per park, everyday. That's kind of a lot, don't you think?

How about Universal and Sea World? 3 parks = 3 deaths a day that come out 21 a month and 252 a year??? Please there's no way that this can be remotely truthfull in any way and it's an "Urban Lengend" in the making. I always wondered how these legends got started?

I agree completely. I didnt want to say as such and come off like a jerk, so to the person who posted that information, please note, I am politely disagreeing and not saying you are so much "wrong" as I think there was some misinformation.

Like the poster here said, if Disney gets pounded on so quickly, I assure you if this was the pattern of deaths, the news would be all over it.

I SERIOUSLY doubt this to be true.

By the way, the stat was about Orlando theme parks, not just Disney. Even so, that number is NOT correct. I'd doubt that many deaths come from amusement parks in a year throughout the entire country.

 

[MyGoofy26]

I'm sorry but I have to respectfully question the statement above that is bolded. With the money hungry, lawsuit crazy society that we live in today, I don't think that there's any way to keep something like that quiet. I could see Fox News, CNN, ABC, NBC, etc, etc, having the words "BREAKING NEWS: 5 PEOPLE DIED THIS WEEK AT DISNEY". With our news media that is obessed with the "Big Story" that brings ratings, they would love to report this. If your co worker is correct, then with all of the theme parks in Orlando, there should be at least 200 deaths a month.

Disney has 4 theme parks and two water parks and if there was a death in each park every day, then would be at least 6 a day, 42 deaths in a week, a 168 in a month, and 2016 deaths a year ! How come we haven't heard about this? that would be at Disney alone, not including any other parks. I could see about 2 deaths a year in the entire Orlando area due to visiting the parks, but not 1 death per park, everyday. That's kind of a lot, don't you think?

How about Universal and Sea World? 3 parks = 3 deaths a day that come out 21 a month and 252 a year??? Please there's no way that this can be remotely truthfull in any way and it's an "Urban Lengend" in the making. I always wondered how these legends got started?

I think I stated it wrong. . . not necessarily in the parks, but on the property of the companies that own the parks and tourist attractions. This would include roads on property, hotels, the parks, and eveything in between. MOST are natural causes.

But you did misread my post. . . I didn't say that it happened in each park. I said one in a park. So the other day we had the woman at Mission: SPACE. . . maybe the day before it was someone who died in their sleep in the hotel room at a Universal hotel. . . and the day after there was a car accident and someone was killed in the Sea World parking lot. . . Does that make sense? That this number includes all sorts of area and possibilities. .. not just riding rides.

Oh, and considering it's just A park per day the number of deaths per year would average 365 . . . certainly nowhere near the numbers you were coming up with. As many tourists are in and out of parks in Orlando, 365 is a very small number. Granted I don't have the 'facts' as I never had access to the info this guy had. . . but that sounds like a believable number to me when you're talking about a city as big as Orlando with as many tourist spots as it has and as many visitors that pass through.

 

[civileng68]

Just to state facts, here are some ride-related death stats.

Again, more people may die in the parks and die after experiencing an attraction, but here are the actual amounts that died from 1973 - 2000 where the autopsy revealed the reason for death was the attraction itself


CLICK HERE TO READ THE STATS


These stats are for every amusement park in the United States, of which several bring in over 3M visitors per year.

In 2000 only 1 person died as a direct result from experiencing an attraction.

With that said, even though more die for various other reasons in the parks, if only 1 died FROM an attraction IN THE ENTIRE UNITED STATES, I seriously doubt 1 is dying every single day in a theme park in Orlando.

 

[civileng68]

I think I stated it wrong. . . not necessarily in the parks, but on the property of the companies that own the parks and tourist attractions. This would include roads on property, hotels, the parks, and eveything in between. MOST are natural causes.

But you did misread my post. . . I didn't say that it happened in each park. I said one in a park. So the other day we had the woman at Mission: SPACE. . . maybe the day before it was someone who died in their sleep in the hotel room at a Universal hotel. . . and the day after there was a car accident and someone was killed in the Sea World parking lot. . .

I understand what you said (which is why I corrected that poster in my post) but, even with that, I think those numbers are heavily inflated.

 

[daisax]

The ride IS intense and the G's are the same if not LESS in some cases than that of a rollercoaster. The difference however is that the G's on MS are sustained G's. They dont last for a split second like on a coaster. They last a good portion of the ride.

One could argue that coming in and out of the Gs is far more stressful to the body than sustained Gs, particularly combined with motions that jerk the head repeatedly.

Anyway, point being he had access to all sorts of logs and information that the general public doesn't see and he said that at least one person dies in an Orlando theme park every day. EVERY DAY. Some from accidents, some from natural causes . . . but every day someone dies.

Given the population at all Orlando theme parks combined, they'd certainly constitute a city unto itself, and nobody freaks out if a city of a half million people has a death every day. In fact, my guess is that the death rate (considering it as the equivalent of a city) is lower than the expected equivalent death rate for a similarly populated city.

Also, statistically speaking, I'd guess a larger percentage of people die within a week of returning from a stressful (thoguh fun) Disney vacation than the general population, the same way a large percentage die within a week of their birthdays. People seem to expire in greater percentage in conjunction with an anniversary/event of some sort.

What gets me is the blind defense of anything disney to the point where people appear to be saying, about a 4 year old boy, basically, "ehhh, he would have died eventually anyway"

I haven't seen this in any of the threads. What I have seen is people saying that because he could have died at any time given his condition, it may be pure coincidence that it happened in conjunction with the M:S ride as opposed to hopping and skipping his way up the monorail ramp in the heat. A very big difference.

 

[MyGoofy26]

I understand what you said (which is why I corrected that poster in my post) but, even with that, I think those numbers are heavily inflated.

I edited my post as well to add that I know I don't have the "facts" to back it up so it comes down to what someone finds believable . . . and if you don't, that's perfectly fine. There are flaws however with the link you posted earlier in that they wouldn't take into consideration what happens in the hotels, on the roads, etc. where most of the fatalities in this number happen.

So whether the number is "correct" or not. . . the point is that a LOT more people die while on vacation in Orlando than we're all aware but we aren't told about them because they don't have the drama of happening on a big attraction like Mission: SPACE.

 

[jpeppers]

I found Mission Space to be the best ride experience I had ever had the first time I rode it. Since then I have always rode it once on my trips and each time I seem to enjoy it less. I would NEVER allow my child on it. I think it is an incredible ride and I also think it is time to get rid of it. People are dying! Has anyone else noticed that Test Track is a 2 hour wait, Soaring is a 2 hour wait but every time I have been on Mission Space it has been a walk on. I was there for the grand opening and we went 3 times without waiting. Why is there never a line? I love intense rides....the Hulk and Dueling Dragons are my favorites but there is something very weird about Mission Space.

 

[JafaratHeart]

I'd guess a larger percentage of people die within a week of returning from a stressful (thoguh fun) Disney vacation than the general population

Agreed.

For some reason, the media has chosen to focus upon this one ride - probably because it is relatively new and because of the young age of the boy who previously died. Everybody is assuming that this is the only attraction at WDW that is linked to deaths and so needs investigation, etc. I have no problem believing, with the numbers of visitors to this theme park (or any other), there has been someone who has died in a relatively short time after riding any and every attraction there is at WDW. If those deaths were news-worthy, they'd be reported.

That's not to say that Mission:Space didn't have any effect on this woman's condition - it probably did. I'm just clarifying this point because it seems like there are a lot of folks who believe these are two isolated incidences, simply because the news has chosen to report on them. How many other deaths have occurred under similar circumstances that have never made it to the news desk for the day?

 

[robvia]

Why is there never a line? I love intense rides....the Hulk and Dueling Dragons are my favorites but there is something very weird about Mission Space.

Because the word has gone out about what the ride really is. Simulators trick the brain into thinking you are going a direction you are not, causing sickness. Rides like BTTF at Universal, Jimmy Neutron, The Polar Bear Experience at SWF, Questor at BGT (closed), and Star Wars at MGM to name a few. I'm the biggest coaster fan in the world, yet if I ride BTTF, I'll be sick for hours. I'll never ride a simulator again, they're horrible.

 

[dwkwootton]

One of the things that I think should change very quickly indeed is the age limit on this thing. If Disney allows a 4 yr old to go on it, people are apt to think that it can't be that bad and that the warnings are the same old same old like they've been seeing all day and all week. If the age limit were quite strict, such as legal adults only permitted to ride, that would have more impact than just another ol' warning sign at the parks.

 

[disneyobessed]

Basically, as we all probably know ....

The only reason we hear of stuff like this, is because it is DISNEY! You dont hear of people dying on carnival rides and Im sure it has happened. They go after the big guns like Disney..

I feel for these people, for their families. My heart goes out to them. I just hate when it puts Disney in a bad light for something that really isn't their fault.

Like I said before "HERE WE GO AGAIN" ...I'm surprised my phone hasn't started ringing off the hook..poeple just LOVE calling me up to rub it in my face..Oh did ya see, someone died in Disney on that ride!! (like it affects me directly because I love Disney the way i do)

I'm staying out of this one...

Actually a few yrs back a handicapped man died on the Superman ride at New england 6 flags. He wasnt properlly strapped in and actually flew out. Have no clue how someone with Cerebral Palsy would be allowed on that ride anyways... and yeah 6 flags was sued.

 

[Sleeping Jedi Beauty]

I found Mission Space to be the best ride experience I had ever had the first time I rode it. Since then I have always rode it once on my trips and each time I seem to enjoy it less. I would NEVER allow my child on it. I think it is an incredible ride and I also think it is time to get rid of it. People are dying!

By that rationale, than it's also time to get rid of the Matterhorn at DL, BTMRR, and ToT because people have died on those rides too. The crux of the issue at hand is whether or not the ride caused the death. If a health condition was aggravated on the ride, that's different than if the ride actually caused the death. If M:S needs to shut down because of the deaths, than it's also time to say goodbye to BTMRR because a malfunction on that ride actually resulted in a loss of life, as opposed to a person with a health condition going on a ride after repeated warnings, both posted and verbal, about the ride. I'm not saying this isn't sad. I am saying that we need to know what caused the tragedy.

 

[disneyfan67]

I think I stated it wrong. . . not necessarily in the parks, but on the property of the companies that own the parks and tourist attractions. This would include roads on property, hotels, the parks, and eveything in between. MOST are natural causes.

But you did misread my post. . . I didn't say that it happened in each park. I said one in a park. So the other day we had the woman at Mission: SPACE. . . maybe the day before it was someone who died in their sleep in the hotel room at a Universal hotel. . . and the day after there was a car accident and someone was killed in the Sea World parking lot. . . Does that make sense? That this number includes all sorts of area and possibilities. .. not just riding rides.

Oh, and considering it's just A park per day the number of deaths per year would average 365 . . . certainly nowhere near the numbers you were coming up with. As many tourists are in and out of parks in Orlando, 365 is a very small number. Granted I don't have the 'facts' as I never had access to the info this guy had. . . but that sounds like a believable number to me when you're talking about a city as big as Orlando with as many tourist spots as it has and as many visitors that pass through.

I was just questioning the numbers and I hope you realize that I wasn't in any way tring to flame or insult you. I was going by a death in each park that Disney has (6) and with 7 days a week that comes to 42 for a weekly total that comes out to 2016 deaths a year. I was just pointing out how large that number seemed. No flaming on my part and I hope I didn't come off as a jerk, sorry if I did. You replied in a nice, respectfull manner and that speaks volumes about your manners and shows you have a lot class.

My point was that even if Disney or Universal has just 1 death a day, (God forbid) that's 356 deaths a year and Dateline, 20/20, 60 minutes, would be running stories with titles like Deadly Kingdom or Universal Terror, or The killer Mouse. See my point. You would have some lawyers decending on Orlando like a plague with dollars signs in their eyes.

I feel that Disney and Orlando in general is one of the safest places to visit as a family. Thank you for your reply.

 

[princess aurora]

Since one of the people who died was 4 ( and according to Disney had a "Heart" issue ), are you suggesting every 4 yr old have a Cartiogram before they ride? I am not saying you are wrong, just have the "Heart Exam Line" clearly posted.

P.S. If these people have "Health issues" why arent they dying on other rides? Hmmmmm

They are...sort of! Well dying in other ways in other areas of the country doing many and various things! I guess you survived gym class did you? These kids didn't...Uh oh better closed down ALL the gyms in all the schools!
http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/metropolitan/96/01/23/boydies.html
http://www.wisinfo.com/postcrescent/news/archive/local_20919928.shtml
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=1061441

Also baskeball seems like a highly suspect sport! Ban it!
http://www.bangornews.com/news/templates/?a=131539
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news&id=3778828

 

[MyGoofy26]

I was just questioning the numbers and I hope you realize that I wasn't in any way tring to flame or insult you. I was going by a death in each park that Disney has (6) and with 7 days a week that comes to 42 for a weekly total that comes out to 2016 deaths a year. I was just pointing out how large that number seemed. No flaming on my part and I hope I didn't come off as a jerk, sorry if I did. You replied in a nice, respectfull manner and that speaks volumes about your manners and shows you have a lot class.

My point was that even if Disney or Universal has just 1 death a day, (God forbid) that's 356 deaths a year and Dateline, 20/20, 60 minutes, would be running stories with titles like Deadly Kingdom or Universal Terror, or The killer Mouse. See my point. You would have some lawyers decending on Orlando like a plague with dollars signs in their eyes.

I feel that Disney and Orlando in general is one of the safest places to visit as a family. Thank you for your reply.

Oh I know you weren't trying to attack me. I knew that I understood what I was trying to say in my head but it didn't really come out right, LOL, so I wanted to re-clarify that I meant one per day total. . . not one per park.

And I completely understood the point about news flocking if there were hundreds dying in each park every year. But I wanted to also clarify that the numbers included a lot of things that news wouldn't pick up on - like a car accident, someone passing in their sleep, etc. Especially when you consider they'd be rushed to a hospital off property and then sent home and if it's something that can't be tied to a park at all beyond saying "while vacationing in Walt Disney World" or "while on a trip with family to Universal" then most news outlets wouldn't even pick up on it since the "stats" would most likely be in obituaries and reports spread all over the country and not localized in the Orlando area. They couldn't just look at the obits in the Orlando Sentinel and gather their information. Of course the parks keep VERY good records of this information and every little cut or scrape just in case someone comes back with a lawyer. . .but those records aren't readily available for the average journalist to start browsing.

I know my original post could be very easily miscontrued and make it sound like I'm talking bigger numbers than I meant and could easily turn into an urban legend like you said. . . that's why I wanted to restate what I meant so that hopefully it made more sense. I know some will think that a one per day average is still too much. . . but I just wantd to make the point that there are a lot more people dying on property than the news leads us to believe and that these tragedies aren't just isolated incidents on this one killing machine called Mission: SPACE.

 

[mickeymousemom]

Its ridiculous to expect MS to close...absolutely ridiculous. Two people have died. One pretty much RIGHT after riding it. He had an UNDIAGNOSED heart problem. At some point this was going to backfire and something serious was going to happen to this little boy. I haven't visited the links put out by princess aurora, but I'm going to assume she is saying exactly what I was going to say. How many athletes have you heard of in recent years that have died during practice, etc. because of a heart problem they knew nothing of? That little boy's death was the fault of no one. As sad as it is, it must have been his time. I suppose someone could blame the parents for not having their little boy checked out..or for allowing him on the ride at all. I won't do that. This was something that happened thru the fault of NO ONE. I would pretty much bet that the autopsy report will show this woman had some sort of health problem and she shouldn't have ridden it. How many times does someone have to point out that there are NUMEROUS warningsstated in some form before you enter the pods? I have no doubt that what makes this ride so hard on the human body is the intense spinning needed to get to the 2-3 G's you feel upon blast off. It's an intense ride. You NEED to be HEALTHY to ride this. M:S does not need to close. Warnings are abundant. WDW is the number one theme park in the world and people are just waiting to bash it.

 

[Hannathy]

Better add Football to that list we had a boy die last summer at practice from an unknown heart condition.

Sad is the little boy did have health problems that were known to the family and probably shouldn't have been riding.

I can believe the numbers that someone dies everyday in fact I can believe if averaged out for the year that someone probably dies at disney everyday,considering the numbers of people who visit yearly. Why do we not hear it? because most deaths are private and not news worthy. If your Gtrandpa dies in his sleep at Disney are you going to run out and find a reporter and will they care to report a run of the mill obituary as news?

We have a friend who was in management at Disney and he spoke of how hard it was to find the right kind of CM to play the characters who went to visit Kids on their wish trips to Disney because often and often enough to be an issue children would DIE while the character was holding them. Do we read this in the news? no because it is private. These deaths go into that a death everyday total. Death is a reality it happens everyday even at Disney.

 

[wood8176]

Don't want to be argumentitive, but I'm not buying the every day myth. I've worked in the amusement park business for six years. In that time period, there were two deaths, that's in six years. Disney is magical, but it ain't that magical that it can hide as many fatalities as you're implying.

 

[skoi]

...I'm surprised my phone hasn't started ringing off the hook..poeple just LOVE calling me up to rub it in my face..Oh did ya see, someone died in Disney on that ride!! (like it affects me directly because I love Disney the way i do) ...

I know exactly what you mean. This was the first thing my father said to me when he came over-- and he's looking at our littlest (home from China for 3 months) adding- "and you never know what the doctors over there missed in her check ups. You better watch her down there."


Condolensces and prayers for the family.

PS- I thought Mission Space was disappointing. Dd (11) hated it- she said it was too much like an airplane. Ds (7) thought it was boring. Dh was non-commital- he'd ride it if the line weren't long and it was hot out.