WDW Deaths? Looking for accurate information.

[sweetface1990]

I'm doing a project for my photojournalism class and I am investigating and photographing places in Walt Disney World where people have died or been injured. I have done some research online, but I haven't come up with that much information on WDW. The majority of the information I've found is from Disneyland.

Is there anyone out there that has any personal experiences, information, stories, or precise locations that you can give me? It would be very helpful

 

[11290]

One word comes to mind, "MORBID".

OK, maybe 2 words, include "VOYEURISTIC".

In addition, you may want to research and consider the legal implications that you may be subject to. Disney is very protective of their "brand" and they do monitor social media sites.

 

[k5jm]

I'm doing a project for my photojournalism class and I am investigating and photographing places in Walt Disney World where people have died or been injured. I have done some research online, but I haven't come up with that much information on WDW. The majority of the information I've found is from Disneyland.

Is there anyone out there that has any personal experiences, information, stories, or precise locations that you can give me? It would be very helpful

According to Disney, "No one Dies on Property."

Not that I believe that, (especially because of the Monorail incident)

• TTC - Site of the Monorail Incident
• Ft. Wilderness Camp Grounds - Boy killed by bus.
• Dinosaur at AKL - Man has Heart Attack and dies
• Expedition Everest - Man has Heart Attack
• Primeval Whirl - Head injury death
• Blizzard Beach - Man collapses and Dies
• EPCOT, Bathroom near Journey into Imagination - Man takes his own life with Shotgun after hostage incident
• Body Wars - Girl Collapses and dies
• Mission Space - Multiple
• Ellen's Universe of Energy - Man fell asleep during ride and never woke up. (probably still snoring)
• MK - Backstage a "pluto" died after being run over by a Parade float
• Moat in front of Castle - Girl drowns in Moat
• Pirates - 77 year old Woman dies
• Pirates - Multiple remains (ashes) dumped into ride. Ride shuts down to clean a biohazard
• etc

 

[lockedoutlogic]

One word comes to mind, "MORBID".

OK, maybe 2 words, include "VOYEURISTIC".

In addition, you may want to research and consider the legal implications that you may be subject to. Disney is very protective of their "brand" and they do monitor social media sites.

Two words "Kool Aid"


the truth shall set you free. people die in lake buena vista and the reedy creek improvement district.

that is a fact of life. big shot bobby can go ahead and sue me if he wishes.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

According to Disney, "No one Dies on Property."

Not that I believe that, (especially because of the Monorail incident)

• TTC - Site of the Monorail Incident
• Ft. Wilderness Camp Grounds - Boy killed by bus.
• Dinosaur at AKL - Man has Heart Attack and dies
• Expedition Everest - Man has Heart Attack
• Primeval Whirl - Head injury death
• Blizzard Beach - Man collapses and Dies
• EPCOT, Bathroom near Journey into Imagination - Man takes his own life with Shotgun after hostage incident
• Body Wars - Girl Collapses and dies
• Mission Space - Multiple
• Ellen's Universe of Energy - Man fell asleep during ride and never woke up. (probably still snoring)
• MK - Backstage a "pluto" died after being run over by a Parade float
• Moat in front of Castle - Girl drowns in Moat
• Pirates - 77 year old Woman dies
• Pirates - Multiple remains (ashes) dumped into ride. Ride shuts down to clean a biohazard
• etc

there have been countless others. The combination of the largest amusement parks ever built...coupled with the extreme weather conditions in subtropic florida...coupled with a general lack of physical fitness of many of those that travel to WDW (electric carts, anyone?)...coupled with a drained swamp that used to be a fertilizer farm (true story...carrying a pretty interesting mix of heavy metals, acids, corrosive substances, and various other "don't eat, don't touch, don't even look at" type substances)...
have probably led to hundreds...if not thousands of coronary incidents that were fatal. probably a lot more so in the 70s and 80s when people tended to be in poorer heart health due to lack of knowledge/ understanding.

But i'll give you three more that are a little more notorious:

in 2001 or 2002...a CM on an off day going through a messy divorce left his boat on the "double dip" portion of Splash Mountain...and waited there for the next boat. Ouch.

Around the same time...another disgruntled CM took a little jump off the 15th floor of the contemporary's main building and landed on the monorail tracks...concrete and high voltage.

The other one that comes to mind was around 1993 or so...when a Disney "cop" chased two local teens from the Contemp in an Astrovan with lights blazing and drove them on a high speed chase down World Drive...the passenger was killed on impact when the car struck - i believe - the Epcot Center Drive (SR 536) overpass.
That lead to the "rethinking" of how a disney security vehicle should be constructed and a needed review of just how authoritative a $5.00 and hour with no training whatsoever "security" detail should be...(that incident is detailed in Carl Hiassen's "Team Rodent" book...a very good read)

 

[Que_Sarah_Sarah]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incidents_at_Walt_Disney_World_Resort

This is a good list, from there you can search for newspaper articles, etc. to back up the claims.

 

[sotoalf]

Around the same time...another disgruntled CM took a little jump off the 15th floor of the contemporary's main building and landed on the monorail tracks...concrete and high voltage.

I read about this incident in the Hiassen book, although I thought it happened in the nineties. According to him, dazed CMs politely shooed away horrified witnesses with, "Nothing to see here, folks."

 

[lockedoutlogic]

I read about this incident in the Hiassen book, although I thought it happened in the nineties. According to him, dazed CMs politely shooed away horrified witnesses with, "Nothing to see here, folks."

I believe that was a prior...if doppleganger incident.

Contemporary's main concourse was locked down for the better part of a day while the investigation and repairs were gong on...i want to say it was either the fall of 01 or early 02. It was pretty quiet around at the time - if you remember your history.

 

[lt_lamb]

I was in Orlando when they built WDW and they had several deaths before it opened.
The one I remember the most was a worker got his hair stuck in power equipment.
Did not end well.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

I was in Orlando when they built WDW and they had several deaths before it opened.
The one I remember the most was a worker got his hair stuck in power equipment.
Did not end well.

If he had had the US government mandated buzzcut or flat top...and not long hair like a hippie...

that could have been avoided...as OSHA would attest to

 

[Dznefreek]

If I remember correctly the CR incident was an accident not suicide. A CM was sitting on the parapet wall and was swarmed by bees and while swatting he fell. That is why the silver capping was added.

 

[doconeill]

According to Disney, "No one Dies on Property."

I believe that is just an urban legend. But one thing that feeds it is that people often wouldn't be declared dead at the scene in most cases, but by a doctor at the hospital. But there are definitely cases of being declared dead at the scene as well.

 

[racefanof88]

In November 2007 another worker(a lady) was killed. She working at Primeval Whirl.

Also in 2009(along with the monorail driver) there were a couple of stunt men killed, one at the Indiana Stunt Show and another at the Captain Jack Show.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

If I remember correctly the CR incident was an accident not suicide. A CM was sitting on the parapet wall and was swarmed by bees and while swatting he fell. That is why the silver capping was added.

That one was in 1992 and it was 11 stories...a wasp's nest was the culprit on that one.

The incident i speak of was a jumper and was 10 years later...i haven't seen an article on it....but then again, I was in resort operations at the time...so unless i'm having REALLY early onset alzheimers...sumpin' happened that day.

UPDATE...I found it. not covered specifically in the Sentinel.

Two deaths in WDW in April 2002. A man drown in Bay Lake...unknown if it was a worker or an illegal swimmer. And a accident/suicide at the contemporary...someone jumped/fell 15 stories. No official determinations on the deaths were released...but they were both confirmed by the Orange County Coroner/sheriff's Office

 

[lockedoutlogic]

The "sleuths" in the Orlando Press must have been getting a tan...but it looks like there are correspondents from LA Papers who have the "disney death" beat:

Separate Incidents Leave Two Dead at Disney World
Mon Apr 29, 9:04 PM ET
By Doug Young
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Two people died at Walt Disney World in Florida last week, one a visitor who apparently drowned and the other an employee who committed suicide, police and company officials said on Monday.
Jim Solomons, spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Department, said divers found the body of Sean Slattery, 36, of Merrimack, New Hampshire, in the Seven Seas Lagoon, the large man-made lake at the center of the resort, early on Friday.

Slattery's wife had reported him missing at the resort on Thursday night and his death was preliminarily being treated as an accidental drowning, Solomons said.

The sheriff's spokesman said Slattery was reported to have been drinking before his disappearance, and may have gotten into an argument.

Solomons said that Paul Lambeck, 28, apparently jumped from an observation area atop the 24-story Contemporary Resort at about 8 p.m. EDT Friday.

Lambeck died from massive head injuries, he said, and there were no signs of a struggle.

Disney World spokeswoman Rena Callahan said Lambeck was an hourly employee who had worked for Disney World about a year. She said the resort had worked closely with the sheriff's department on both cases.

Disney World parent The Walt Disney Co. has come under scrutiny in recent years for its handling of emergencies at Disney World and Anaheim, California-based Disneyland.

In one case, workers at Disneyland were accused of cleaning up an accident scene before outside investigators arrived. The 1998 Christmas Eve accident left one tourist dead and two others injured at the Columbia sailing ship attraction.

Anaheim police were also criticized in that accident for a 4-1/2 hour delay in reaching the scene.
The park later agreed to leave accident scenes untouched until investigators arrive, and police and paramedics have set up permanent stations at the park.

 

[onnawufei]

I was in Orlando when they built WDW and they had several deaths before it opened.
The one I remember the most was a worker got his hair stuck in power equipment.
Did not end well.

Ow.

I know how incredibly morbid this sounds, but I had a moment of panic on a ride last year (I'm afraid of heights) and what calmed me down was the fact that I knew there were people who were fascinated by deaths at Disney and if I died I'd be part of that.

I may or may not have been on painkillers at the time. I'm not sure.

 

[PatriciaH]

There was also the Skyway incident and a girl on TOT had a heart attack/stroke (She lived.) When DH and I worked at The Contemporary in 2005 someone jumped/was pushed too. There was rumor his father pushed him or he jumped (it was during Gay Days and he had come out to his dad.) People near their room had heard the yelling/arguing. Does anyone remember that? A girl we worked with found the body when she arrived for work early that morning!

 

[mitros]

One word comes to mind, "MORBID".

OK, maybe 2 words, include "VOYEURISTIC".

In addition, you may want to research and consider the legal implications that you may be subject to. Disney is very protective of their "brand" and they do monitor social media sites.

A bit off topic, but if they are monitoring this site, they are NOT paying any attention to the scores of legitimate complaints about WDW found here. It's just the bottom line for a big corporation. The customer be damned, for the most part. It's just the almighty $ for the Disney corporation........

 

[sweetface1990]

I just want to say thank you to all of you for giving me helpful responses.

I understand that it is a morbid subject and that it should be approached delicately. I have been inspired by a photographer that takes images of dump sites where bodies have been found. You look at an empty landscape and then once you know the context, the photograph has so much more meaning. I'm not trying to offend anyone, though I understand that it might be that way for some people. I have such fond memories of visiting Disney and I am just trying investigate and learn more about a place that has impacted my life and that I have always enjoyed going to.

That said, does anyone know of any books that separate Disney facts from myths? I have heard about someone who got there arms cut off on Space Mountain, for one example, and it would be interesting to add this to my project.

 

[Finally08]

I know there have also been car accidents. There was one in recent years near the Wilderness Lodge...I think the driver hit a bus head on. I want to say it was right before or after one of our trips, which is why I remember it.
And then there was the pirate assistant who fell and hit his head...I think he died later at the hospital but he got the fatal injury while performing with Captain Jack.