What are your thoughts on this lawsuit??

[Luv2Roam]

gcurling -- I have seen this too, and not necessarily hid from CM view. (This and other rides.) The CM's would have had to be pretty blind NOT to see it.
At DCA (May 2001) DH rode CA Screamin' many times over. There was one time I saw a guest take his camcorder (quite out in the open) on CA Screamin'. I wondered if he would keep it the whole ride.

 

[Dznefreek]

Here is the<a href="http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/custom/tourism/orl-asecride14021403feb14.story"> article</a>

 

[Bob O]

I rode Calif Screamin with my camcorder and also rode Space mountian qith it and was never asked by a CM not to have it on the ride and didnt hide it, had it out in the open but nothing was said.
I dont know what the truth is but i am surprised they arent making people remove more items when they do ride these rides.

 

[Zurg]

how can you know from one article?

 

[All Aboard]

http://disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=329594

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

I don't know. But I agree it does sound like he might have a pretty good case. It doesn't seem cut and dry like some frivolous lawsuits seem nowadays.

Unfortunately, I can't see much being done to stop people from carrying inappropriate items on rides.

I can. How's about making it just like MIB is at Universal Studios? They have lockers there and MAKE YOU put ALL belongings in the lockers (which are free for 2hrs... I would think it could even be a shorter time if the lockers were placed closer to when you load the ride-so as to free up lockers sooner and not have to put as many in).

How much would lockers like that cost? Probably a lot less than this lawsuit is going to cost them. Then if NO loose belongings were allowed on the ride, it would be a clear cut case if this were to happen again. NO items could have fallen on him.. therefore he must have stood up.

I really can't buy that he stood up- I would assume what they said in the article is true- that the ride is made where only a very tall person could reach anything during the ride. He's not that tall.... how'd he hit his head? Do they really make them THAT close? How'd he stand up with the bar on? I don't see how.

 

[KNWVIKING]

I'm real unclear of how he could have been standing. I'm 6.0' tall with long arms. I've done SM several times with my arms raised straight up over my head and never hit anything.For him to smack his head would require him to actually pry himself out from under the safety bar and actually attempt to stand..If he accomplished that on a twisting-turning,hi speed ride and then hit a crossmember or some sort of structure I would think you'd find him laying down on the floor with the camcorder battery or at the very least when the car came to a stop at the end of the ride you would have found him in a position he obviosly didn't start the ride in. The last part that doesn't make sense is that this was a 42 yr old doctor with a family, not a 17 yr old trying to show off. What would possess him to try and stand ?

 

[sgtdisney]

I thought the ride cars were changed many years ago to prevent someone from standing up in them... Supposedly this was after someone did stand up and was decapitated.. (Or is this an urban myth?) If they can prove that the guy DID stand up and was injured as a result of it, he deserves nothing.. Otherwise he may have a case.. I agree with a previous poster, Disney should prohibit people from bringing things they can lose on the ride.

 

[Another Voice]

As a point of reference, most parks in California have already installed cabinets/cubbyholes at the load/unload areas of their rollercoasters and have banned all “carry-on” items including cameras, cell phones, glasses and bags. This is a safety measure that California’s safety office is strongly encouraging; there are rumors they want to make it mandatory but are being blocked by a certain theme park operator.

Loose items flying off rides have been a problem for a long time – both accidental and deliberate. Walking through any attraction after closing usually reveals a bag full of stuff. Even if the odds of someone being hit are one in a million – running five million people through the attraction means someone is going to get hit.

 

[Walt's Frozen Head]

I saw Space Mountain brand spankin' new when I nine or ten and I was hooked for life. I've always been fascinated with how things work; what efforts and engineering went into creating the Magical illusions. One of my earliest Disney fixations was the desire to "map" the intertwining track paths of the original Space Mountain.

The Holy Grail of that particular religion would have to be getting inside the Mountain when the lights are on... which, it turns out, is not easy to arrange; you just have to be in the right place at the right time. It's rather like the lottery that way.

The Good News is that this lifelong desire came true for me a couple years ago... we had just crested the lift hill when all the sound eerily fell away, and I noticed emergency lighting begin to flicker on.

I got to ride pretty much all of Space Mountain with the lights on.

And I understood the truth of the CM legend "WDW's scariest ride is Space Mountain with the lights on."

The ride engineering concept of the safety envelope has already been mentioned... it's the equation that factors in guest size and physics to determine how far from the ride vehicle the structure needs to be to be adequately sure of safety. Because of track cambers and centrifugal and centripetal forces, it usually turns out that supports can be safely placed much closer to one side of a curve than the other.

At six-feet-four-inces tall, with my butt firmly planted in my seat, I was easily able to reach out my hand and "clip" different series of beams and risers with my fingertips... like clicking a stick down a picket fence. Yes, I did have to brace myself against the side of the car and make the effort to reach the "opposite" direction from that which the forces acting on the train were pushing me, but I never raised from my seat.

So how does this affect the conversation at hand? I suppose it doesn't, really. It is certainly true that relatively normal sized people can come into contact with the Space Mountain structure while they remain seated, but certainly not with their heads.

Perhaps I just wanted to neener neener everybody about the single most memorable Disney ride experience of my life.

-WFH

PS: In case you're wondering, the "Bad News" implied up above was that the SM problem was minor enough that we didn't have time to get over to the WEDway in time to video the track layout with the lights up.

 

[KNWVIKING]

.that had to be a cool ride. We got to see SM with the lights on in Nov but we were on the TTA. I was amazed at how large the mountain is and how small the ride actually is. Unfortunately that day was not a camera day for us.

 

[SeaDog]

RE: Just curious, but how do you know that he stood up and the info in the article isn't factual?

I read the police report and spoke with the investigators. The gentleman or injured party in this case was trying to videotape his ride... he worked is way up out of the seat and was injured... interesting injury.... probably more of a whiplash injury than a blunt force trauma as you might assume and is being reported.

Another case of someone doing something they weren't supposed to be doing, hurting themselves, and looking to dig into someone elses deep pockets. Typical of the most folk's mindset.

Sadly, people are rarely held responsible for their personal actions these days. I predict the mouse will stroke the man a check and he will go away.

 

[OnWithTheShow]

Bob,

For someone who enjoys thrill rides and coasters so much I cant see how you give this lawsuit any credibility. I understand that better enforcement of not allowing large items on the ride can help prevent this but to expect that a theme park operator prevent any item from ever falling off a roller coaster is absurd. I have been struck by no less that three objects. I was hit in the face by a hat on Anaconda at Paramount's Kings Dominion, lose change on Medusa at Six Flags Great Adventure, and a shoe, thats right a shoe, on Dueling Dragons at Islands of Adventure.

 

[Bob O]

If the story is true and the rider didnt violate any park policies while on the ride and suffereed this injury it cant be his fault and the park should be liable to pay for his medical bills.
If other parks dont allow their guests to have camcorders etc on their rides then their is no reason disney couldnt do the same thing that USF does and provide free lockers to their guests. Now i wouldnt be in favor of puntive damages but if the rider followed all rules then it wasnt his fault he was hurt and disney should have policies on what can and cannot be carried onto a ride, escpecially a ride like Sm where you have dual trackes overlapping each other where dropped items can hurt other people on the ride.
Now if disney has videotape/evidence that another rider did violate their polices they should do what they can to identify him as he then should be the personat fault, Either way disney needs to limit what can and cant be carried on to a ride.

 

[Distriv]

I was down at WDW and heard two Space Mountain CM's talking about this. I over heard one say that the guy was trying to stand up. Speculation or fact? I don't know but if he was standing up he deserves to hit his head.

 

[PieInYourEye]

Wasn't there a bump on his head that would help identify how this happened?

 

[rpink58]

I have to agree with seadog. Whether right or wrong Disney will settle this out of court.

 

[rae519]

When I was working as a psychiatric RN, I had a client who was a very smart college student but was hit by a rock from a passing truck that came in through his open window and struck his temple area. He is not the same man he was and unable to return to society because of the personality change and medical problems that ensued. He did have the obvious signs of the damage - bleeding, hematoma, etc. and the stone was found inside the car.

These things do happen, as freaky as they sound.

Rae