Yet Another Tragedy --RnR Coaster this time

[mandysmom]

Let's pray for the family's loss and pray for our own families Hug your kids before they go to bed tonight and tell them you love them. Be glad it wasn't yours and try not to judge those that experienced this tragedy. Let's all see what comes out of the investigation and hope for the best -- whatever that may be.

I couldn't have said this better myself. I can't imagine what this family is going through. They will be in my prayers.

 

[Tink's Tormentor]

7 deaths at Disney since 2004:

2 on Mission: Space
1 on Rock'n Roller Coaster
1 at Coronado (drowning)
1 at the Contemporary (suicide)
1 at Typhoon Lagoon (heart problem)
1 on Pirates


Not a lot of deaths.... but they seem to be reported a lot more than ever before...

Condolences to the family and friends of this boy... I will reserve judgement over this until autopsy reports comeback.. But I have a feeling the report wil lstate he had a pre-existing condition....

 

[mjstaceyuofm]

Wasn't there also a fairly recent death on Splash Mountain in addition to the 7 deaths Tink has listed? A man got crushed between two of the ride vehicles.... Or was that outside of the timeframe the article is reporting?

 

[Luv2Roam]

The Splash death would be before that time. (When the rider left his vehicle and fell and was crushed.)
There was one other death I recall -- the CM who was run over by a float while Eisner was at the Contempory.

 

[SithBladeborn]

While it is bad that happened and if it sounds like their was some pre-existing condition then the family should probably have payed attention and read the signs/listened to the announcements that are played thousands of times when standing in line. And, if the family does get sue happy well, lets just say that it won't be worth the time and money when and if they get to court. If the child has some condition that could be aggravated by a relatively tame rollercoaster as compared to some it would be hard to miss such as weaking of the interior aortic wall and, well I agree with exDS vet Disney will sustain a hit but, shrugg it off like a giant and move on till this happens again somewhere else. This is a little mean but, I get really irritated when people don't listen or read what the signs post, a prediction of the next death will probably be on everest, small world, or dumbo maybe peter pan's flight

 

[Mr D]

I am interested in finding out if this child was on another type of ride earlier but it took some time for it to become serious.

Disney must decide now what to prepare for more cases such as this, first off I think they need better in park EMS services and also review what makes a ride safer.

We all cannot be in perfect physical shape though some people think so.

Let the other parks have the high stress rides, Disney needs to have the story, the theme and the immersive feeling.

I'm not taking my 12 year old to any amusement park in the future and I don't want to be paranoid and spend $10,000 on a battery of tests either. Because of all theses accidents its scared me off. I cannot live without my only son but I can live without Disney or other parks high stress rides.

 

[SithBladeborn]

As a paramedic I wondered if having a AED (automated external defibrillator) I still think that having an AED at all major areas of the parks would help but, they not that Disney would have trouble paying for the AED but, they can cost 1200-3000 dollars a piece. I wonder would it have helped at all since it is unusual for a child that is 12 years old to just fall unconscious and latter die, I'm probably getting defensive of Disney but, the child probably had some pre-existing condition either of the circulatory system or of the brain ex. weak artery in the brain causing a aneurysm or a burst vessel causing a stroke and eventually death sometimes if left untreated. I agree with other posters this seems to be reported much more than before probably because it is Disney.

 

[Peter Pirate 2]

Disney has defibs all over their parks. Their locations are even listed on the maps. I don't know where the closest one to RnR is but I can't imagine why one wouldn't have been available ... if this is true Disney may have dropped the ball in this regard.

 

[DVCconvert]

1 on Pirates

What....did they jump into the "flames" ?

 

[MJMcBride]

DB - you and mcbride cannot be serious about this....

I will not speak for DancingBear but I'm serious. Many of you jump to defend Disney and say its not their fault when you have absolutely no idea what happened and no idea whose fault it is, if anyone. And here's the kicker for some reason everyone seems to think if you put a warning sign up well then you're in the clear. That is simply not true.

When you park at a garage and the sign says the garage is "not responsible" for any damge to your car etc. Guess what? The sign is a lie. Its not worth the paper its written on. Do you think if I put a sign on my front door "Come on in but I may beat you with a baseball bat" that permits me to beat you with a baseball bat? Hey you were warned why not?

Besides, whoever said the warning signs were the problem. Fact is, I don't know what happened. Maybe then didn't get to the kid fast enough, maybe the ride malfunctioned somehow, or maybe there is a design flaw (less likely than in M:S). We don't know. I'm just not going to say Disney did nothing wrong because I hope they did nothing or choose to believe they couldn't possibly have done something wrong.

 

[Tink's Tormentor]

MJM I always find myself agreeing with you.. *BOWS TO THE MASTER**
People, it is simple really.... DO not rush to defend Disney.. Do not rush to judgement.. Let's hear the fact first....

1. Did the family KNOW of a pre-existing condition? If so, then he should not have been on. If not, then why shouldn't a perfectly healthy 12 year odl boy ride any ride in WDW?????

2. Did the boy actually have a pre-existing condition?

3. What was he doing PRIOR to the ride?

Actually, I heard from a CM friend who was working in the morning that the boy came on the ride sweating profusely... Like a wet noodle as my friend described it... Says to me he may have been having heat stroke, or already showing signs of a heart attack... And if he was starting to have a heart attack and didn't get any other symptoms until on the ride, then he was doomed... How many 12 year olds actually know what a heart attack feels like?? Not many I am sure.. And for a 12 year old to have a heart attack, then obviously somethig was wrong...

I just find it rather cruel and inhumane when people right away want to blame parents BEFORE any facts actually come out....

MJM you are the voice of reason... too bad others do not share that same trait as you...

 

[mickeyminnie]

I agree with Sith.... a lot of posts around the DIS are focused on the AED availability. It is just as likely that presence of the AED at the exact site where this happened would not have saved the child. AED's are designed to shock a heart back into a normal rhythm such as during a heart attack, if the heart is completely stopped the AED will not start it and actually won't deliver a shock because it reads the heart rhythm and then decides if a shock is appropriate. Generally kids have strong hearts and it is something else that causes them to arrest, breathing problems like choking or a perfusion issue, kids rarely have the classic heart attack that AED are most helpful in.

I won't say it would never help, but I don't feel like that is the big problem here. Don't know what is.

 

[4theloveofdisney]

I read this on AOl boards. How very sad. My heart goes out to the boy and his family.

 

[MJMcBride]

MJM I always find myself agreeing with you.. *BOWS TO THE MASTER**


MJM you are the voice of reason... too bad others do not share that same trait as you...

Man, I wish my wife read these boards.

 

[babieemelly]

I think it's disgusting how everyone is jumping to conclusions and blaming the parents of this boy for his death. A poor 12-year old child died, parents lost their son, a young boy lost his brother. Show some dignity and respect. How about saying you're sorry for the family and the entire situation, instead of complaining about the family not reading warning signs. No one knows what happened. Whether you're a cast member, guest, part of the Disney company, even part of the Disney family, you have absolutely NO right to complain about these parents, bringing up false lawsuits and neglect on their part. No one knows what happened.

Don't you think it's more important to show support to the family than to blindy defend Disney? No one's blaming Disney. Like I said, no one knows what happened. Show some respect and be glad that YOU'RE family isn't involved. Blaming the parents is horrible.

 

[DancingBear]

So now if you have a pre-existing condition that's not on the warning sign it's Disney's fault?

DB - you and mcbride cannot be serious about this....

Please show me where I said anything at all about Disney being at fault or not. What I was responding to was dlcastmember saying they were "irritated". If the child had an unknown pre-existing condition, why express irritation at the parents?

 

[Jenna_Fla]

[FONT=Book Antiqua[COLOR=Indigo]]I understand from the cast member point of view simply because I was one. Anytime Disney does anything, we can sneeze and it is the sneeze heard 'round the world, and our publicity is the worst for it. Yes we have signs. But again the only reason I knew my son had a heart murmur was because they heard it when he was a toddler. Some of the things that have been discovered in the people that have died would not have shown until later in life. Honestly I am very sorry for the family I have children and cannot imagine that happening. If you work for Disney I know it used to steam me ever time the company had bad press over Gay Days or an incident no matter how large or small even if another theme park down the highway did the same thing. Not to be rude because truely this is not my intent but this is only one in a long stream of bad press for Disney. The company does not get GOOD PRESS. If so they hide it on the back page. I empathise with your frusteration[/COLOR].[/FONT]

 

[MateasMom]

How sad.

 

[aalan]

first of all, this is very sad, my heart goes out to the family and friends of the boy.

i doubt the parents knew about any "condition," which we don't know for sure the boy had, but it does seem likely. sadly, these things just happen from time to time.
but because this happened at disney, its going to get big press coverage.

i do think defillabrators should be more available throughout the park, but one wonders where you draw the line. is goofy's barnstormer appropriate? the tea cups?is disney going to get sued if they don't have a defillabrator at every ride? just me thinking out loud...at the very least, i think all ride operators should know cpr. this is a no-brainer to me.

apparently, the family of the four-year-old who died after riding mission space is suing disney, not because of the ride, but because of the lack of a defillabrator and the fact it took 5-6 minutes for emt's to arrive.

first of all, i do not think that mission space is appropriate for a 4 year old. that just seems very young for such an intense and realistic ride. i know every second counts, but 5-6 minutes seems pretty decent to me. would this family be suing the city if the child collapsed on a school playground and it took 5-6 minutes for emt's to arrive?

again, this is another tragedy, but i believe in this case the child did indeed have a heart condition. he could have collapsed almost anywhere doing anything physical.
its a shame it happened at disney. its a shame it happens anywhere, really. its a sad
and difficult thing for a family to deal with. an aed might have helped, but we'll never know. i do not think disney is liable for anything, but i do believe they could have a cpr training program for their ride operators.

it sounds cliche and trite, but this really is a lesson to live each day to the fullest, to enjoy and appreciate your life, because you just never know...

 

[DLcastmbr]

. I feel really horrible for the family and my prayers are with them, especially if they didnt know about a preexisting condition. But if they did the parents should have read the signs or at least taken them seriously. Sorry if im making it sound personal im just honest and thats how i feel.

first of all I didn't say i was irritated at this parent specifically, I said that reading the story thats how i felt about parents and people in general. And in terms of the signs, people ride rides at their own risk and we put up warning signs as a courtesy to expectant mothers and people with conditions that may be aggrevated. if what you say is true and signs dont matter no matter what we do or what we build the second someone gets a bloody nose they will sue and win millions. It would be the end of disney. Signs do matter. people are making me sound like an insensative jerk not even reading what i post. I'm just telling people how it is and what i see everyday. Again i send my deepest condolences to their family, I just really hate the media auto-blame disney tactics.