Originally Posted By leemac Darkbeer posted the initial findings on the other M:S thread in WDW: General. It is towards the end of the discussion.
Originally Posted By ssWEDguy Thanks! I'll check there. FYI -- the references are in the 181-190 range. Basically "No evidence of trauma" and "It'll be weeks now before a final cause may be known."
Originally Posted By Brer Bunny yeah...do u think that the boy had some heart condition that the parents didnt know about?? I mean...the ride must have been fully operational due to the fact that it opened the next day and nobody else got hurt.
Originally Posted By Darkbeer Nobody knows, not even the coroner... Here are a couple of official comments from yesterday... >>The youngster had no signs of trauma," says Jim Solomons, an Orange County Sheriff's Office public information officer. "The consensus or guess based on experience says there's got to be some underlying medical issue. At this point, we're not aware of any, and we're relying on the postmortem." An autopsy Tuesday showed no trauma so further tests will be conducted, and a cause of death may not be known for several weeks, said Sheri Blanton, a spokeswoman for the Medical Examiner's Office in Orlando.<< The reason that the ride reopened, is just the fact that Disney's own inspectors decided that nothing was wrong. Many folks are asking, why did Disney open it back up prior to even the initial autopsy... And maybe that an independent third party should have also checked the ride prior to the ride reopening, especially in the light of that there have been no knowledge of pre-existing conditions for the child.
Originally Posted By TMICHAEL TO Liberty Belle, If you haven't been on the ride then you don't understand this point of warnings. Yes every ride has posted warnings about the usual stuff, BUT M:S has huge signs every 10 feet or so it seems. Not only are there the huge, lit, brightly glowing signs but a large part of the pre-show is a warning about the effects of this ride. Disney went over the top to tell people how much this ride is going to be different than anything you've felt before. It is impossible to go into this attraction and ignore these warnings.
Originally Posted By Brer Bunny true...they at least repeated the warnings and safety instructions A BILLION times before going on the ride....the first time I went on it I memorized the warnings and instructions cuz they play and show it so much! and Gary Sinise does say "This ride is INTENSE!"
Originally Posted By Darkbeer Interesting to note... <a href="http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/11904743.htm" target="_blank">http://www.philly.com/mld/phil ly/news/11904743.htm</a> >>Joe Filoromo, supervisor of the Pennsylvania Amusement Ride Safety Division, said state and insurance officials need about two days to carefully inspect a ride. And where a fatality occurred, it isn't likely the ride would reopen at a Pennsylvania park even then. "We would not let the ride operate until we knew what caused the fatality, and that it's not going to happen again," he said.<<
Originally Posted By TMICHAEL >>>and Gary Sinise does say "This ride is INTENSE!"<<< OK, I have to ask.....Is it just me or did Gary have botox like the day before filmimg for this attraction? It's so freaky how his forehead never moves the entire time he's speaking.
Originally Posted By Brer Bunny >>OK, I have to ask.....Is it just me or did Gary have botox like the day before filmimg for this attraction? It's so freaky how his forehead never moves the entire time he's speaking. << LOL! wow that was funny. Yeah...ur right...his forehead never moves does it? xD
Originally Posted By t1lersm0m <<But parents need to use their heads when they walk into a ride where you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a sign that says "WARNING.">> Can we please stop blaming the parents until there is a reason to do so? They were at a DISNEY theme park....their son met the height requirement. What part about that dont't you get?
Originally Posted By t1lersm0m <<All I feel is sympathy for this family. They weren't reckless, they didn't try to sneak him on when he was under the height limit and there is no age limit for the ride, so I wouldn't try to cast blame on them. >> Amen sister!
Originally Posted By RoadTrip No one is blaming the parents in this particular situation. At the same time, having ridden the ride myself there is NO WAY I would take a 4 year old on it. There is also no way I would take MY child on it unless I had ridden it myself first. I do that for any ride that seems like it might be questionable.
Originally Posted By wahooskipper I have talked to a lot of people in the past few days because most everyone I work with knows I used to work for Disney and follow the company closely. To a person, not one of them said they would take a 4 year old on that ride, height limit or not based solely on the warnings. I don't blame the mother for the child's death. I would question anyone who puts a 4 year old on that ride. Again, I don't think height is the issue. Plenty of older children may be short for their age and shouldn't necessarily be excluded for riding.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN >>and Gary Sinise does say "This ride is INTENSE!"<< I wish we could say the same for his acting abilities... Anyways...I am leaning towards this theory. The poor boy was scared to death on launch! I know I was overwhelmed the first time I rode, and felt a bit unsettled to my tummy. I can not even begin to imagine for a child of 4, not knowing anything about what he is about to experience and being caught off guard with G-Forces like that... Then again..they say kids can go thru anything and survive better than us adults.
Originally Posted By Kimrue No actually, I think you're right...someone said earlier that when they were younger they thought they were "really" going to the moon when they were on the tomorrowland attraction and were afraid their mom was going to be angry when she found out (which is so deliciously cute, I can't stand it...)but it's true! I have a 3 year old and she believes that everything is "real," especially in WDW. The poor little guy was probably terrified, it's truly heartbreaking. Someone also said that you can't be "scared to death" and that's not true. If you have a heart murmur or other irregularities, you most certainly can.
Originally Posted By Mormon0Spino Dude.... hmmmm. Poor kid, I can find faults on both Disney's part and the parents. I feel that taking a small child onto a ride too extreme for them mirrors very much the idea of an impatient parent taking their four-year old to see Sin-City with them. I mean, sure, the theater will allow it, because technically, they're making money, and who cares, they say. The rules may allow it, but a parent must use his or her own discretion. They must recognize that if they're the only ones dragging a 4-year old into the ride they should probably file into normalcy and say, maybe when your eight. On Disney's part, they said 44" and the kid was let on. There were big screw-ups on both sides, and unfortunately their screw-ups caused a death.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN I don't know if there were 'screw ups' or not, but let's be real here... as a parent on vacation with your kids, all you care about is your children's enjoyment. Since nothing on Disney's many warnings indicated this ride was inapropriate, the parents obviously saw no problem in allowing the child to ride. The last thing on your mind when you are at Disney enjoying a ride is the possibility of your child getting off a ride death. I can't blame them. Besides, they know their child better than anyone else. But that's only my opinion. No one foresaw this coming. I could happen again anywhere at anytime.
Originally Posted By Kimrue I don't think this women's parenting should be questioned at such a painful time, it's rather heartless and innappropriate, however if a ride *looks* intense with the various warning and whatnot (I personally am not brave enough for it)I don't know, perhaps some red flags should pop up in your head....I mean not that you would expect that your child might DIE on a ride, but wouldn't it be terrible enough if you thought they would be horrified? I don't know all the details but it sounded like the child wanted to go on the ride. All I know is that all the four year olds that I personally know are not mature enough for such an intense experience (mentally)and would NOT go kicking and screaming much less voluntarily....I'm sure this poor women is beating herself up every second of every day and I feel creepy just thinking about judging her decisions. All parents make some bone-head decisions concerning their children at one point or another, that doesn't mean they deserve to lose them forever....
Originally Posted By Brer Bunny But wait....I have read in other threads that the ride was FULLY OPERATIONAL, meaning no mishaps due to the ride. And if there was...then how come no one else in his "space shuttle" got hurt? Like I said before, the kid probably had some heart condition that no one knew about.
