Originally Posted By CMM1 Just an opinion: As ride technology develops and it becomes possible for parks such as Disney and Universal (and others) to present "entertainment" that brings forth various g-forces and stresses on the body that could lead to problems in individuals with unknown medical conditions, there may be these kinds of incidents. While for the majority of riders who are in good physical condition or fall within a norm of physical tolerance of stresses upon their bodies will not have any problems, there will possibly be incidents involving other riders who have unknown or previously undiagnosed medical conditions or shortcomings where such physical stresses could be harmful or even fatal. At the end of the day, how is one to tell who is susceptable to these kinds of stresses and who is not? In the race for attractions that will thrill and entertain, at what point will some inventors/developers pass a point where a certain percentage of customers might be at risk? The idea behind Misson Space is a clever one but were centrefuges not developed as scientific instruments to measure stress on astronauts and military pilots and is there not mountains of data on what might be considered stress levels that are minimum risk for the majority of individuals and higher risk for other types of individuals? At some point, should Disney or other park operators not provide a prospectus on stress levels or possible impact of certain ride systems that provide body stress levels higher than some given average? Don't have an answer here - but there certainly seem to be a lot of questions that might come up as new ride technology pushes the envelope for thrillseekers.
Originally Posted By Kimrue I can't believe that the main concern in this thread is if this is "Disney's fault" or not. This women lost her child, who cares who's fault it is?!
Originally Posted By englishboy t1ler wrote: "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?" I can't agree with you any more. This is exactly my point.
Originally Posted By Brer Bunny I read in this thread earlier that BTMR was closed at DL for months at a time, so why not Mission: Space be closed. Well, to answer your question, BTMR closed because the car derailed, the ride malfunctioned. Mission: Space on the other hand was working properly. Even though I'm usually with Disney all the way on most things I think that its both sides (Disney and parents) faults. Disney should now raise the height requirements for the ride, and maybe put what age this is suitable for kind of sign out front. (I've seen that in many other theme parks.) The parents on the other hand, though they didn't do anything wrong, should've just used there own intuition. I mean, I'm 14, and I'm no where close to being a parent. But, I would never let my kid on that thing until he/she was like 8, regardless if they're tall enough.
Originally Posted By englishboy William wrote: "So if someone has a heart attack on a ride, they should shut down the ride for weeks until it is determined that person had a heart attack?" Use some common sense--when a very young child dies on a uniquely designed ride that provides unique stress on a body, then yes, probably time to close the ride and investigate the relationship between the two. And when a 77 year old woman in poor health dies after visiting Pirates of the Caribean, then probably, no, you don't need to shut it down for weeks, especially when cause of death can be immediately established as stemming from a natural cause (such as a heart attack). In this case, no one knows the connection between the ride and an otherwise healthy child. We have no evidence as of yet that there was a pre-existing condition. We don't even know the cause of death.
Originally Posted By englishboy Kimrue wrote: "I can't believe that the main concern in this thread is if this is "Disney's fault" or not. This women lost her child, who cares who's fault it is?!" I would say that the main concern of the thread is actually something else: should Disney temporary close the ride until doctor's complete a medical investigation and determine the relationship between M:S and the boy's death or should Disney keep loading young children, over 44" tall, on to this ride while that relationship is not known. I would like to believe that Disney made excellent attempts to make this a safe ride, to set reasonable guidelines for riders, but in light of this death, and since this is the first ride using this technology, I think that Disney should step back, let the medical examiners complete the autopsy and subsequent testing, let some outside engineers examine the ride, ask some specialists on body stress and children to review their passenger criteria, particuarly in regards to height.
Originally Posted By Kimrue I would like to think that most of these "tests" have already been done before the ride was ever even opened, no?
Originally Posted By narkspud >>This women lost her child, who cares who's fault it is?<< Other people who want to ride? >>I would like to think that most of these "tests" have already been done before the ride was ever even opened, no?<< Exactly.
Originally Posted By Kimrue <<Other people who want to ride?>> Good point, although I think it's more than clear that it isn't Disney's fault, I personally don't think it's anyone's "fault" per se. I think it was a freak accident. But that's just me. I guess what I meant by "who cares who fault it is" was more a dramatic statement trying to bring the point across that this is more than just about tests and restrictions and whatnot....
Originally Posted By Brer Bunny Here are my theories of what happened: 1. The kid had a heart condition that no one knew about. 2. He was scared to death (which I highly doubt) or 3. Had a random heart attack of blood clot (Im pretty sure you can get those at that age right?)
Originally Posted By Darkbeer <a href="http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/custom/tourism/orl-asecdissafety19061905jun19" target="_blank">http://www.orlandosentinel.com /business/custom/tourism/orl-asecdissafety19061905jun19</a>,0,3544858.htmlstory?coll=orl-business-headlines-tourism >>"There may be something we can learn from this incident," said Ken Martin, an independent ride inspector and consultant based in Virginia. "But we can't because there's no federal investigation." Federal officials lack authority to investigate incidents such as the one last week because of a legal exemption Congress passed in 1981. It allows the Consumer Product Safety Commission to regulate mobile rides at carnivals but not fixed rides at theme parks. "As long as the law specifically exempts amusement-park rides from the oversight of our nation's consumer-safety agency, there will be significant likelihood of other families on other rides becoming future victims," Markey said. "That is wrong." For example, Florida's largest amusement parks, including Walt Disney World, are exempt from state regulations that require mandatory reporting of injuries and give the state authority to shut down and inspect rides. Although Disney voluntarily reports some accidents, what it has agreed to tell the state is less than what the law requires of carnivals and smaller parks, according to a Memorandum of Understanding signed by the state's largest theme-park companies. Disney has a tougher regulatory environment in California. Just last week, the state Supreme Court ruled against Disney in a case that increases safety standards on thrill rides from "reasonable care" to "utmost care and diligence." Had last week's incident occurred in California, Disney would have had to shut the ride down and summon state officials, who would decide about reopening it. In Florida, Disney World's own ride inspectors cleared Mission: Space to reopen the morning after the boy died. They said the simulated space ride, which spins riders in a giant centrifuge, was functioning normally. The attraction, one of the most popular rides at Disney World, has helped increase attendance at Epcot. But since the ride's debut in the summer of 2003, several passengers have complained of experiencing motion sickness and chest pains. Motion-sickness bags were added in late 2003. Although Disney boasts one of the highest safety standards in the business, the company has often resisted efforts for additional regulation. Florida state Sen. Steven Geller, D-Hallandale Beach, said Disney fought his efforts to pass legislation to strengthen state inspections of amusement-park rides in the late 1980s. Disney "threatened to kill it" if the company had to undergo the same inspections as fairs and small carnivals, Geller said, but a compromise was worked out, and the law passed.<<
Originally Posted By EpcotRules It seems to me that NOT telling or reporting a situation that resulted in death is far more harmful than reporting it. I don't see how it applies in this case. This is PUBLIC knowledge. I live in Vermont and I know about it. If Disney had something to hide it seems that more damage is done by continuing as if nothing happened then by doing what they did and sending the message, "this was a random, albeit sad, occurence". You can't even say accident because that implies that something happened, other than natural causes, that created trama significant enough to cause death. It is hard for most people to understand that natural causes can be responsible for the death of one so young, but it can!! For example, SID's. No Disney, no centrifuge, no theme park, just the sudden loss of a life that hadn't even started yet. No explaination, it just happened. I said it before and I'll say it again. It is my gut feeling that they all know what happened but we have laws in this country that make your health records private and protected from the prying eyes of the morbidly curious. If the parents choose not to devulge that information we are just going to have to trust Disney. They have way more to lose by withholding a possible problem then would make it worth running the ride. If you don't trust management, which obviously you guys don't, then at least trust the legal system that would nail Disney's hide to the wall the first time it came to light that there was a coverup or a reason to suspend operations. Let's let this child rest in peace. Things out of everyones control do happen. They happen everyday, we just don't hear about them. Move on, please!
Originally Posted By CMM1 "I would like to think that most of these "tests" have already been done before the ride was ever even opened, no?" So why not make that information available to the public? Rather than use the same type of simple "height limit" restriction that most people consider the only criteria of importance for roller coasters, why not at least provide a small pamphlet on the technology being used and the possible stresses on the human body? Nobody wants to fly all the way to Florida to miss the newest "hyped" attraction but nobody wants to have some kind of an accident on vacation either.
Originally Posted By EpcotRules That is all good policy if the ailment is known. If the problem has not been diagnosed then the studies are not worth the paper they are printed on. If the diagnosis has been previously made then you are aware of the dangers and take whatever evasive action is required.
Originally Posted By GalDisney Obviously something went wrong with the childs body, probably as a result of the forces exerted by this ride. His young body, probably his brain, couldnt withstand the forces of the ride. And it klilled him. It is not disneys fault. The ride did not malfunction like DL's BTM that caused a death. Itis not Disney's fault. I just heard on the news that the familys of the dead child have hired an attorney from Tampa already. They are probably going to try to sue Disney. I dont think Disney is to blame.I think it was just an unfortunate accident. or if you believe in God, maybe God wanted the child back "home" in heaven and chose this path as a way to take him.. Who knows, and you certainly cant sue god!
Originally Posted By jdub >>maybe God wanted the child back "home" in heaven and chose this path as a way to take him<< The "mother" in the pit bull mauling incident used the same line, and it was absolutely filthy then, too. YUCK.
Originally Posted By DisneylandDiva <<and it was absolutely filthy then, too. YUCK.>> Why is that opinion filthy??Just becasue you say it is??
Originally Posted By narkspud >>Why is that opinion filthy??Just becasue you say it is??<< I say it is too. Does that help?
Originally Posted By Brer Bunny >>Who knows, and you certainly cant sue god!<< LOL! sorry....I thought that was totally funny, and u kno what?....UR RIGHT! xD
