Originally Posted By dshyates A worker injured at Primeval Whirl. He received a head injury and was air lifted to Orlando Regional Medical Center. The ride is undergoing a scheduled rehab. <a href="http://www.cfnews13.com/article/news/2011/march/218230/Cast-member-injured-at-Disney-Animal-Kingdoms-Primeval-Whirl" target="_blank">http://www.cfnews13.com/articl...al-Whirl</a>
Originally Posted By leobloom Only things to discuss on the WDW board are accidents in the parks and the sociopolitical aspects of public transportation. No wonder this place is dead. Not sure why my Harry Potter post was moved to the "Other Parks" board, either. It's not like there's so much traffic coming through here.
Originally Posted By MousDad Unfortunately, according to OrSen, the worker has passed away. <a href="http://www.orlandosentinel.com/the-daily-disney/os-disney-worker-dies-20110314,0,5316565.story" target="_blank">http://www.orlandosentinel.com...65.story</a>
Originally Posted By brotherdave It's amazing that this "smallish" production model roller coaster has now caused two deaths of cast members. Even more amazing is that many parks have this similar ride and have never had an incident. It sounds like a possible human error during a test run according to the article, but I suppose we'll know more once OSHA investigates. My sincere condolences to the family of the cast member who died.
Originally Posted By TP2000 The man who died this time was 52. I don't think age had anything to do with it this time. The 911 caller stated that he was hit by a "moving vehicle". It would appear he was somewhere he should not have been, or another CM put vehicles in motion on the track when they shouldn't have. Likely just a tragic accident, and my prayers go out to his family.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<Maybe age has something to do with it?>> I suspect that it did. I'm not to the point of doddering and drooling, but I must admit that at 58 I don't have the agility or balance that I used to have.
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper He got hit by a damned car. Agility and balance has nothing to do with it. It's a damned shame, and hope the family gets through this difficult time. But Primeval Whirl is a shoddy, dangerous, cheap piece of crap that shouldn't be built at a carnival let alone a world class theme park.
Originally Posted By brotherdave Hokie, I agree that it doesn't fit at Animal Kingdom, but it's far from a "cheap piece of crap". Other regional theme and amusement parks have the very same ride system and have NEVER had the problems associated with this installation that Disney has had. They are actually quite well built ride systems and have been very reliable for most of the other parks that have them. I'm not sure why Disney is having such trouble with their's (maybe it's all the "do-dads" surrounding the structures, I don't know), but to classify them as a "piece of crap" is clearly unfair as they fit quite nicely into the parks that have them. It's just that having them at Disney with their usually higher caliber quality makes them stand out more, and I totally agree that they don't fit into Animal Kingdom's overall splendid theming. If you want to experience a really good version of this ride, I invite you to travel to Kennywood near Pittsburgh as they offer an in-the-dark version of the same ride system (The Exterminator), and they have never had any incidents like Disney has had in operating and maintaining it, not to mention it's a heck of a lot of fun!
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper ^^^I'm just speaking from stories that I've heard from maintenance workers that used to service the attraction. They said they would find bolts from the ride scattered on the ground almost nightly after the park closed. Now, it could have been them overreacting, but even if that's the overreaction it's a bad sign. I don't know what it is, but there's something off about the ride. Whether it was poorly designed or constructed I don't know. All I know is I don't ride it, especially after the painful experience the one time I did.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Did both accidents happen on the same track? The WDW version of the ride has two duplicate tracks, with one rotated 180 degrees of the other. I wonder if it is something about one of them that is more likely to cause accidents (or even that there are two separate tracks). Do they ever even operate both tracks at the same time? Could that be a part of the issue? It just seems odd that such a mild seeming ride can cause so many problems, but it is unique in the dual-identical-track configuration as far as I know (most double tracks have some minor variations, like WDW's Space Mountain and DL's Matterhorn).
Originally Posted By brotherdave They are duplicates of the same ride, Ferret. They are production model "Crazy Mouse" rides from a French company called Reverchon (with the newer versions of the ride coming from Zamperla, locted in Italy, as the patent was sold to them). Overall, the actual ride design is a solid one and very successful. There are 32 operating models in parks the U.S. and around the world according to rcdb.com (roller coaster data base), and as far as I know, none have had any fatal accidents outside of Disney. The former Cypress Gardens had a Zamperla version which was sold to Fun Spot next to Old Town on US-192 and is currently being re-erected there. Given what I know of the ride system design and the incidents at DAK, it seems that human error played a big part in the accidents. In the tragic case of the first incident, apparently lack of or inadequately designed safety railings for the ride-ops was a major contributor. I'm not sure if this was a fault of either Reverchon or Disney. In both cases, it was park employees, not ride patrons, who were involved. Since other parks who operate this ride have not had similar incidents, my guess is that Disney's safety policy for cm's will be scrutinized once again by OSHA. It makes you wonder if this tragic accident might force Disney to possibly abandon the attraction altogther. Some Disney fans may get their "wish" for it to dissappear, but sadly at the cost of two lives lost.
Originally Posted By fastpasswontlast I agree with Brother Dave, in that I am terrible optomist for hoping that two worker deaths is grounds for Primeval Whirl's removal since I am entirly against that sore thumb of Animal Kingdom sections. Dinoland USA could have been so much better, maybe even have a more creative name, but instead we got a thrown together carnival that does nothing for the dinosaur theme. I hope that Disney gets rid of that area, but I don't think this should be the reasoning for it. It was a tragic accident and that I hope will not be repeated a third time. Also, I'm new here so "hello"
Originally Posted By vbdad55 I suspect that it did. I'm not to the point of doddering and drooling, but I must admit that at 58 I don't have the agility or balance that I used to have. ---- soon to be 56 myself- I absolutely agree- nowhere near as flexible or quick - although I like to tell my kids I am..I know better
