Disney has settled out of court with the family of a woman who died 2 months after experiencing the Indiana Jones Adventure and claiming to have injured her head/brain during the ride. Disney, of course, admits no wrong doing (despite the fact that they changed some aspects of the attraction after the death was reported).
Alas this settlement was too late to prevent Disneyland from being held to a new standard of care by California Courts. Disneyland attractions must now meet the same standards of care as a city bus. Which strikes me as a pretty loose standard (afterall there are no seatbelts on the bus and it can travel at speeds of up to 65 miles per hour). But what it doesn’t do is bounce, jar, spin, or contort. So I don’t know what Disney will do about some it’s attractions that do just that. Does adding a seatbelt/restraint meet the new standard of care? After all that’s more than a city bus would do.
When the Indy Jones ride first opened, we went to the park with a friend of mine who was on crutches. He couldn’t take the stairs, so we took the dual elevators that get you into the loading platform.
While in the elevator I couldn’t laugh at the absurdity that the elevators in the ride needed to have regular government inspections and a valid elevator permit on display at all times, while the 100 millon dollar high-tech, fire spouting, bone shaking, completely proprietary action adventure ride we were about to get on had no regulation and didn’t need to display any certificate of any kind.
I think it ridiculous for theme park and amusement park attractions that are built for the purpose of entertainment, often through giving you intense physical experiences, to be held to the same injury standard as a transportation system/vehicle that is supposed to get you from point A to point B with minimal physical stress or discomfort.
There are warning signs. Why should Disney have to dull their rides down to the hypothetical “eggshell” skull standard? If you can’t handle something that most people can handle, whether you know it or not, why is that Disney’s fault?
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