Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 11:09 pm Posts: 24847 Location: this stark raving, sick, sad little world Gender: Male
Boy dies after Disney World ride
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- A 4-year-old boy died after a spin on a Walt Disney World spaceship ride so intense that some riders have been taken to the hospital with chest pain.
Daudi Bamuwamye lost consciousness Monday aboard ''Mission: Space,'' which spins riders in a giant centrifuge that subjects them to twice the normal force of gravity. The boy's mother carried him off the ride and paramedics and a theme park worker tried to revive him, but he died at a hospital.
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.
Theme park says ride is safe
The sheriff's office said the boy met the minimum 44-inch height requirement for the ride.
The $100 million ride, one of Disney World's most popular, was closed after the death but reopened Tuesday after company engineers concluded that it was operating normally.
Disney officials said in a statement that they were ''providing support to the family and are doing everything we can to help them during this difficult time.'' No changes were made to the ride or in who is permitted to ride it.
''We believe the ride is safe in its current configuration,'' Disney spokeswoman Jacquee Polak said.
More than 8.6 million visitors have gone on ''Mission: Space'' since 2003, Polak said.
The ride recreates a rocket launch and a trip to Mars. A clock counts down before a simulated blastoff that includes smoke and flame and the sound of roaring rocket engines. The G-forces twist and distort riders' faces.
An audio recording and a video warn of the risks. Signs advise pregnant women not to go on the ride. Motion sickness bags are offered to riders.
Since the attraction opened in 2003, seven people have been taken to the hospital for chest pains, fainting or nausea. That is the most hospital visits for a single ride since Florida's major theme parks agreed in 2001 to report any serious incidents to the state.
The most recent case was last summer, when a 40-year-old woman was taken to a hospital after fainting.
''Two Gs is not that big a deal,'' said Houston-based theme park consultant Randy King, a former safety director at Six Flags, which operates 30 amusement parks.
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I have been on the ride when it first opened and I didn't really find it to be that traumatic. However, I am an able body young man. There wasn't anything that seemed like it could cause someone to die on the ride. Minor injuries maybe, but not death.
Disney did as much as they could. The proper warnings were listed and are read aloud as you wait in the line for the ride. It just comes down to the parents choosing to take their 4 year old on the ride. Should they increase the height requirement for the ride? I don't really know. If the "experts" say that it is safe enough for someone of that height to ride it then they don't really have to raise it.
_________________ "Though some may think there should be a separation between art/music and politics, it should be reinforced that art can be a form of nonviolent protest." - e.v.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 7:19 pm Posts: 39068 Location: Chapel Hill, NC, USA Gender: Male
Jim wrote:
i looked about 4 pages back in N&D but I guess I missed it.
That's OK, I did it yesterday. That's why there's a merge feature.
_________________ "Though some may think there should be a separation between art/music and politics, it should be reinforced that art can be a form of nonviolent protest." - e.v.
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