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View Full Version : Disney death raises oversight concerns - AP, 6/17/05



Darkbeer
06-17-2005, 12:28 AM
http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/11915240.htm

QuikQuote: If state inspectors who regulate Florida's amusement park and carnival rides want to explore why a 4-year-old boy died earlier this week after going on "Mission: Space" at Walt Disney World, they'll need permission from the theme-park resort.
That is because Disney World, and the state's other large theme-park complexes, Universal Orlando, Sea World and Busch Gardens Tampa, are exempted from most requirements of Florida's laws regulating carnival and smaller amusement-park rides. "Our authority is limited by the statute," said Rob Jacobs, chief of the Bureau of Fair Rides Inspection. "We don't have the authority to close the park down or close the ride down."

Darkbeer
06-17-2005, 12:41 AM
You know, when the PAR unit of DOSH was first proposed, I wasn't the biggest fan of it, but after some of the stuff they found in the Big Thunder accidents, well, I see the value of a third party coming in and reviewing the situation.

For those who don't know what I am talking about, here is a MousePlanet article link...

http://www.mouseplanet.com/btmrr_accident/031201btmrr.htm




The investigator interviewed workers who didn't know the difference between a "yellow-tagged" ride vehicle, (not yet ready for passengers), and a "green-tagged" ride vehicle. Machinists admitted signing for work that they had not personally performed, and managers admitted signing off on repair work that they did not personally inspect. Ride operators complained that there was no policy explaining what to do when a ride vehicle was making an "unusual sound"; noises like the train involved in the accident was making before it was sent out on its final, fatal trip.



And while we don't know what caused the death at Mission: Space this wek yet...

We know that the ride was only closed to the public for about THREE hours before it reopened.. (The ride closed shortly after the accident and remained closed to park closing at 7 PM) and reopened when the park did the next morning at 9 AM.

Now, could the park truly done a through inspection and investigating in that short of a period? Heck, how long did it take just to assemble the team needed to do the work?

Alas, I can't just "trust" the word of Disney any longer, and hope that some oversight comes into play due to this incident....

Alex S.
06-17-2005, 06:05 AM
Well, they had 14 hours to inspect the ride, not 3.

If the ride was operating within normal specifications this seems to me to be plenty of time to determine that. I mean, as dynamic as the experience of Mission: SPACE is, it is just just a box spinning in a circles. It's not like one of the single units could spin any faster or slower then the other units or otherwise move independently.

I think it is reasonably safe to say that this wasn't a problem of mechanical failure but rather a fatal interaction of the child's health and the designed operating perameters of the ride. Now, whether those designed perameters are safe is another issue.

Pirate Girl
06-24-2005, 10:34 AM
Well, they had 14 hours to inspect the ride, not 3.

If the ride was operating within normal specifications this seems to me to be plenty of time to determine that. I mean, as dynamic as the experience of Mission: SPACE is, it is just just a box spinning in a circles. It's not like one of the single units could spin any faster or slower then the other units or otherwise move independently.

I think it is reasonably safe to say that this wasn't a problem of mechanical failure but rather a fatal interaction of the child's health and the designed operating perameters of the ride. Now, whether those designed perameters are safe is another issue.

I agree... and it is highly likely that the child was just within the required height guidlines (which I would predict is going to be raised if it hasn't already). While I won't say that it was at all related to this case, I will note the number of parents who yell at and threaten cast members who reject their too small children. They take it personally, and in a world where there are chapters in guidebooks dedicated to getting your smaller child onto a ride that he/she is too small for I wonder if there needs to be a different system for deciding who is and who is not big enough to ride.

I don't believe that Mission: Space is at fault in this one. When it comes down to brass tacks it is just a simulator. This child was young enough that it could have been something as simple as baby shakes.