Page 1 of 2

Heart Attack on the Tower of Terror

Posted: Jul Wed 13, 2005 11:41 am
by SpringheeledJack
I'm surprised that nobody posted anything about this... Or maybe I just missed it. Regardless:

------------------------------------------------------------

Walt Disney World reopened the Tower of Terror ride at Disney-MGM Studios this morning, one day after a British teenager suffered cardiac arrest following a visit to the attraction.

Disney said engineers and ride system experts completed an inspection overnight, under monitoring by an inspector from the Florida Department of Agriculture Bureau of Fair Rides and Exhibitions and found it to be operating properly.

In addition, Disney said in a statement, The Orange County Sheriff's Office also reviewed the incident and found no indication of a ride malfunction.

The teenager, Leanne Deacon, 16, remains in critical condition at Florida Hospital Orlando this morning.

Deacon exited the thrill ride at 9:50 a.m. yesterday, shaking and light-headed, and soon lost consciousness. By the time she arrived in an ambulance at Florida Hospital Celebration Health, her heart had stopped beating, Orange County sheriff's spokesman Jim Solomons said.

This morning, there were long lines of people waiting to ride the attraction.

"It's awesome. I would ride it again," said Derenda Davilla, a chaperone for a Lubbock, Texas, church group. Davilla had heard about yesterday's incident.

"It's not too scary. It's a fun ride," said Nick Watts, 41, another chaperone. The group of 13 included teens from 13 to 18 years old.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Hopefully this won't bring on a whole new onslaught of ride restrictions, or even slowing down of the ride. I always get nervous when several occurances such as this happen in a row, because theme parks begin to panic and start tweaking thing to protect them from stupid lawsuits.

Posted: Jul Wed 13, 2005 12:21 pm
by js3901
I didn't even hear that this incident occured at all, that's probably why there hasn't been anything posted yet...

As for your fears, I don't think much will come from the incident. The WDC did their routine inspections/maintainence along with the state inspectors. If there were anything wrong, I'm SURE they wouldn't fix it/open next day. they'd want to test/retest/test again until they're absolutely sure that the ride is safe. It's the same thing with the Mission: Space accident that happened not too long ago (where the 4 year old died). They'll increase the safety restrictions, add a line to the restriction board to say something about medical conditions, etc...

This girl probably had/has an undiagnosed condition that caused this.

Posted: Jul Wed 13, 2005 12:40 pm
by SpringheeledJack
I still haven't heard anything about the cause of death on that little boy. But the news is big about making it -sound- like it was Disney's fault. The newcasts were all "Here's the tower. It's a fast, scary fault not intended for the weak of heart. The girl collapsed outside leaving the ride. Disney has had a recent bout of problems on their rides, and this is just one more example. Is Disney to blame? Find out at eleven." Etc, etc... And then they just sort of focus on the problems that have happened in the park without really stating that it wasn't Disney's problem, but some freak medical condition.

Ah... The glory of nightly news. :roll:

Posted: Jul Wed 13, 2005 12:56 pm
by js3901
and living in FL, you must get alot of that. up here in the great white North, we don't see too much of what goes on down South there or out west.

Posted: Jul Wed 13, 2005 3:04 pm
by SpringheeledJack
Yeah. It's pretty much non-stop down here. :) But then again, Disney is a huge portion of what there is to do down here, so it's not particularly surprising. There's always something Disney being covered, especially during slow news days.

Posted: Jul Wed 13, 2005 10:00 pm
by rdeacon
Gotta love news casts... all about the negative spin. Not that I fully blame the news, people love to hear bad news. It just makes the world go around.

I wonder if Disney has had issues like this in the past and they weren't that well publiizied, or is this run just bad luck???

Rich

Posted: Jul Thu 14, 2005 10:20 am
by rick2vick
Is it just me, or does the media love to report negative news about Disney? They love to tell us about every CM who is nasty to a kid, or the kid who is traumatized by seeing Goofy or Mickey take his mask off (it is my understanding that they are forbidden to do so where any guest can see them). I always take those stories with a grain of salt, and very often they turn out to be untrue.

Posted: Jul Thu 14, 2005 10:38 am
by subsonic
rick2vick wrote:Is it just me, or does the media love to report negative news about Disney?
The media loves to tell bad news about anything.


On another note, does anybody know what the results from the boy who died on Mission:Space were? Did he, in fact, have a heart condition that his parents didn't know about?

Posted: Jul Thu 14, 2005 12:42 pm
by SpringheeledJack
I haven't heard anything about it. I'm not sure why, but it hasn't been covered on the news here... at least not that I've seen. I wonder if they're planning on suing Disney, and the lawyers told them not to talk about the results, yet.

Posted: Jul Fri 15, 2005 8:59 am
by QuickGold
subsonic wrote:
rick2vick wrote:Is it just me, or does the media love to report negative news about Disney?
The media loves to tell bad news about anything.
Yep, they love fear mongoring

heart attack on tower of terror

Posted: Jul Sat 16, 2005 9:42 pm
by mickster68
I haven't heard a word about the little boy since it happened, and he's from my area. Did catch a real quick blurb about the girl who went into CA on Tower on the Phila. news. They, too, made it sound so dramatic--"Yet ANOTHER tragedy at Walt Disney World..." Of course it's a horrible thing, but in both cases I can't see that the company is at fault.

Posted: Jul Mon 18, 2005 11:12 am
by subsonic
Yes. Just like the Teacups at Disneyland. That attraction has been open for decades with no incedents, but a few years ago, when someone fell out, it's the rides fault. Just like the lady sueing McDonalds for the coffee burning her. I hate people like that.

Posted: Jul Tue 19, 2005 7:50 am
by stev02
subsonic wrote:Yes. Just like the Teacups at Disneyland. That attraction has been open for decades with no incedents, but a few years ago, when someone fell out, it's the rides fault. Just like the lady sueing McDonalds for the coffee burning her. I hate people like that.
Two words: People Suck.

Posted: Aug Tue 16, 2005 8:41 am
by lovesdisney44
I just read on another post, yesterday, that the British girl that had the cardiac arrest on Tower of Terror was medivaced back to Britian. She is still in critial condition but her family wanted her back home as there was no progress in her health. Blessings to the whole family.

I have no idea what you are talking about!!

Posted: Aug Sat 20, 2005 8:17 am
by Jwc247
I have not heard of this so called heart attack on Tower Of Terror, and I go to Walt DIsney World 3 Times a year! If it did happen I understand that the ride can cause this this bad but... That's rare doesn't happen often. :wink: