Accident on the Kali River Rapids ride

ericpabear · Post by **ericpabear** » May Tue 29, 2007 4:41 pm

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id ... _article=1

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) - Five Walt Disney World
visitors and an employee were injured Tuesday after a
water ride that simulates a trip down a rain forest
river malfunctioned, authorities said.
Disney spokeswoman Jacquee Polak said the injuries
were not life threatening, but she couldn't be more
specific.

Polak said it was not immediately clear what happened
on the Kali River Rapids ride, but somehow it
malfunctioned about the point that guests transfer
from floats to a walkway. The ride simulates a river
rapids trip through a rain forest in the Animal
Kingdom part of Disney World.

"Nothing like this has ever happened," she said.

Disney closed the ride to investigate.

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

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business ... -headlines

6 injured on Animal Kingdom ride at Disney

Beth Kassab | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted May 29, 2007, 5:01 PM EDT STORY GALLERY

Five Walt Disney World guests and an employee were transported to the hospital today after the Kali River Rapids ride at Animal Kingdom was evacuated.

One of the rides' sensors caused the flumes to stop as they were traveling up a steep incline, prompting an evacuation about 10:20 a.m., said Bo Jones, deputy fire chief of the Reedy Creek Improvement District.

A platform designed to help transfer guests from the ride to the exit stairs malfunctioned during the evacuation.

One Disney employee may have suffered a bone fracture and the five guests suffered other minor injuries such as bruises and neck and back pain, Jones said.

The injured people included three teenagers, one 21-year-old and two people in their 40s.

Kali River Rapids was closed until about 4:15 p.m. after the ride was inspected.

Disney spokeswoman Kim Prunty said the company conducted safety checks of the ride and did not find any problems. It did determine, however, that the platform used to evacuate people from the ride vehicles "disengaged and slid."

She said the company will use an alternative method to evacuate people from the ride if necessary.

SWHorn · Post by **SWHorn** » May Wed 30, 2007 2:41 am

Yuck. Well, I'm glad no one was "seriously" injured...it could have been much worse. Hope they got it all figured out.

GhostHost · Post by **GhostHost** » May Wed 30, 2007 6:43 am

This is one of the few rides I have never done at WDW. I always seem to miss it or just don't want to get wet. I would think that regular preventative maintenance work would have revealed any problems with the escape platform. It should be the most well built part of the ride since it is for escape after all. Oh well, Disney parks still do it better than anyone else but I hope they consider themselves lucky with the outcome of this accident and fix things properly. I was just thinking last night when I first heard about this how there would probably be law suits as usual. If it were me and I was not seriously hurt, the only thing I would lobby for is a lifetime of annual passes to WDW.

That would make it all better. I could not sue Disney just to make money and hurt something that I truly love. Now if it were gross negligence and I or someone in my family was really hurt badly or killed that would be a different story but some people just want to take advantage of situations were they got a little cut or something. Not me. Like I said, free tickets for life would do just fine.

netslave · Post by **netslave** » May Wed 30, 2007 8:20 am

I wouldn't be shocked to find out that it was a college program kid who was either drunk or just didn't care about his job that caused the accident. The CPs at WDW have become horrible.

abrcrmbegrl20 · Post by **abrcrmbegrl20** » May Wed 30, 2007 12:12 pm

I was surprised to hear about this. I'm glad nobody was seriously injured and hopefully everything will get figured out.

CDAbleson · Post by **CDAbleson** » Jun Sun 03, 2007 8:13 pm

I think they are very lucky that this didn't end up worse,,,It is just sad that the media is after EVERY little story that might occur at the parks...WDI will resolve the issue, I am CERTAIN of that.

AKLRULZ · Post by **AKLRULZ** » Jun Mon 04, 2007 6:46 am

It's really not even that newsworth to be honest. Just hte media doing their usual thing of trying to ensue mass hysteria that WDW along with all theme park rides are unsafe.

Captain Schnemo · Post by **Captain Schnemo** » Jun Tue 05, 2007 1:28 am

I didn't see anything hysterical in those articles. Would you prefer that Disney kept all this info hushed up? Openness and fear of bad press ensures that Disney takes safety seriously.

AKLRULZ · Post by **AKLRULZ** » Jun Tue 05, 2007 5:08 am

I never questioned that Disney takes safety seriously. What I am saying is that the accident wasn't newsworthy - this was not much different than an escalator accident at a mall.

GhostHost · Post by **GhostHost** » Jun Tue 05, 2007 6:47 am

I agree that the media blows everything out of proportion whenever they can. However, Disney should be kept under the closest scrutiny considering that they cater to guests from all over this country and the world over. Safety has to come first no matter what. Accidents are going to happen even when you are as careful as you can be. WDW is like a small city on any given day and you know what happens in a city. People get hurt and people die. The fact that there have not been more accidents and deaths is a testament to Disney's dedication to it's guests. However, it's not a matter of "if" but rather "when". That's just life.

Post by **Dr. Ravenscroft** » Jun Tue 05, 2007 1:48 pm

Ratings plain and simple. Which would people want to watch a story about a trade agreement with some country or a house fire and people tend to go with house fire. GhostHost, you bring up a good point, Murphy's law that is basically what your saying right?

Esmeralda · Post by **Esmeralda** » Jun Tue 05, 2007 2:43 pm

Looks like another article came out today and the girls that were hurt are going back to Disney World with no qualms - though they are avoiding Kali River Rapids for now.

GhostHost · Post by **GhostHost** » Jun Tue 05, 2007 2:51 pm

Dr. Ravenscroft wrote:Ratings plain and simple. Which would people want to watch a story about a trade agreement with some country or a house fire and people tend to go with house fire. GhostHost, you bring up a good point, Murphy's law that is basically what your saying right?

Yeah, pretty much. I mean it only takes a few elements to come together and form a situation of disaster. By the way, did you know that left handed people have a 2% greater chance of dieing in an accident than right handed people? I suppose because most everything is geared toward a right handed society. Just another element present to facilitate an accident in an otherwise properly prepared setting.

Esmeralda wrote:Looks like another article came out today and the girls that were hurt are going back to Disney World with no qualms - though they are avoiding Kali River Rapids for now.

Well, that's good to hear. They must have been real Disney fans then and not opportunists like so many people that bump their knees at Disney.

ldzny · Post by **ldzny** » Jun Tue 05, 2007 3:50 pm

Glad no one was seriously hurt. Nothing worse than being hurt/worse on vacation.

Captain Schnemo · Post by **Captain Schnemo** » Jun Tue 05, 2007 8:05 pm

AKLRULZ wrote:...this was not much different than an escalator accident at a mall.

This was more like an escalator accident at the White House. Newsworthy based on the location. Also installing an escalator in the White House would probably make the news too...