No matter how hard Disney works to prevent people from getting hurt at its parks, accidents will happen… and you can bet the victims’ lawyers will show up soon after to blame the Mouse. If the plaintiffs’ attorneys are to be believed, Disneyland is going to elaborate lengths to intentionally maim its customers — including in one recent case, staging a massive parade down Main Street as a “distraction” so guests won’t notice the dangerous tripping hazards it’s hidden along the route.
More on that specific case later, but after more than 100 trips to the Orange County Courthouse over the last 30 years to research Disneyland cases, my most recent visit confirmed that guests continue concocting new ways to get hurt at the resort, then argue that Disney should foot their medical bills, and of course toss in a little something extra for their pain and suffering.
Here are the trends that stood out among the latest batch of lawsuits:
Let’s Make a Deal
Perhaps it’s just a fleeting anomaly, but over the last couple of months there’s been a flurry of Disney quickly settling pretty fresh lawsuits. Disney settling is not unusual, but settling so quickly after an action is filed is. The park’s timeworn legal tactic has been: if they know they’re at fault (see Columbia, Sailing Ship), they’ll smother the victim with kindness and sweet-talk in hopes of reaching an amicable settlement before any suit is filed. Plan B, if the victim seems intent on pursuing legal action, is to play hardball. If you’re considering suing Mickey, they’re going to make it as hard for you as humanly possible. And, to be honest, your odds of procuring a big payday are not great. Disney has deep pockets and is typically unfazed by long, drawn-out cases.
So it caught my eye that a string of suits were recently settled about two months after they were filed. They included:
• A woman who was dining with her family at Carnation Café alleged her son suffered permanent injury when he was struck in the foot by a two-way door opened by a cast member. A seemingly “open and shut” case, it was settled within weeks of being filed.
• Another boy suffered “severe injury and pain” after falling from the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail’s Sequoia Smokejumpers due to “a defective, cracked, broken and/or deteriorated zipline seat.”
• A woman boarding a Toy Story shuttle bus “slipped down the wet bus steps and landed directly on her back,” she said. “There was no slip-resistant material on the steps and there was no warning that the steps were slippery.”
• And a man settled his just-filed suit against both Disneyland and the city of Anaheim involving a fall just outside the park. He tripped on a crack in the sidewalk on Harbor Boulevard, while walking to catch his bus.
Late last year, Disney also quickly settled another seemingly airtight case: An older woman and her family were shopping at the Pin Traders shop near the Monorail Station in Downtown Disney when a cast member suddenly swung open a door inside the stand. Unfortunately, another worker had left a ladder leaning against the outside of the door. The ladder came crashing down on grandma’s head, causing a massive gash. Grandma was a little irked that the workers and a supervisor grilled her with questions as she sat there bleeding profusely, in “severe emotional distress,” and having just suffered a concussion. She was finally given directions to the nearest trauma center (to get staples in her head), along with four front-of-the-line passes, which she never had the chance to use.
This recent speediness to settle might be a new tactic Disney is employing or, maybe, it’s just a coincidence there have been so many so close together.
Motorized Mayhem
Having just spent the weekend at Disneyland working impromptu crowd control for an 85-year-old seemingly hellbent on clipping ankles with his high-powered scooter, I was not surprised to see numerous cases involving ECVs.
One woman said she was sitting on her scooter, riding a shuttle bus from Disneyland to the Toy Story parking lot, when the bus made a sharp turn and she went flying. Her lawsuit claims the “driver of the bus did not lock the plaintiff’s scooter properly and she was violently thrown from the scooter… Plaintiff suffered numerous injuries, including but not limited to injuries to her head, right hip, shoulder, neck, left knee and arm.”
Another lady flipped from her motorized scooter when she struck the trolley track. She blamed the track for being “uneven, defective, cracked, broken and/or deteriorated.”
And, my favorite: An older gentleman rolled into the Star Traders gift shop on his rented ECV and parked inside. According to his suit, “while he was stopped, the vehicle suddenly malfunctioned by accelerating on its own, without the plaintiff touching the accelerator or otherwise activating the vehicle. When the vehicle quickly rolled forward and crashed into a shelving unit, plaintiff’s leg was caught in the shelves while the vehicle continued running and attempting to move forward. A cast member came to plaintiff’s aid, stopped the vehicle, and helped free plaintiff’s leg from the shelving unit. First aid was administered at the scene, and plaintiff followed up by seeking treatment at Anaheim Global Medical Center.”
There was no mention of how officials dealt with the demon-possessed scooter.
Big Bills Following Big Spills
Unsurprisingly, slip and falls continue to represent the majority of accident cases filed against the park (as they have every year since 1955).
Among the latest wipeout victims:
• A man hurt himself on a “gap on the platform” while disembarking the Indiana Jones Adventure.
• A woman slipped in a pool of water on the floor of the Hungry Bear Restaurant women’s room that she says was caused by “a faulty leaking fire sprinkler on the ceiling.”
• Another guest was walking down the staircases leading to the Indiana Jones loading area when she slipped on “discarded flowers or trash” and suffered serious injury.
• A lady tripped over the turned-up edge of a floormat in front of the Plaza Inn restrooms.
• A man took a tumble while walking near Space Mountain.
• Another visitor was seriously injured on “it’s a small world.” She set her purse and right foot inside a boat, but before she could fully step off the dock, the watercraft lurched forward, causing her “to violently fall to the loading platform,” according to the suit. “The fall caused the plaintiff to strike her head and side, suffering severe injuries as a direct result of the negligent and reckless operation and supervision of the ride. The plaintiff has suffered multiple injuries and damages, including but not limited to, a traumatic brain injury, numbness and pain in her torso, legs and left arm, and memory and other cognitive problems.”
• A woman walking down the stairs to exit Grizzly River Run slipped because, she claims, the steps “were wet and the sticky grips on them were barely visible.”
• And another woman says she fell to the “hard cement floor” at Disney California Adventure, after she was run into by Goofy, who “fell on top of plaintiff with all of his body weight.”
• During a rainstorm, a man slipped on “the slick tile floor entrance to the Penny Arcade.” He claims that after he fell, “he managed to make it to his feet and approached the cashier counter to ask for assistance. The Penny Arcade’s manager instructed Plaintiff that he would have to exit the shop and sit outside in the chilly, rainy weather while he began to recuperate from his injuries. With no bench or chair nearby, Plaintiff sat in the rain on an electric mobility scooter that the group had rented for his mother to allow her to access the park that day.
“As Plaintiff began to recover from the shock of his injuries, Disneyland security personnel approached and surrounded him. The conduct of the manager and the security personnel intimated and humiliated Plaintiff.
“Rather than assisting Plaintiff to the nearby first aid station, the defendants pressured him to leave the park. Plaintiff attempted to comply, but the electric mobility scooter ceased to operate after sitting in the rain for an extended period. As Plaintiff was unable to walk the long distance out of the park, defendants procured a wheelchair and pushed Plaintiff to the park exit.
“Upon reaching the exit, defendants required Plaintiff to get out of the wheelchair, took the wheelchair back, and left Plaintiff at a bus stop. Without the use of the mobility scooter or the wheelchair, Plaintiff was unable to ambulate and access shelter from the cold, rainy weather. Plaintiff and his mother were forced to sit at the unprotected bus stop for an extended period until a shuttle bus arrived. Without the assistance of the wheelchair or mobility scooter, Plaintiff was only able to get on the bus with great difficulty due to his injuries.”
He listed his injuries as: ruptured patellar tendon; shoulder injuries including a torn rotator cuff; spinal injuries; chronic pain syndrome; decreased range of motion; bruises and contusions; Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder; emotional injuries; and other injuries presently undiagnosed. His jury trial is tentatively set for September 2025.
• And, don’t forget, there’s the woman who fell after being hypnotized by the parade. According to her suit: “Defendants and their employees created an intentional distraction through a parade which stole the focus of Plaintiff, instead of the dangerous condition that existed on the premises. During the parade, defendants and their employees failed to section off the dangerous condition, which ultimately caused her injuries.”
Be careful out there… especially if ever-devious Disney tries to trick you into watching a parade.
See You At The Expo
If you’ll be at the D23 Expo in Anaheim from August 9th – 11th, stop by the MiceChat booth (219) to meet David. He’ll have many of his books with him, including Mouse Tales, Mouse Under Glass, The 55ers, The Last Original Disneylander, and Bob D’Arcy’s A Walk in the Park.
