It happened to me! Ouch!

[Spyne]

Aww, I'm sorry that happened to you man. Hopefully your daughter gets better soon.

 

[hardcard]

I tottally agree with you. I think some people on this board are being ridiculous by calling the OPs parenting skills into question here. I'm sorry we don't all walk on water.

I appreciate that.. It actually stings me quite a bit when someone questions my parenting skills and attentiveness. I am probably over protective of my girls.. but heck, they've made it this far... and whether or not my judgement on the exact gps postioning of my daughters toes had a bearing on this issue or not.. it doesn't excuse the faulty catch device.. It's not there to hold the door as a courtesy, it's not there to have it close slow and look uber-futuristically cool.. it's there to keep it from smashing shut and injurying someone.. if the device had worked as it is supposed to, the door would have closed against her and we would have push it outward... it's the fact that it flew at us/her at a high speed that is the problem.

 

[Laura]

my daughter was injured, unfortunately due to Disney's Negligence..

DISNEY WAS AT FAULT, THE DOOR WAS BROKEN.

Once again, Disney is at fault... Sorry, I am quick to defend them against the wrongful death, and frivilous lawsuits, but this is a case where they are negligent.

The guy was not at fault, Disney was... I've said this multiple times, perhaps you missed it?

To those of you that say I could have prevented it.. It happened in about 1 to 1.5 SECONDS.. Unless you are superman, the flash, or a really suped-up delorian, it could NOT have been prevented UNLESS Disney had a properly maintained and functional door closer mech on the door..

and one last time.. I was inches from my daughter went in happened.. The door shut like a friggin steel trap... which is why is supposed to have the door closer on it in the first place..

I think some people are missing the point.

It seems to me the point he is trying to make is that he should have no blame in the situation and Disney should have full blame. That's what his above posts imply. But my argument is, as a parent, you shouldn't always count on mechanics when it comes to keeping your kids safe.

I'm not saying he's an irresponsible parent (as I said in my post, my daughter gets hurt every other second because she's such a klutz and I can't ever stay on top of it), but when she does get hurt I take full responsibility for it.

 

[hardcard]

It seems to me the point he is trying to make is that he should have no blame in the situation and Disney should have full blame. That's what his above posts imply. But my argument is, as a parent, you shouldn't always count on mechanics when it comes to keeping your kids safe.

I'm not saying he's an irresponsible parent (as I said in my post, my daughter gets hurt every other second because she's such a klutz and I can't ever stay on top of it), but when she does get hurt I take full responsibility for it.

so.. if a drunk driver, driving a car hits you child while crossing the street.. it's your fault? no, it's theres.. it's called negligence.

and, regardless of how you 'feel'.... it's required by LAW that they have the device working order on the door.. and the incident would never have happened had the device worked... regardless of all the rest, it's their fault, because they broke the law... don't like it? tough...

It's not like I was walked through a blender and a upset because i was cut.. I was walking though a door, that was broken, and it should never have happened.

 

[lscott933]

ok here how i see what happen. it is sad that your little girl was hurt. i am single dad of a little girl. if she was as close to as you stated why didn't you reach for the door to stop it from closing so fast. two if you was holding her hand why didn't you pull her back if you saw the door closing so fast. it is a man responsible to be the people who help women and kids thru the door not follow them. you are on vacation all having fun but it is still have to have your thinking cap on at all time. you let your guard down and this happen. next time your be the one who leads not be the follower. that is what you should get out of this. it was great that disney had someone check out your daughter.

 

[hardcard]

ok here how i see what happen. it is sad that your little girl was hurt. i am single dad of a little girl. if she was as close to as you stated why didn't you reach for the door to stop it from closing so fast. two if you was holding her hand why didn't you pull her back if you saw the door closing so fast. it is a man responsible to be the people who help women and kids thru the door not follow them. you are on vacation all having fun but it is still have to have your thinking cap on at all time. you let your guard down and this happen. next time your be the one who leads not be the follower. that is what you should get out of this. it was great that disney had someone check out your daughter.

it was extremely trying to see my daughter get hurt.. the point of this thread is that no one did anything to fix the door afterward..

 

[Laura]

so.. if a drunk driver, driving a car hits you child while crossing the street.. it's your fault? no, it's theres.. it's called negligence.

If you've done everything in your power to ensure your child's safety and they still get hurt, then you are free of blame.

In this situation, you did NOT do everything in your power to prevent an accident. Common sense is the parent goes through the door first, the parent grabs the door from the person letting go of it. If you failed to do those things then it was an accident (we all make mistakes), but you do have some responsibility in the incident.

That is all I'm trying to say. I'm not saying Disney is completely innocent, it was THEIR door, but as the parent you need to own up to your portion of the responsibility as well.

 

[psuchad]

Not to be rude but do you know for a fact that Disney knew about the door problem before it hit your kid? Could there be any possibility that the door failed the moment that your daughter walked through? If this is the case, how exactly is Disney at fault? It is not like they can look into the future and say that a door is going to fail at 10:45 AM on Tuesday and fix it before it happens.

Now if a second person was injured given that Disney had a reasonable amount of time to correct the situation, I would say that Disney would be at fault. But not having the door fixed immediately or even within hours is not cause for excitement. Given the various problems around the park and limited mechanics I can see how a door would not be high on the priorities. I wouldn't even say that not putting a sign up is wrong. Under normal door operation you should always hold the door open or have your hand ready to catch it. You can't just assume it will remain open when you go through.

 

[Laura]

Under normal door operation you should always hold the door open or have your hand ready to catch it. You can't just assume it will remain open when you go through.

Exactly!

 

[ypcat]

As far as the OP knows, he was the first to report the faulty door. While Disney is responsible for maintaining the closing device, they do not test each door every day. So was Disney neglegent in this case? Maybe or maybe not, depending on if they were aware of the failure. Now since the OP says the door was not fixed or warnings put up by the next day, I could see Disney being neglegent for subsequent injuries.

 

[Wilt Dasney]

The girl is OK, right? Can't we all just hug and move on? :shrug:

 

[Shere_Khan]

I think that had Disney put up some type of caution sign or warning on the door, then the OP would have never even posted this thread. He may have posted it on his trip report and said my daughter got slammed in the face by a door so that was a bad part of the vacation, but Disney was astute in fixing the problem so no harm done.
It's true that had the OP went through first or held the door, this never would have happened. The fact is he did not, his daughter was hurt, and there was no attempt by Disney to warn others of this hazard. Perhaps he could have reached the door in time. But what about people who let their children run free, or maybe the parent has a baby in their hands and a five year old walking near them, or they are carrying all 20 of their family's bags. There are a bunch of different situations that could have happened to tons of other people throughout the day with the same door. Letting the kids run free is the parent's fault but regardless, if a serious injury happened because of it you better believe they would blame Disney for not fixing the problem and they would probably win. Whether or not the parent did not prevent the accident, it still could have happened to others. And one of them could have resulted in a serious injury.

I guess I would just assume the Disney company would want to prevent having to spend major bucks because of something that would have not been as costly to fix.

Like the OP said, they were lucky that he is not a sue happy person. It could have been much more costly for Disney had someone else been hurt by the door, or if a serious injury had occured in which the family would seek compensation.
With the situation, there are all kinds of woulda coulda shouldas. I am sure the OP is kicking himself for not protecting his daughter better. But things happen, he made a mistake, maybe was not paying attention like he should be and an accident occured. I just think a simple out of order sign could have prevented this from happening to someone else who might not be paying full attention. Heck a CM could have wrote Out of Order in a black sharpie marker on scrap paper, and it might have at least prevented it from happening a second time or made the OP feel better that they had intent to fix the problem.

 

[ClasikRok]

If you've done everything in your power to ensure your child's safety and they still get hurt, then you are free of blame.

In this situation, you did NOT do everything in your power to prevent an accident. Common sense is the parent goes through the door first, the parent grabs the door from the person letting go of it. If you failed to do those things then it was an accident (we all make mistakes), but you do have some responsibility in the incident.

That is all I'm trying to say. I'm not saying Disney is completely innocent, it was THEIR door, but as the parent you need to own up to your portion of the responsibility as well.

Again, I agree that the OP may have been at fault. We all make mistakes. But it what we do to learn from our mistakes that really matters.

Let's say the situation went like this. The gentleman in front of the OP's daughter let go of the door, and just before the door slammed into the little girls face, her father stopped the door. Realizing that there was something clearly wrong with the door, the OP went to guest services or some other employee and brought this to their attention.

In this case, the little girl is free of injury, so the father would be off the hook. Should Disney now put up signs and repair the door?

It seems that your logic is still flawed. The OP said that he wished he could have done something to stop his daughter from getting hurt. But he didn't have quick enough reflexes to prevent it. But he wasn't quick enough.

The issue is not the OP's parenting skills, nor how quick he is to catch a door. The issue is there was a problem with the door, and it was not addressed in a timely fashion. That is it.

As far as we know, nothing has STILL been done to rectify this problem.

 

[SonicRuin]

Wow...I'm new here...but even I can see that the persons complaint is that the door was not fixed, or marked as to being broken after the accident happened. This is pretty obvious and does not sound at all like a person looking for money or anything. What happened before the accident is not the issue at all, it is what happened afterwards that matters. Once the accident happened, Disney was aware of the problem, and nothing was done. That is a fault of Disney's. That is nobody else's problem. They at that point become 100% at fault if anything else happens. Again, talking about after the accident, not before.

 

[ClasikRok]

Wow...I'm new here...but even I can see that the persons complaint is that the door was not fixed, or marked as to being broken after the accident happened. This is pretty obvious and does not sound at all like a person looking for money or anything. What happened before the accident is not the issue at all, it is what happened afterwards that matters. Once the accident happened, Disney was aware of the problem, and nothing was done. That is a fault of Disney's. That is nobody else's problem. They at that point become 100% at fault if anything else happens. Again, talking about after the accident, not before.

I think you hit the nail firmly on the head here. Disney was made aware of the issue and did nothing to rectify (not compensate for) the situation. THAT is the issue.

 

[Timmay]

so.. if a drunk driver, driving a car hits you child while crossing the street.. it's your fault? no, it's theres.. it's called negligence.

Not the same...you know it, I know it. Not a very good example at all.

and, regardless of how you 'feel'.... it's required by LAW that they have the device working order on the door.. and the incident would never have happened had the device worked... regardless of all the rest, it's their fault, because they broke the law... don't like it? tough....

If you can point me to the "law" that indicates Disney, or anyone for that matter, has to have this device working 24 hours a day I would appreciate it. You sound like you may know a little of what you are talking about, and if you do, then you know that Disney probably has a preventive maintenance program that must be followed. You know as well as I do that very few things in this world work every second of every day without there being some type of failure with the device eventually. Take the earlier, albeit weak, example with fire extinguishers. These simply can not be guaranteed to be in working order every second of every day. That is why they are put on preventive maintenance programs or schedules. Where I work, they must be checked once a month…that is it. If it fails within that time line, was the law broken? No. They might (big might) be liable in a civil case. If Disney has followed the preventive maintenance program or schedule, how can they be to blame? Serious question. Mechanical workings fail…there is no way that every single mechanical item can work to the extent you expect them to. It is impossible for any company to have that kind of staffing on hand to ensure there will be no failures with any mechanical devices. The cost would prohibit companies from being in business.

So, no, it's not as simple as "tough". Sorry.

 

[jmvd20]

IIf a door closer fails and you are not ready to be hit by it then even the largest guy may not be ready to stop it prior to crashing into something or someone. Believe me, 5 gallon buckets of hydraulic cement and epoxy can be tossed out of the way of a closing door. Granted that was on purpose... with industrial versions... :lookaroun but nonetheless door closers can be very strong, it is wrong to assume that you can simply put your arm out and stop it.

How many times have you opened a car door on a windy day and have it blow out of your hand - same thing can happen with a malfunctioning door.

I guess it just shows how slow news and runors must be when we have 6 pages about a door closer. I do hope that a picture of the culprit is posted soon!

 

[ClasikRok]

Not the same...you know it, I know it. Not a very good example at all.



If you can point me to the "law" that indicates Disney, or anyone for that matter, has to have this device working 24 hours a day I would appreciate it. You sound like you may know a little of what you are talking about, and if you do, then you know that Disney probably has a preventive maintenance program that must be followed. You know as well as I do that very few things in this world work every second of every day without there being some type of failure with the device eventually. Take the earlier, albeit weak, example with fire extinguishers. These simply can not be guaranteed to be in working order every second of every day. That is why they are put on preventive maintenance programs or schedules. Where I work, they must be checked once a month…that is it. If it fails within that time line, was the law broken? No. They might (big might) be liable in a civil case. If Disney has followed the preventive maintenance program or schedule, how can they be to blame? Serious question. Mechanical workings fail…there is no way that every single mechanical item can work to the extent you expect them to. It is impossible for any company to have that kind of staffing on hand to ensure there will be no failures with any mechanical devices. The cost would prohibit companies from being in business.

So, no, it's not as simple as "tough". Sorry.

I'll agree, the drunk driver thing was stretch.

But the fact of the matter is not that the door was not repaired immediately; I think any resonable person knows that is simply not possible. But SOMETHING should have been done (i.e. caution tape, a sign stating "Do Not Use" or "Out of Order") until the door could be properly repaired.

I guess it just shows how slow news and runors must be when we have 6 pages about a door closer. I do hope that a picture of the culprit is posted soon!

Most definitely

 

[SonicRuin]

If you can point me to the "law" that indicates Disney, or anyone for that matter, has to have this device working 24 hours a day I would appreciate it.

From page 4:

Opinions are good, facts are better...

Just looked through NJUC which was at hand and here is what we have.

Applicable local fire codes: (Should be the same throughout most of teh country as they are set by NFPA and ADA compliance laws)


... Doors and doorways: closers and opening forces

(a) Door closers, if provided, shall have sweep periods adjusted so that it
will take a door a minimum of five seconds to move from a position of 70
degrees opened to a position where the leading edge of the door is three
inches from the jamb.

(b) Maximum pushing or pulling opening forces for doors shall be eight
pounds.



Since a door closer was provided it must take 5 seconds to partially close (nowhere near what the OP described)

8 lbs. of force is very low and is there as part of the ADA compliance issues. The 5 second code is to prevent the door from closing too fast in order to avoind injuries.

The 8lb limit is also there to avoid injuries resulting from doors closing too hard or requiring too much force to open.

As described the door closer was clearly malfunctioning and operating outside of the set safety limits. Based upon this it is not the OP's opinion that it was not working, it is a fact it was not working properly.

Fire codes are pretty much "laws". Regardless of whatever hoops need to be jumped through to get it fixed, Disney (or somebody) should have flagged the door in some way. Now, they may have found themselves in a catch 22 in that locking the door would also have caused another fire hazard, but they still should have figured something out. Wal-Marts station employees by their hazard areas to warn customers. Why couldn't Disney do the same? They are on the same corporate level. I don't mean that as an offense to Disney though...sorry.

 

[happymom52003]

:hammer:Good, grief, is there a full moon or something? There are some crazy responses in this thread. Bottom line....the safety feature on the door was BROKEN. That is 100% Disney's fault. Not all doors need this type of safety feature....how was the op supposed to know that this door was heavy enough that it was going to slam into his daughters face with that type of force? With the huge number of kids at WDW, there should not be a door that can cause this type of accident....this is why they are required to have the safety feature in the first place.
None of you were even there! How in the world can you place any blame on this parent? This has got to be one of the most ridiclulous threads ever.