Mission: Space tragedy

[HauntedPirate]

A terrible tragedy. But, in my opinion, this shows the lack of common sense amongst many people these days. You have to be warned, warned, beaten over the head with warnings, and then warned some more, about riding something you SHOULDN'T BE RIDING. And then, if something bad happens, it's the company's fault? No way.

I'm not saying that's entirely the case here. But honestly, IMHO as a dad of a 4 year old, a 4 year old has no business riding M:S. And that could open up another can of worms about family rides vs. thrill rides, etc.

 

[agdbeanie]

I saw the blurb on the Today show and decided to get online to find out
more information. This is a very very sad story. I can't even imagine
how this family must be feeling.
I agree that this ride is WAY too intense for a 4 year old, regardless of
the height requirement, but the family may not have realized what the
ride would be like. I think at this point it is important that everyone be
very sensitive to their tragedy.
I think the suggestion of the age requirments for rides should be taken
seriously OR maybe a rating system like there is for movies and video
games. Disney could totally pioneer this. Rate each ride and what the
appropriate age would be and put a code in the guide maps. I do think
that the average WDW guest is not as knowledgable about the rides
and attractions as the WDWMagic members, especially first time guests,
and they probably DO have the misconception that because it's "Disney"
everything is kid-friendly. We know that's not the case, but most people
think that Disney is for kids only. Universal doesn't help that view with
their commercials about "fairy tales and pixie dust not your thing?".

I really can't imagine how this family must be feeling. Losing a child must
be the worst feeling in the world. I get teary eyed just thinking about
the whole incident. Regardless of the cause of death this is extremely
sad and I'm glad that Disney is stepping up and supporting the family
in any way that they can.

 

[Disneyfan1981]

I really feel for this family and my prayers go out to them.

 

[MKCustodial]

I'm not sure age requirements will work, it's not liek you can ask them for a drivers license. There are many kids that are big for their age and would be able to get on because of parents lying about their age. Parents do it all the time when they want to get their 10 year old a child's admission ticket.

Too bad they don't remember fibbing when they decide to sue the company for killing their loved ones. :hurl:

 

[Bluewaves]

Well there are plenty of warnings and it is irresponsible for a parent not to take that into consideration especially when traveling with a 4yr old. I don't think I'd take a 4 yr old on a roller coaster certainly not space, even my fiance the coaster nut was taken back by space being intense, this is a super intense thrill ride people should read the warning.

But at this point my heart goes out to the cm's and the family I'm sure its tough. I can't imagine how I would feel if someone died on an attraction I worked on.

 

[stitchlvr]

What a sad situation...I can't imagine losing a child of any age, especially while on what I'm sure was a very special family vacation and at the happiest place on earth. I couldn't imagine spending the rest of my life being reminded of what happened every time I saw any reference to Disney...my condolences to those affected by this, especially the family.

The average height of a 4 year old is 42"...I don't know that putting an age restriction on a ride would be the thing to do because every child is different. On our first visit to WDW my middle child was 5 and she was a daredevil, would ride anything if tall enough. Tower of Terror was her favorite on that visit. I don't think I would have questioned allowing her to ride M:S (if it was around then) simply because of her age, because she loved thrill rides. And still does at age 10.

My son is small for his age, and at 6 last summer he rode M:S. He wouldn't ride any other thrill ride (he didn't even want to ride Pirates a second time because of the big "drop"), yet for some reason, he loved M:S. He was not at all affected by it, even though I felt pretty ill for an hour or 2 afterward.

I can understand a height requirement on any ride. But it would be difficult to determine an age requirement because bodies and mentalities vary so much. I think once the height requirement is met it should really be up to the parents to make the decision for their child. I'm sure in this case the parents are rethinking their decision, but I can't imagine that any parent would ignore the warnings if they knew of a health condition (ie. heart problem) that could jeopardize their child's well being.

It sounds to me like this will be a situation like the death on (or shortly after) Body Wars, with an undiagnosed health condition causing the death, and not the fault of Disney, the parents or the child. As tremendously sad as that is, I'm sure nothing could have prevented it.

 

[MickeyFanatic]

this is very sad and my thoughts and prayers are with the family. regardless of what people say (disney's fault or parent's fault), the sad truth is a child has died.

 

[Michael72688]

why does Disney wait so long to release this kind of information?

 

[NowInc]

expect new ride restrictions to be implimented.

I dont know why anyone would put a 4 year old on M:S..just my opinion

 

[djlb16]

im in shock, whoa whoa, cant believe it, thats bad, and sad.

 

[tigger1968]

You know, they tell you in the instructions not to look left or right, to only look straight ahead. I'm not sure that a four year old would be able to follow those instructions, especially on a thrill ride of this type. I'm not by any means trying to link that to what happened. It was just a thought that I had. Maybe an age restriction should be added?

 

[angelfaerie52]

interesting...

I think it's really sad that this happened, but so confusing as well. Why take a four year old on M:S?

I've been on the ride with a younger child before (I usually go with one other person) and they always have trouble "following the directions" of looking straight ahead, keeping eyes open, etc.

It's also interesting to me that so many people get ill on this ride. I don't get any ill feeling whatsoever. I could go on it like 10 times in a row. I can close my eyes, whatever... but then people get sick all day? I kind of wonder if everyone is following the directions... I doubt it.

All in all, this is a sad tragedy. I hope the family gets "answers..." And I honestly hope the ride isn't shut down because of this.

As for age requirements, a "suggestion" system would be great. It could be like "this is suggested for guests ages 7 and older." I think parents would more often than not listen to that...

 

[tazhughes]

Too bad they don't remember fibbing when they decide to sue the company for killing their loved ones. :hurl:

Exactly! They never consider the consequences of their own actions and I have no doubt that the family will attempt to sue over this tragedy.

 

[PhotoDave219]

expect new ride restrictions to be implimented.

I dont know why anyone would put a 4 year old on M:S..just my opinion

I was about to ask that as well.... what are the parents thinking? Its not like Disney doesnt beat you over the head with their warning signs and preshow info.

 

[Chase24]

Remember to hug your kids today...

 

[BriarDavid]

Universal doesn't help that view with
their commercials about "fairy tales and pixie dust not your thing?".

Universal has nothing to do with it. When you think of WDW, what do most people think of? Cinderella's Castle, it's a small world, peter pan, etc. Rides like the Tower of Terror, M:S, and (previously) AE do not cross most people's minds.

OR maybe a rating system like there is for movies and video
games. Disney could totally pioneer this. Rate each ride and what the
appropriate age would be and put a code in the guide maps. I do think
that the average WDW guest is not as knowledgable about the rides
and attractions as the WDWMagic members, especially first time guests,
and they probably DO have the misconception that because it's "Disney"
everything is kid-friendly.

I completely agree with you here. Outside each ride there should be a rating. And if the parents don't pay attention to that, then inside the ride in the queue, when the voice tells you "Guests with neck or back problems should not board this ride..." they could just slip in ,"I would also like to take this oppotunity to remind that this is a (Ex) X attraction and is not recommended for small children." These voices go over the intercom about a million times while you're in line. Maybe it would eventually get stuck in a parent's head.

 

[swordsman_24]

Warnings More than Other Rides

My brother rode MS for the first time with me last week. He thought it there were an unusual number of warnings for the ride. He thought they mentioned the intensity of the ride and warned people about riding at least 9 times from the time you see the video before you ride.

This is a sad situation, but anything we think we know right now about the cause of death is guess work. I'm very interested to see what the medical examiner is going to report. In the mean time I can't even imagine the pain this family must be going through. You add to that the cast members that may be 2nd guessing themselves right now (even though they may have done nothing wrong) and this is just an overall sad situation.

 

[SirNim]

Well, it's on Yahoo's front page. Very awful..

 

[WDWGuide]

Wow.

I haven't been to WDW in about a year since I stopped work on my guidebook, and haven't posted much on the forums. I was just about in the mood to start considering getting APs again, with Eisner's upcoming retirement, and I read these news while my daughter was watching the Epcot part of the promo DVD.

Terrible of course for the family. I first took my daughter on MS when she was just over 5 years old, and she enjoyed it. Of course you can't help but think "what if it had been her"... ugly.

I hate to speculate, but I would not be surprised if they toned the ride down after this, after the publicity it is getting for causing nausea and having required hospital visits (which, of course, would ruin the ride). It'll be very interesting to hear what the autopsy results will be. If there was no pre-existing condition it certainly looks very bad for Disney.

 

[jsfra209]

This is soooo sad. A little 4 year old dying at WDW. Holy cow, is there anything worse...