Ah, Disney World. It’s considered the happiest place on Earth for a reason, but that doesn’t
mean things can’t quickly go wrong on a vacation. There’s a two-hour line for everything from It’s a
Small World to the restroom, your little brother is terrified of the guy in the Mickey costume,
and they want HOW much for a hot dog? But those minor annoyances of vacation aside, you can be
sure that everything runs smoothly at this little slice of heaven in Orlando, Florida. Right?
Well, usually. But even at Disney’s vacation haven, things can go very wrong. And over their
nearly fifty-year history, there have been some truly shocking incidents at their rides, hotels,
water parks, and even on their transportation. Some rare incidents are caused by negligence on
the part of maintenance or ride workers, but more often these incidents are caused by guests going
rogue. And then there are the generic accidents or health issues that no one could predict.
These are some of the most messed-up things that ever happened at Walt Disney World.
Sometimes the chaos starts even before people enter the park. Disney World is full of lakes,
and boating enthusiasts often like to rent small boats to surf the waves. The only problem is,
they’re not the only ones using the water. A couple from Celebration,
Florida was enjoying the water in 2010 when the husband darted in front of a
Disney ferryboat transporting guests to the parks. Unsurprisingly, the ferryboat won,
and the wife was taken to the hospital with fractured ribs and a collapsed lung.
At least they were easy to rescue, unlike the people in the next incident.
The Disney Skyliner is one of the most unique ways to travel to and from the Disney parks, shuttling
people from some of the resort’s outskirt hotels to EPCOT and Hollywood Studios via cable car.
People can enjoy stunning views of the park - at least when it’s working. It was only weeks after
the Skyliner’s opening in 2019 when one gondola got stuck leaving a station, and a line of other
cars got stuck behind it. The entire system got shut down, with a backload of trapped and scared
passengers having to be evacuated by the local fire department. Not exactly a smooth opening.
But what about the most famous way of traveling around Disney World?
The Monorail has been shuttling people from the central hotels to Magic Kingdom and EPCOT since
the resort’s opening, but it’s not without its own troubled history. There are several
incidents of train cars colliding, but a few incidents were more serious. In 1985,
one car burst into flames while leaving the EPCOT station, and passengers were forced to
kick out the side windows and climb onto the roof. Seven passengers were taken to the hospital for
smoke inhalation. The culprit? A flat tire that received too much friction from the concrete.
But it was 2009 when the Monorail had its darkest day.
The busy monorail lines rely on tracks switching seamlessly to avoid collisions but on July 5th,
this failed to happen. As a result, Monorail Pink slammed directly into Monorail Purple
at the transportation hub, killing the pilot of Monorail Purple instantly. After everyone
was evacuated and the injured passengers were treated, one of the biggest investigations in
Disney history began. The National Transportation Safety Board was brought in to find the culprit,
three monorail employees were suspended, and the feds put the blame on the shop panel operator
for not properly aligning the switch beam. The biggest lasting change?
Guests were no longer allowed to ride in the front cab car when on the monorail to keep them safer.
Disney World is a busy place and its transportation system can be chaotic,
but at least its hotels are a place of refuge where nothing goes wrong - right?
Not exactly. While Disney’s hotels are considered among the best in the world, they can’t prevent
everything. While the theme parks have some of the best security anywhere, the hotels are slightly
easier to access - and that can mean trouble when someone enters with bad intentions. In June 2000,
Disney had one of its scariest moments when a hostage situation broke out at the Boardwalk
Inn. A child and a room service waiter were taken hostage by the boy’s disturbed father.
He demanded to speak to his estranged wife, and Disney quickly evacuated the hotel and called
in hostage negotiators to talk the gun-toting man down. Bismarck Rodriguez kept the hostages
well into the night, but the incident ended without bloodshed when he surrendered to police.
It wasn’t the only time people at Disney feared gun-toting maniacs.
It was May 2018 at the Contemporary Resort, Disney’s futuristic centerpiece,
when a man caused a panic. Smelling of alcohol, he went around the resort telling everyone that an
active shooter was loose at the hotel. People went into a panic, and the hotel was put into lockdown
as the police searched for the culprit. They couldn’t find any shooter, and they eventually
tracked the man who started the rumors to the bushes outside where he was hiding and watching.
It was all a lie. Why did he cause a panic? To get traffic for his YouTube channel.
All hotels have dangers, and Disney hotels are no different. The hotels have had their share
of drownings at the pool and deaths in the rooms. But one lurking danger
is nature itself. Disney World might be a vacation haven - but it’s still in Florida.
Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort is billed as a little taste of nature in the middle of a theme
park, but one family from New York experienced that the wrong way in 1980. An eleven-year-old
boy was having a relaxing day at the now-defunct River Country water park. Soon after swimming,
he became very ill and died. The culprit? A rare brain infection called Naegleriasis caused by a
single-celled organism. Disney might work to keep its water clean, but they can only do so much.
The next water predator they couldn’t keep people safe from was much bigger.
It was a picturesque night in July 2016 at the Grand Floridian Resort, bordering
the Seven Seas lagoon. A two-year-old boy from Nebraska was playing by the water when suddenly,
an alligator lunged out of the water. Quickly, the boy was grabbed by the
large reptile and dragged below the water. Search-and-rescue experts were quickly assembled,
and it wasn’t until the next afternoon that the boy’s body was found. The family sued Disney,
but Disney argued that they couldn’t be held responsible for the presence of alligators.
Disney eventually settled out of court, and put up rope barriers around open water to
protect people in the future. They even removed alligator figures from some of their rides.
Phew. Things are more dangerous than expected at Disney resorts. Time to head to the parks,
where everything is secure and safe - right?
While Disney parks are among the most secure places in the country,
things can still go wrong. Many of Disney’s rides are rough and fast, and people are warned not to
ride if they have certain pre-existing health conditions because an otherwise healthy person
could die suddenly. There’s only one problem - not everyone knows. Some health conditions hide
completely undetected - a tiny heart malformation that could trigger a massive heart attack.
There have been multiple times when a ride comes to a stop,
and one of the happy riders simply doesn’t get off. They died mid-ride from the wild motion.
It’s happened at all four Disney parks, on rides including Star Tours, Dinosaur,
Expedition Everest, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and even the
relatively gentle Toy Story Mania. In all these cases, the investigation showed that the death
was related to a pre-existing health condition and the ride was able to continue operating.
But one ride at EPCOT developed a reputation for danger.
It was 2003 when Mission Space promised to blast visitors into the future.
This high-tech space-themed pavilion promised a thrill ride that would give people the closest
thing they’ve felt to the sensation of blasting off into space. Combining a motion simulator
with a centrifuge, it was an interactive thrill ride that simulated a trip to Mars.
Everyone who rode it said it was the most intense thrill ride Disney had ever debuted.
Too intense for a four-year-old boy from Pennsylvania, who died suddenly on the ride
in 2005. His parents sued, but the cause of death was proven to be an undiagnosed heart condition
and the lawsuit was thrown out. It seemed to be clear for blast-off.
That is, until it happened again.
Less than a year later, a German woman became sick after riding and was taken to the hospital
where she died of a brain hemorrhage. Although doctors found she had severe high blood pressure
that led to her death, people were getting more worried about Disney’s newest thrill ride.
This wasn’t unfounded, as in the ride’s first few years,
paramedics had to be called to treat almost two hundred riders of Mission Space!
People were passing out, having difficulty breathing, or reporting symptoms of a heart
attack. Most were okay soon after, but it was clear this virtual mission to space
was pushing many people to their limit. Disney soon introduced a milder version of the ride
without the centrifuge as an option, and the ride continues to thrill daring riders to this day.
Not all incidents happen on intense rides, as people on a relaxing cruise found out.
The Jungle Cruise is one of Disney’s oldest rides, known for a slow ride through a river full of
animals captained by jokey tour guides. But the river cruise got a little wet for some riders
in February 2020. Suddenly, with a boat full of passengers, one of the ships started to sink!
This was the age of social media, and soon pictures were flooding the internet of people
climbing on the boat railings to try to stay out of the water. The local fire department showed up,
the people were evacuated, and the ride opened shortly after - with everyone thankful
the jungle creatures surrounding them were just audio-animatronics.
It’s not just the rides that can cause danger at Disney World either.
There’s no better way to end a day at Disney World than with a spectacular fireworks show, and most
nights it goes off without a hitch. But one night in 2014, those watching the Wishes fireworks show
got a major scare. Falling embers from the show traveled into Fantasyland, where they landed on
the artificial grass surrounding the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. This created a blaze that
caused the ride and everything around it to be evacuated. While there were only minor damage and
no injuries, seeing a blaze in the middle of the happiest place on Earth scared a lot of people.
Fireworks can be dangerous, but what could be dangerous about lunch at a cafe?
A family visiting Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe in Tomorrowland found that out the hard way when they
sat down to lunch in 2010. Their four-year-old son sat down and nearly fell over in his chair,
so he grabbed a tray of food to stabilize himself. That caused a plate of hot nacho cheese to fall on
him, burning him. The family sued Disney, claiming that the cheese was served at an
unsafe temperature. Disney settled out of court, an expensive ending to a traumatic cheese crash.
But it’s not just the rides, fireworks, and food that can be a hazard. Sometimes it’s the guests.
A Florida woman was waiting in line for the Mad Tea Party when she was suddenly attacked by
another guest from Alabama, in one of the nastiest fights ever in a Disney theme park. The attacker
was arrested and sentenced to ninety days in jail, but that wasn’t the end of the story.
Disney was sued not just by the victim, but by her husband! He claimed that his wife’s injuries
caused him to lose her support and companionship and that Disney was responsible for not having
enough security to protect her. Disney did NOT settle this lawsuit and quickly won in court.
It’s not just the guests that can cause trouble, though. Sometimes the cast members can go rogue.
The Haunted Mansion is one of Disney’s most popular attractions,
filled with thousands of special effects and props. But in 2018, there were a few
less of them. A disgruntled former Disney employee snuck into the haunted ride and stole about seven
thousand dollars worth of costumes and props. But you should always assume that while you’re
in a haunted mansion, you’re being watched. He was caught in the act and the authorities were
informed of the stolen items. Police eventually tracked him down and found the stolen items,
which have since been returned to their proper home with the 999 grim grinning ghosts.
At least those costumed characters are always friendly, right?
Well, if you don’t count Tigger. He was always a little too energetic. In 2007,
a teenage boy from New Hampshire was taking a picture with a cast member dressed as Tigger when
the big orange cat hauled off and punched him! The cast member first claimed it was an accident,
then said he was acting in self-defense and that the boy was pulling on the back of his costume
and making it hard for him to breathe. The case was referred to the local authorities, and they
decided not to press charges. Sometimes what happens in Disney World, stays in Disney World.
One of the craziest incidents in Disney history,
though, didn’t happen in the park. It happened in the parking lot.
It was 1984, shortly after EPCOT opened, and a small plane came into view. But it
was flying a little low, and suddenly it crashed into the EPCOT parking lot,
shattering the calm of a vacation day. The husband and wife piloting the plane,
along with their one-year-old daughter, were killed instantly, but two other children in
the plane survived their injuries. The plane was on course for Disney from Greer, South Carolina
as the family decided to fly their small plane directly there instead of dealing with the
airports. Something went wrong in the air and they made an emergency landing, only to clip a pole in
the parking lot and lose a wing. Instead of making a smooth landing, they crashed directly into
several cars in the parking lot. And suddenly, everyone in Disney was watching the skies.
For all these crazy incidents, people still flock to Disney in the millions every year, completely
unafraid. That’s because the notoriously cautious Disney company learns from every crisis and
takes new safety measures. Anything can happen at Disney World - but it probably won’t happen twice.
For more on chaos at amusement parks,
check out “The Worst Amusement Park Ride Disasters”, or check out this video instead.