Seizures, loss of consciousness among theme park injuries in newest report

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The report covers incidents from April to June.

Several guests had seizures or lost consciousness at Disney World and Universal, according to the latest injuries disclosed at Florida’s biggest theme parks.

The Department of Agriculture released the new theme park injury report Friday that detailed visitors’ most serious injuries and health emergencies from April to June.

The theme parks are only required to disclose when someone was hurt or sick on a ride and needed at least 24 hours of hospitalization in a deal the parks made years ago to avoid state inspections following several high-profile injuries at the parks.

However, the state’s injury report is limited. It omits details and full accounts so it’s impossible to know exactly what happened. Some injuries are described only as “head pain” or “knee pain” or “felt ill.”

“The following report is a compilation of data collected from the exempt facilities and reflects only the information reported at the time of the incident. Due to privacy-related concerns, the Department does not receive updates to initial assessments of a patron’s condition,” the state department said in a disclosure it recently started adding to the report.

According to the latest report, a 66-year-old woman with an undescribed “pre-existing condition” had a “cardiac event” riding Epcot’s slow-moving boat attraction Living with the Land.

A 47-year-old woman had a seizure at Hollywood Studios’ Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, which is a dark ride that takes rides through flashy cartoon sequences.

At the Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run ride at the Star Wars-themed land, a 23-year-old man had a seizure.

A 67-year-old woman, again with an undescribed “pre-existing” condition, lost consciousness after exiting the flying simulator ride Avatar Flight of Passage at Animal Kingdom. A 44-year-old man also lost consciousness on the park’s Kilimanjaro Safaris Expedition. On the same safari ride, a 57-year-old woman “had trouble breathing and (felt) numbness to her face after riding the attraction.”

A 61-year-old woman with an undescribed pre-existing condition experienced “stroke-like symptoms” at the Magic Kingdom’s Under the Sea — Journey of the Little Mermaid.

At Universal, a 30-year-old woman with an undescribed pre-existing condition lost consciousness at TeAwa The Fearless River, which Universal describes as “a thrilling whitewater ride through the heart of the volcano” at its Volcano Bay water park.

A 37-year-old woman had a seizure on Storm Force Acceleration, a teacups ride at Universal’s Islands of Adventure. In Universal Studios, a 25-year-old woman had “knee pain” on The Simpsons Ride while a 33-year-old woman felt “head pain” on Caro-Seuss-el, the carousel at Universal’s Islands of Adventure. A 78-year-old woman experienced “elbow pain” at the children’s water play area Runamukka Reef at the Volcano Bay water park.

Busch Gardens, SeaWorld Orlando and Legoland Florida did not report any injuries.

Gabrielle Russon

Gabrielle Russon is an award-winning journalist based in Orlando. She covered the business of theme parks for the Orlando Sentinel. Her previous newspaper stops include the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Toledo Blade, Kalamazoo Gazette and Elkhart Truth as well as an internship covering the nation’s capital for the Chicago Tribune. For fun, she runs marathons. She gets her training from chasing a toddler around. Contact her at [email protected] or on Twitter @GabrielleRusson .


2 comments

  • YYep

    July 16, 2022 at 9:15 am

    The thing you learn here is don’t go on rides when you too old and with pre existing conditions.
    We are too old for roller coasters

  • Dulcie

    July 18, 2022 at 11:36 am

    Kilimanjaro Safaris Expedition – a 57-year-old woman “had trouble breathing and (felt) numbness to her face after riding the attraction.”
    This happened to me in January after riding this ride. I’ve been on it several times over the years with no issues. I have a rescue inhaler for asthma and I used that and the face numbness felt like contact dermatitis. We went back to our room and I washed my face. After several hours it went away. I wonder if there’s something causing severe allergic reactions. I bet there were more like me who didn’t report it.

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