Gabrielle Russon
A 7-year-old standing near Magic Kingdom’s Cinderella Castle was hit in the eye by an ember from the fireworks last year, according to a new lawsuit.
The child’s mother, Nicole Ufie, sued Disney last month in Orange Circuit Court for more than $50,000.
“Our lawsuit alleges that he continues to have eye problems and permanent scarring and that Disney World failed in their responsibility to maintain a safe environment at their park,” Morgan & Morgan attorney Roman Diveev said in a statement. “We will hold Disney and other parties involved accountable for their negligence to get justice for this family and hopefully prevent another child from getting injured by Disney’s fireworks.”
The child and his mother were New Jersey tourists visiting the world’s No. 1 theme park when the incident happened March 13, 2023, the lawsuit said.
Ufie’s lawsuit accused Disney of failing to plan for wind and bad weather to keep the child from being struck by the fireworks debris.
Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit Tuesday.
It’s not the first time Disney has been sued over somebody getting hurt during a theme park fireworks show.
In summer 2014, Kathleen Willis was struck in the eye by “smoldering fireworks debris falling from the sky” during the nighttime show at Hollywood Studios, according to her 2017 lawsuit.
Willis said she became permanently blinded from her injuries, according to her complaint.
Willis and Disney eventually settled for an amount not listed in court records, and the lawsuit was voluntarily dismissed in 2018.
Florida has little oversight over the major theme parks for injuries. Oftentimes lawsuits are the only way the public and the media can find out if somebody was hurt at the parks. The parks are only required to self-report the incidents when somebody was hurt or sick on a ride and hospitalized for at least 24 hours.
