Posted on 06/14/2005 4:45:25 AM PDT by texas_mrs
ORLANDO, Fla. -- A 4-year-old boy on a family vacation died Monday afternoon after he passed out on an Epcot Center ride.
Officials said the accident happened on the Mission: SPACE ride.
The incident happened around 3:30 p.m. on the Mission: SPACE ride, according to Disney officials. The ride simulates a launch into space by exerting g-forces on occupants.
The child reportedly passed out on the ride and paramedics responded. Witnesses reported seeing the child's mother carry him outside to a nearby bench, where paramedics were able to briefly revive him. But the child died on the way to the hospital, according to officials.
Officials shut down the ride for the rest of the day. It's not certain whether it will reopen today. Mission: SPACE opened in October 2003.
The ride has a minimum height requirement of 44 inches. The local sheriff's department said the boy met the height restriction.
The boy was on vacation from Pennsylvania with his family.
Disney released a statement saying, "We are providing support to the family and doing everything we can help them at this time."
I find it very hard to believe it was the ride that killed him - it seems more likely that the ride aggravated some kind of preexisting medical condition. Tragic, but not Disney's fault.
44 inches for a 4 year old? That seems a little tall for 4, or am I still asleep.
I'm not saying this was the case....
...but our 4 yr.old was scared of Small World...and crawled under the bow of the boat!
Perhaps the ride frightened him, and he already had a pre-existing condition.
Every guy with a law degree and a cheap suit will be sniffing after this case like rabid dogs.
I would look for some other pre-existing medical condition.
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
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Exactly! They're probably hounding the parents of the child at this moment.
Kareem Jr?
The largest self-interest group in America.
My thoughts exactly. Expect the Kerry/Clinton/Edwards types to swoop in and take advantage of a child's death to try and get wealthy. Then MASSIVE new regulation of the amusement park industry. No tragedy is too small or large for lawyer scum to take advantage of it...
My 17 yr old twins were on this same ride this past Saturday!
That is a little tall. He probably wasn't heavy enough to withstand the g-forces. That's part of it, too. No 4 year old should be in that sort of a linear propeltion (sp?)ride. The G's are pretty intense. Chalk this one up to the stupidity of the parents.
I thought I'd been on this ride also, but maybe not? The one I was on had tremendous force. It was based on a movie, the theme of the ride is that you are taking a mission, you get roles as certain crew members, is that the one? There are four people to a small compartment and there are a lot of visuals. It made my husband and me very sick, we were sorry we went on it. I do think, though, that there must have been some special circumstances related to this child's health.
I hate heights but shoot I'll take a roller coaster ride over those tea cups from hell any day.
That said, I agree with a previous poster. The kid probably had some unknown medical condition.
That's the one.
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