Disney Declassified: Tales of Real Life Disney Scandals, Sex, Accidents and Deaths (12 page)

Daudi’s autopsy revealed he had suffered from a rare undiagnosed condition in which his heart was enlarged and the walls were thickened with scar tissue. This condition left him susceptible to a cardiac arrhythmia (the heart contracting out of coordination) and led to his death. The coroner also stated that the risk of sudden death could be increased under physical or emotional stressful situations. The family filed a wrongful death suit against Disney, which was settled in January of 2007 and, as usual for Disney, terms were not disclosed. 

A similar fate awaited forty-nine-year-old Hiltrud, visiting Walt Disney World from Germany. When Hiltrud exited Mission: Space in April of 2006, she felt sick and was subsequently taken to the hospital. Tests revealed Hiltrud suffered from a brain hemorrhage after her ride. She passed away in the hospital the next day. Hiltrud's autopsy revealed she suffered from long-standing and severe high blood pressure and no direct trauma attributed from the ride.

Mission: Space and simulators in general make certain people sick and have for a long time. The military and NASA have studied the physiological effects of simulators for over fifty years; they dubbed the effects on some riders “simulator sickness” and don’t have any predictors as to who may get sick on them, but they do know underlying health problems don’t help the situation.

Despite the deaths, tens of millions of people enjoy the attraction and Disney stands by its safety. Disney standing by it and people being wary of riding it are two different things. The weeks after each of these deaths made headlines, the ride attendance did seem to drop a bit as judged by the wait times for the ride.

In May of 2006, Disney revealed a less intense version of the ride, claiming the tame version had nothing to do with the two rider deaths, Kim Prunty, a Disney spokeswoman, said  “that at least one of the four centrifuges that now spin riders to simulate the approach and landing of a spaceship on Mars will be shut off. The new version is intended for those subject to motion illnesses. While it gives the illusion of a space ride, by offering a second adventure, we hope to broaden the appeal of Mission Space and enable even more guests to experience the attraction."

Less spinning on the attraction means a better trip for many guests and additional ride exposure for Disney. Mission: Space still shows up in the voluntary accident reports that Disney submits to the state of Florida, then again, so has the Prince Charming Regal Carrousel. Luckily there have been no further deaths or major accidents, just the usual nausea and light-headedness.

In 2002, the Disney theme parks completed one of the largest private and proactive deployments of Automated External Defibrillators (AED) across their theme parks, resorts, and cruise ships. If used correctly and in the appropriate situation, defibrillators shock the heart in hopes of restoring a normal heartbeat in someone under duress.

In the years from 1998 through 2002, Disney’s on-site AEDs saved six lives between the two properties in California and Florida. At the time, Disney had 4,000 cast members trained as “designated responders” to operate the roughly 650 machines at Disneyland, Walt Disney World and their cruise lines. By 2007, the number of people saved across Disney property with an AED had jumped to over forty lives. Operating such a successful program had Disney announce in November of 2007 that Walt Disney World would install another 200 AEDs on premises. Unfortunately, just a month later, one of those life-saving AEDs was needed at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park but was not in the vicinity.  

In December of 2007, forty-four-year-old Jeffrey was visiting Walt Disney World from the Florida panhandle with his family. Around 11:30
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., Jeffrey boarded the Animal Kingdom’s roller coaster, Expedition Everest. The coaster features speeds up to fifty miles an hour and an intense eighty-foot drop, along with traveling both forwards and backwards in a creative setting themed around the Yeti and Mt. Everest.

Less than a minute before the ride concluded, Disney’s security cameras at the attraction showed Jeffrey conscious on the ride. Seconds later, as he pulled in to the platform to exit the ride, he was unconscious and unresponsive in his seat. Disney employees and a nurse visiting the park immediately performed CPR and 911 was called. The operator answering the 911 call asked if an AED was on-site; there wasn’t one—at the time, the Animal Kingdom was only home to three AEDs out of 500 on the entire Disney property. Paramedics came and Jeffery was rushed to the hospital where he passed away. The autopsy performed indicated that Jeffrey died of dilated cardiomyopathy or an enlarged heart, which had no known cause, and this was deemed his cause of death.

In 2009, Disney announced additional AEDs were coming to the park. This time, they would be installed at many of their high-speed and most popular rides: Expedition Everest, Mission: Space and The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. This announcement brought Walt Disney World’s total to nearly 800 on-site defibrillators, which are now indicated on maps of the parks and at guest services (Animal Kingdom now has upwards of fourteen) and over 5,000 cast members trained in operating the equipment.  

The Disney parks and their AEDs couldn’t operate without the cast members that run the show. At Walt Disney World, there are over 70,000 workers to spread the magic. There is nothing more magical for children than to meet their favorite Disney character in person, face to face. However, working as a costumed character at a Disney Park is a tougher gig than one would think.

Sure, the job brings smiles to the millions of children that pine for their attention but within that costume, there is another tale playing out, a tale of both physical and mental stress. One can imagine the mental stress of things; overly excited children that jump, hit, and pull at the character. The physical component of working as a costumed character is a much larger issue. For many cast members, the costumes are hot, heavy and horrible, and the accident reports support their claims.

Almost 2,000 cast members go “under cover” portraying nearly 300 different Disney characters for a combined 350,000 working shifts a year. Many of these costumes, primarily the head, can weigh up to forty-seven pounds.  It is obviously no surprise that some cast members donning the costumes end up having back, neck, and shoulder injuries to the tune of several hundred incidents each year. In recent years Disney has turned to NASA to help create lighter, more efficient suits for their characters. They even took it one step further by offering training classes to show the actors in costume how to bend down, pick things up, and move ergonomically.

The actors partake in a stretching and warm-up session led by sports medicine professionals about a half hour before putting on their costumes. All of these measures are in an effort to cut down on and prevent injuries. Disney is constantly looking to refine and improve their costumes. Always looking to improve the functionality yet not compromise on the aesthetics, the company spends upwards of $100,000 on certain costumes. Yet with all of this work, accidents are often unavoidable.

In February of 2004, an eight-year veteran employee of Walt Disney World was accidentally run over by a parade float when he was in costume as Pluto. Javier, thirty-eight years old, was about to exit a backstage area and play his role of Pluto in the Share a Dream Come True parade. As the three-part float rolled past Javier, his right foot got caught between the second and third sections of the float. Javier fell to the ground and was fatally run over by the third portion. The float weighed over 6,000 pounds and was moving no faster than the speed of someone walking. Unfortunately, the accident still happened and OSHA investigated. They issued a serious citation and fined Disney $6,300 for the accident. Disney paid for the funeral and for travel arrangements for family members needing to fly in for his funeral.

Prior to and since Javier’s accident, many of the employee fatalities on Disney property were exclusive to contractors or construction workers helping to build the parks. In 1974, a carpenter died when glue fumes ignited around him. In 1981, another fatality happened with construction at EPCOT, when a welder fell and was hit by a steel beam that fell from a crane. In 1988, a construction worker on site at the future Typhoon Lagoon was killed when a pipe burst.

But in February of 1999, part-time cast member Raymond, sixty-five years old, was working at the Skyway gondola lift ride in the Fantasyland section of the Magic Kingdom. Raymond was cleaning and sweeping around the attraction platform just minutes before the park's opening. Tragically, a cast member switched on the ride unaware that Raymond was there. Raymond quickly grabbed onto the gondola, which was now off the platform. Raymond unsuccessfully tried to pull himself into the gondola. He fell forty feet into a flowerbed near the Dumbo ride. He was airlifted to the hospital where he died a short time later. Raymond and his wife had retired to Florida from St. Paul, Minnesota, after Raymond worked for thirty years at the water department. He had only been working for Disney as a part-time cast member since September of 1998. OSHA ruled his death accidental and fined Disney $4,500. 

As the years progressed, employee fatalities weren't exclusive to the Magic Kingdom. Over the years, employee tragedy struck both Disney’s Hollywood Studios and The Animal Kingdom. In May 1989, Disney’s MGM Studios, now known as Hollywood Studios, debuted at Walt Disney World. One of the attractions that opened in the park's first year was the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular!

The show recreates several stunt scenes from the Indiana Jones movies, eight times a day, in front of a crowd of 2,500 people. Within the first several months of the attraction's debut, there were three accidents to the performers of the show; all three were equipment failures. The first incident happened when one stunt man fell thirty feet onto concrete, after the rope he was utilizing failed to lower him slowly down as designed. Another performer fell twenty-five feet and landed on crates when a trick ladder collapsed before it was planned to do so. In December of 1989, another performer was injured when he was squeezed by a trap door that malfunctioned, pinning him against the wall. 

OSHA investigated each of these accidents and fined the company $1,000 for failure to protect their performers. In March of 1990, after the accident investigation, Disney changed some of the procedures and installed additional safety equipment and padding to safeguard the performers. All was okay safety-wise for the attraction for nearly twenty years; the ride even received a makeover in 2000. Then came the year 2009, which was a deadly year for Walt Disney World cast members. We already discussed the monorail accident that claimed the life of Austin in July that year. On August 10, Mark, a forty-seven-year-old cast member, died from an on-stage fall during a mock sword fight during Captain Jack’s Pirate Tutorial. A little more than week after Mark’s accident, Anislav was rehearsing for the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular. Anislav, only on the job about a week, suffered a head injury while doing a tumbling roll; witnesses say he landed awkwardly on his neck. Two hours after his injury, he passed away at the hospital. OSHA investigated the incident and cleared Disney of any wrongdoing.

On Earth Day, April 22, 1998, Disney opened their fourth theme park at Walt Disney World, The Animal Kingdom. As the name explains, the park is centered on animals and conservation. The Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums accredit the park, however, as Disney is also quick to point out, the Animal Kingdom is anything but a zoo.

Featuring six themed lands, the park is home to more than 1,700 animals across 250 species. The park’s underlying theme is Walt Disney’s dedication to conservation, animal care, education and research. In 1998, when the over $800 million park was coming together, things got off to a bumpy start for some of their future cast-members, those of the mostly four-legged variety.

 In the months leading up to the opening of the park, Disney had over ten animals die on their watch; two West African crowned cranes were run over by safari vehicles on two separate occasions, four cheetah cubs died from kidney failure after ingesting ethylene glycol (a toxic chemical found in anti-freeze and other industrial solvents), a female hippo died of blood poisoning from multiple infections, a white rhinoceros succumbed to anesthesia during what was to be a routine medical exam, a black rhinoceros swallowed an eighteen-inch stick which punctured its intestine, and two Asian small-clawed otters died after eating the seeds of a loquat, a citrus fruit that is not normally part of their diet. These accidental deaths were certainly not the attention or publicity Disney was interested in receiving. They were already under an intense spotlight from animal rights groups, not just because of their planned park but also because of an animal cruelty incident back in September of 1989 at Discovery Island in Walt Disney World.

 From 1974 to 1999, Walt Disney World had an attraction near the Magic Kingdom in Bay Lake, called Discovery Island. The island was a place for guests to explore wild plants, animals and birds. In 1989, it was uncovered that Disney workers beat vultures to death, held dozens of vultures in a small, overheated shed with little food and water, and shot at hawks and falcons. Employees of Discovery Island did these cruel acts in an attempt to control wild birds that were attacking the island’s animals, stealing their food, making too much noise, and defecating all over,. After a state investigation, Disney settled sixteen animal cruelty charges and paid a nearly six-figure fine in an agreement with the state. Ten years later, with the opening of an enormous animal-themed park, you can understand the skepticism and concern.

With the park nearing its second decade of operation, it has thrived. In addition to many of the rhinos, giraffes, and elephants breeding, Disney has donated over $20 million from their worldwide conservation fund for grants, research and of course conservation efforts around the globe. The park has had minimal animal casualties since it opened (an animal casualty happened in July of 2003 with a freak lightening strike killing a giraffe) and the animals have safely entertained the masses without fatal accidents. The same hasn’t always been true for some of the people working at this park.