Man wins $8K after Disney "Small World" breakdown

[haele]

72. No, I think the issue was that Disneyland did not have a way for mobility disabled to exit

the ride in case of breakdown. There is apparently also an accessibility situation. Which if there was a serious emergency, such as an explosion, fire, or any other "get out of there pretty quick" situation, that means the mobility disabled will just have wait to die in the middle of the ride while everyone else can make it to the walk and out of the exit. Or makes it extremely difficult for paramedics to get to an adult - who might not even be disabled, but who may be - oh, unconscious - and get them out of the situation in a timely manner.

"It's a Small World" is a narrow boat ride without a lot of maneuverability. (Or at least it was in 1992; the last time I was in Disneyland) I could easily see someone who is mobility disabled - or morbidly obese - be stuck and unable to exit the boat if they weren't near an embarking area with handrails or help.
And if you're stuck for hours begging for help because there's no one to get you out in a timely fashion and perhaps a required medicine period or worse - foul yourself and your clothing because you couldn't hold it any longer, maybe you should have legitimate case.

The problem I see is that they just left him there. He wasn't "standing in line" where he could leave if he got bored waiting - he was a quadriplegic stuck on the ride that everyone else could get off of, and there was no one willing or able to help him off the boat for over an hour. Asking them to turn the music off was just one of the issues with that situation, and was only one of the factors in the lawsuit.

And $8K is a piddly ADA settlement, if he was being represented by an ambulance chaser. That sort of money is less than what Disney, inc, gives out as prize money as part of a family vacation package someone might win to one of their resorts on "Wheel of Fortune".

$80K would be a settlement. $8K is just "sorry for the inconvenience - now go away and don't bother us anymore" money.

The question for Disney and other theme parks is if they should allow people with disabilities to even ride certain rides if they can't quickly be extracted should there be an issue. Or should they actually design rides for accessibility to the disabled or distressed passengers should something happen...

Haele