Mission:Space keeps getting the blame

[Ponine]

Woman Dies a day After Disney World ride (http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/04/13/disney.world.death.ap/index.html)
Article excerpt:
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida (AP) -- A woman died Wednesday after going on a ride at Walt Disney World so intense that it has motion sickness bags.

The 49-year-old woman became ill after riding "Mission: Space" on Tuesday. She was taken to a hospital, and died a day later, park spokeswoman Kim Prunty said in a statement.

No more information on the woman was available Wednesday, Prunty said. Nor was the cause of death immediately known.

The ride was closed Wednesday, but reopened Thursday, a statement from the theme park said.

[tracilicious]

It's most likely the old heart condition thing again. I admit though, that it makes me a bit nervous.

[Prudence]

I wonder if people, being idiots, don't appreciate the nature of the warnings? I have no idea, this is just fanciful speculation, but maybe people with heart conditions see roller coasters and it registers that they shouldn't go on, but see M:S and think it's "just" a simulater?

[Snowflake]

Ooh! (raising hands and waving animatedly) I have a heart condition, I can never ride Pooh again!

[tracilicious]

I think that people just don't realize that they have heart conditions. I know that the five year old little boy that died on MS before was perfectly healthy.

[Ponine]

I thought they discovered he had an undiagnosed heart condition?

[Ghoulish Delight]

I thought they discovered he had an undiagnosed heart condition?Yes, that's what Traci was referring to. It's not so much that people are ignoring the warnings. Most of the cases have been people who, for all they knew, were perfectly healthy only to find that MS causes complications with otherwise unkown conditions.

[innerSpaceman]

I know no one here will believe this .... but it's The Curse.

Building Mission Space upon the ruins of Horizons is akin to building the Overlook Hotel on ancient Indian burial grounds.

[scaeagles]

How many people does this ride handle daily? 12,000? (guesstimate of 12 hours of operation and 1000/hour - I could be way off, but based on a 4 minute ride with 160 on it at a time, that would be an absolute max of 2400/hour, but I doubt that happens.).

That would be 4,380,000 annually. There are now two deaths supposedly attributable to this ride working completely as designed, and it has been open abot 2.5 years. That would mean there have been about 11 million riders since it opened (granted many are repeaters).

2 out of 11 million? Those were not from accidents on the ride itself. I would figure if the ride was too stressful (2 g's is not much to endure), there would be a lot more of this kind of thing.

Edited to add:
My dad lives about an hour from WDW. He's had two heart attacks and a quad bipass. Still rides it and loves it. I would throw in a comment a tasteless comment right now, but it would be, well, tasteless.

[katiesue]

The question is were these hidden conditions brought out by the stress of the ride or is it just cooincidence? Would they have eventually happend walking down the street or did the ride make the condition worse?

[tracilicious]

2 out of 11 million? Those were not from accidents on the ride itself. I would figure if the ride was too stressful (2 g's is not much to endure), there would be a lot more of this kind of thing.



Yes, I realize that it's not a real risk. It's just paranoia on my part. Like, perhaps I or someone I love has an unknown heart condition and will die on a crazy theme park ride. I was pregnant when we were there, thus did not ride. I will the next time we go, but I'll be a bit nervous. Just as I calculate the projectile should one of the swings snap and send me flying into the water on the big Orange in DCA, or the brakes fail on the ride that shoots you up.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Life is full of risks, and we're far more likely to die on the freeway on the way to the park than from anything in the park itself. Seriously. I'm not just saying that. Everyone says that automatically and no one pays attention any more. Read it again. You are more likely to die on your commute to work. You are more likely to die in your bed. You will most probably not die from an amusement park ride. Hell, if you do die from a ride, you won the lottery, congratulations.

My boss came home the other day to find her husband dead on the couch. We don't know yet what he died of. It was totally unexpected. He was 57, and in perfectly good health.

What if he'd been to WDW the day before?

The death on Big Thunder was one of the scariest things ever, because it was something that truly could have been prevented, and could have killed ANYONE, not just those born with genetic problems. Remember how we all checked in online to make sure everyone we knew was ok? I had chills for weeks, and still have chills thinking about it, even though the odds were so tiny that it was someone we knew.

If I went on a theme park ride and died of a heart condition that I was unaware I had, it wouldn't be the park's fault, or even my fault. It's fate.

I can accept that without fear.

[Prudence]

I think that people just don't realize that they have heart conditions. I know that the five year old little boy that died on MS before was perfectly healthy.

Oh, I know that one was, but I think in this one she did have a heart condition? (I'm too lazy to go look at it) and it seems to be there have been other deaths and/or injuries for people with pre-existing conditions on various rides that don't look like roller coasters. Or maybe my brain is making that up, which today is entirely possible.

[Alex]

Even if Mission: Space isn't really to blame if it keeps suffering an associatable (even if just that someone died at some point after riding) death once a year it won't be long for this world. Disney spent a boatload of money so they'd ride it out for a long time but eventually it will be closed.

If these are just purely coincidental then the odds will eventually even out for them.

[CoasterMatt]

That's why they closed the Peoplemover, right? :evil:

[Prudence]

Does WDW have a red longjohns equivalent?

[CoasterMatt]

I think they just add more bells to Expedition: Everest's queue line.

[Matterhorn Fan]

Anyone wanna start a pool--how long till those bells get moved out of guests' reach? (Or have they already?)