He met the height requirement, and there is no age requirement. I don't see why there would be a problem in that respect.

It's tragic, and you have to feel for the family, but as often is the case with these kinds of sudden ride deaths, I wouldn't be surprised to find that it was some random condition that could have just as easily been triggered by a sudden stop for a red light on the way home. Unless the ride was found to not be operating normally, I think you have to look at the thousands upon thousands of people (and even scores of young children) who have ridden and NOT died and conclude that this unfortunate child was the exception.

I have been on the ride and wouldn't call it extreme. As a matter of fact, I felt the warnings were extreme and caused more fear than the actual excitement of the ride. But, Disney has to CYA.

Some people have different reactions to physical strains on the body. For example, if you have a sezure disorder, you should not be riding MS. A boy this young may have had an undiagnosed condition that MS brought out. Or, perhaps the parent knew about the condition and took a chance. Let's hope this was not the case. More will be revealed, I'm sure.

When we rode M:S last December, we found the queue to be so rife with warnings and descriptions of how the ride works that it almost took us out of the feeling that the theming provided. Heather, who is much braver on theme park rides than I (particularly the "spinny" ones), almost backed out. Someone got sick in the capsule next to ours right before we boarded and the anticipatory fear forced another adult couple to bolt.

I agree the probability exists that the actual cause of death was some undiscovered preëxisting condition. Nevertheless, it's still a tragedy for the family, and will no doubt brand the wonderful attraction a "killer ride", which is unfortunate.

I hate the launching part of certain coasters -- like California Screamin' and so forth -- and with all the warning signs I almost didn't ride M:S. But I found that it was not at all what I was expecting and it was really rather interesting. Like science experiments where you set things on fire.

I will make no assumptions till the lawsuit is settled, er, I mean, the autopsy report is issued.

Though likely an unknown medical condition, it's not out of the question for the ride to be too much for 4-year-olds in general, whether or not they are genetically freaky enough to meet the height requirement. I think having vomit bags available on the attraction is hint enough that this ride is not typical Disney.

The cynic in me (ok, the cynic in me which has almost consumed me) thinks that Disney is trying to "spin" (who could avoid such a pun?) this death in their usual liablitity-avoidance manner. News reports say the kid was "unresponsive" after being pulled from the attraction, but that's just Disneyspeak for "dead."

Actually, the report said he regained consciousness once before being declared dead.

And there are vomit bags available on every commercial airplane. Does that make them extreme and inherently hazardous? No, it means people get motion sick. Heck, I'm mildly surprised that there aren't vomit bags on Star Tours. Even I get a tad queezey on ST if I've just eaten.

I get queasy on ToT if I ride 3 times in a row. But where are the vomit bags on that?

Ah-ha! Then Mission Space is demonstrably and Disneyadmittedly more puke-inducing than even Tower of Terror, its heretofore most vomitous attraction!



- - And can anyone provide a link to a credible report of the child regaining consciousness post Space, pre-mortem? They are hounding me on that other message board I mod at to change the name of the thread (same name as this one by same O.P.).

Dang, now I can't find where I saw that. I thought it was in the original link, but I don't see it.

I wouldn't be so sure about that. I've seen more post-ride pukes on the teacups than any other ride.

Perhaps, this questions should be addressed to the real persons of knowledge.....those who are called to an attraction for Code V.

When I was in elementary school, a kid dropped dead on the playground after spinning on the merry go round - it was later determined he had a previously undiagnosed heart weakness. Mission: Space is a forceful ride, but the forces are applied for longer durations than most simple thrill rides.