Celestial Park - General Discussion Thread

[Parkscope Joe]

IIRC, most rides allow wheelchair bound quests to ride as long as they can transfer themselves from their chair to the ride vehicle unassisted. Although this very sad case has shown that there are possibly even more restrictions that may need to be taken into account for rides such as these. It seems that the guest not having muscular control of their lower legs may have been a factor in this and I don't recall rides having strict rules about something like that. They have rules about amputees and the location of the amputation point but that was all I believe.

It's also a very common thing in the parks, on my visit a wheelchair using man quickly transferred from his chair to the Hulk vehicle easily. Then he was fine and got off. Just comes back to folks not knowing what others are going through, and the best solution is to provide as much information as possible for the guest to make the correct decision for them.

 

[fryoj]

Manslaughter investigation kicks off over guest who died after riding Stardust Racers at Epic Universe

Following the death of a guest who died after riding the roller coaster last week, investigators now say they are looking into the case under the state’s “manslaughter” statute.

www.clickorlando.com

Interesting that they are investigating this as manslaughter. The article does say that they investigate all accidental deaths as manslaughter, so it may be nothing. I can really only come up with a couple scenarios that would result in an actual manslaughter charge, so we’ll just hope those aren’t the case here.

 

[v0latilebear]

Saw someone saying they’re testing stardust racers at night, is this true?

 

[GAcoaster]

Saw someone saying they’re testing stardust racers at night, is this true?

It wouldn't be surprising if they're doing more water dummy testing after the park closes.

 

[Alicia]

Saw someone saying they’re testing stardust racers at night, is this true?

The FDOA mentioned some test results they’ve seen, so I’m assuming any cycling done in the past week or so has been related to these tests.

 

[Lucky Planet]

saw this on different places, different people said it, not sure about it but it made me curious, just wondering about it.

"Thorpe Park (UK) Mack Hypercoaster with the same restraint system has updated their safety restrictions as of today. Riders now need to be ambulant"

 

[tyro]

saw this on different places, different people said it, not sure about it but it made me curious, just wondering about it.

"Thorpe Park (UK) Mack Hypercoaster with the same restraint system has updated their safety restrictions as of today. Riders now need to be ambulant"

I find this interesting, as when my mother was with us at Disney in a wheelchair a handful of years ago, and before getting allowed into the ADA enterance on splash mountain, they made sure and asked if she would be able to take stairs in case of emergency, I just assumed this was something every park asked for ADA safety, but maybe not.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Friends don’t let friends post Wallin.

 

[ZachPL]

Man who died after ride at Epic Universe was 'fully independent' and a 'theme park enthusiast,' family says

The 32-year-old was found unresponsive on the Stardust Racers roller coaster and later pronounced dead at the hospital,

www.wesh.com

Sounds like they are trying to put this on his injury where the lawyer is trying to point in a different direction.

 

[Lucky Planet]

I find this interesting, as when my mother was with us at Disney in a wheelchair a handful of years ago, and before getting allowed into the ADA enterance on splash mountain, they made sure and asked if she would be able to take stairs in case of emergency, I just assumed this was something every park asked for ADA safety, but maybe not.

Friends don’t let friends post Wallin.

I just saw the post on Twitter but I don't know them. I also saw it mentioned on the reddit page and on Facebook by different accounts, but the twitter post was the easiest to share here.

 

[Evan]

The families lawyer had a presser.

Member of another forum wrote up some key points:

• Victim was born with a spinal condition
• However he was under no medical restrictions at the time of his death
• In fact, he often rode coasters across various parks
• Eyewitness, according to Crump, said that part of the seat covering in front of the victim was loose
• There are various eyewitnesses who may come forward, again according to Crump.
• Family at one point had a non-profit which set up disabled people with jobs at theme parks across Orlando - including 300 across the Universal parks, and 100 each at Disney and Seaworld

 

[Jake S]

I know the state of local news is dire but good lord that article gave me a migraine.