Space Mountain Temporarily Closed

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Wow, that is so crazy! Amazing that he didn’t get hurt!

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Never underestimate the ability of someone with a cognitive disability who is panicking...

I wonder if it was panic or over excitement. We have friends whose adult son has a serious cognitive disability. Loves DLR, but has to be restrained on rides because of his excitement. He "jumps" up or tries to on almost everything. He can be reminded to stay seated, but it takes at least one strong adult to be with him on every ride to make sure that he remembers "bottom on the seat!" (The ride vehicle configurations now -- e.g. Matterhorn, Splash Mt. -- that separate riders don't make this easy.) I could see a situation like this happening if this guy got over excited and wanted to jump up or out -- it would be too difficult to restrain him once he got out of firm grasp. And the person in question might not have been forced to ride. He might have wanted to ride, then started having problems after loading. Does the poor person even know what he did? Obviously his friends knew that it was an issue. This is going to be difficult for Disney to resolve.

 

[sherilaine]

Trying to remember the details, and I can't seem to find the article. But it seems like a man did something similar on Splash Mt at WDW about 5 years back. Seems like they had to take it out of commission for a while. And then they ended up adding lap bars. The bummer here is that someone doing something really dumb is costing a lot of people their favorite attraction. And more, all those people are flooding to other e-tickets all day.

That said....Space Mt is the perennial DL favorite...and always breaking down. But so does Indy, Big Thunder, and Roger Rabbit. Seems to be a problem that's never addressed.

I honestly think whoever was responsible for encouraging someone to get on a ride like this when they have a known cognitive disability is the irresponsible one, not necessarily the poor person who was likely panicked beyond their ability to cope and this was their only alternative. This could have been much worse.

 

[otten]

I honestly think whoever was responsible for encouraging someone to get on a ride like this when they have a known cognitive disability is the irresponsible one, not necessarily the poor person who was likely panicked beyond their ability to cope and this was their only alternative. This could have been much worse.

Exactly. From what has been reported it doesn't sound like this was a 'dumb move' situation on the part of the individual but possibly poor judgement on the part of other members of his party.

 

[fatmanatee]

More info on what happened: https://www.ocregister.com/2019/01/...osed-after-visitor-climbs-off-ride-in-motion/

Key part:

Anaheim police responded to a medical aid call at the park. Initial reports indicated that the man had fallen out of the ride, but that turned out to not be the case, said Anaheim police Sgt. Daron Wyatt.

“He didn’t fall out,” Wyatt said. “He had to maneuver himself around the safety mechanism.”

The man, who has cognitive disabilities, climbed out of the moving train in the dark during a slower portion of the ride as the coaster was making its initial climb, Wyatt said. Disneyland attraction operators stopped the coaster once they realized the man was not on the ride and located him, Wyatt said.
​

No injuries, thankfully.

 

[dreeger]

Oh, I hope you're wrong. We are coming in a week for my daughter's birthday, and it's her favorite ride.

Thanks for the link to the article.

We fly in tonight for the weekend and will also be saddened if it's down. Looking at the app today, looks like half the attractions are temporarily closed today :-(

 

[midnight star]

We fly in tonight for the weekend and will also be saddened if it's down. Looking at the app today, looks like half the attractions are temporarily closed today :-(

Probably due to rain and lightning. The weather lady just said Orange County will get the worst part of the storm by 1-2pm today. It’s supposed to be raining all weekend.

 

[Malcon10t]

I think it is going to be down a while. What he did shouldn't be able to be done, so they are now looking at how it was done and how to correct it. DOSH is involved.. He only fell about 4 feet onto the CM catwalk, but if he had been higher it would have been worse.

 

[tlovesdis]

We fly in tonight for the weekend and will also be saddened if it's down. Looking at the app today, looks like half the attractions are temporarily closed today :-(

It's probably raining, which is why a lot of outdoor things are closed.

 

[midnight star]

I think it is going to be down a while. What he did shouldn't be able to be done, so they are now looking at how it was done and how to correct it. DOSH is involved.. He only fell about 4 feet onto the CM catwalk, but if he had been higher it would have been worse.

I wonder if they will change the lap bars now?

 

[DLgal]

We fly in tonight for the weekend and will also be saddened if it's down. Looking at the app today, looks like half the attractions are temporarily closed today :-(

That's probably due to the rain. It's pouring in Anaheim right now.

 

[shooting4life]

Lightening has closed 2/3’s of dca.

 

[Crmaur03]

I wouldn't be sad if they closed it down for refurb right now and had it back up for my trip in mid-March....

My exact thought too, as of this moment it doesnt look like it will be up for mine.

 

[sherilaine]

This must be so frustrating for them to deal with - a person can unbuckle their seat belt, open their door and hurl themselves onto the highway while a vehicle is going 100 miles an hour if they want. From what is being reported the ride did not malfunction and the person was not thrown from the ride vehicle, this occurred due to the occupant of the ride doing something very wrong.

 

[YayforMickey]

This must be so frustrating for them to deal with - a person can unbuckle their seat belt, open their door and hurl themselves onto the highway while a vehicle is going 100 miles an hour if they want. From what is being reported the ride did not malfunction and the person was not thrown from the ride vehicle, this occurred due to the occupant of the ride doing something very wrong.

The minute Cal OSHA thinks there's any possibility that something could go wrong, boom. This could take forever.

 

[Malcon10t]

From what is being reported the ride did not malfunction and the person was not thrown from the ride vehicle, this occurred due to the occupant of the ride doing something very wrong.

The ride malfunctioned in that there are sensors that were supposed to detect weight on the catwalk he landed on and E-stop the ride. It didn't. He was on the cat walk for the duration of their rocket's ride, and was undetected. How he got out is one thing, while why the sensor didn't stop the ride is a different issue.

 

[sherilaine]

The ride malfunctioned in that there are sensors that were supposed to detect weight on the catwalk he landed on and E-stop the ride. It didn't. He was on the cat walk for the duration of their rocket's ride, and was undetected. How he got out is one thing, while why the sensor didn't stop the ride is a different issue.

Okay - that I did not know - thanks for that information.

 

[DCLPrincess]

This has never sat well with me. I remember they used to physically push down on safety bars. I don't know why they stopped that practice. I understand the "pull on the safety strap" protocol on other rides because they are checking the integrity of the latch/buckle, but it seems unwise to trust people to pull down a roller coaster safety bar down far enough. Especially people with disabilities.

I've never worried about it because I know I'm not going to climb out and wouldn't be able to fall out. They are trusting that people won't try to climb out and shouldn't be held responsible if people do.

 

[DLgal]

I've never worried about it because I know I'm not going to climb out and wouldn't be able to fall out. They are trusting that people won't try to climb out and shouldn't be held responsible if people do.

Disagree. It is the park's responsibility to ensure that riders are safely restrained. Disneyland is full of children and, in the case of disabled adults, you cannot just assume that they know how far to pull down a safety bar. This is why checking that everyone is safely restrained should be the protocol. The CMs have really gotten pretty lazy in this area, IMO.

 

[2tinkerbell]

This is a sad occurrence. I feel really bad for the person involved.

My DD was about 14 years old and she wanted to try Space Mountain. She got on the ride and when it took off, she hollered "Get me off!" I calmly said, "Hold on tight and shut your eyes, it will be over in 3 minutes." Instead of me holding on, I relied on the lap restraint and put my hands on her shoulders so she knew I was right there. She decided she wouldn't go on it again. Fast forward 8 years and we were at DL with friends. Peer pressure got the best of her and she wanted to go on it. This time, something happened and they had to stop the ride and they turned on the lights. She saw the track and said, "Oh, we are on a track!" I have no idea what she thought years earlier. Those who love Space Mountain will be happy to know that we haven't done that ride since those 2 experiences.