Lawsuit Filed Against Disney After Scooter Falls On Woman Aboard Walt Disney World Resort Bus

Jessica Figueroa

Lawsuit Filed Against Disney After Scooter Falls On Woman Aboard Walt Disney World Resort Bus

If you’ve ever been on a Walt Disney World Resort bus, you’ll know what it’s like to coexist on a cramped, sweaty bus with a couple dozen other tired parkgoers. In an ideal scenario, soft Disney music plays over the PA (bonus points if it’s themed to your resort) while resort guests nap or reminisce in the cool A/C. However, that’s not how it usually goes.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, Emily Rose, a 70-year-old grandmother from New York was knocked over by a motorized scooter while aboard a Walt Disney World Resort bus back in December 2015. The bus, which was on its way back to Disney’s Beach Club Resort from the Magic Kingdom, made a sudden sharp turn, tipping over a woman in a scooter and knocking over Rose, who has since suffered from knee and back issues. Rose is seeking more than $15,000 in damages in Orange Circuit Court.

Rose’s lawyer, Maxine Noel of Stuart, made the following statement about the incident:

“I feel so bad for her and I’m so angry at Disney. C’mon. If anybody should be accountable – there are families and people coming there from all ages – aren’t they supposed to provide a certain measure of safety?”

The lawsuit accuses Disney of not properly securing the scooter in place during the bus ride and failing to train bus drivers properly on the procedures necessary to do so. When reached for comment by the Sentinel, Disney World spokeswoman Erica Ettori said, “We will respond to the allegations, as appropriate, in court.”

Incidents involving scooters are far too common across Disney Parks, and especially Walt Disney World. Back in January, a Disney Annual Passholder sued Disney after an incident where she was run over by a motorized scooter.

23 thoughts on “Lawsuit Filed Against Disney After Scooter Falls On Woman Aboard Walt Disney World Resort Bus”

    • Asking for “more than $15,000 in damages” sounds like she just want her medical bills paid for and could very well be the doing of her insurance company.

    • A 15k payday? That’s not very aggressive. To me that looks like medical expenses. Heck we dont even know if it was her or her insurance company instigating it. They can sue on your behalf.

  1. I just came back from a 7 day tour in Iceland. They are a common sense country, a lot of natural wonders but with it comes natural safety measures. Common sense meaning, there’s a cliff, you know to keep a safe distance from it. Strokkur spews very hot water, don’t touch it. Our country is all about so called “safety” and putting the blame mostly on the companies but this creates lawsuit happy people. I think its time to lessen these lawsuits and start enacting common sense. I wonder what are the numbers of frivilous lawsuits for the past 100 years.

  2. As someone who uses a scooter, and rides Disney Transportation since 2014, I find this hard to believe. The drivers strap your scooter in so tightly it barely moves! They are also VERY well trained, and unfailingly polite and helpful. Somthing doesn’t quite make sense here. If a person were ON the scooter, perhaps THEY loosened the riggings…but being that its winched front and back…meh..again, just doesn’t add up!

  3. Disney needs to crack down on the use of scooters altogether. I’d say 70% of the scooters you see there are fake news. I live in Canada and I probably haven’t seen 10 scooters being use here over my entire life. In the US it seems every other person is in one. Americans are no older than Canadians so why is everyone using a scooter? Disney needs to start cracking down on the utter laziness.

    • Join the discussion…I have elderly parents who love to go to WDW and rent scooters because they would not be able to handle the amount of walking, even an easy park day requires. They don’t use them at home for normal trips to the grocery store, etc. but they wouldn’t be able to enjoy a Disney vacation without a scooter. I can assure you they are not lazy, just not blessed with the endurance in their 80s that they had a few years ago. You may think you can look at someone and determine whether they should be able to handle the walking in the Florida heat without a scooter, but even if you are an experienced doctor, I don’t think you can make that determination. I object to scooter abuses, like allowing a kid to ride on your lap while you’re navigating through a park, but I wouldn’t judge someone else for using a scooter at Disney since I can’t possibly know their strength by looking at them.

  4. The bus drivers are in need of more training. On July 16th we were on osceola parkway at 5:30, going through Disney property. Bus #4823 shot from the far right lane to the far left lane. He (or she) never signaled, never checked for oncoming traffic. The road was very busy- go home time for a lot of people. Luckily everyone, including my husband, was paying attention; because had another driver been distracted there would have been a major pile up. You take your life in your hands when you drive on the same roads as Disney busses.

  5. I have had to use scooters my last 2 visits to Disney and every time my scooter was secured in place by the bus driver. It was attached to a rail on the side of the bus, very secure. I’m sorry to hear someone was injured. When I used the scooter the very 1st time I drove it around some until I was aware of its speed and how quickly it stoped so I wouldn’t hit anyone and haven’t. The hard part is watching out for other people who aren’t paying attention I’ve had several people walk into me I see them coming stop & they hit me.

    • My wife has to ride a scooter at Disney, and sometimes someone will just walk right in front of her. I know people are looking around at the rides and scenery, but I hope they will try to be aware of people on scooters and small children. My wife would prefer to not have to ride a scooter.

  6. Who knows for how long she has been contacting Disney. If it is a serious/significant injury $15K isn’t much money. Everything sounds just plain out of wack.

    I’m not sure you can blame Disney for too many scooter incidents. When you put 200,000 people in close proximity with lots of scooters, many of the riders who don’t know how to operate a scooter, I think you have to expect issues. Are the number of incidents that great on a per person basis?

    A scooter falling over on a bus is driver error, but most incidents are rider and walker error.

  7. So, she waits 4 years and then files suit…..I could understand filing suit within the 1st 6 months. Also, the reference at the end of the article to someone else getting hit by a scooter- it’s not Disney’s fault if someone can’t properly operate the scooter they are driving. No way that Disney should have ever been sued in that case.

    • A man this past trip told his wife to move over a seat, leaving the window one empty so nobody could sit with her. We had multiple elderly and people holding babies on the bus. Dealt with inconsiderate behavior the whole trip.

  8. So ridiculous. First the buses are lit sweaty. They’re cold as hell! And why sue Disney… if a little kid had left a banana peel on the floor of the bus and this lady stepped on it and fell and broke her hip, would it be Disney’s fault? No! But she would sue anyways. Come on people stop being victims!!!

  9. 1) It takes time for these sorts of cases to go through the system. If you’re trying to prove that you have long-term injury issues, you can’t do that in a couple of months. Just getting the necessary medical visits and paperwork the courts will demand can take years. Please stop saying there’s something wrong with this suit because it’s dealing with a four year old incident.
    2) If you think she’s just a money grubber when all she’s asking for is $15,000.00? Boy do you lack imagination. That figure was probably set by her insurance company.

  10. Like someone said, maybe it’s the insurance suing on behalf. Who wants to pay that much in medical bills? Certainly NOT the insurance company. Odds are that’s what the company paid out while the person had to pay co-pays. Although, the article says the scooter AND the rider tipped over. What happened to the rider? Disney will never be able to crack down on the scooter use due to the ADA. My mom used to ride scooters because she had radiation brain damage due to her breast cancer. We had to be really careful with her as she would go really fast, jack up, etc. The last year we were able to go with her, we used a wheel chair. I have to admit each time we went, the buses we rode took caution loading/unloading the scooter, strapping it in, making sure people were clear of the drop down ramp. Again, this is what we experienced.

  11. We have been to Disney World 15 times and those scooters and most of the drivers are the real problem. We have seen people who are just too lazy to walk. For the rest of the people I really feel bad for them and I will get out of there way and hold doors whenever possible.

  12. In regards to what seems a low demand of $15,000, this number is not the actual amount being demanded. To qualify for the level of the court system that the suit is filed in, the damages must exceed $15,000 to qualify. You put a generic statement of the damages exceeding $15,000 in your pleadings not the exact dollar amount that you actually want.

  13. Ban Scooters! Biggest drag when you stay on Disney property. The family of “large” persons shows up, family in tow, skips to the front of the line, takes 7 – 8 seats, leaving the rest of the guests waiting longer in line for their bus.

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