Today the Florida Department of Agriculture’s quarterly MOU Exempt Facilities Report came out and shows four separate incidents that recently happened at the Walt Disney World Resort.
Four Injuries in Quarter One 2023 at Walt Disney World Resort
The first injury stated in the report is from January, when a 75-year-old female reported experiencing cardiac symptoms while on Pirates of the Caribbean.
The next report covers an incident from a month later in early February. On the Kilimanjaro Safaris Expedition, a 72-year-old male guest with a preexisting condition had stroke-like symptoms after experiencing the ride.
A couple of weeks later at the end of February, on Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, a 72-year-old female guest felt disoriented after exiting the attraction.
Finally, in late March, a 67-year-old female guest fell when entering the ride vehicle on The Seas with Nemo & Friends, fracturing her leg.
The MOU Exempt Facilities Report, Inspections and DeSantis
This report, called the MOU Exempt Facilities Report, is submitted by major theme parks quarterly in lieu of inspections. In an agreement that the state of Florida has had with these major entities for decades, parks may employ their own mechanics and inspections crews to help alleviate some of the strain on the state’s resources. This report is intended as a way to show the public that the parks are in fact well cared for and safe places to visit.
The top of the report states: “The following report is a compilation of data collected from the exempt facilities and reflects only the information reported at the time of the incident. Due to privacy-related concerns, the Department does not receive updates to initial assessments of a patron’s condition.” This means that if further complications happened with any of these guests, it would not be listed in the report.
Despite the injuries and medical complaints listed above, this quarter saw some of the lowest injury counts in recent history. Both Walt Disney World Resort and Universal Orlando Resort have a lower injury report count than they have had for over a year.
Recently, the Governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, has taken it upon himself to change the way these parks and their transportation systems are operated and maintained. He recently signed a bill mandating state inspections of the Walt Disney World Monorail System, taking over the responsibility of upkeep from Disney themselves.
The bill is known as SB 1250 and deals with a number of small changes to the operations of the Florida Department of Transportation. One amendment in particular is designed to target the Walt Disney World Monorail System specifically. While the original bill filed in February as well as subsequent revisions in March and on April 14 did not contain this provision, an amendment was attached on April 26, the same day Disney filed suit against Gov. DeSantis and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District on First Amendment grounds.
The bill goes into effect on July 1.
There were talks of requiring Disney to have the attractions inspected by the State as well, though that seems to have been abandoned at this time.
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