Kenversations™
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Recent Changes at the Parks
You may have noticed some of the changes at Disney parks meant to increase safety, or perhaps just maintain it in a world increasingly filled with careless, inattentive people and focused news media scrutiny. Disney parks have seen the addition of what I call "idiot gates" and black and yellow warning striping in loading/unloading areas. Generic signs apparently telling you to hold hands, remain seated, supervise children, and not to dance have appeared everywhere.

Then there are changes done in response to actual accidents.

For almost seven years, Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin treated tens of millions of people to fun without a problem. One night in September of 2000, a little boy "fell" out and was, tragically, severely injured. The ride was closed long enough that children were conceived and born before it was open again, because of state involvement. When it was reopened, the ride vehicles were heavily modified. It doesn’t matter that, as far as I can tell, someone who was sitting down couldn’t fall out of the vehicle the way it was before. Someone deemed the changes as necessary for protection of the guests.

And yet, on some attractions, there is little or no restraint to protect people from themselves. There’s really nothing stopping anyone from leaping off back of the Mark Twain into the paddlewheel, leaping off of Tarzan’s Treehouse, jumping from the Disney Gallery entrance unto the Pirates of the Caribbean FastPass machines, or getting out of the ride vehicles on Pirates of the Caribbean, It’s a Small World, Haunted Mansion, or Splash Mountain. What’s to stop someone from leaving their Matterhorn bobsled behind and diving from the side of the mountain? Are we to expect similar changes for those attractions?

Theme Parks Are Very Safe
Even before these changes, theme parks were very safe.

Accidents aren’t increasing…you’re just hearing about them more. Considering the ratio of accidental deaths and serious injuries to the number of visits per year to permanent amusement parks, and you realize that you are in far more danger travelling to and from the park than you are at the park. Take Disneyland Park, for instance. It sees 12-15 million visits a year, which averages out to around 33,000 to 41,000 people a day visiting. This isn’t including the staff. For that many people in an area that is less than 100 acres, you’re talking about very few accidents. It is one of the safest places on the planet.

Visiting a theme park is one of the safest of all leisure activities. Sports, rock or pop music concerts, a Snoop Doggy Dog movie opening weekend, dating - all are more risky than attending a theme park.

Theme park owners want you to make return visits, and they want you to tell everyone else what a great time you had, so they will visit, too. They certainly don’t want you to be injured for life, telling everyone what happened to you and where, and they definitely don’t want fatalities on their hands.

In addition to negative publicity, accidents also result in almost guaranteed lawsuits, liability issues, insurance costs, attraction downtime, clean up costs, etc.

So, if only from a purely profit-minded standpoint, theme park owners have an interest in the safety of their guests. They thoroughly test and regularly inspect their attractions, and put them through regular maintenance.

Aside from the profit motive and any state theme park regulation, other forms of regulation, such as building codes, are in effect. (Walt Disney World, it should be noted, is not subject to most of the county building codes, and instead has its own.) Also, any accident resulting in a fatality is already under the jurisdiction of the county coroner. It isn’t as if theme parks aren’t regulated, even if a state government does not have specific regulation of theme parks.

Safety is the top priority at Disney parks. Anyone who has been through the first day of Disney University orientation knows that. Cast members are trained to focus on safety, regardless of what their particular job is.

Disney theme parks are staffed with registered nurses and emergency medical response teams, and guests are surrounded by other people. If a guest was to have a heart attack, he would likely receive attention faster if he was at a theme park than if he was at home.

Furthermore, in addition to accidents on attractions, Disney parks also have prepared for disasters. You could be safer at a theme park than in your own home!

Still, accidents and injuries do happen at amusement parks, due to a number of factors.