Orlando is home to the world's most popular attractions, including Walt Disney World, Universal Studios and Sea World. Millions of people of all ages visit these and other amusement and theme parks each year. While being great places of entertainment, amusement and theme parks have also been responsible for needless injury and death.

Mechanical problems with rides and a failure to keep their property free from dangerous conditions continue to harm innocent visitors and guests. Theme Park accidents can be similar to other premises liability cases, such as uneven sidewalks, slippery substances on the floor, failure to provide adequate lights or signs. Of course, these claims are against theme park owners such as Walt Disney World, Universal Studios and Sea World.

In these cases, documentation of the condition that caused the injury is critical. While injury on a ride may be difficult to document, other dangerous conditions such as broken devices or foreign substances or defects in roads and sidewalks can be photographed. Fortunately, most visitors to the Orlando area theme parks have cameras with them and this makes obtaining pictures of any dangerous condition much easier.

Newsworthy injuries regarding theme park rides include: a man from Florida dying after riding Busch Gardens Tampa's roller coaster; a little boy from Georgia bitten on the arm by a dolphin at Sea World Orlando; a boy from Kentucky dying after riding Walt Disney World's Rock 'n' Roller Coaster; a woman from Germany dying after riding Walt Disney World's Mission: Space; injury at Space Mountain at Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom; and, injury at the wave pool at Typhoon lagoon.

The Consumer Protection Safety Commission (CPSC) estimates that the number of serious injuries on amusement park and theme park rides requiring emergency medical care have increased to nearly 5,000 each year. Unfortunately, the CPSC's cannot obtain complete information because of the limitations of the Consumer Product Safety Act. There is a "roller coaster loophole." This limitation prohibits the CPSC from regulating the safety of rides that are fixed to a specific site. While mobile rides, such as those in local carnivals and other traveling attractions can be regulated and monitored, the giant amusement and theme parks fall outside the jurisdiction of the CPSC.

As a result, regulation and inspection of "fixed site" amusement rides are left up to the state or local municipality. As you can imagine, this oversight varies and usually provides less protections than consumers deserve. A majority of states and municipalities provide only limited regulation and oversight. While California, Florida and Ohio do attempt some oversight of their many amusement parks, visitors have little information on the number of guests who have been seriously injured on rides at theme parks such as Walt Disney World, Universal Studios Florida and Sea World Orlando.

CPSC has stated that several factors are at fault in the amusement park accidents and injury: consumer behavior, operator behavior, mechanical failure and design defects. Responsibility for amusement park accidents and theme park injuries are determined by different areas of law. Some cases may involve only negligence, while others may involve product liability law. These cases require the expertise of an Orlando personal injury lawyer with experience handling amusement park accident and theme park injury cases.

The influence of Florida's largest amusement parks and theme parks may be the reason they are exempt from regulations that require mandatory reporting of injuries and permit inspection of theme park rides. However, we are committed to protecting the safety of Florida's families and those who visit Orlando theme parks. If you or your family needs assistance as a result of an accident or injury at an Orlando amusement or theme park, we would like to help. Contact us online or call 407-244-1212 for your free consultation.