4-year-old boy dies on Disney World ride

[Pebbles]

...

I know this was not necessarily anything mechanical, but I have read websites of ride operators/maintenance/repair, and they sometimes mention the thrill seekers who actually operate the ride (taking risks) can be part of the problem. Either they are chatting with friends/other co-workers while a complex attraction runs, they want to do something cool, or perhaps they, get this, WANT SOMETHING TO MALFUNCTION SO THEY CAN GO ON BREAK!!!!

I find that difficult to believe that a Disney Cast Member or ride operator would do that. It simply seems like a tighter ship being run there than most of your run-of-the-mill amusement parks.

And that's EXACTLY it. Most of us parents think exactly that! I just can't fault the parents for allowing their child to ride.

[george_r_1961]

Not a medical expert here but heres my opinion, The strong G forces MAY have pulled blood away from his heart causing cardiac arrest. In healthy adult this would be unlikely. Its also possible that this boy was so frightened that he went into tachycardia( very fast heartbeat) and that degenerated into an arrythmia (irregular heartbeat)..followed by cardiac arrest. Very sad

[CajunMama]

My daughter's been on this ride quite a few times over the last couple of years. No one in her group had any problems with motion sickness or anything else for that matter. She also told me that they had slowed the ride down from the original speed because people were getting ill at the higher speed.

[Hurricaneman]

They need slighty stricter requirements for rides like that

[alicia-w]

it's always possible that this child may have died just walking around too. guess we wont ever really know. it's horribly sad either way. those parents will be blaming themselves for the rest of their lives.