Disneyland, is one of the world’s safest amusement parks. A cast member at Disneyland always knows, Safety always comes first. Before curtousy, before efficiency, safety is the number one rule. Before a person can work at Disneyland, they must be aware that safety is everyone’s responsibility.
All cast members are trained for the worst emergencies, most likely they will never use those precautions, but all employees at Disneyland are trained for every type of accident or emergency; they’ll know what to do if someone gets run over by a car, or how to evacuate the guests during a fire. They know what there doing.
Although, some accidents do happen at Disneyland. Considering how the employees are around so much heavy machinery, and equipment it’s amazing there aren’t more accidents.
The park has two First Aid Stations. Central First Aid, between the Plaza in, and the Baby Care Center. And a smaller station behind the Mile Long Bar, in Critter Country, for busier times.
Mark Maples, 1964, Matterhorn Bobsleds
The Matterhorn
The parks first a fifteen-year-old Mark Maples. Mark was playing hooky from school with a few of his friends on a Friday morning in 1964. As their bobsled traveled through the Matterhorn a companion unlocked Maples seat belt. Nearing the top of the peak, Maples tried to stand up. He lost his balance and fell to the concrete below. The fall fractured his scull, his ribs, and ruptured his organs.
After the fall Disneyland nurses rushed him to nearby Palm Harbor Hospital. He died in the hospital 3 days later. His parents sued Disneyland, but obviously no one could have prevented what happened, Disneyland was cleared.
Rickey Lee Yama, 1967, The People Mover
The People Mover Track
In 1967, 17-year-old, Rickey Lee Yama, and his friends were on the PoepleMover, jumping from car to car as the ride went through a tunnel. Yama’s friends made it, then they heard Yama’s screams as fell beneath a car, and was crushed by it’s wheels.
Minutes after, a security guard was on the scene.”I knew he was dead right away,” said the security guard. “I looked under the car, and could see his head was right in two.” The ride had to be dismantled to remove the body.
Sherril Ann Hoffman, 1979, Space Mountain
In 1979, Sherrill Ann Hoffman and her family were riding Space Mountain. So, Sherrill and her family went through the ride . During the ride. Sherrill became ill. When the rocket returned back to the station, cast members tried to help her out, although she couldn’t get out. So they tried to signal the Ride Operator to take that rocket off the tracks, so she could get off.
Although, the operator didn’t understand the signals, so Sherrill
went through the ride one more time. When the rocket returned, Sherrill was unconscious. Attendants took her to a bench, and calmed her down. The Disneyland nurse kept telling her husband that everything would be ok. Although, everything wasn’t ok.
When Sherrill finally got to the Hospital, she remained in a comma for a week, and then died.
Doctors later discovered Sherril had a tumor in her heart. The jolt from the ride on Space Mountain must have dislodged it. The fragments then traveled up her blood stream, to her brain, lodging there, and killing her.
Horse Drawn Streetcars, Main Street U.S.A.
One day, a horse pulling a streetcar on Main Street had a heart attack, in the middle of the street. The only way to get the large animal off stage was with a forklift. But the supervisor in charge knew the reporters would have a field day with that. So they covered the horse with a large tarp.
Guests would ask “What’s under there?” Staff would try to explain how the horse had a heart attacks, just like a person
The PoepleMover, 1968
New rides at Disneyland always have problems. A few bugs, or glitches, always something that is eventually worked out. Well, when the PoepleMover first opened it had many problems. The entire ride broke down every 20 Minutes, leaving passengers stranded for hours.
On one November nigh, in 1968, it suddenly began to rain. As one train of cars began to come over the bend, it’s tires lost traction on the newly wet track. The train began to roll backwards. The sliding cars began to smash in to the next train, and the next. Like slow motion, the impact threw screaming passengers from their seats, against car walls, and steel polls.
Disneyland spent thousands of dollars settling lawsuits with the injured parties, 23 in all. Disneyland immediately installed slip-free, pneumatic tires on all cars.
On the night of this PoepleMover fatality, Jungle Cruise Skippers were suggesting to passengers to go check out the new attraction in Tomorrowland: The People Remover.
