Warning: Young Child was Injured on a Disney Coaster
Disney is known for having a high standard for Guest safety. Unfortunately, even with the best intentions accidents can still happen. A young child was recently injured on a Disney coaster. See the photo and what the mother of this young child wants you to know about safety on Disney attractions.
Guest Safety
Disney is known for having a high standard for Guest safety. In fact, it is so important Safety is the #1 key for Cast Members. Let me explain a bit further. Being a Cast Member means experiencing the "Disney Difference" and then passing it on to Disney Guests.
To accomplish the highest quality, Cast Members are instilled with four keys (now five) and those keys are respected through the course of their career with The Walt Disney Company.
Each key is an integral part of the professionalism Cast Members display towards Guests and other Cast Members. Each key is essential, and together they guarantee an exceptional Guest experience.
The keys appear in a specific order based on importance, with Guest safety being #1. Unfortunately, accidents can still happen that put Guests' safety at risk.
Matterhorn Bobsleds
The Matterhorn Bobsleds attraction is a thrill coaster located at Disneyland Park. In case you have never been on it, Disney describes the ride as:
"Climb into a 6-person bobsled and brace yourself against howling winds as you ascend 80 feet up into an icy cave. Take in the sweeping views at the summit and prepare for a thrilling, high-speed ride.
Swoop in and out of shadowy caves and along jagged rocky ledges. Throttle through snowy chutes and around frozen precipices. Fly across bridges and under waterfalls before splashing down into an alpine lake.
The real peril is not snow or sleet! Stories abound of a growling creature known as the Abominable Snowman-who will do anything and everything to protect his home."
Sounds a lot like Expedition Everest at Disney's Animal Kingdom, doesn't it? The ride has a 42" height requirement so fairly young children are able to ride.
Matterhorn Incident
Unfortunately, a young boy was injured on Matterhorn Bobsleds earlier this month while he and his family were visiting Disneyland. His mother gave us the photo and shared her story with us. She hopes it brings awareness to the situation and educates other parents.
It was the family's first trip to Disneyland and their first time on Matterhorn Bobsleds. The young boy was excited to ride the coaster, but things turned south while on the ride.
The ride is very jerky as described above, and the child was not able to reach the bar in front of him to hold on. He was leaning forward to hold on as much as he could with one hand while he used his other hand to hold on to the side bar. Unfortunately, due to the design of the ride vehicle his father was not able to hold on to him to keep him stabilized.
So on one of the hardest curves, he hit his head on the side of the seat. His left eye lid became injured, and as soon as they got off the ride, Disney Cast Members notified a guard and a nurse to help.
Aftermath
The nurse checked him over, and he was thankfully okay. After about 20 minutes he was ready to continue riding other less intense attractions. Disney told the family that if it became more serious the company would pay the costs of any care he needed to receive.
The young boy ended up going to the hospital later on just to be sure that it was nothing to be concerned about. He got a good report from the doctor, but the incident did leave a nasty bruise on his eye.
WARNING: The photo below shows an injury on a young child.
The photo above was taken three days after the incident. You can see how close the bruise is to his eye. Thankfully, his eyeball was not injured in any way.
Bringing Awareness
The young boy's family wants to bring awareness to this situation so other parents can be educated on the risk involved with riding Disney attractions.
Even adults have shared that they have been "thrown around" in the ride vehicle on Matterhorn. It is known to be a bumpy ride, but with a 42" height requirement it should not be bouncing Guests around too forcefully.
Perhaps a higher height requirement or even a re-designing of the lap restraints would help make this ride more safe. Currently, a lap belt is the only thing holding Guests in. A heavier bar like on Space Mountain or even a restraint that pulls down over your head like Rock 'n' Rollercoaster may be more effective.
The family of this young boy also wants to warn other parents to be knowledgable about attractions in the parks. They regret not doing more research on Matterhorn Bobsleds. Viewing photos or videos would help to know what to expect and decide if the ride is appropriate for your children.
By knowing more about the ride, you can ensure your children know what to hold on to and how to stabilize themselves on any given attraction. However, even with the best information and intentions, injuries are still possible on Disney attractions. Even though Disney Parks are probably the most family and child friendly theme parks in the world, accidents are still a possibility.
We thank the family for sharing this young boy's story. Hopefully it brings awareness and helps other parents planning vacations for their families.
What happened
Concussion would be a concern.
What exactly did you see? Was she injured?
This ride is terrible and made worse by the most recent vehicles. I too was left injured. It needs to have the entire track replaced, but from what I have heard they cannot do this because the mountain itself is crumbling.
It’s a roller coaster.. it’s jarring and things happen. Maybe he was too young to ride it regardless of his height? It’s a very rough ride with hard turns and I do feel for him, but that’s something you have to think about when you put your kid on a fast ride even in Disneyland. Keep your kid in toon town and not on a 79 ft ride. If you pay attention, you can tell it’s taller than auroras castle.
How did she perish? Did a ride fail or did she succumb to an unknown illness?
All serious injuries and fatalities resulting from a malfunction of a ride result in the ride being closed until inspected by state investigators.
Wouldn’t it be more appropriate for that child’s family to make the claim instead of you?
Doctor bill? He has a simple bruise.
What happened?
The parents are at more fault than Disney in this case. I, as well as thousands of other parents have ridden this, and other rides, while making sure nobody gets hurt. This was an accident getting blown out of proportion. Not saying Disney is faultless. As mentioned by others, the fact they get away with hiding serious injuries and fatalaties is seriously concerning
Did you ever contact them or make an incident report? I'd be on them about it especially the Dr bills and such ♀️
Wow that is so serious..they need to look at body size height on these rides.thank god Dad caught him.
Probably because that number of vax deaths are all in your head
My son and I were injured on a ride at Magic Kingdom in 2017. The ride spins and runs on a track. The ride suddenly stopped and we were jerked around pretty hard. I suffered a whiplash and my son still suffers from pain in his shoulder and neck. But Disney really didn’t care what happened to us. They showed us to the first aide station but that was about it
I was witness to a little girl dying in the Disneyland theme park in spring of 2018 and it was completely swept under the rug. I'd love for my story to make people aware of how poor Disney's protocols actually are for injury and emergency. It was a terrible tragedy. Every attempt I made to get answers or share with media was shut down by Disney. Shady.
I like coaster
I think it’s long past time they retired the Matterhorn.
That controlled social media you speak of is letting you post your baseless nonsense.
The world would be a better place if conspiracy theorists such as yourselves were all banned from posting nonsense.
Because there haven’t been tens of thousands of vaccine deaths. Where’s your source?
The media and the CDC has been very open about side effects of the vaccine.
640,000 people have died from Covid in the US
alone and yet you don’t farm worried about that.
It’s been reopened for some time now.
I stopped going on the Matterhorn a few years ago. As a child it was my favorite ride. As an adult I prefer smooth sailing, I guess. I hate that this happened to someone on their first trip and I hate that this one ride and the bruised eye could make them leery of Disney. Just an unfortunate event.
Curious how one injury at Disney makes the news but tens of thousands of vaccine deaths aren't even mentioned once...
Oi vey.
Maybe the government lobby should just pass a law making Disney completely free of all liability from their product, then let controlled social media ban anyone talking about injuries at Disney while labeling them potential terror threats instead?
Maybe people should just have to sign a waiver not holding Disney responsible!?? This would make people truly evaluate their ability to ride safely. In my opinion.
There is no perfect company.My family and I have been going to Disneyland since it opened in the 50 till now for three generation and we go almost every year.And I think Disney has the best customer service I have ever seen!And they truly care about your experience and your safety from what my family and I have experienced.They also do change or take rides out if they feel they are not safe.
Everyone knows the Matterhorn is jerky...as a parent—maybe not let them ride if you see they can’t reach the bar. Or, as someone else pointed out, note that the safety bar is only pulled as far back as the largest person...
Poor kid, I'm glad he's on though... My wife and I agree that the Matterhorn Bobsleds need an upgrade because it's way too bumpy. My kids don't even enjoy it for the same reason.
My 1 year old grandson fell at day care and got a similar bruise except worse. Accidents happen. Maybe he was borderline too small for the ride. That will typically happen when they just reach the height requirement
They are talking about the Matterhorn not Thunder Mountain.
We waited until our Child was old enough . Our Child was 15 years old at the time ! We wanted our Child to remember the rides that we took at Disney Land
I injured my back on the Matterhorn way to fast and jerky. My legs couldn’t stretch out in the car and I couldn’t reach the front bar to hold on too. I had to hold on to the side bars and to do that my wrist were twisted which made it very uncomfortable. After I got off the ride I was in so much pain with my lower back I had to go to physical therapist and a chiropractor.
Matterhorn is a different breed than Rock N Roller Coaster. While no inversions on this ride, it jerks you around quite a bit. Smooth would not be an adjective to describe this ride. I can see easily how this would happen to small child. Perhaps this was parents first time on the ride and were not aware of this. I do know much of the signage leading up to the ride says and warns riders of exactly this.
All thunder mountain needs is individual restraints,not a change in height requirements. The only reason smaller people are in danger is when they are riding with larger people because the shared lap bar will only reach as far as the largest person in the seat.
Guess we were just lucky- but our 2 kids have been riding all Disney World rides since a very young age and have never had any issues. Rockin rollercoaster was stopped one time we were on it, but that was due to another rider with autism that could not keep her hand in the cart. It's was my daughter's first time on the ride. We were locked in our chairs on the tracks for about 10 or 15 min before they could free us. Uncomfortable to say the least, but this was not Disney's fault. I would place blame on the adult that tried to get the youngster with autism on this ride. Disney did give us additional fast passes that we used on the Mine train in the Magic Kingdom. It was worth the inconvenience, because the line at Mine was about 90+ min & we just walked on. So overall, I have been very happy with the safety protocols in place and will plan to revisit sometime in the future. Just waiting on the new rides to be in place before we go back. Ratatouille- Tron- etc.... Gonna be a few Years- but will be worth it as visiting now (especially Epcot) would be a little disappointing with all the construction going on. I want to return when there is less new construction. It will be like a whole new experience. Looking forward to going back again.....
I've never had an issue and those Disneyland rides are tame as far as I'm concerned. You really need to brace yourself BEFORE the ride begins, not during the turmoil.
Lap bars are only to keep people from standing up. They don't hold you down in the seat. The accident is unfortunate, but as anyone who has ridden a roller coaster knows, you usually get jostled. The child was probably ducking his head, which caused it to impact the side. If you lean your head forward on a ride with a restraint that sits on your shoulders, your head (and neck) will be jostled around and bang into the overhead bar.
This is not poor design, it's just a simple case of bad luck.
The Matterhorn at Disneyland has been closed since 2020. The park reopened, however, the Matterhorn ride has not.
Matterhorn is open again.
This is the downside of the new bobsled design. It was much better for parents when they had the old bobsled with the ability to stack 2 guests in a single seat (each guest had their own seatbelt).
I'm taller than this boy and the same thing happened to me on this ride the last (and final) time I rode it. It's very jerky.
Over-the-shoulder restraints like on Rock n Roller Coaster would be even worse as they would cause "headbanging" (rider's heads hitting the hard plastic restraint on the sharp turns). A lifting lap bar like on Space Mountain would work though. I wouldn't be surprised if the ride needs a full refurbishment/re-track in the near future.
We had a similar incident on Thunder Mountain. It was the first time we went. Daughter was sitting next to me and the bar comes down and locks in place, however my daughter was 12 and I'm larger than a twelve year old, so she could only hold on. We realized this after the ride. Anyways, we went around a corner which threw her and her legs went sliding out. I grabbed her and pulled her to me and put my arm around her to hold her in for the rest of the ride.
My girlfriend got injured at Disney Springs, there was a nail that she got caught on. Disney gave us an abundance ride to the hospital and got her patched up. We never heard a peep from anyone asking for us to pay for any of it (honestly that was the furthest thing in my mind in the moment), but she got great treatment.
I appreciate hearing the good and the bad so people can make informed choices. Too often blogs and sites for Disney (and other popular attractions) will be relentless cheerleaders for everything and seem afraid to acknowledge anything negative. One of the reasons I continue to subscribe and trust Kenny the Pirate, is that I know he will be honest. If we know the situation, we can make the best of things based on what is right for our families. Thank you!
My son rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at WDW back when he was around 5/6 years old just barely made it to the height line. He was super excited to do his 1st Real roller coaster. He rode next to his Father. On one of the turns my son flew by force under the safety bar. I was in the cart behind noticed his head went missing but I could not do anything. Thankfully my Husband saw him and grabbed him by the waist as his legs daggled out the cart. Had my husband not had those father lightening reflexes my son would of been out of the ride! No Cms noticed but I saw it All. Then heard the story. My son now 13 tells everyone how he also died on that ride. So point is Yes Disney needs to fix those height restrictions because if you are skinny and little you can slip and slide all over and might fall out!
I think the old seating arrangement (2 in one) would have been more effective at preventing this. If the boy had been sitting directly in front of his parent the parent would have been able to hold onto him.
That being said, the restraints on the Matterhorn are very inadequate. If I didn't know for sure that the belts were so tight I would be afraid of being flung out of my favorite ride. Want to see a vehicle redesign with lap bars, or at least shoulder harnesses.
If properly risk assessed this shouldn’t happen. But hey with the cutbacks who cares about the customers so long as they pay inflated prices. Shameful. What has happened to Disney