Disney, the evil empire. I worked for them for so long, I can almost guarantee that an EECB will not work. Execs within the company are almost all taught to forward it to Guest Communications for the appropriate department.

And don't try small claims. They will send some from their army of attorneys with all sorts of evidence that puts you at fault.

In short... Disney's the only company I know of that's impossible to beat.

Good luck.

Get well soon - and this is a good reminder to all to have health insurance (easier said than done!).....

Wow, that's harsh. I'm not surprised at about the nurse though. I didn't think they would be equipped to handle something like this unfortunately.

This is just all kinds of fucked up though. Hopefully it works out, since it IS on Disney after all.

So, I worked at Blizzard Beach and I currently work for WDW. There is some fishy stuff in this story. I am not blaming the victim. I saw many injuries while at Blizzard beach and the other parks I have worked at; any time someone is injured on Disney Property they are sent to the Celebration Hospital aka Florida Hospital. The Nurse at Blizzard would have told you this, instead you went to a hospital way out of the area. Maybe that is where you live but it's pretty far away. If you had gone to Celebration you would have been able to work with Disney more closely to help cover your cost.

Please not at each and every lifeguard station there is an E stop which notifies base there is a problem and it is recorded and a coordinator or manager is sent over.

Believe me when I worked at this park there were many problems, but response time to someone injured that wasn't life threatening could take at least 10 minutes. Depending on where you are in the park in relation to base. IT IS ONE OF THE LARGEST WATER PARKS IN THE US.

I'm sure Disney is taking your response very seriously and will use it in any upcoming in-service training sessions.

@mkt3000: Yeah, Disney does have that reputaion, but can they REALLY claim that the OP is at fault here?

Ummm... what is someone living below poverty doing spending all their meager earnings at Disney? Not that I'm blaming the OP! But, I would like more information.
There should be a happy follow up to this. Disney does take pretty good care of people (usually). Just keep in mind that the nurses at Disney have very limited options that usually include OTC pain meds, ice, comfort measures, and calling an ambulance.

@Dyscord: I'd like for them not to, but I'm certain they will find some way to pass off the blame. They're notorious for this.

I remember when I was a passenger in a car accident on property in a company vehicle... we were hit from behind at a red light (ie- other car was at fault), and the witness statement had a line that stated something like "what could you have done to avoid this" and they would not accept "nothing" as our answer. We had to put something in there.

I finally put "perhaps I should have taken a sick day and remained at home instead of being a passenger in a car that was hit."

The thing that makes me most sick about the situation isn't Disney's response, but that having a simple accident costs over $13,000. That's like walking down the sidewalk one day, accidentally bumping into someone, and them suddenly saying "oh hah hah, congratulations, you just bought a new car!" Except you don't get the car, just the bill.

I don't have health insurance either and I have to say, being financially devastated in seconds because of a simple accident like this is something that causes me significant worry. That's more concerning than a couple line employees not taking their job seriously and making you wait 15 minutes in pain. The bill will be with you for years.

That's quite like what happened when I went to my local theme park. Only it wasn't nearly so serious. Yowza.

I was on an inner-tube ride, and when I got to the end my toe got stuck in the drain/grate as I was trying to exit. Someone on a tube hit me from behind. It was ~20 years ago and was just a broken toe and a sprain (I can't even remember if it was my ankle or foot), but my toe is still messed up and hurts to walk on in bare feet or flat shoes.

I was too young to fight it, but my family had no luck having them pay for it. It took a long time for a wheelchair because it took a long time to get it to that area of the park. But I think they were rushing- they wanted that screaming kid away from the people having fun ASAP!

I hope Disney opens it's wallet for you. Things like this shouldn't be so hard to make right :(

@mrsultana: so nice of you to blame the victim for being poor. poverty is no disgrace, and I'm more than certain a trip to disney (whatever) would have been a once in a lifetime vacation. I know I've wanted to go since I was small and now that I have kids, they are bugging us to take them. I don't think it'll ever happen - Canada's Wonderland for us. :P

@North of 49: I said it would be interesting to get more info. Definitely not blaming the OP. And did I mention the disgrace of poverty? So nice of you to not read my post.

I agree with other posters in saying, if you are living below Poverty level, what are you doing going to Blizzard Beach (which is not cheap)? An entrance to Blizzard Beach last time I went was around $35, which is a pretty hefty price for someone "below the poverty level". Add on top of that some very hefty food and locker prices and its not a place where someone poverty level is going.

The whole story sounds very fishy to me. I've been on the Blizzard Beach tube rides and it would pretty hard to fall out of them unless you were horsing around or purposely trying to fall out of them.

I also found it hard to believe that you were anywhere close to the slide exit for a supposed 15 minutes with others crashing into your leg. First off, I have personally seen Disney employees clear out guests who are anywhere near the slide exists for too long and second, from what happened afterward, it sounded that you were in a good enough condition to have moved yourself to a safer place. You were in water and could have easily moved yourself! I say this from experience because i have been injured in deep water (separated shoulder) and was able to move myself with little effort.

I'll come out and say that I see very little truth, a lot of exaggerated details, and a lot of missing details from this story.

Next time maybe you should spend the money you spent going to Blizzard Beach on paying for some health insurance.

I am going to be devil's advocate here and say that: sometimes you when you slide down giant tubes filled with water - not something our bodies are designed for - and you multiply that by hundreds of thousand of people - no matter what Disney does people are going to get injured.

You have to take some responsibility when you have fun on these rides. I just don't hear anything negligent in Disney's operation of the ride.

As far as their response to his injury, it was plain shitty and unprofessional. But I don't see Disney's obligation here. If you tripped while walking down Mickey Avenue (or whatever) is that Disney's fault? Did you really think that no one ever gets injured while riding down a giant plastic tube greased with water?

I'm sorry but not everything can be billed to Disney when someone gets injured.

This is the second time that someone's been injured there in as many weeks. I've never wanted to go to Disney, now I even don't want to go more.

@Rojma: There always has to be at least one person to blame the OP.

Care to read the rules of the comments there Rojma? I wonder if the editors track down your IP, if it would come from disney.com

@mrsultana: For all you know he got the tickets for free. It has absolutely no bearing on what happened here.

I like Typhoon Lagoon better. The Wave Pool kicks all kinds of ass.

@Rojma: Honestly. You wouldn't have had a problem with Dell customer service if you had donated all your money to UNICEF instead of buying a laptop!

Maybe your broken washing machine wouldn't be a problem if you were a nudist!

That dead snake in your spaghetti at Applebee's could be avoided if you simply made your own food at home!

We should all just sit in the corner of our bedrooms in fear, feeling bad about the money we spend and the choices we make, and companies can do whatever they want to us just because we choose to purchase items or services instead of stuffing every penny we earn into a bank account. Oh wait, the banks want to screw us over too. I guess we just have to DEAL WITH IT.

Yeah, obviously that's EXACTLY what the Consumerist website is ALL ABOUT.

What? I used to be a lifeguard for Cedar Point. We had a man break his arm on one of our slides and I was the lifeguard at the top of the ride. He was down around the first corner, closer to me than to the bottom, and as soon as I heard "HELP" you bet your ass I was on the phone to the lifeguard at the bottom of the slide, the water was shut off immediately, and I walked down the slide to him to keep him calm until the guards with a stretcher came (precautions, anyone with a bone injury automatically must be restrained and the limb immobilized). So on and so forth until he was safe and sound. The entire process took 15 minutes, even with the 15 flights of stairs the guards had to climb. The job of the lifeguard at the top is to make sure the riders get to the bottom safely, and the job of the guard at the bottom is to make sure the guest can get out of the pool. When there is ANY injury, mass-whistle-blowing starts and a half dozen lifeguards, including team leaders and managers, come running.

If this would have happened on my watch at Cedar Point, and I did nothing, I would have been fired on the spot and sent home. Period. Something like that could have resulted in him drowning at the pool at the end if his girlfriend hadn't been there. And here I thought that all water parks were held to such standards like mine was, since there is so much liability...

@Rojma: No, Rojma, the second that lifeguard at the bottom caught on that he was in any way injured, the "stop/go" lights at the top of the slide should have been set to "STOP" and that guard should have been IN the water with him helping him while blowing her whistle to signal lifeguard who are not in position. None of this half-assed bullshit. When it is done absolutely right, companies don't get sued. Which is why if any managers at Cedar Point/Soak City see a guard so much as look away from the water they are guarding, they get written up for the first offense, and put on "trash duty", and then the second offense is termination. Sometimes it's just flat-out termination, depends on how the manager is feeling that day.

err... I'm not exactly blaming the OP but I have a few concerns. By entering the park, don't you essentially assume the risk of a water park, much like you do when you ski?

I'm also going to bet you that it was not 15 minutes to get a wheelchair. Since you're in pain, the time may feel that long.

I really can't take that much pity on you for not having health insurance. That's the risk you take for not buying health insurance, income level regardless.

I fail to see how this is legitimately worth $13,000 of Disney's money. Of course you'd get it to shut you up. But you went on a water park w/o health insurance. It's a risk you assume by entering Blizzard Beach. There wasn't negligence on the lifeguards part. You would have to prove that by making you wait caused a far greater extent of your injury.

@morgan

The point is, if the OP felt compelled enough to mention that he is living below the poverty level and does not in fact have health insurance, maybe he should consider the risks he takes by going to an expensive theme park that has an inherent risk to it.

Ah, theme-park employee apathy.

@mrsultana: That is a pretty extreme assumption. If it were between taking care of your kids, family, going to school, making car payments in order to get to work, car insurance [which could possibly include some personal injury package], or anything else along those lines, personal health, for some, will fall very low in order of importance.

Don't "enhanced risk" type venues like water parks, grand prix style racing, etc - have weasel word waivers posted and on the back of the tickets?

Before you make a comment on the site, read the comments code. This paragraph in particular:

Avoid blaming the poster or victim or commenting only to be negative
Please, suggest alternate courses of action, or add important information that might help others or that we missed. Don't attack people. Assume good faith. Tipsters need help, not ridicule. Express contrary opinions, but treat others as you would like to be treated. Don't constantly spew negativity, be it about other posters, the site, the article, or anything. Commenting is a privilege, and can be removed at any time at our discretion.

@Rojma, @mrsultana: Wow. You both make me SO proud to be an American. Good job!

And Adam, if you're reading this, please understand that the overwhelming majority of us are rooting for you to see the right thing get done and hoping for your quick recovery. Don't let a couple - literally - poor specimens of humanity think otherwise.

Horrible picture text ever. Made no sense. STOP SUCKING GUYS!! :D

You know, the whole "should have had health insurance... it's his own fault" argument would carry a lot more water with me if I had ever heard it uttered by a poor person.

Unfortunately, this is not an argument you can win the "he had it commin'" types: if I told them that the majority of the poor don't have health insurance, they'd just say "makes sense... they're poor AND stupid." If I mentioned that--at the current annual health care inflation rate of 18%--in a few years the poor would have to pay more for health insurance than housing, they'd just say "well then maybe they should work harder to not be poor... serves them right for being so lazy!" If I told them that even if they got a better job, fewer employers are offering insurance... well, you get the idea.

Ahh... it must feel good to look down on the world from such unassailable heights.

Ok, to clear up some things. Yes, there is an inherent risk any time you go to an amusement park and ride a ride. Assuming the ride itself is not at fault, which a quick once over by maintenance can show, the problem in this case is the lack of any type of policy when an accident like this happens.

The fact that he wasn't moved out of the exit of the ride, and it continued to be open to customers might injure him further when a person bumps into him. That's where any type of lawsuit would happen(along with no maintenance person looking over the ride). The staff obviously wasn't trained to deal with any type of medical situation.

I hate to say it, but Disney will probably not give you any money without you getting a lawyer and starting a suit against them for negligence.

I find this story rather unusual. While obviously, I was not there several things in this story make me suspicious.

First, I have worked closely with, but not for , Reedy Creek Fire Department. These are the paramedics,EMTs, and fire fighters of Walt Disney World, and the surrounding area. They are, in my opinion, the most well equipped, and trained public safety agency in the state, and I have seen dozens if not hundreds. I have seen them respond to headaches, broken teeth, insect bites, and all manner of mundane items. A sprained, or broken ankle? No sweat. That, and the fact that one of their stations is literally down the street from Blizzard Beach make me think something's up.

Secondly, Sarasota is about 150 miles away from Orlando. If you were in severe pain, you could be seeen, or at the very least triaged, at any hospital, regardless of insurance. Florida Hospital Sand Lake is within 5 miles of Blizzard Beach.

I'm not saying that the submitter is completely at fault. I am saying that this could have gone much differently.

Most of us in Central Florida know someone that can get us into Disney for free. It's what a lot of us can do for fun when money is tight... like right now.

Insurance is a non-issue here. These rides should not exist unless Disney is willing to accept the liability. They would NEVER let you fall down a giant tube unharnessed in Epcot Center, but for some reason they go by a separate set of standards for their water parks... probably too much pressure from every other water park on the planet to push the envelope regardless of safety.

Those that CAN afford and CAN get approved (You try getting it when your line of business doesn't offer it and you have a severe case of asthma like me.) for insurance don't deserve to see their premiums going up because people are breaking their legs on the newest, steepest water slide.

Side note: I went to Blizzard Beach last year and came home with dozens of little bites up my entire body that did not go away for two weeks. I do nnot go to water parks anymore. I thought I had a staph infection or something awful.

@QquegChristian: Disney shouldn't be expected to accept liability for any injury that happens.

Every ride carries risk to the rider; risks that the rider accepts when he or she enters the park. Of course, the rider has to make the assumption that Disney is properly maintaining the rides. --If negligence can be shown in that respect, and a reasonable assumption can be made that it caused the injury, then by all means, go after them. But if a rider was doing something he or she shouldn't have been doing, which is usually the case when people are injured, then it's the rider's fault, not Disney's.

We don't really know how Adam managed to lose his tube and get stuck on the ride.

Personally, I don't care about his insurance or poverty status, beyond the fact that I think health insurance needs to be available to everyone and that we do need to work harder at eliminating poverty in our own country as opposed to wasting money in certain middle-east countries.

And loueloui makes a good point... If you're badly injured, you should be going to the closest hospitable regardless of whether or not you have insurance. Doing otherwise is obviously suspicious.

Whoever says instead of spending the money to go to Disney on health insurance is mentally retarded. I am pretty sure a decent coverage costs 200$-300$ depending on where you live and what you want covered. My cobra plan used to cost 450$ a month and now I am proudly uninsured... However the story might have a little bit of exaggeration to it... but Disney should have at least drove the poor guy to the hospital and at least paid for some of the bills...

However, to follow up (too hasty w/ the mouse), usually the legal wording on the park signs and ticket backs pretty much says the user is aware of the risks and, by getting on the ride, waives any liability of the park management.

That may be legal boilerplate, but good faith from Disney should at least pay for the medical bills. Personally, if they don't offer I would go to the press and have a story written about it. Not that Disney really cares about people (just search the 'net) but no company likes bad publicity.

I'm still trying to figure out how you can become that stuck on an inner tube ride; those pipes are big.

@madog: I read the article, read a commenter's post about "below the poverty line", did a search on the page, still didn't find anything.

Had to read through it a second time to make sure I wasn't losing my mind after I read another commenter who posted about "below the poverty line".

So, that's what my original post was referring to. Had no idea why people kept saying that.

=P

: @crystalattice:
: @QquegChristian:

QquegChristian's right, there's "other ways" to have some fun and not be a totally depressed lump when you're unemployed or under-employed.

For instance, I got to tag along on a trip to Victoria, BC with a family a few years ago when I was working through collage. Besides generosity and trade-for-services, other ways you can get free fun stuff is through winning prizes... remember, between job interviews you've got a lot more time to fill when you're unemployed; it might as well be spent filling out entry forms and calling radio shows.

I think what really shows is that some people believe that if you're unemployed or under-employed, you must be "bad" in some way, and therefor must suffer punishment, not reward.

Geez, see a counselor already.

@Tallanvor: At this point (and from the beginning), it's in Disney's best interest to cover the guy's injuries and take care of it quietly. The bad press will cost them more in the long run. They have insurance to cover situations like this and they should use it.

As far as him being at he park in the first place - maybe he saved for a whole year to go to the park. Maybe he got free tickets. Maybe they were paid for by a friend in exchange for yard work. It doesn't matter!

The point is, he was injured in a Disney park and they should have handled it better. If they had, we might have a story on the consumerist stating, "I was injured at a Disney park and look at how awesome they came through for me! I feel safe and secure going there and bringing my children there! Kuddos to Disney!!"

Instead, we have this.

Furthermore, I would have hoped that any serious injury on a ride would warrant more of Disney's attention. What if it's related to a design flaw or if something is broken inside the ride? They just continued to let people go down?

That's pretty messed up.

what ride was it?

@purplesun: If it was handled the way the poster described (I'm not saying it wasn't, or calling him a liar), then yes, Disney could have handled things better. However, that still doesn't make them liable.

Also, Disney's insurance may very well not cover every possible injury. I used to be involved with a yearly event, and our insurance was limited to liability insurance. --If it was our fault that the person was injured, it could cover it, but if something happened to a person because they were doing something they shouldn't have been doing, and was outlined as being in breach of the event rules, then we were not liable, and our insurance wouldn't cover the person's injuries.

I'm all for standing up to big corporations when they screw up, but so far, there's nothing here that says the injury is Disney's fault. --For example: maybe Adam tried to stand up for some reason while on the ride, but lost hold of the tube and fell due to the water rushing down the slide. In this example, if he had remained on the tube, which the rules probably stipulate that he do, the accident wouldn't have happened in the first place, and Adam would have gone on enjoying the park. I'm not saying Adam did this, but I've seen similarly stupid stunts like that at water parks before.

Besides, I don't want to have to pay more to get into the park because Disney is paying for medical care when it wasn't their fault. If it was their fault, then yes, I want them to take care of the injured person.

And as I stated before, his status above or below the poverty line isn't relevant to me. However he chooses to spend his money is up to him.

Of course, it seems to me the bigger question we should be asking is why America is spending over $2 TRILLION on health care every year and still isn't able to provide coverage for everyone, and we're paying 50% more per capita than the nation with the next highest rate: Switzerland, who does provide healthcare to everyone in their country!

Many people have mentioned the legal language on the back of the ticket that states that the ticket bearer is aware of the potential risks and excuses Disney of liability if they get injured on a ride or otherwise.

That's fine, but the ticket does not also excuse Disney from liability from their own negligence. A lifeguard (LIFEGUARD!) not assisting an injured person out of the water and merely stating that he's called someone and they should be on their way while the injured person continues to be struck by oncoming riders and possibly injured further is EXTREMELY negligent. A nurse performing no actual examination of any sort and merely asking if you can bear weight on an ankle is also negligent.

Certainly, there is the basis for a liability suit here based on negligence. And Disney would no doubt want to sweep that under the rug as quickly and silently as possible if it ever came up (it certainly couldn't be good for their reputation for the public to believe that the health/injury response staff essentially does not respond to those injured in their parks).

I don't know what the situation is in Florida, but in Ohio state hospitals have aid (see write off) programs for people living within 200% of federal poverty guidelines. I know this could be a lawsuit, but try to work with the hospital as well since it could be years before your medical bills are paid by the responsible party.

@crystalattice:

I believe Disney has their own hospital, since nobody is declared dead on park grounds.

@Trai_Dep: The comments code says: "Don't attack people. Assume good faith." I hardly think calling other posters poor specimens of humanity is adhering to the commenting code for this website.

"Without medical insurance and living below the poverty level, I know this serious debt will mire my possibilities in the future."

*sigh*

@tape: There'smore to this than the OP is saying. I've never known a pool where a lifeguard wouldn't get pretty angry at you for staying in the splash pool at the bottom of a slide. I'd guess he was at the far end, already pretty close to the steps where the lifeguard judged he wasn't in danger and the lifeguard was busy reporting the incident, asking CCTV operators what happened and calling the nurse.

He wasn't struck by other riders coming down the slide. He was brushed by them as they carelessly ran past exiting the pool(he was already at the steps by that point.)

The lifeguard probably wasn't trained past basic first aid and resussitation techniques so once he was out of danger it's probable his training states not to move someone injured (as it can make injuries worse and open up all sorts of lawsuits).

@cashmerewhore:
That's a negatory, good buddy. An urban legend:
[www.snopes.com]

@PurplePuppy:
That's the risk you take when you go without health insurance. I don't care how much money you make (or don't make), nobody said it was fair and because he chose to take a risk and go without insurance he's now trying to pin his financial troubles on Disney. The sad part is that he will probably extort a fair amount of cash from Disney before this is over with...

@cashmerewhore:
What most employees call "Disney Hospital" is actually a very souped up employee health clinic. They can treat breaks and other minor hospital-type injuries, but only for employees.
What many people in Orlando call "Disney Hospital" is actually "Florida Hospital Celebration" (for the town outside of Disney). It is operated by the Florida Hospital System.
No way Disney would take the liability of their own actual hospital! What if something went wrong? It is the same reason that with all that land they never opened their own airport.

@tape:
The nurse is not there to do an assessment in the way a hospital nurse is. They are the equivalent of a school nurse. Someone has a headache? Give them an aspirin. Fall down and get a boo-boo? Get a Goofy band-aid.