Florida Sisters Suing Disney After Being Injured On WEDWay Peoplemover
The Walt Disney Company is no stranger to lawsuits and having people come at them with claims that they owe them money. Some of them are perfectly legitimate and understandable while others are a bit of a stretch. Either way, the latest people to sue Walt Disney Parks and Resorts are a couple of Florida sisters who say they suffered serious injuries while riding on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority Peoplemover in 2015.
The Tomorrowland Transit Authority Peoplemover has been in place at Magic Kingdom since 1975. It has been known by a couple of different names including the WEDWay Peoplemover after Walter Elias Disney, and also just TTA or “Peoplemover.”
It is a slow moving tour of Tomorrowland, and there is nothing about it that can be considered a “thrill” aspect. Still, a couple of sisters from Florida say that it did enough damage for them to bring a lawsuit against Disney.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, sisters Jaime Gentile and Jackie Hurley, of South Florida, claim they were injured on the Peoplemover back in 2015. They were riding the Magic Kingdom attraction when it “malfunctioned, causing the passenger cars to crash into one another.”
That information is from their lawsuit in Orange County Circuit Court, which has the sisters seeking damages of more than $15,000. Jeffrey Adelman is the attorney for both Gentile and Hurley, and he states that his clients were transported to a hospital via ambulance from Magic Kingdom.
40-year-old Jaime Gentile suffered injuries to her jaw which did require surgery and she now has trouble chewing. 38-year-old Jackie Hurley had neck surgery done after suffering injuries to her spine and she is said to deal with a lot of pain.
The lawsuit also claims that the two minor children of Hurley were also injured in the accident.
Theme parks must report any injuries that require guests to have immediate hospital stays that last more than 24 hours. Since the two sisters did not have an overnight hospital stay of that length, their injuries did not need to be reported by Disney.
No records are in place from the Reedy Creek district that detail the incident since those records only stay on file for up to one year. Reedy Creek provides emergency services to the Walt Disney World resorts, parks, and area.
The Peoplemover has a top speed of seven miles-per-hour, and it slows down when approaching curves and is going less than two mph when guests are boarding. WDW Info reports that the Disney operating guide does require all cast members working the attraction to advise guests of possible cars bumping when the ride starts and stops.
The Tomorrowland Transit Authority Peoplemover is a leisurely 10-minute ride through the land that gives guests views of all the attractions. It even goes inside the iconic Space Mountain for a different look at the thrill ride which speeds around in the dark “night” skies.
As of this writing, Adelman has not revealed any pre-existing medical conditions that his clients may have had. Disney has also not commented in any way regarding the situation or lawsuit as of now and likely won’t issue a public comment until it is resolved.
For more than 40 years, the Tomorrowland Transit Authority Peoplemover (WEDWay) has taken guests on tours of the futuristic land in Magic Kingdom. Walt Disney World knows that the ride could use some updating, but it still never fails to draw a line. The Florida sisters, Jackie Hurley and Jamie Gentile, believe they have a case in the injuries they sustained while riding on the attraction in 2015, but they have a pretty lengthy battle ahead of them.
[Featured Image by Disney]
