Disney employee killed during Parade

[MargaretJ]

ORLANDO — A Walt Disney World employee was accidentally killed by a parade float Tuesday in the Magic Kingdom area of the theme park.



The float struck a male costumed worker in the head and ran him over as the daily afternoon Magic Kingdom parade ended about 3:30 p.m. EST, according to WOFL-TV in Orlando, Fla. The man died.

The accident occurred in a backstage area, near the Splash Mountain ride. The public didn't see what happened, WOFL reported.

Disney officials did not release the worker's identity.

Disney spokeswoman Rena Callahan had no other immediate comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[MissBianca]

Pixie dust to this man's family and co-workers. What a sad thing. :cry:

:fairymagic:

[Tagrel]

That is just terrible. :( I feel so badly for the man, his family and friends.

[Snickerdoodlesmommy]

He was only 38 years old and had worked for WDW eight years. The Orange County Sherrifs office as well as other Florida agencies are investigating.

LindaC :sun:

[Goofygirl]

I am feeling so very sorry for the poor family!
That´s terrible to loose a loved one by such an accident!

[Rosebud]

This is so sad. My heart goes out to both the family of the CM and also the CM that was driving the float. I can only imagine how he feels.

Here is one of the better stories I've found on the subject.


http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/7932508.htm

[NICU rn]

:cry: I heard it was "Goofy". :cry:

[SuzyQ]

Oh, how tragic! Such a sad report from WDW. My deepest thoughts of sympathy go out to his family. I read on USA Today news that he played Pluto.

[pixie]

I saw a picture of him and he was such an adorable man. It sounds like he was well liked by the younger CM's.

Disney needs to take another look at character safety. It seems they have very limited vision in those costumes.

:tink: Barbara

[MikeS]

Thought I'd share this with everyone. It's an e-mail I received from a friend who works at Splash Mountain and who has in the past worked on Main Street during parades.


Hey Mike,

Yeah, it was right at parade step-off, right there next to Splash. I was
not there as I had the day off; however, of course, most of my friends at
Splash *were* there. One girl I work with was the first one to actually see
Javier go under the float from where she was standing, ran over and beat on
the float to get the driver to stop. Then she was the first one to get to
Javier and pull his costume head off (he was costumed as Pluto). It was
obviously a very panicked situation for everyone there from Frontierland
Attractions that were all standing back there waiting for the end of the
parade.

If you know the floats in the Share a Dream parade, the Princess float is
in three sections - Cinderella, Belle, and Ariel. The last section on the
right-hand side is where the accident occured, under the Ariel segment. In
fact, I was told that the girl playing Ariel saw Javier go under, then she
just lost it and went hysterical. The driver, who is in the very fist
segment right under the Fairy Godmother, had absolutely no idea what was
going on and what had happened, as he sits in the very front left, and all
this was going on the third section on the right-hand side.

Today's parade was pretty emotional. The last set of characters, where
Javier would have been yesterday, actually did a "silent prayer" just at the
Frontierland gate before stepping out into the street, then just went
*crazy* with interacting with guests. I'm sure it's what Javier would have
wanted; he was a *very* active character. Lisa and I both knew him somewhat
from parades, and in fact, he lived just two buildings over here from us in
our apartment complex.

Yeah, it has not been a very good week here :-\


MikeS

[SuzyQ]

Wow, Mike, thank you for sharing this personal note. Very sad week indeed.

:angelPray:

[MargaretJ]

Mike thanks so much for sharing that note. How tragic.

[MissBianca]

A very powerful personal account. Thanks for sharing it Mike. What a thoughtful, personal tribute.