Woman without arms files Complaint against Universal

[s8film40]

If universal lazily set a blanket policy that is proven to be unreasonable and beyond what is required, then they just got caught with their pants down. They should know better.

Assuming this ever made it to court I would expect them to go attraction by attraction and have Universal explain how this policy specifically applies to each attraction. While a good number of them this should be easy there are a few where trying to do this isn't going to look good for Universal and it only takes one.

 

[MrRoamer]

Yeah I don't see any issue with her riding anything that doesn't have any kind of upper body restraint. Kong, Spider-Man, Cat in the Hat, and other rides like that shouldn't be an issue.

I don't know I could understand not being able to ride Spider-Man or Cat or some of those other types of rides. The spinning and bouncing around could cause someone to get off balance and hit their head into someone else's or worse.

 

[s8film40]

I don't know I could understand not being able to ride Spider-Man or Cat or some of those other types of rides. The spinning and bouncing around could cause someone to get off balance and hit their head into someone else's or worse.

I've ridden all of those without holding on. Honestly for me holding onto the lap bar really doesn't do much for the lateral forces with the leverage you get. Your going to shift left and right that's the whole point, but your not going to fall out or hurt yourself.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

I cam pretty much guarantee Cedar Point and Busch Gardens do not have this policy for EVERY SINGLE RIDE, although I know they have a lot of restrictions, and as we said Disney does not have these blanket rules. The bottom line is that it really doesn't matter how frivolous the lawsuit is or if you think this is the right policy. If universal lazily set a blanket policy that is proven to be unreasonable and beyond what is required, then they just got caught with their pants down. They should know better.

I could definitely believe this was a setup though.

There are "blanket" policies and rules at all parks, including safety related ones. That's why a lot of places say you must be able to transfer out of a wheelchair and such. Cedar Point is a unique example as I believe they have special harnesses provided by the ride manufacturers (I know they have them for B&M).

Will this suit go anywhere? If Universal can show this is for safety and they have made reasonable attempt to give access to everyone they'll be fine.

 

[s8film40]

Will this suit go anywhere? If Universal can show this is for safety and they have made reasonable attempt to give access to everyone they'll be fine.

This is where I see them having an issue. For Hulk or Dragons sure, but when they start talking about something like Twirl & Hurl it can get a lot trickier especially being an off the shelf type ride with countless other examples in the world.

 

[bob albert]

I've ridden all of those without holding on. Honestly for me holding onto the lap bar really doesn't do much for the lateral forces with the leverage you get. Your going to shift left and right that's the whole point, but your not going to fall out or hurt yourself.

Hershey park has a coaster called Skyrush where your arms are absolutely useless because there is pretty much nothing to hold on to as it throws your upper body around like a ragdoll. Cedar point has mean streak and a lot of you know how bad that is. If someone with no arms is a danger on spider man, they should have shut down mean streak years ago.

 

[Andysol]

Quite frankly It would seem pretty ridiculous for EVERY ride in universal to have that policy. If that really is the case, then it's a stupid policy and an oversight by universal and shes probably going to win something.

I agree with the completely. I don't think all people should be able to ride everything- but there is no reason an armless individual shouldn't be able to ride a plethora of rides (HE, SM, transformers, cat and hat, Seuss train, Jurassic park, Dudley, Popeye, storm force, minions, Simpsons). Even MIB. Although that would be difficult

There are "blanket" policies and rules at all parks, including safety related ones. That's why a lot of places say you must be able to transfer out of a wheelchair and such. Cedar Point is a unique example as I believe they have special harnesses provided by the ride manufacturers (I know they have them for B&M).

Will this suit go anywhere? If Universal can show this is for safety and they have made reasonable attempt to give access to everyone they'll be fine.

If she has precedent that every other major park allows it, I don't see how they'll be able to prove they are different. How is woody woodpecker going to be more risky than California screamin or RSR?
I don't know if it's intentional "discrimination", but the rule doesn't make sense.

I've personally seen physically/mentally retarded people with that "mangled arm" look (sorry, don't know the medical name), ride plenty of rides at Uni and their arms have little to no function.

 

[bob albert]

I don't know if it's intentional "discrimination", but the rule doesn't make sense.

It doesn't matter if it is intentional. They can be discriminating by the fact that they made a policy which is unreasonable thus targeting a certain group of people.

 

[shiekra38]

What if Disney set this up? :blank:

 

[bob albert]

 

[Parkscope Joe]

What if Disney set this up? :blank:

Uhhhh, no.

 

[GAcoaster]

If she has precedent that every other major park allows it, I don't see how they'll be able to prove they are different. How is woody woodpecker going to be more risky than California screamin or RSR? I don't know if it's intentional "discrimination", but the rule doesn't make sense.

Most of this is the ride manufacturer's recommendations and requirements. Intamin (manufacturer of California Screamin') may not have that stipulation in their ride requirements, but Vekoma (manufacturer of Woody Woodpecker's Nuthouse Coaster) may. Then again, many people have been thrown from Intamin coasters and died, and not so many from Vekomas. Look at the stupid height requirement Universal has on the Seuss Trolley. That's the manufacturer's decision.

It may also be the park's lawyers and insurers that put those rules in place.

We also don't necessarily know from the story whether it's really "all the rides at Universal" she was denied on, or just a majority or certain rides.

 

[OLSinFLA]

Yeah I don't see any issue with her riding anything that doesn't have any kind of upper body restraint. Kong, Spider-Man, Cat in the Hat, and other rides like that shouldn't be an issue.

Like I said previously I don't like frivolous lawsuits like this, but this is one thing that is a little annoying in that all the parks have very inconsistent rules even with similar rides. Obviously safety is most important, but at the same time people shouldn't be turned away from rides without any real logical explanation backing it up.

I think there's a possibility this whole thing was set up, but if not I can understand her frustration. I talked about this in another thread but I went to Knott's Berry farm once and discovered I wasn't allowed to ride any roller coasters due to wearing glasses, it was very disappointing to discover I couldn't ride the majority of stuff I was looking forward to even though it was similar to rides I was accustomed to riding. It's very hard to respect rules that just don't seem grounded in any logical reason and then that in turn causes you to question the safety in general. Do they really know what's safe and not safe or are they just taking the approach of applying heavy handed rules since they're really not sure and hope that they eliminate any possibility of anything happening without having to really take a hard look at what the ride does and what's really needed.

Spiderman spins pretty hefty at one point. Cat in the Hat jerks around a bit (spinning is slower). She might be able to maintain her balance, but if she couldn't and hit her head and got a concussion, who would get the blame? (Hint: not her)

 

[OLSinFLA]

Most of this is the ride manufacturer's recommendations and requirements. Intamin (manufacturer of California Screamin') may not have that stipulation in their ride requirements, but Vekoma (manufacturer of Woody Woodpecker's Nuthouse Coaster) may. Then again, many people have been thrown from Intamin coasters and died, and not so many from Vekomas. Look at the stupid height requirement Universal has on the Seuss Trolley. That's the manufacturer's decision.

It may also be the park's lawyers and insurers that put those rules in place.

We also don't necessarily know from the story whether it's really "all the rides at Universal" she was denied on, or just a majority or certain rides.

You can look up specific requirements on the web site. Other than the HE, all of them require being able to maintain a grip in an upright position with at least one extremity.

 

[s8film40]

Spiderman spins pretty hefty at one point. Cat in the Hat jerks around a bit (spinning is slower). She might be able to maintain her balance, but if she couldn't and hit her head and got a concussion, who would get the blame? (Hint: not her)

That is a bit silly. These aren't extreme rides, while I understand that being able to use your arms is somewhat helpful it's far from necessary to keep from falling over to the point of being injured. This is like saying someone with a prosthetic leg shouldn't be allowed in the park because they could trip on a curb. Many people ride these rides with very limited arm strength and could just as easily suffer from the injuries you describe. It's not like without arms your whole upper body becomes a limp rag doll.

 

[s8film40]

Most of this is the ride manufacturer's recommendations and requirements. Intamin (manufacturer of California Screamin') may not have that stipulation in their ride requirements, but Vekoma (manufacturer of Woody Woodpecker's Nuthouse Coaster) may. Then again, many people have been thrown from Intamin coasters and died, and not so many from Vekomas. Look at the stupid height requirement Universal has on the Seuss Trolley. That's the manufacturer's decision.

This was the excuse Knott's used to say you couldn't ride their rides with glasses. I didn't buy it, I think it's easier to come up with an excuse that sounds like it could be out of your control.

 

[Teebin]

It will be interesting to see how it plays out. Of course, we could be in for a silent settlement which would be a bugger.

 

[s8film40]

It will be interesting to see how it plays out. Of course, we could be in for a silent settlement which would be a bugger.

Yeah my take on this is it was set up, they'll settle and her and her lawyer will make money and we'll never hear about it again.

 

[Frank Drackman]

I would think they would have let her on the stationary bench at DM, but I have no clue, but I do understand why they have that policy on many rides and as @Teebin pointed out, there have been dire consequences from ride operators not following safety recommendations.

There just are no winners in this situation in my opinion.

 

[deathcab4cutie]

ill just post this here took me 30 sec to find https://www.universalorlando.com/park-guide/universal-orlando-riders-guide.pdf.After reading this there were rides she could ride but they were extremely limited.For some reason kong was one she could ride