Disney worker killed

MSNBC just reported that a worker at WDW was killed while getting ready to do a parade. The person was in costume. They were run over by a car behind the scenes.

The first thing that needs to be said is that I feel bad for the family of this person.

Also, a car accident can happen anywhere, but Disney does not need this kind of publicity.

Just heard this as a breaking story on Fox News. They said that a costumed character was in a staging area for a Magic Kingdom parade when he was struck by a float and killed. They said no public eyes saw the accident and the parade was immediately cancelled, but they had no other details but that.

Sympathies are, of course, extended to the family of the victim. Such an unexpected and tragic accident is always particularly difficult.

Its always so sad when things like this happens. My prayers go out to the family and friends.

I know I'll be flamed...

How the hell did the person die? Floats go like five miles per hour! Geesh, what a way to go. In a costume, by a parade car. I guess it just wasn't someone's day!

Zero-G: you think you're about to be flammed, try this question....

Does anyone know what character this person was dressed as?

mOOSH

If I'm the Police Officer walking into the scene, I would have a hard time keeping my laugher in. I mean, the chalk out-line in the shape of Goofy? The tear-jerked co workers in Snow White costumes? The dented front of the Mickey Snow Globe float? Too funny!

Im with Zero-G. How was he killed? I have got to hear the details-how fast could it have been going?

I don't know how the cast member was killed, nor any other details, But I do know something about the parade, more exact the one at Magic Kingdom. The chaos before the parade was insane. People were running all over (this also included people in high school marching bands who were at Disney marching for the first time), and in the cast "ready area" (don't know what it is called) floats and people were all over the place. Then take in account that the visibality while driving the floats can't be that great and if some one walks infront of them from the side it wouldn't be too hard to hit them. Now the thing that gets me is that while the floats did go faster back stage, they still didn't move that fast, and even at that slightly faster speed if someone got hit it shouldn't have killed them. So I don't think thats what happened. I've been seeing some reports on other message boards that some part of one of the snow globes fell apart and landed on the cast member. This to me seems more likely to kill someone, as I'm sure that parts of the floats weigh a lot and the globes are mounted rather high in the air, so it eaisly kill someone.

I'm sure the visibility in the costumes isn't the greatest either. Pure speculation, but I'd guess that the character was hit, fell over, and then run over with the float. Those floats have to weigh a lot, and since most of the CM's in the costumes are built quite small, I think it's entirely possible that they were crushed under the vehicle.

This is waaay too depressing. Next do we talk about killing little puppies or something? Sheesh, people, not so much detail.

http://www.wesh.com/news/2840449/detail.html

Story from Orlando's NBC affiliate.

I cant find any info online about this -fox or msnbc-does anyone know if detailed story is available?

The last few months have been very interesting for Disney. BTMRR crash, Roy and his "Save Disney" revolution, Comcast's offers, Pixar leaving, the FAD closing, and now employee struck by a parade float.

The next thing you know, Goofy will have died from an over dose...

Anyway, I believe the visibility from the float driver's point of view is very limited. From what I understand they rely mostly on computers to direct them down the parade route.

*** Edited 2/12/2004 1:10:51 AM UTC by Dukeis#1***

You know, I hope we haven't lost sight of the fact that another human being died because of this. It may seem absurd because of the nature of the costuming, but if this was your loved one, you'd be terribly offended. It's not even a day old, folks, so let's try to be a little more respectful to the deceased.

Over at the message boards at WDWMAGIC, there is a topic over this incident. the tread can be found at the following link, and in thins thread, they tell basically what happened (as many over there work at Disney or know people who work there) and there are also many links to news sites covering this accident.

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?s=c1444939c0a347e56fbb3c5e268f8a3e&threadid=34187&perpage=15&pagenumber=1

Thanks Dave. My sympathy to the family and coworkers :( .

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

It appears the CM fell in front of the float and didn't have enough time to get out of the way.

Moosh - Pluto :)

As I now understand it, the float in question was at the end of a group of 5 floats that were joined together in a train type format. The last flat broke free and rolled backwards, hitting the unsuspecting character and rolling over him.

There is nothing funny about this. Would it be funny if your son or father died?

This is tragic for the families, the witnesses, and the company.

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"Someone Died!"

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So has every person who has ever lived. It's part of the life cycle. You can choose to be afraid of it, fear it, be depressed about it, cry about it, be sad about it, be upset about it, be angry about it or what have you, but the reality is everyone you know will die and so will you. I prefer not to be depressed about death as there is no way to stop it. We make light of everything else in our world, and I don't see the harm in finding humor in yet another aspect of it.

I think this is hilarious and if it happened to me or someone I know, I'd intially be upset that I would no longer be able to interact with this person, but it wouldn't be long before I was laughing at the humor in the whole situation. *It's just who I am.* Being that I don't have any personal memories or encounters with this, no doubt, great person, I'm not going to get upset.

Additionally, I would like to add that I would never hope to impose my view on someone who didn't want to hear it, but this is an open forum where I have been invited to say what I will. I also realize that some if not the majority of you will have a different opinion on the matter then me and I'm fine with that. I just hope you can respect the fact that I have intelligently thought about this before posting. *** Edited 2/12/2004 2:35:08 PM UTC by Zero-G***

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rentzy17 said:
Someone DIED. That isn't funny at all.

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Sometimes death can be funny. That's what the Darwin Awards are based on.

I don't know if this is certainly a case of that because I don't know the details. It's sad that that happened, but I, myself, though how could someone be killed by a parade float?

Lighten up. *** Edited 2/12/2004 3:26:25 PM UTC by RiFT***