Report: Theme parks are quite safe (just watch your step)

[bee1000]

The OC Register has an online feature where you can search a database of Orange County theme park injuries reported in 2009 and 2010.

I found it amazing that only 284 injuries were reported over two years for all of Orange County theme parks combined (DL, DCA, Knott's, Soak City, etc.). In other words, across all the parks in Orange County there was less than one injury reported every two days.

At Disneyland the most reports (14) were for Splash Mountain, but none of the injuries was due to a problem with the ride and no changes to the ride were required to be made. I went through several of the attractions in the database and the majority of reports I saw were of injuries endured while people were getting on and off rides rather than things happening on the rides. One on-ride "injury" was a woman reporting she was bitten by a mosquito on Pirates of the Caribbean!

Anyway, it's a useful and interesting thing to spend some time searching through.

Here's the link.

[calsig31]

That's a cool link. Thanks for sharing.

[sleepyjeff]

But when you think about it.................. for every person who reports that they slipped and scraped a knee or bitten by a mosquito there's probably another 50 who have it happen who don't report it.

[bee1000]

But when you think about it.................. for every person who reports that they slipped and scraped a knee or bitten by a mosquito there's probably another 50 who have it happen who don't report it.

Sure. I would have been impressed if every one of the 284 injuries had been actual-but-minor injuries that occurred on the rides themselves. The fact that even the reported injuries are so minor makes the low number of injuries that much more impressive to me.

[dth316]

Bitten by a mosquito? Talk about being completely immersed in an attraction!

[Jayce]

Bitten by a mosquito? Talk about being completely immersed in an attraction!

I can believe that I once got a minor burn on Star Tours after barely dodging a lazer blast

[aimster]

If I trip and fall it's my own stupidity for not looking where I'm going or picking up my feet when I walk. I'm not part of the "sue happy" population out there, so unless something happens that is obviously someone else's fault instead of my own clumsiness, not going to get reported.

I once tripped and scraped my knee getting on Mr. Toad at WDW (before it closed), but that was my own fault because I was going too fast for my own good and my foot slipped. No one's fault but my own and I just laughed it off and chalked it up to my being a natural born klutz.

[sleepyjeff]

Sure. I would have been impressed if every one of the 284 injuries had been actual-but-minor injuries that occurred on the rides themselves. The fact that even the reported injuries are so minor makes the low number of injuries that much more impressive to me.

Fair enough and I do agree, that is pretty impressive.