Injuries on theme park rides, while not common considering the millions of people who ride them every year, certainly do happen. Often those injuries are reported from the attractions you might expect, i.e. the thrill rides that push your body to experience forces you’re not used to. But sometimes it can actually be the simplest rides that can allegedly cause significant injury.
Such is the case of a recent lawsuit that has been filed against Universal Orlando Resort that claims a woman has suffered “permanent injuries” and “emotional trauma" after falling from a Dr. Seuss-themed carousel.
According to the lawsuit, obtained by Orlando Weekly, Juliana Asquino of São Paulo, Brazil visited Universal’s Islands of Adventure in June 2022 with her husband and daughter when the incident took place. She was allegedly dismounting from one of the “beasts” on the Caro-Seuss-El when she fell due to what the lawsuit called a “negligent design.”
While the nature and extent of the injuries sustained are not clear, the lawsuit calls them “severe” and says she has accumulated significant medical expenses from treatment. The lawsuit is asking Universal Orlando to pay $50,000. It claims that there was no notice on the attraction regarding a potential falling hazard, and thus the theme park is at fault for the injuries.
The Caro-Seuss-El is located in the Seuss Landing portion of Universal’s Islands of Adventure. It’s a land particularly geared towards families and young children, similar to Fantasyland at a Disney Park. The rides don’t have significant height requirements and are pretty low-impact. The Caro-Suess-El has no height requirement at all, only asking that guests under 48" tall ride with supervision. The animals on the carousel are all characters from various Dr. Seuss books, and each has some level of control so guests can move their heads and otherwise interact during the ride.
This time of year, as Universal Orlando celebrates the holidays, the land rebrands as Whoville and includes the Grinch and other residents of Whoville as walk-around characters.
While an injury this significant on a carousel is certainly unexpected, many reported injuries at theme parks come when guests are entering or exiting ride vehicles. In 2019, a Disneyland guest sued after allegedly hitting her head when disembarking from Space Mountain. Earlier this year, Universal Orlando’s sister park, Universal Studios Hollywood, was sued following a reported incident where a woman injured her hand before she even got on the attraction while standing in the queue for a Harry Potter ride.
If you go to theme parks enough, you probably start to overlook the various warnings that are often posted all over theme parks. Parks do a lot to try and mitigate risk, which doesn’t mean Universal couldn’t be at fault here. There are a lot of questions that, if this truly goes to court, will have to be answered in front of a jury. Still, it seems unlikely things will get that far, as these cases are nearly always settled out of court and without disclosing the result.
