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Ah, Disney World. It's considered the happiest place on Earth for a reason, but that doesn't
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mean things can't quickly go wrong on a vacation. There's a two-hour line for everything from It's a
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Small World to the restroom, your little brother is terrified of the guy in the Mickey costume,
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and they want HOW much for a hot dog? But those minor annoyances of vacation aside, you can be
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sure that everything runs smoothly at this little slice of heaven in Orlando, Florida. Right?
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Well, usually. But even at Disney's vacation haven, things can go very wrong. And over their
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nearly fifty-year history, there have been some truly shocking incidents at their rides, hotels,
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water parks, and even on their transportation. Some rare incidents are caused by negligence on
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the part of maintenance or ride workers, but more often these incidents are caused by guests going
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rogue. And then there are the generic accidents or health issues that no one could predict.
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These are some of the most messed-up things that ever happened at Walt Disney World.
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Sometimes the chaos starts even before people enter the park. Disney World is full of lakes,
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and boating enthusiasts often like to rent small boats to surf the waves. The only problem is,
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they're not the only ones using the water. A couple from Celebration,
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Florida was enjoying the water in 2010 when the husband darted in front of a
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Disney ferryboat transporting guests to the parks. Unsurprisingly, the ferryboat won,
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and the wife was taken to the hospital with fractured ribs and a collapsed lung.
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At least they were easy to rescue, unlike the people in the next incident.
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The Disney Skyliner is one of the most unique ways to travel to and from the Disney parks, shuttling
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people from some of the resort's outskirt hotels to EPCOT and Hollywood Studios via cable car.
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People can enjoy stunning views of the park - at least when it's working. It was only weeks after
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the Skyliner's opening in 2019 when one gondola got stuck leaving a station, and a line of other
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cars got stuck behind it. The entire system got shut down, with a backload of trapped and scared
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passengers having to be evacuated by the local fire department. Not exactly a smooth opening.
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But what about the most famous way of traveling around Disney World?
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The Monorail has been shuttling people from the central hotels to Magic Kingdom and EPCOT since
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the resort's opening, but it's not without its own troubled history. There are several
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incidents of train cars colliding, but a few incidents were more serious. In 1985,
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one car burst into flames while leaving the EPCOT station, and passengers were forced to
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kick out the side windows and climb onto the roof. Seven passengers were taken to the hospital for
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smoke inhalation. The culprit? A flat tire that received too much friction from the concrete.
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But it was 2009 when the Monorail had its darkest day.
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The busy monorail lines rely on tracks switching seamlessly to avoid collisions but on July 5th,
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this failed to happen. As a result, Monorail Pink slammed directly into Monorail Purple
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at the transportation hub, killing the pilot of Monorail Purple instantly. After everyone
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was evacuated and the injured passengers were treated, one of the biggest investigations in
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Disney history began. The National Transportation Safety Board was brought in to find the culprit,
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three monorail employees were suspended, and the feds put the blame on the shop panel operator
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for not properly aligning the switch beam. The biggest lasting change?
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Guests were no longer allowed to ride in the front cab car when on the monorail to keep them safer.
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Disney World is a busy place and its transportation system can be chaotic,
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but at least its hotels are a place of refuge where nothing goes wrong - right?
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Not exactly. While Disney's hotels are considered among the best in the world, they can't prevent
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everything. While the theme parks have some of the best security anywhere, the hotels are slightly
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easier to access - and that can mean trouble when someone enters with bad intentions. In June 2000,
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Disney had one of its scariest moments when a hostage situation broke out at the Boardwalk
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Inn. A child and a room service waiter were taken hostage by the boy's disturbed father.
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He demanded to speak to his estranged wife, and Disney quickly evacuated the hotel and called
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in hostage negotiators to talk the gun-toting man down. Bismarck Rodriguez kept the hostages
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well into the night, but the incident ended without bloodshed when he surrendered to police.
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It wasn't the only time people at Disney feared gun-toting maniacs.
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It was May 2018 at the Contemporary Resort, Disney's futuristic centerpiece,
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when a man caused a panic. Smelling of alcohol, he went around the resort telling everyone that an
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active shooter was loose at the hotel. People went into a panic, and the hotel was put into lockdown
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as the police searched for the culprit. They couldn't find any shooter, and they eventually
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tracked the man who started the rumors to the bushes outside where he was hiding and watching.
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It was all a lie. Why did he cause a panic? To get traffic for his YouTube channel.
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All hotels have dangers, and Disney hotels are no different. The hotels have had their share
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of drownings at the pool and deaths in the rooms. But one lurking danger
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is nature itself. Disney World might be a vacation haven - but it's still in Florida.
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Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort is billed as a little taste of nature in the middle of a theme
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park, but one family from New York experienced that the wrong way in 1980. An eleven-year-old
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boy was having a relaxing day at the now-defunct River Country water park. Soon after swimming,
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he became very ill and died. The culprit? A rare brain infection called Naegleriasis caused by a
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single-celled organism. Disney might work to keep its water clean, but they can only do so much.
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The next water predator they couldn't keep people safe from was much bigger.
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It was a picturesque night in July 2016 at the Grand Floridian Resort, bordering
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the Seven Seas lagoon. A two-year-old boy from Nebraska was playing by the water when suddenly,
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an alligator lunged out of the water. Quickly, the boy was grabbed by the
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large reptile and dragged below the water. Search-and-rescue experts were quickly assembled,
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and it wasn't until the next afternoon that the boy's body was found. The family sued Disney,
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but Disney argued that they couldn't be held responsible for the presence of alligators.
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Disney eventually settled out of court, and put up rope barriers around open water to
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protect people in the future. They even removed alligator figures from some of their rides.
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Phew. Things are more dangerous than expected at Disney resorts. Time to head to the parks,
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where everything is secure and safe - right?
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While Disney parks are among the most secure places in the country,
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things can still go wrong. Many of Disney's rides are rough and fast, and people are warned not to
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ride if they have certain pre-existing health conditions because an otherwise healthy person
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could die suddenly. There's only one problem - not everyone knows. Some health conditions hide
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completely undetected - a tiny heart malformation that could trigger a massive heart attack.
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There have been multiple times when a ride comes to a stop,
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and one of the happy riders simply doesn't get off. They died mid-ride from the wild motion.
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It's happened at all four Disney parks, on rides including Star Tours, Dinosaur,
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Expedition Everest, Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and even the
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relatively gentle Toy Story Mania. In all these cases, the investigation showed that the death
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was related to a pre-existing health condition and the ride was able to continue operating.
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But one ride at EPCOT developed a reputation for danger.
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It was 2003 when Mission Space promised to blast visitors into the future.
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This high-tech space-themed pavilion promised a thrill ride that would give people the closest
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thing they've felt to the sensation of blasting off into space. Combining a motion simulator
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with a centrifuge, it was an interactive thrill ride that simulated a trip to Mars.
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Everyone who rode it said it was the most intense thrill ride Disney had ever debuted.
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Too intense for a four-year-old boy from Pennsylvania, who died suddenly on the ride
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in 2005. His parents sued, but the cause of death was proven to be an undiagnosed heart condition
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and the lawsuit was thrown out. It seemed to be clear for blast-off.
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That is, until it happened again.
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Less than a year later, a German woman became sick after riding and was taken to the hospital
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where she died of a brain hemorrhage. Although doctors found she had severe high blood pressure
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that led to her death, people were getting more worried about Disney's newest thrill ride.
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This wasn't unfounded, as in the ride's first few years,
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paramedics had to be called to treat almost two hundred riders of Mission Space!
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People were passing out, having difficulty breathing, or reporting symptoms of a heart
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attack. Most were okay soon after, but it was clear this virtual mission to space
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was pushing many people to their limit. Disney soon introduced a milder version of the ride
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without the centrifuge as an option, and the ride continues to thrill daring riders to this day.
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Not all incidents happen on intense rides, as people on a relaxing cruise found out.
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The Jungle Cruise is one of Disney's oldest rides, known for a slow ride through a river full of
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animals captained by jokey tour guides. But the river cruise got a little wet for some riders
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in February 2020. Suddenly, with a boat full of passengers, one of the ships started to sink!
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This was the age of social media, and soon pictures were flooding the internet of people
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climbing on the boat railings to try to stay out of the water. The local fire department showed up,
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the people were evacuated, and the ride opened shortly after - with everyone thankful
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the jungle creatures surrounding them were just audio-animatronics.
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It's not just the rides that can cause danger at Disney World either.
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There's no better way to end a day at Disney World than with a spectacular fireworks show, and most
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nights it goes off without a hitch. But one night in 2014, those watching the Wishes fireworks show
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got a major scare. Falling embers from the show traveled into Fantasyland, where they landed on
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the artificial grass surrounding the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. This created a blaze that
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caused the ride and everything around it to be evacuated. While there were only minor damage and
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no injuries, seeing a blaze in the middle of the happiest place on Earth scared a lot of people.
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Fireworks can be dangerous, but what could be dangerous about lunch at a cafe?
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A family visiting Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe in Tomorrowland found that out the hard way when they
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sat down to lunch in 2010. Their four-year-old son sat down and nearly fell over in his chair,
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so he grabbed a tray of food to stabilize himself. That caused a plate of hot nacho cheese to fall on
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him, burning him. The family sued Disney, claiming that the cheese was served at an
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unsafe temperature. Disney settled out of court, an expensive ending to a traumatic cheese crash.
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But it's not just the rides, fireworks, and food that can be a hazard. Sometimes it's the guests.
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A Florida woman was waiting in line for the Mad Tea Party when she was suddenly attacked by
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another guest from Alabama, in one of the nastiest fights ever in a Disney theme park. The attacker
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was arrested and sentenced to ninety days in jail, but that wasn't the end of the story.
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Disney was sued not just by the victim, but by her husband! He claimed that his wife's injuries
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caused him to lose her support and companionship and that Disney was responsible for not having
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enough security to protect her. Disney did NOT settle this lawsuit and quickly won in court.
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It's not just the guests that can cause trouble, though. Sometimes the cast members can go rogue.
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The Haunted Mansion is one of Disney's most popular attractions,
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filled with thousands of special effects and props. But in 2018, there were a few
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less of them. A disgruntled former Disney employee snuck into the haunted ride and stole about seven
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thousand dollars worth of costumes and props. But you should always assume that while you're
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in a haunted mansion, you're being watched. He was caught in the act and the authorities were
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informed of the stolen items. Police eventually tracked him down and found the stolen items,
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which have since been returned to their proper home with the 999 grim grinning ghosts.
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At least those costumed characters are always friendly, right?
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Well, if you don't count Tigger. He was always a little too energetic. In 2007,
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a teenage boy from New Hampshire was taking a picture with a cast member dressed as Tigger when
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the big orange cat hauled off and punched him! The cast member first claimed it was an accident,
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then said he was acting in self-defense and that the boy was pulling on the back of his costume
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and making it hard for him to breathe. The case was referred to the local authorities, and they
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decided not to press charges. Sometimes what happens in Disney World, stays in Disney World.
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One of the craziest incidents in Disney history,
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though, didn't happen in the park. It happened in the parking lot.
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It was 1984, shortly after EPCOT opened, and a small plane came into view. But it
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was flying a little low, and suddenly it crashed into the EPCOT parking lot,
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shattering the calm of a vacation day. The husband and wife piloting the plane,
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along with their one-year-old daughter, were killed instantly, but two other children in
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the plane survived their injuries. The plane was on course for Disney from Greer, South Carolina
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as the family decided to fly their small plane directly there instead of dealing with the
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airports. Something went wrong in the air and they made an emergency landing, only to clip a pole in
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the parking lot and lose a wing. Instead of making a smooth landing, they crashed directly into
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several cars in the parking lot. And suddenly, everyone in Disney was watching the skies.
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For all these crazy incidents, people still flock to Disney in the millions every year, completely
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unafraid. That's because the notoriously cautious Disney company learns from every crisis and
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takes new safety measures. Anything can happen at Disney World - but it probably won't happen twice.
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For more on chaos at amusement parks,
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check out “The Worst Amusement Park Ride Disasters”, or check out this video instead.