Credit: ITMA guest suffered a broken bone during a roller coaster accident.
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While the Walt Disney World Resort may feature four incredible theme parks, one truly stands above the rest when it comes to how iconic it is. We’re, of course, talking about the Magic Kingdom, the original Disney park in Orlando, Florida. With an unmatched collection of beloved rides and attractions as well as some of the most iconic locations in the history of theme parks, it’s no wonder why Magci Kingdom is the most popular of the theme parks in Walt Disney World.
Here, guests will find attractions like Pirates of the Caribbean, “it’s a small world,” Peter Pan’s Flight, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Haunted Mansion, The Country Bear Jamboree, and many others. Magic Kingdom used to also be home to Splash Mountain, one of the most famous water rides in the world.
Splash Mountain closed forever earlier in 2023 at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland, allowing Walt Disney Imagineering to transform the attraction into an all-new experience. The actual drops, twists, and turns will stay, but the ride’s story, music, theming, and characters will all be completely reworked into a new story centered on Disney’s 2009 animated film The Princess and the Frog.
This new ride will be called Tiana’s Bayou Adventure and is set to open sometime in 2024.
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The newest attraction at Walt Disney World is TRON Lightcycle/Run, an incredible, high-tech roller coaster theme around Disney’s TRON franchise. Here, guests will step into “The Grid” and embark on an epic race on their Lightcycles. The coaster features a launch system and paces guests in a motorcycle-like ride vehicle, similar to how guests sit on Flight of Passage at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
The attraction is rather short but still quite thrilling, becoming one of the most popular rides at Magic Kingdom. The ride can be found in Tomorrowland right next to Magic Kingdom’s iconic Space Mountain coaster. The ride is not entirely original, however, with it being a copy of the same attraction found at Shanghai Disneyland, which opened back in 2016. Shortly after this first version of the ride opened, The Walt Disney Company revealed it would be bringing a version to Florida at the Magic Kingdom.
The coaster took longer than both fans and Disney anticipated, with constriction taking nearly five full years. Thankfully, TRON Lightcycle/Run finally opened, and guests have been loving it ever since.
Unfortunately, not everything is magical, even at “The Most Magical Place on Earth,” with a truly shocking accident taking place in August. While attempting to board TRON Lightcycle/Run, a guest broke their rib. A new report from Orlando Theme Park Zone revealed more details about the incident.
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While Disney is supposed to be a place where guests of all ages can have fun in a safe environment, accidents and injuries are unavoidable when you’re dealing with thousands of people each and every day. We see accidents happen quite often at Walt Disney World, as well as Disneyland and the rest of the Disney parks around the world. However, it’s rare that injuries are ever this serious.
The guest, who remained anonymous in the report, shared the following message regarding the accident:
“When I reached up to pull down the handlebars I felt a pop. I broke my fifth rib on my right side. I think th pressure of the big pushing against me and then having to reach to grab the handles was too much. The pain is persistent but not bad. I didn’t realize it was broken. I rode TRON and all the other coasters I could. Yep, that didn’t help.”
This is quite a shocking accident and injury for a Disney ride and we hope that the guest can make a quick recovery. As we said, injuries are an unfortunate reality for Disney. Currently, The Walt Disney Company is facing a lawsuit for an injury a child received while riding Peter Pan’s Flight. For more information, click here.
Have you experienced TRON Lightcycle/Run at Magic Kingdom? Are you excited about Tiana’s Bayou Adventure?