5. The lion
In a truly unusual incident, an African lion escaped from a backyard cage and killed the next door neighbour. Who was to blame? The family of the victim alleged that it was Disneyland, who had failed to track down the owner (who was visiting the park that day) in time. They were not successful in court.
4. Segways
The case brought by several disabled visitors against Disney for refusing to allow entry to its parks when riding Segways (as mobility vehicles) is not unusual in itself. What makes the case stand out, though, is one of the statements that Disney used to (successfully) defend itself. The company pointed out that the owner of Segway Inc., Jimi Heselden, had died in 2010 after falling off a cliff while riding a Segway.
3. The Hydrolator
The Hydrolators, once a key part of the The Seas pavilion at Epcot, were the subject of one mythical lawsuit that may never have actually happened. Disney tour guides have told tales of a case brought by a woman who suffered from "the bends" after descending into the depths of the sea in one of the Hydrolators. There was one problem, however - the Hydrolators didn't actually go anywhere. They simply vibrated a bit to give guests the impression that they were headed to the bottom of the sea.
An investigation by Yesterland, however, suggests that this may be an urban legend.
2. The headless characters
Any Disney fan knows that the characters that wander through the parks are real. But that hasn't stopped a number of lawsuits mentioning children witnessing "headless" characters backstage, causing severe distress.
The reality of these cases is a little less bizarre. In fact, two lawsuits have cited headless characters, but there were many other factors involved too. One case involved security staff falsely accusing a family of shoplifting, and dragging them backstage. Another saw a former Mouseketeer brought backstage after being held up at gunpoint in Disneyland's parking lot. Both distressing events, regardless of the presence of beheaded characters.
1. Pooh and Tigger
Both Winnie the Pooh and his friend Tigger have been accused of assaulting guests. In 1981, Pooh was accused of beating a nine-year-old girl by repeatedly slapping her in the face, but Disney was able to prove that his range of movement would have made this impossible. 23 years later, Tigger faced criminal charges, being acquitted of molesting guests after the character himself appeared in court to demonstrate how difficult maneuvering was.
Comments
we were on "Its a small world "one year for approximately 40 minutes listening to that crazy music, Its fun for a few minutes but not 40, but we never thought of suing Disney for that, now if we had gotten hurt while on the ride, that would have been different. geesh I coulda had a trip to Disney for that 8 grand, lol
I was stuck for 10 minutes once and thought it was enough, I can't imagine 40 minutes.
I work at Disney and was told the story of Denise Mooty personally by cast members that were there at the time. She most definitely DID verbally abuse them, and that's the reason she was removed from the park. It's one of those situations where kindness will get you everywhere, but rudeness and foul language will get you nowhere!
I worked at Disney during the Tigger incident and I was told by some of the managers that the person playing Tigger was a lawsuit waiting to happen because he was warned many times not to be so "handsy" with the female guests.
Pretty sure the brick one is true, too...I was a cast member back in the mid 90s, and my boyfriend at the time, who'd been a cast member for a few years before I started there, told me about that one, as well as the one at Epcot...