Last Update: 1/4/25

In this article, we’ll break down:

• Key Concerns About Disney Slip and Falls
• What degree of care is required of Disney World?
• Who has the burden of proof – the accident victim or Disney World?
• What evidence do you need to prove your slip, trip, or fall claim against Disney World?
• Case examples of getting compensation from Disney World
• What should you do?

Family fun in Florida, for both tourists and those living here, not only means going to the beach or enjoying water sports – but also means a trip to a theme park or amusement park, which for many people means one thing: a trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando Florida (also known as “wdw fl”).

Disney World isn’t just one theme park. It’s really a group of amusement parks, offering something for everyone: there’s the Magic Kingdom, of course; but there is also Hollywood Studios, Epcot, ESPN’s Wide World of Sports, and the Typhoon Lagoon. Add to that Disney’s Animal Kingdom, its Blizzard Beach, BoardWalk, and Downtown Disney and you would be hard-pressed to find anyone that can’t find attractions to suit their interests.

A Note Regarding Confidential Settlements: It is difficult, and highly unusual, to find many Walt Disney World injury settlements on the internet. That’s at least true for cases settled over the last few years, as Disney requires most seriously injured victims to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Meaning, the injury victim is required to sign a document promising to keep and hold the facts surrounding their settlement in full and strictest confidence.

Key Concerns About Disney Slip and Falls and Related Premises Liability Claims

Here is a sample of the key concerns, including common injury scenarios and the steps to prove a claim, that visitors and clients have had about Disney slip and falls and other premises liability claims. This information comes directly from the emails, online chats, and calls we’ve had with clients and visitors over the last several years.

Common Injury Scenarios at Disney World

1. Slips, Trip and Falls in Park Attractions

• Key Concern: Many victims report slips, trips and falls caused by unsafe conditions, such as wet floors, slippery floors, wet stairs, steep slopes, inadequate crowd control, unsafe walking surfaces or obstructed pathways (e.g., rain-drenched blacktop, unmarked steps at rides). These incidents often result in fractures, dislocations, bruises, chronic pain or other long-term injuries that impact mobility, daily life and vacation enjoyment.
• Insight: Parks must maintain safe environments and promptly address risks like wet floors or poorly designed pathways. Victims should note evidence of negligence, such as lack of signage, improper maintenance or lack of staff.

2. Accidents During Rides

• Key Concern: Injuries occur when ride safety measures fail or are poorly managed, like being knocked over in a crowded space or when safety features like doors and lines cause harm, unsteady walkways at attractions, faulty handrails, or children colliding in unsafe spaces.
• Insight: Injured parties should report ride-related incidents immediately and include key details like ride conditions, staff response, and injuries sustained. Seeking medical attention and evidence collection are priorities.

3. Negligence and Mismanagement of Medical Emergencies

• Key Concern: Victims mentioned that on-site medical care failed to provide prompt care for burns and infections, failed to diagnose or treat injuries effectively, like a Disney nurse telling a guest their arm wasn’t broken when it was. Other issues relate to insufficient follow-ups or miscommunication from resort staff.
• Insight: Victims should seek medical attention independent of Disney’s health care providers to avoid long-term health risks emerging from misdiagnoses or untreated injuries.

4. Customer Treatment and Compensation Issues

• Key Concern: Despite filing reports with amusement park claims departments, many guests feel neglected and disrespected. For instance, guests seriously injured were only compensated with minor perks, which failed to address the cost to make the visitor whole again (which is the purpose of Florida’s negligence law).
• Insight: Parks should maintain an open and transparent claim processes. Victims should push for appropriate compensation covering medical costs, lost earnings, and pain and suffering and other applicable economic and non-economic damages. Detailed documentation, and daily health logs, can be critical here.

5. Long-Term Injuries and Permanent Damage

• Key Concern: Serious accidents can result in lifetime medical issues, such as scars, and reduced mobility, permanent nerve damage, scars, psychological trauma, or fear of similar activities (e.g., fear of boats after burns). Victims often feel cheated when parks do not provide ample acknowledgment or compensation for these issues.
• Insight: Compensation should contemplate damages sustained both in the short and long-term.

Steps for Proving a Disney Slip and Fall Claim

1. Documenting the Incident

• Report the injury to park personnel immediately and ensure the event is documented with an official report citing location, time, and responsible parties. Take photos of conditions or injuries immediately and request copies of any video surveillance recorded at the scene. Additionally, ask that any video surveillance be preserved. See below for a comprehensive discussion on the evidence needed to prove a claim against Disney World.

2. Seeking Medical Attention

• Visit a licensed physician or hospital as soon as possible, even if the medical personnel provide care on-site. Medical records strengthen claims. Follow all recommended treatments and maintain receipts or costs incurred due to the injury.

3. Do Not Sign a Release

• Avoid signing medical release forms or waivers provided by the park before obtaining legal advice. Doing so will likely prevent you from obtaining just compensation for your injuries.

What Degree of Care is Required of Disney World?

It’s safe to say that no one plans an excursion to Disney World for themselves and their family with the idea that someone might get hurt there: accidents at the theme park are always a surprise for the injury victim. However, being aware that accidents will occur and taking prudent steps to keep them from happening is something that the owner and operator of Disney World, as well as all other theme parks, are well aware is their responsibility.

It is well-settled law in Florida that amusement parks MUST use due care to maintain their premises in a reasonably safe condition. Disney’s standard of care depends on the nature and the manner of operation of the particular place of amusement. The obligation of Disney, and other amusement parks, is to keep their premises in a reasonably safe condition commensurate with the business being conducted.

One common accident at Disney World (and other theme parks) is the slip and fall accident (which also includes a trip and fall). Visitors to any part of the Disney World series of amusement parks, including their resorts and hotels, might get hurt by falling down because of conditions like:

• Water causes a slippery surface near rides, on sidewalks, in hotel lobbies, pool decks, etc;
• Tripping on the trolley tracks, including getting a shoe or foot stuck in the tracks;
• Melting ice on the sidewalk (usually from someone’s drink);
• Leaking sinks or toilets in the restroom areas;
• Slippery conditions in the hotel shower or bathtub;
• Hazards in footpaths like tossed food items in restaurants or food areas; or
• Dangerous conditions on or near sidewalks or walking paths at a Disney hotel or resort (usually around landscaping areas)
• Broken walkways.

Get An Edge By Knowing The Law: Hotel Accident Claims

Who Has the Burden of Proof – The Accident Victim or Disney World?

Under premises liability law, Disney World and all Florida amusement parks, as well as WDW hotels, are under the legal duty to take all reasonable precautions to keep their customers (in legal terms, their “business invitees”) safe from harm. However, if there is a slip and fall, the law can present challenges for some victims, particularly those who live in other states.

In Florida, the victim of a slip and fall accident at a theme park has the legal duty of proving that the theme park failed in its duty to keep its visitors safe from harm; that Disney did something wrong. The victim, not the theme park, will have to provide admissible evidence that Disney World had actual or constructive knowledge of the danger or hazard and failed to fix it in a timely and responsible way.

Specifically, when dealing with a fall caused by a substance on the ground or floor, according to Florida Statutes 768.0755, the burden of proof is on the person who was hurt:

(1) If a person slips and falls on a transitory foreign substance in a business establishment, the injured person must prove that the business establishment had actual or constructive knowledge of the dangerous condition and should have taken action to remedy it. Constructive knowledge may be proven by circumstantial evidence showing that:
(a) The dangerous condition existed for such a length of time that, in the exercise of ordinary care, the business establishment should have known of the condition; or
(b) The condition occurred with regularity and was therefore foreseeable.
(2) This section does not affect any common-law duty of care owed by a person or entity in possession or control of a business premises.

What Evidence Do You Need to Prove Your Slip, Trip or Fall Claim Against Disney World?

It is not easy to prove a slip and fall accident claim against a big organization like Disney.  Disney is prepared to deal with damage claims with its standardized forms, routine procedures, and trained claims adjusters and site managers. Of course, its goal is to build a defense that allows it to limit its liability and pay very little to a claimant.

However, these accident claims will find redress if the accident victim can provide evidence of Disney’s negligence.  Evidence that can include, witness statements, video surveillance, cell phone footage and other evidence that can be found during the legal process known as discovery (that can and should include requesting from WDW a history of accidents occurring at the particular location. Disney World has a database full of this information. If the particular location of the trip and fall has a history of accidents, then the next line of inquiry is what extra precautions has Disney taken to prevent falls. Don’t be surprised to learn they didn’t take extra precautions because they made a business decision not to do so. Note, however, in our experience a Judge hearing a Disney slip and fall case can make obtaining the “history” information an arduous task. Fortunately, many of the cases we have had with WDW did not have this issue during discovery, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen in your case!)

Getting Compensation From Disney World – Case Examples

Many times, slip and fall claims are resolved with Disney with the claim settlement being confidential. (Read this Orlando Sentinel investigation for details here.)

The bad news is that in many wdw injury cases, the accident victim will not be able to reach any type of settlement, pre-suit or after a lawsuit is filed, simply because Disney denies liability. This leaves the victim with no choice but to file a lawsuit and to seek a jury’s determination that Disney was negligent before he or she can get compensation. Many of these injury victims find justice, although the battle isn’t easy. Here are two examples:

1. Falling Off a Curb or Sidewalk at Magic Kingdom.

In the case of Aguiar v. Walt Disney World Hospitality, Mrs. Fatima Aguiar was enjoying her visit to the Magic Kingdom with her husband when she fell stepping off a curb, and her knee was seriously injured as a result. The Aguiars presented their accident claim to Walt Disney World, as the owner of the Magic Kingdom, but no settlement was reached.

The Aguiars were forced to file a personal injury lawsuit against Walt Disney, alleging that Disney had breached its legal duty to maintain its business premises in a reasonably safe condition and to warn business invitees of “… a known dangerous, hazardous and/or unsafe condition, causing Aguiar to fall and suffer injuries while walking through the park.”

The Aguiars won; the Florida appeals court found that Disney could be liable for the injuries sustained when their resort visitor, Fatima Aguiar, tripped and fell over loose sidewalk caulking during her visit to the Magic Kingdom.

2. Trip and Fall at Downtown Disney

In another case, Etheredge v. Walt Disney World Co., a teenager named Jalayna Jones Etheredge, who was 15 years old at the time, was taking part in a family vacation at the campground in Disney’s Fort Wilderness, over the Fourth of July holiday. That evening, Jalayna and her friends were on their way to meet Jalayna’s parents for dinner at Downtown Disney when Jalayna stepped off the curb in the parking lot, falling in such a way that her ankle was pinned in a storm drain. It was an accident that resulted in the teen having to undergo four different surgeries.

Her argument for damages here was based upon Disney failing in its duty to protect visitors in how they traveled from the parking lot to Downtown Disney. There was no claim that the parking lot had a design defect, for instance, or that there was a hidden danger: the teenager volunteered that she was having fun and not looking at where she was going.

Key here to Disney’s liability: the pathway provided by the theme park moved guests from the parking lot to the street through landscaped plant beds where the path then led visitors, like Jalayna, to cross the street at the storm drain. The court held that Disney had a duty of care in how the business invitees were encouraged to travel from the parking lot to Downtown Disney via this path.

What should you do now?

A good piece of advice if you have been harmed by a slip and fall or trip and fall on a Disney or other theme park property, is to speak with an experienced personal injury lawyer who has spent 40+ years evaluating accident facts, applying the law, and effectively asking juries to render a favorable verdict. Most personal injury lawyers, like Alan Sackrin, will offer a free initial consultation (over the phone or in-person) to answer your questions and give you an idea of what your claim is worth based upon his/her prior settlements with Disney (which are often subject to a confidentiality agreement).

NOW WATCH:

What do I need to prove in order to get a Florida slip and fall settlement?

Related:

• What Type of Proof Do You Need for Your Florida Slip and Fall Claim?
• Slip/Trip and Falls in Florida

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Do you have questions or comments? Then please feel free to send Alan an email or call him now at (954) 458-8655.

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