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CitationFun day at park turns tragic
An Apopka man hurt in a fall while boarding a roller coaster dies after surgery.
By Sean Mussenden | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted September 23, 2004


It was to have been Jose Valadez's one day of fun.

After he spent the better part of a year indoors -- visiting doctors, lining up referrals and filling out forms, all in hopes of getting on a waiting list for a liver transplant -- his wife decided he need a day in the sun at Universal Studios.

She pushed him from ride to ride in a rented wheelchair. When they arrived at the Revenge of the Mummy, the park's newest indoor thrill coaster, she waited outside with the chair.

He walked in.

"I waited and waited and waited for him," Paula Valadez said. "He never came out."

Jose Valadez, 39, of Apopka died Wednesday morning after surgery at Orlando Regional Medical Center, a day after falling from the Mummy's loading platform onto the tracks 4 feet below while boarding the ride.

It was the first major accident on the Mummy since it opened in May and the second death at Universal Orlando in a year. Last September, a woman died at the hospital after passing out on the Incredible Hulk Coaster at Universal's Islands of Adventure.

The park is conducting its own investigation into Tuesday's accident, park spokesman Tom Schroder said.

Rides at Florida's largest theme parks are not routinely inspected by the state. In 2001, those companies agreed to voluntarily report injuries that required hospitalization to the state Bureau of Fair Rides Inspection.

Michael Rinehart, lead investigator for the rides bureau, said his agency probably would not conduct an independent investigation but had not made a final decision.

Schroder said the ride did not malfunction. The accident occurred, he said, as Valadez started to board in the front row.

The boarding procedure for the Mummy is similar to many major park roller coasters. Guests wait between small barriers, separated from the track area by a swinging 42-inch-high metal and plastic gate. The car arrives, the gate swings out and guests step in.

In the line for the front row, the open gate creates a wall, keeping boarders from falling in front of the car into a 4-foot-deep channel that houses the tracks.

Most of the gate is made up of solid metal bars. But a foot-long part of the gate that sits nearest to the car is made of flexible plastic.

Schroder said it was unclear how Valadez fell. He did not know why the gate designers used flexible plastic.

While it conducts its investigation, Schroder said the park already was taking steps to beef up safety. On Wednesday, it closed off access to the front row of seats. And it posted an extra employee at each of the three loading areas to stand between boarding guests and the track area.

When they got to the Mummy on Tuesday, Paula Valadez said she thought the ride was not wheelchair-accessible, though Universal said it is.

She waited outside with the chair; Jose Valadez walked in.

When he fell, he hit his head on the tracks and complained that his stomach hurt and he could not feel his leg, said Orlando Fire Department Assistant Chief Greg Hoggatt.

Doctors at Orlando Regional Medical Center later told Paula Valadez they had to operate on her husband to remove his spleen. Two years ago, she said, doctors diagnosed her husband with hepatitis C, a liver disease that had sent him in search of a new, healthy organ.

The doctors told her the disease complicated the surgery. He died about 11 a.m. Wednesday, she said.

Paula Valadez said she has no plans to sue Universal.

Money, she said, would not replace her husband, the man who used to sing her the old Kenny Rogers tune "Lady" and draw her cartoon characters on handkerchiefs.

One, featuring Daisy and Donald Duck on a porch swing, reads: "Hold me and don't never let go. I'm all yours."

It is signed simply "Jose."

Sean Mussenden can be reached

at [email protected]

or 407-420-5664.

euh...

on fait comment si on est nul en anglais  

on fait comme ça  

en gros ça dit ça :

une femme decide par un beau jour d'emmener son mari faire des maneges pour le distraire car il est en attente d'une transplantation

apparemment tres fatigue il se deplace en fauteil roulant dans le parc et decide de rider Mummy's Revenge

sa femme l'attend donc à l'entree du ride et s'inquiete de ne pas le voir revenir
il serait en fait tombe sous les rails de la station en essayant de monter à bord du train, fesant une chute d'environ 1,2m

C'est pas vraiment le ride qui est en cause ....
Il fait noir dans la zone d'embarquement

Très bizarre c'est accident J'vois pas trop comment cela à put se passer  

Surtout une chute mortelle de 1.2m faut vraiment le vouloir!!!!

Encore un accident bien horrible...

Pourquoi fallait-il que la Momie est elle aussi droit a son accident ??

De plus, ça doit être horrible pour les personnes de la file d'attente qui ont vu le drame... Mais surtout,  bon rétablissement à la personne...

Citationbon rétablissement à la personne...

heu..on parle de chute mortelle  

PTDRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
scusez le off topic, mais sur ce coup Michaël tu m'as fait exploser de rire    

Citationheu..on parle de chute mortelle

Effectivement

PS : pfiou...       ...