Disney employee dies five days after fall from ride platform

LAKE BUENA VISTA -- A Disney employee died Thursday, five days after falling from a ride platform and hitting her head, park officials and Orange County authorities said.

Karen Price, 63, was hit by one of the moving vehicles and fell from a platform Saturday while working as a ride attendant on the roller coaster Primeval Whirl in Animal Kingdom, officials said.

Price was conscious, alert, and talking at the time of the injury, but her condition deteriorated Wednesday, sheriff spokesman Jim Solomons said.

Disney spokeswoman Jacquee Polak said the ride was operating normally Saturday at the time of the accident. The ride was closed for the remainder of the day Saturday and reopened Sunday.

"Our sympathies are with the family, and we have offered our support through this very difficult time," she said.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspected the ride Thursday, Polak said. The sheriff's office was not contacted until Price's condition worsened, which is standard procedure, Solomons said.

Their office also was investigating, but "there's absolutely no indication there was a criminal act that precipitated the injury," he said.

Primeval Whirl is a dinosaur-themed ride, where spinning vehicles zip through a roller coaster track, according to Disney's Web site.

Disney has reported nine deaths to the state since 2001.

In June 2006, Michael Russell, 12, of Fort Campbell, Ky., went limp and later died after riding MGM's Rock 'n' Roller Coaster.

Hiltrud Bluemel, a 49-year-old German tourist died in April 2006 one day after riding on Epcot's Mission: Space. A preliminary medical examiner's report showed she died of brain bleeding.

Four-year-old Daudi Bamuwamye, of Sellersville, Pa., died after riding Epcot's Mission: Space in June 2005. An autopsy determined he died of an irregular heartbeat.

Associated Press