Space Mountain is “a thrilling, high-speed, turbulent roller coaster-type ride in the dark that includes sharp turns, sudden drops and stops.” It’s one of the most popular attractions at Disney World and Disneyland. However, yesterday it was the site of a traumatic event. A man was seriously injured when he lost his hands riding Space Mountain at Magic Kingdom.
The top speed of Space Mountain is only 27 miles per hour, however, that is a high enough speed to have a life altering impact. According to official reports, a man riding Space Mountain yesterday lost both of his hands on the ride. This is an incredibly frightening story and extremely sad.
At approximately 12:15 PM, a man boarded Space Mountain with his family. While on the ride he raised his hands in the air as their car flew down the track. During the largest drop on the ride his hands struck the track above head. At that time, the car was traveling at its top speed. The force of his hands hitting the track was enough to essentially tear them clean off.
According to the other guests in the same car as him, the man was screaming with joy for the first part of the ride. At one point they heard a loud clunk noise, which they thought was an issue with their car. They then heard the man screaming out of what sounded like pain and fear. This apparently made them even more worried. They feared there was something wrong with their car and that they were in trouble and may crash. It wasn’t until they pulled into the station with lights on that they realized what happened.
Space Mountain cast members initiated an emergency stop of the attraction immediately. They called the paramedics, who arrived in minutes. They rushed the man to the hospital to treat his injuries. The man is in stable condition, however, an injury like that is life altering.
We reached out to a top US surgeon to understand the treatment options for this. They mentioned if the doctor was able to retrieve his hands from the ride, there will be a 50/50 chance the man will have working hands again. If not, things will be much worse and he will likely never have hands again. The surgeon mentions that the man is extremely lucky he made it to the hospital in time given the amount of blood he likely lost.
Disney evacuated the people stuck on Space Mountain after the emergency stop. They shut the ride down for multiple hours while they did a full clean of the attraction. It did reopen later that day. Space Mountain will be under investigation from Disney and other external parties to understand how this happened and how it to prevent it in the future.
When designing and testing rides, Disney ensures injuries like this can’t happen. They put a car on the track that simulates peoples hands and arms to ensure they won’t hit the track. Given that, it’s bizarre that a man actually hit his hands on the Space Mountain track. We recently saw Disney doing this safety check on Tron Lightcycle above, which we unfortunately reported on here that the opening would be delayed until 2024.
Space Mountain has been open since 1975, this is the worst accident and injury to happen on Space Mountain. It’s also one of the worst injuries at Disney World ever. Given the lack of injuries over the last 50 years, Disney will continue to operate the ride during the day and hold investigations at night. Everyone knows the fear of potentially hitting their hands on Space Mountain as they make the sharp turns and drops. This time it actually happened to a guest.
This is extremely scary and is a reminder to keep your hands, arms, feet, and legs inside the ride at all times at Disney. Are you afraid to ride Space Mountain after this injury? Let us know in the comments below.
UPDATE: Disney to keep the lights on in Space Mountain permanently because of this accident. You can read that story here.
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MY FAMILY WILL NOT RIDE SPACE MOUNTAIN EVER AGAIN ABD WE GO TWICE A YEAR
It’s a fake story!!!! You didn’t realize this was a satire site?
You do realize this is “satire” right?
Keep your arms inside the vehicle. He was warn before the ride started. It’s his fault.
Recently rode Space Mountain in early December. The ride was extremely rough & I’ve decided to completely forget about ever going on that ride (ever) again. Had to go in the Dumbo ride to calm myself down….
Maybe this fake story will steer people away from this ride and make the lines shorter… thanks!!! Hahaha
Sad I thought that exact thing when I rode that ride for the first time I thought I could get hit from something etc. You can’t see anything in there total blackout you won’t catch me riding it anymore my thoughts came true. Sad just sad , but you know Disney doesn’t care if there still operating ride it should be shut down indefinitely like Florida ride that killed teen
No one died from this accident though so why should it be shut down? It’s not hard to keep your hands in the cart while you’re on a ride.