2 Tourists Injured at Disneyland Attraction

Two Disneyland tourists were critically injured and a worker severely hurt Thursday at one of the park’s oldest and tamest rides after a heavy piece of metal was ripped from the Columbia sailing ship and hit the visitors on their heads.

The 10:40 a.m. accident occurred as the park was packed with Christmas Eve visitors.

As the tall ship was docking after one of its slow excursions around the Rivers of America attraction, a line was cast around the hull’s metal cleat to secure it to the dock, according to witnesses and Disneyland officials. But when the rope pulled tight, it yanked the cleat backward off the boat and into the faces of two people waiting to board the ride.

“The cleat just became a projectile,” said one Disneyland employee, who asked to remain anonymous. “It just shot through the air and hit two guests in the head as they were standing in the waiting area.”

The injured visitors were described as a 34-year-old man and 48-year-old woman from Duvall, Wash., outside Seattle.

One parkgoer said the man’s face was bloody and appeared to be severely disfigured.

“When we walked up, people were saying, ‘Call 911! Call 911!’ I called on my cell phone,” said the woman, who asked to remain anonymous.

Also injured was a 30-year-old Disneyland employee on the dock, identified as Christine Carpenter of Anaheim. She was taken to Western Medical Center-Anaheim, where nursing supervisor Victoria Amidon said she was in stable condition after sustaining major injuries to her left foot and ankle. She underwent surgery late Thursday.

The injured visitors were listed in critical condition with “severe head injuries” at UCI Medical Center in Orange, spokeswoman Kim Pine said. They were being given CT scans and appeared to suffer hemorrhaging in the brain, she said.

Hospital officials declined to release further information.

Later in the day, a sign posted at the entrance of the ride said it was closed due to “river construction.” Disneyland remained open and heavy holiday crowds continued to throng into the park.

In a separate incident at Disneyland on Thursday, a 4-year-old boy sustained a concussion when he fell off the carousel. He was hospitalized at UCI Medical Center, where doctors said the boy was expected to recover. His condition was upgraded from serious to fair late in the day.

‘Lots of Blood’ at Tame Ride

After the Columbia incident, Cal/OSHA immediately sent investigators to the scene, where park security guards struggled to keep a crowd of curious visitors out of the area.

“There was lots of blood,” said one employee, who asked to remain anonymous.

Some fellow workers were so upset by the gruesome sight that they needed medical attention, she said.

The Columbia, built soon after the park’s opening in 1955, is fashioned after an 18th century sailing ship.

“It’s so ironic,” said a female witness. “This is such a simple ride. You’d never think something like this would happen.”

It was unclear why the cleat, used to tether the boat to the dock, tore from the aging ship. No authorities Thursday were blaming the accident on bad equipment or lack of maintenance.

But some Disneyland employees say the boat is showing its age.

“The wood’s just not good,” one worker, who asked not to be named, said Thursday. “There are a lot of holes, and they keep patching them up. But the boat’s not in good shape.”

The employee said the Columbia, which rides on an underwater track, was pulling up to the dock when a worker called the “greeter” attached a bowline to the approximately foot-long cleat. The cleat and the metal plate it sits on are attached to the hull of the ship by four bolts.

If there’s a problem, the 10-foot line is supposed to break to keep the boat from being jolted, according to the employee, but that didn’t happen this time. Instead, said the employee, the cleat and the metal plate broke loose.

Disneyland Officials Defend Maintenance

Maintenance at the park has drawn criticism in the past few years from some frequent parkgoers and employees. But Disneyland officials say the park is well-maintained.

A move to have most maintenance work done on the graveyard shift--since rescinded, in part--was unpopular with employees. And while park officials deny that significant cuts have been made, longtime observers such as author David Koenig, author of the critical book “Mouse Tales: A Behind the Ears Look at Disneyland,” say repair work has clearly suffered in recent years.

“Things that once were done on a daily basis are now being done a couple of times a week,” Koenig said Thursday. “And weekly stuff may be done every month, what with the cuts in maintenance.”

Judson Green, the head of Walt Disney Co.’s theme park and resorts division, said recently that he is proud of the maintenance team at Disneyland, which he believed had made improvements there recently.

“When we see something that needs addressing, we address it,” he said. “There’s nothing we can’t fix.”

It was unclear which agencies would be investigating the accident. Cal/OSHA only looks into worker injuries. Local police have the authority to investigate when a severe injury or death occurs on a ride, said Tom Allen, safety administrator for the California Fair Service Authority in Sacramento.

But Anaheim police indicated they had no plans to investigate. “At this point, we believe OSHA will be handling any investigation,” said Anaheim Police Sgt. Phillip Lock. “The only types of accidents the Police Department investigates are traffic accidents.”

Theme parks are exempted from regular state inspections, and repeated efforts to stiffen laws have faltered in Sacramento.

Of the millions of people who visit Disneyland each year, there have been eight attraction-related deaths since the park opened in 1955, according to Koenig’s history of Disneyland.

The volume said there were two deaths on the Matterhorn, in 1964 and 1984, two on the PeopleMover, in 1967 and 1980, one on the Monorail track in 1966, and one on the American Sings rotating stage in 1974. Two drownings occurred in Rivers of America, in 1973 and 1983, according to the book. Some involved employees; most others were described as occurring when visitors flouted the park’s safety rules.

Numerous other minor accidents have occurred.

Word of the accident spread quickly through the park, where many visitors were tipped off by the helicopters from TV stations that drowned out the Dixieland music in Frontierland.

Don Berman, a New York resident touring with his family, was waiting in line in Tomorrowland when he heard about the accident.

“This is a fantasy world, but it’s also a real world,” he said. “Accidents do happen.”

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Contributing to the coverage of Disneyland accidents were Times staff writers Jeff Gottlieb, Bonnie Hayes, Deborah Schoch, Esther Schrader, Ray Tessler, Phil Willon, Daniel Yi and correspondents Jason Kandel and Harrison Sheppard.

* OLD FAVORITE

Frontierland, where the ship Columbia carries passengers, is beginning to show its age. A49

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Deep in the Park

The riverfront area of Disneyland is in the middle of Frontierland, one of the original areas of the park and home to some of its oldest attractions.