Universal Orlando Resort is often filled with thrills and laughter, but sometimes, guests do not get to walk away with a smile on their faces.
The Orlando Sentinel recently shared a series of recent injuries guests at Universal Studios, Universal’s Islands of Adventure, and Volcano Bay have faced — a majority of which have allegedly not had full details shared by Universal officials. Most recently, it was noted that “A 25-year-old woman had a seizure on Universal’s Hagrid’s Magical Creature Motorbike Adventure.” The exact date was not noted, but the Sentinel did share that the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services updates their report every three months.
The guest’s current health status was not mentioned, but we do know that she must have been in the hospital for over 24 hours, as that is the length of hospitalization time required for Universal to have to document the injury as something that occurred on their property.
As the Orlando Sentinal states, “Every three months, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services publicly updates a report that is supposed to detail the most serious injuries at the theme parks. Universal Orlando, Disney World, Legoland, SeaWorld, and Busch Gardens self-disclose when their visitors are hurt or sick on rides that required at least 24 hours of hospitalization.”
The interesting thing here is that these documented instances, according to the Sentinel, are not always fully accurate. In 2019, there are two examples of injuries that occurred on Universal Orlando property in which the recorded injury and what actually happened were seemingly dramatically different. The first is of a boy experiencing “foot pain” on E.T. Adventure. By solely disclosing foot pain, it sounds like the guest in question had a minor toe injury — he actually broke both his tibia and fibula, the two major bones in the leg.
The second example of a fogged report comes from a Volcano Bay incident where a guest experienced “numbness”. In reality, according to the Orlando newspaper, the guest broke his neck and laid temporarily paralyzed on a water slide.
