1. Two people died on Disneyland’s Matterhorn Bobsleds in California.
Disneyland’s first death occurred in May of 1964, when 15-year-old Mark Maples stood up in the Matterhorn Bobsleds and fell out of the car into the track below. He died of his injuries three days later. Reports later stated his ride companion had undone his restraint.
In 1984, a 48-year-old woman named Dolly Young fell out of her seat and was struck by the next Bobsled car. She too had not been buckled in at the time.
2. A 4-year-old was burned by scalding hot nacho cheese that spilled on him at the Magic Kingdom in Orlando.
The little boy suffered severe burns on his face when he sat down in an unstable chair and grabbed the tray to stable himself. He was receiving treatment for the burns almost a year after the incident. The family’s attorney said “Typically, to cause the type of burns that Isaiah experienced, the nacho cheese would… have been at least 160 degrees Fahrenheit.”
3. A measles outbreak recently infected 133 people.
In December 2014, a measles outbreak in Disneyland infected 133 people, most of which were unvaccinated children. Although the source was not identified, it most likely came from an international traveler experiencing an outbreak.
4. A 37-year-old man killed himself with a shotgun at Disney World’s Epcot Center in 1992.
Allan Ferris carried a gun into the park after hours, demanding to see an ex-girlfriend who worked there. He fired four shotgun blasts at security guards before taking two of them hostage for just 10 minutes. Orange County deputies surrounded the area and Ferris released the hostages. He then turned the gun on himself and fired.
5. A 9-year-old girl was slapped in the face by Winnie-The-Pooh in 1981.
Cast member Robert Hill allegedly slapped a child in the face resulting in “bruising, recurring headaches, and possible brain damage.” Hill maintained the girl had been tugging at him from behind, and when he turned to look at her he accidentally struck her with his Pooh ear.
It got weirder when Hill took the witness stand dressed as Pooh and answered the lawyer’s questions by “nodding and stomping his feet.” Pooh then got up and “did a jig down the aisle,” causing the courtroom to burst into laughter. He was acquitted of all charges 21 minutes later.
6. A custodian at Disneyland Paris was killed when he fell under one of the boats at It’s A Small World.
The 53-year-old cleaner fell and was trapped under one of the boats when an unwitting cast member turned it on. Apparently this cast member was a sub-contractor and so hadn’t been trained on the operations of the ride.