Lake Buena Vista Injury Lawyer

Lake Buena Vista is one of two cities in Orange County controlled by The Walt Disney Company. Comprised of a total 3.1 square miles, it is bordered by I-4 to the east and Bay Lake to the west.

Although Disney is typically associated with Orlando, the theme parks, resorts and other features are located exclusively in Lake Buena Vista and neighboring Bay Lake. The Reedy Creek Improvement District is the special taxing district that oversees operations in both cities and is the entity solely responsible for paying the cost of municipal services, such as fire protection, road maintenance, water and power. The city obtained its name from a street in Burbank, California, where the Walt Disney Company is headquartered. In Spanish, the phrase, “Buena Vista” means, “Good View.”

Transformed from 25,000 acres of remote swampland to one of the busiest places in America, the district now boasts:

• Four theme parks
• Two water parks
• One sports complex
• 167 miles of roadway
• 67 miles of waterway
• One laboratory for testing water/ environment quality
• One electric power-generating facility
• One recycling center
• One water treatment facility
• 40,000 hotel rooms
• Hundreds of shops
• Hundreds of restaurants

Included in these features is Downtown Disney, Disney Springs, a shopping and entertainment district, Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa, Disney Springs Marketplace and the Saratoga Springs Resort.

Lake Buena Vista injury attorneys at Freeman Injury Law know most of the injuries that occur in this city will involve Disney in some shape or form. That’s because the only land owners in the city are fully-owned subsidiaries of the company, as well as the county and state, which are responsible for certain rights-of-way. Only 10 residents (handpicked by the company) call Lake Buena Vista home, but tens of millions of tourists flock here from around the world. There are also tens of thousands of employees and independent contractors on site.

People come to Lake Buena Vista for a variety of reasons – to relax, to be thrilled, to enjoy time with loved ones or to work. But all of them arrive with the expectation of being reasonably safe when they are here. When the company and/or its staff fails to meet that standard, those injured have the right to expect fair compensation.

Some of these incidents in the past have included:

• Slip-and-fall injuries;
• Golf cart injuries;
• Burn injuries;
• Swimming pool injuries/ drowning;
• Traumatic brain injuries;
• Struck-by injuries;
• Animal attacks;
• Bus accidents/ injuries;
• Traffic accidents;
• Injury from inadequate maintenance/ security.

Although there are occasionally high-profile injuries at Disney theme parks and resorts, the corporation is not compelled by any law to report those incidents and injuries to the state. Prior to 2002, information on accidents and illnesses at the parks was shrouded in secrecy, something for which the park received a great deal of criticism.

In 2002, Disney – along with Universal Orlando and Sea World – agreed to in a “memorandum of understanding” with the Fair Rides Inspection Bureau in Tallahassee to produce quarterly injury reports. These reports detail the serious injuries that require immediate admission and hospitalization in excess of 24 hours, beyond just medical observation.

Some are still critical that this voluntary reporting doesn’t go far enough and that federal regulation should mandate injury reporting and improved oversight.

In the meantime, some of the incidents about which we do know:

• A 2-year-old boy snatched by an alligator in June 2014 in the Seven Seas Lagoon, off the shore of Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort. His body was found the next day. The park was criticized for failure to keep guests away from the water’s edge or to post alligator warning signs.

• A 36-year-old man died in April 2015 as a passenger in a Lamborghini that crashed at Disney’s Exotic Driving Experience.

• A worker killed in February 1990 after falling 33 feet from a scaffolding while working on an air conditioning duct.

• Five tourists were injured in February 1990 when they were struck by pieces of molding from the ceiling of the Haunted Mansion at Magic Kingdom.

• Six people suffered burn injuries in December 1999 when New Year’s Eve festivity fireworks exploded near them.

• A 47-year-old performer was injured and later died in August 2009 during Captain Jack’s Pirate Tutorial show.

This is just a sampling, though most of these incidents technically occurred in Bay Lake, not Lake Buena Vista.

One of the major issues in Lake Buena Vista is traffic congestion leading to auto accidents. In many cases, these crashes involve guests, tourists and employees traveling to and from the parks, resorts and other attractions.

Factors in a fair number of these accidents include:

• Driver fatigue
• Driver distraction
• Unfamiliarity with surroundings/ directions
• Road rage
• Intoxication (alcohol and/or drugs)

There are also a number of pedestrian accidents, with some occurring in parking lots.

Whether you have been injured at a hotel or theme park or on the road or in a parking lot, our Lake Buena Vista injury attorneys can help you determine the veracity of your claim.

Freeman Injury Law – (800) 561-7777 -- Someone on YOUR Side