A female 49-year-old German tourist at Walt Disney World was taken from the premier ride having become seriously ill while riding, taken to the Florida Hospital Celebration Health on Tuesday April 11th, later her condition worsened and she died. This was not revealed until a statement was released on Wednesday the 12th. The victim was the second fatality on the attraction in less than a year. Disney officials told state inspectors that the individual may have suffered from high blood pressure, but a full state investigation was underway to look at the incident.

This fatality will re-open questions being asked about the attraction, even though the previous fatality of a four-year-old boy was blamed on an undiagnosed condition. The Mission: Space attraction has been covered in detail in the Stinger, the Report being one of the first news services to look at the Post Ride Nausea (PRN) cases that cased the examination of the ride’s severity. The system has been reported to be no more server than the latest Extreme coasters, but has received a spate of incidents since its opening in 2003.

A later autopsy would reveal that this latest incident was induced by bleeding in the brain, and that the performing physician saw only signs of a previous condition linked to high blood pressure and no new trauma. This would mean that the fatality was induced by a previous blood pressure condition, the second time that a medical condition was determined as the reason for a death on the ride. The German woman was however aware of this condition and the $100 million ride has warning signs to the effect excluding those with high-blood pressure.

This fatality has re-opened the argument regarding the severity of modern theme park rides, especially at a time when safety concerns of conventional rides is placing a paul over the theme park industries public record.

Local news media revealed that Disney had filed reports with the Florida Bureau of Fair Rides Inspections, admitting there had been 10 serious incidents (injuries or illness) reported over a 10-month period on Mission: Space. This has led sources to claim the attraction has proven the most hazardous ride (as claimed by the Orlando Sentinel, along with other news media). It was also claimed that these were only the tip of the iceberg as local ambulance records reported additional incidents that were blamed on M:S.

The news investigation revealed that Disney had launched a secret program to try and address growing concerns concerning the multi-million dollar ride. Over 13 different warning signs are now posted, advising riders while they stand in line waiting to experience the ride, concerning the issues the ride generates. Sources revealed that the video shown to riders before boarding has been re-produced (rewritten and re-shot) numerous times, each time increasing the severity of the warning given to riders and stressing the opportunity to exit the line without taking the ride.

The concerns regarding ride liability have caused a managed response from Disney officials. The ride was the only Walt Disney venue attraction ever to include sick-bags, and the only Disney ride ever to have major sickness issues in the pre-opening ride tests that resulted in rumors circulating regarding post-ride nausea. News media have been interviewing riders who claim they suffered illness after their ride - symptoms that last hours and even days.

The Stinger Report reported the PRN and concerns about the ride as far back as 2003 (Stinger #405). KWP Limited, owners of The Stinger Report, has prior experience working with both the ride manufacturers in question, and with WDC; KWP accordingly speaks with authority regarding concerns over the thinking behind the ride. Now that a growing call for an independent evaluation of the ride is increasing, there are serious concerns on the ride’s future.

One source in Orlando reported that even at the height of the Easter holiday season, M:S had a dramatically reduced queue line compared to other rides at the park following the incident. It was reported that parents in particular were concerned to allow their children to ride the attraction based on personal misgivings rather than any proven facts.

But with M:S, the ride has proven extremely popular with12 million guests claimed to have ridden it since 2003. However the bad publicity for Disney is also compounded by a smoldering legal dispute with the original ride manufacturers. This legal battle has affected the rollout of the attraction that was proposed to have graced at least three other parks. Speculation sees WDC as the possible target for legal suit, filed by the ride maker, if they did tame down or even replace M:S (seen as some kind of culpability) could prove equally disastrous.

Breaking Stinger News - As the Stinger was putting the finishing touches to this report and news started to arrive of momentous steps by WDW management. It was revealed that during the last days of April WDW management had instigated a series of experiments with the M:S attraction. These tests were to see if the attraction could operate with the centrifuge main system suspended (not spinning), the ride capsule moving independently - creating a non-G (milder) ride.

After a number of dry runs the decision was in the process of being made to run two versions of the Mission: Space ride at the WDW park. The plan is to have a dual cue line at the attraction which would offer to guests the choice of riding the ‘Original’ attraction, and another ‘Milder’ ride with the G-Force disabled. This plan hopes to both accelerate the line, and also allow the rider to make the best decision on what ride they feel comfortable to ride - a later statement saying the change to be implemented by Summer ’06 would allow a larger number to experience the ride.

The move allows Disney to side step calls for a toned down version of the whole ride, and so remove culpability to any claims that they have not made an attempt to address the large number of PRN cases (this move a full month after the last fatality). At the time of reporting this move WDW was still formulating the full details of this two queue-line plan, and likewise the original attractions manufacturer ETC, in legal dispute with WDC had not been contacted for their comments on the feasibility of running the ride with the centrifuge suspended. However, many may see this move as the beginning of a possible redevelopment of the whole attraction for 2008.