Two sisters have sued Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, alleging they sustained serious injuries on the Magic Kingdom’s Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover in 2015.
Jaime Gentile and Jackie Hurley, both of South Florida, say they were injured when “the ride malfunctioned, causing the passenger cars to crash into one another,” according to the lawsuit in Orange Circuit Court. The two seek damages of more than $15,000.
The PeopleMover is a slow-moving ride at Disney World featuring trams that travel around Tomorrowland.
The sisters’ attorney, Jeffrey Adelman, said his clients were transported by ambulance from the Magic Kingdom to the hospital.
Adelman declined to discuss any pre-existing conditions his clients may have had.
The theme parks are supposed to report incidents to the state requiring immediate hospital stays of more than 24 hours. But the two women did not stay in the hospital overnight, according to their attorney. So their injuries would not have to be reported.
Disney had no comment on the suit.
The Reedy Creek taxing district, which provides emergency services to Disney, did not have records of the incident because such reports have only a one-year retention period.
Adelman said Gentile, 40, suffered injuries to her jaw requiring surgery and Hurley, 38, suffered injuries to her spine requiring neck surgery. Hurley has pain and Gentile has difficulty chewing, Adelman said.
Hurley’s two minor children also were injured, the lawsuit says.
Aloft Orlando Downtown gets new management
The Aloft Orlando Downtown hotel will be managed by McKibbon Hospitality.
McKibbon, a Tampa-headquartered company, handles three other hotels in Orlando along with properties in Alabama, Illinois, North Carolina, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.
McKibbon’s portfolio also includes Aloft properties in Tallahassee, Greenville, S.C. and Asheville, N.C.
Iger willing to extend time as CEO
Without a successor named, The Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger says he’s willing to extend his term beyond 2018.
Iger had planned to retire next year. But the question of his successor has been up in the air since last year, when it was abruptly announced that Disney’s No. 2 executive Tom Staggs would be leaving the company.
Asked by analysts about his plans during a conference call Tuesday, Iger said, “while I’m confident that my successor is going to be chosen on a timely basis and chosen well, if it’s in the best interest of the company for me to extend my term, I’m open to that.”
Still, he said, “we have a good, strong succession process underway.”
Disney parks earnings news
Other notable items from Disney’s first quarter earnings release and conference call Tuesday:
Costs at the company’s theme parks and resorts were flat. Inflation and costs for new guest experiences were offset, the company said, “by cost-efficiency initiatives.”
The parks and resorts have “done a really good job on many fronts. And very important is their cost control…So I think you can expect continued cost management in the parks and continued strong margins,” Disney Chief Financial Officer Christine McCarthy told analysts.
While year-over-year attendance and hotel room occupancy were down, per-person spending in the theme parks increased 7 percent. It grew 3 percent at hotels. So far this quarter, Disney says domestic resort reservations are comparable to prior-year levels.
Tourico Holidays, Hotelbeds Groupmerge
Altamonte Springs-based Tourico Holidays, a travel broker company, will merge with Hotelbeds Group, a business-to-business provider of services for the travel industry and a global provider of hotel accommodations.
“We’re very excited about what this deal can mean to the [business-to-business] travel industry,” Tourico CEO Uri Argov said in a news release. “At a cultural level, this deal is strong because our two organizations are both entrepreneurial, dynamic and high energy — and just like Hotelbeds Group, we’re passionate about what we do and focus hard on execution.”
Hotelbeds Group is headquartered in Palma, Spain, with 150 offices globally.
“Tourico Holidays has a well-deserved reputation for excellence and innovation that I have respected for many years,” Hotelbeds executive chair Joan Vila said in a news release.
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