Nobody reads that stuff. They’d throw it away.
The parents have announced they will not sue:
Lawyers across the nation are doing a facepalm right now.:smack:
An interesting choice. I’m sure the family is aware that had they chose to file suit The check Disney would cut for their out of court settlement would be sufficient to end their days of ever needing to work again. At the same time no amount of money will bring their son back. Still, t’is better to be rich and miserable than poor and miserable.
Is there any reason to believe Disney hasn’t quietly written them a huge check?
A definite possibility. If that family packs up and moves to Beverly Hills we’ll have our answer.
And they just happen to have lifetime free membership to Disneyland. No gaters in California!
Well, not native anyway.
It looks like they have established a foundation in the name of their son. My guess is an out of court settlement at least partly funds that.
Most cases do not result in lawsuits (and most lawsuits do not go to trial). The reason: if liability is reasonably obvious it just makes sense to settle. Doubly so here from Disney’s perspective, where right or wrong the last thing Disney needs is (a) to seem litigious or vindictive; or (b) to keep the story alive over maybe years of litigation. The parents no doubt have no wish to be dragged through years of litigation either. So settlement makes sense.
It depends upon how you frame it. Say you put it with a pretty Mickey logo, and a large font header “A Personal Greeting From Mickey” with a big picture on it. What kid isn’t going to read that, or ask their parents to read it to them? What parent of a small child won’t say “Aw, cute, let’s see what Mickey says.” Then, the letter reads something like:
"Welcome to the Walt Disney World parks recreation central complex of associated resorts [or whatever]. I am so happy to have you come visit me at DisneyWorld, and look forward to seeing you around the park.
While you are here, I deeply hope you will have a very enjoyable experience. To those ends, let me take a moment to remind you of a few safety points:
-
While Disney World is a magical place of wonder, it happens to be located in central Florida, with natural and manmade waterways entertwined. The reality of Florida is the existance of native wildlife, such as ducks, fish, snakes, and alligators. Many of the wildlife are harmless, but some do pose some risk. Be aware that alligators can grow larger than 5 feet in length. While small alligators are essentially harmless, larger alligators can see small children as possible prey. Most of the time this is not an issue, but be careful around the edges of waterways, as alligators are prone to ambush attacks from the waterline onto shore. Especially avoid going near water at nighttime, when alligators are typically hunting.
-
<Whatever else they want to highlight. Safety issues about fire exits, about locking up valuables in hotel rooms, whatever.>
These warnings are not meant to frighten you or detract from your enjoyment of the resort. Rather, they are to highlight issues for your awareness so that you can enjoy the park safely and without concern.
Please enjoy your stay, and say hello when you see me!
Your friend,
Mickey Mouse"
I will say when I visited Florida, I did receive safety warnings from some source regarding alligators, and how they can move 40 mph while humans can only run up to 20 mph. Do not get out of your cars and approach alligators, do not get close to the waterways (ditches). Etc.
Yes, the most likely scenario is that Disney wrote them a huge check and one of the conditions of accepting the money was that the family would make a public statement about how they would not sue Disney.
I have no problem with that. I agree with you that it is really best for both parties. This family has endured an unimaginable horror and probably don’t want to keep rubbing salt in the wound through a court battle or further media attention. Disney’s image relies very much on the idea that everything is safe and under control at the parks, so they definitely want this story to go away and for people to start to forget about that time that there was a devastating tragedy at their park.
By “huge check” do you mean a large amount of money? Because giving them a giant 4 foot x 2 foot check would be gauche.
“Gauche” would be that. “Horrifyingly wrong” would be demanding a happy Mickey Mouse photo-op event to hand the check over. :eek:
Mickey removing his head and showing that he’s Ed McMahon would be the pièce de résistance!! (Ed’s death was faked)
Or Captain Hook, with you-know-who making a surprise appearance.
Somewhat related, so I’ll put it here: World’s most terrifying tourist attraction shut down as tourists seen feeding crocodiles
Yikes!
Good Lord! That looks like the start of a bad SyFy movie.
“Mutant Croc vs. Mega Pig” maybe?
*
An evil pharmaceutical research firm disposes of animal carcasses infused with a growth hormone. Said meat is purchased by the tour boat operator, resulting in really big crocs. Then a live animal escapes from the lab, and tries to take revenge on both the crocs and the humans who have butchered it’s young.*
What? That plot isn’t worse than some of the actual films that have been made!