Aimee Walker
A woman has filed a lawsuit against Walt Disney Parks and Resorts claiming that she suffered serious injuries from a ‘painful wedgie’ at the Typhoon Lagoon waterpark.
The waterpark is located at the Walt Disney Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida near Orlando – it’s one of two operating water parks at the resort.
The site, which opened in 1989, is home to one of the world’s largest outdoor wave pools.
Every year, thousands of people visit the resort and enjoy its numerous rides. However, one woman has claimed to have had a not-so-pleasant experience.
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Emma McGuinness, 33, and her partner Edward McGuinness are suing Walt Disney World for $50,000 in damages over an alleged October 2019 incident.
During a trip to the resort park to celebrate her 30th birthday, Emma McGuinness decided to go on the Humunga Kowabunga waterslide.
Disney describes the ride as a 214-foot drop in the dark through an ‘enclosed body slide’ before thrill-seekers ‘spray [their] way to a surprise ending!’.
For McGuinness, that ‘surprise’ was excruciatingly painful.
According to the lawsuit filed last week, which has been obtained by Law & Crime, McGuinness ‘became airborne, and she was slammed downward against the slide’.
“As Ms McGuinness neared the end of the slide, her body lifted up, she became airborne, and she was slammed downward against the slide — which increased the likelihood of her legs becoming uncrossed or otherwise exposing herself to injury in using the slide,” the complaint claims.
“The impact of the slide and her impact into the standing water at the bottom of the slide caused Ms McGuinness’ clothing to be painfully forced between her legs and for water to be violently forced inside her.
“She experienced immediate and severe pain internally, and, as she stood up, blood began rushing from between her legs.”
At the time of the alleged incident, McGuinness was wearing a full-coverage one-piece swimsuit and had ‘assumed the appropriate position’ before riding the slide, with her legs crossed at the ankles – which, according to the lawsuit, didn’t eliminate the potential danger.
The filing continues: “Specifically when a rider of the slide reached the bottom of the ride and travelled into the pool of water designed to stop further travel, the force of the water can push loose garments into a person’s anatomy – an event known as a ‘wedgie’.
“Because of a woman’s anatomy, the risk of a painful ‘wedgie’ is more common and more serious than it is for a man.”
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Following the alleged incident, McGuinness was taken to a local hospital for treatment before being taken to a second hospital ‘for the repair of her gynecologic injuries by a specialist’, as reads the complaint.
She ultimately suffered ‘severe and permanent bodily injury’ including ‘severe’ lacerations to her privates, a full-thickness laceration causing her bowel to protrude through her abdominal wall, and damage to her internal organs.
The couple’s lawsuit is asking for at least $50,000 in damages, arguing that the slide is ‘unsafe and unreasonably dangerous’ and that Disney was negligent.
IGV has reached out to Disney for comment.
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