Theme Park Faces Charges for Lack of Warnings

A Guatemalan family recently filed a case against Universal Orlando Resort for a tragic incident they experienced. Jose Calderon Arana, the father of the family, had a heart attack minutes after alighting from the “Skull Island: Reign of Kong” ride in December 2016. Two years after the incident, Arana’s family sued the theme park for the lack of warning signs that would inform non-English speaking guests how dangerous the ride is. The family claims that the park’s failure to have such warnings resulted in Arana’s death. The ride in question actually has a warning sign, but it is written in English. In addition, there were pictures that show how dangerous the ride can be for pregnant women and people with health problems, including heart conditions. However, the family’s lawyer said that the warning signs were insufficient as there were none in other major languages, such as Spanish and French. Considering that the park regularly welcomes numerous non-English speaking guests, the lawyer firmly stated that it is necessary to provide warning signs in other languages. Although it is not determined how many foreigners visit the theme park, data from 2017 showed that there were about 6.1 million non-American visitors in Orlando. Particularly, almost 900,000 tourists came from Spanish-speaking countries. Arana’s family seeks to get more than $15,000 from Universal Orlando Resort from the lawsuit. Moreover, the family’s lawyer wants to know the details about the time Arana had a heart attack since his wife and son were not with him when it happened. According to the family, the theme park also failed to provide immediate help to Arana during the incident.