ANAHEIM : Metal Fatigue Cited in Disneyland Injury

Metal fatigue was blamed Monday as the cause of a weekend accident on Disneyland’s Dumbo the Flying Elephant ride that slightly injured a 13-year-old girl and forced closure of the attraction.

The accident, a year and a day after another mishap injured a family of three on the ride, occurred Saturday when a metal support snapped and caused one of the fiberglass elephants carrying the girl to plunge several feet to the ground, according to Disneyland spokesman Bob Roth.

The girl, who was not identified, “bumped her nose” and was bruised in the accident about 10:10 a.m., Roth said. She was treated at Disneyland’s first aid station and at Garden Grove Hospital and Medical Center before returning to the park later in the day.

One of the oldest rides in the 35-year-old theme park, the Dumbo the Flying Elephant attraction in Fantasyland involves cars fashioned out of fiberglass elephants that are attached by steel arms to a rotating hub. Passengers can push a knob in each of the cars to be hydraulically lifted or lowered.

Roth said he did not know how high the car had risen at the time of the accident. Inspection after the mishap said that part of the steel support structure broke near the base of the ride.

Roth said that the ride is checked every night by Disney technicians and is overhauled once a year. Disneyland officials were investigating the cause of the accident.

“It was due for a major rehabilitation in about a month,” Roth said.

As a result of the accident, Roth said, the ride will not reopen until the overhaul is completed. It has remained closed since the accident.

A similar accident occurred March 29, 1989, when a metal bracket that attaches the arm to one of the ride’s cars failed, causing the car with three people aboard to drop suddenly, Roth said. A backup safety cable prevented the car from falling and the family of three suffered only scrapes and bruises, he said.

That accident, too, occurred just before scheduled maintenance on the ride, he said.