Guests watch a show outside the Cinderella Castle on Jan. 9 at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (John Raoux/AP)
A woman is suing Walt Disney World Resort after she says she was “dive-bombed” by a bird, suffering severe head and neck injuries, according to her lawyer and the lawsuit.
Lisa Dixon, who was living in the town of Celebration, said she was attacked in 2017 while walking on a dock along the Seven Seas Lagoon, according to a lawsuit filed last week in circuit court in Orange County, Fla. The lawsuit, which is seeking damages exceeding $15,000, claims that the park was aware of the potential hazards from seasonal nesting birds nearby but failed to warn guests.
[Tourists warned Disney employees of alligator minutes before toddler was killed, report says]
Dixon’s attorney, Thomas Schmitt, told the Orlando Sentinel the bird hit his client’s head with the force of a baseball, resulting in a traumatic brain injury and herniated discs in her neck, which will require surgery to treat. Schmitt was not immediately available for comment Wednesday for The Washington Post.
In response to the case, a Disney spokeswoman said in a statement to The Post: “We will respond to the allegations, as appropriate, in court.”
[30 years ago another boy was attacked by an alligator at Disney. Here is his story.]
The lawsuit claims Dixon was on the property May 12, 2017, as a “business invitee” and was never warned about the “dangerous conditions” along the dock outside the Polynesian Village Resort. The Disney-owned resort is located on the shores of the Seven Seas Lagoon, across the water from the Magic Kingdom and other attractions.
The lawsuit claims the theme park was negligent in failing to “maintain the dock in a reasonably safe condition” and “adequately warn of a dangerous condition it knew or should have known existed at the subject premises.”
“If there’s a company that’s well-versed in safety, it should be Disney,” Schmitt, the woman’s attorney, told the Orlando Sentinel about the incident.
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