Disabled Disney World Guest Falls off Ride Into Park River

A guest with disabilities feels lucky to be alive after falling off a raft ride into a water body at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom theme park.

The male unidentified guest was in the Frontierland section of the park where Tom Sawyer Island is, an outdoor adventure area that guests can explore and access via a brief raft ride. The veteran's service dog alerted him to an equilibrium issue happening so he attempted to sit on the box in the raft section, something that he claims other cast members have been letting him do for years. However, this cast member did not let him sit on it due to a potential safety risk, presumably as he could fall off of it.

When the cast member told him to get off of the box, he stood up, blacked out and lost his balance. When his vision was restored, he was floating in the Rivers of America. He told WDW News Today about the near-drowning incident citing that the current was "three times stronger" than Disney World's Castaway Creek lazy river at the Typhoon Lagoon water park.

Security cast members advised him to float and not attempt to return to shore. The United States Navy veteran was actually a water rescuer and shared that he wasn't scared of the potential alligators, he was concerned about potential drowning with the river's currents.

The fire rescue team was able to rescue the man and bring him to safety. He claimed that he also spoke to the team about adding benches to the Tom Sawyer raft to help people with disabilities.

"Anybody who even tries doing this: I’m lucky I survived. I’m very lucky I survived because of the current, because of the condition I was in ... I definitely could have drowned," he stated.