Disney Sued Over 'Injurious Wedgie'

A woman is suing Walt Disney Parks and Resorts over "severe and permanent" injuries caused by a wedgie on a waterslide. According to the lawsuit, Emma McGuinness and family visited the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida in October 2019 in part to celebrate McGuinness' 30th birthday. But while riding on the Typhoon Lagoon water park's fastest and steepest waterslide, one featuring a near-vertical, 214-foot drop in the dark, McGuinness' holiday went horribly awry. She claims she had her ankles crossed as instructed but became airborne before slamming into the Humunga Kowabunga slide toward the end, "which increased the likelihood of her legs becoming uncrossed or otherwise exposing herself to injury," per CNN.

A water safety expert likens the feel of hitting the end of such a speed slide to having a fire hose "just shooting at your body," per the Washington Post. As McGuinness hit the water at the end of the slide meant to slow her speed of travel, both her one-piece swimsuit and water was forced inside her body, according to the suit. "She experienced immediate and severe pain internally and, as she stood up, blood began rushing from between her legs," the suit reads, per the Post. She was taken to a hospital by ambulance and found to have suffered "severe and permanent bodily injury including severe vaginal lacerations, a full thickness laceration causing Plaintiff's bowel to protrude through her abdominal wall, and damage to her internal organs," per Law & Crime.

Disney knew, or should have known, that upon hitting the water, "the force of the water can push loose garments into a person's anatomy" and that the risk of an "injurious wedgie" is more common and more serious for a woman than it is for a man, according to the suit filed last week in Orange County, Florida, alleging negligence, loss of consortium, mental anguish, and lost earnings. McGuinness and her husband claim Disney failed to "adequately maintain and inspect the slide" to prevent riders from becoming airborne, to warn McGuinness "of the inherent dangers presented to her," and to provide "proper protective clothing or equipment," per CNN and the Post. The couple seek "damages exceeding $50,000, exclusive of interest and costs" and a jury trial. (More Walt Disney World stories.)