The news about the 14 year old falling to his death on an amusement ride in Orlando was terrible to hear about.

And with the warmer weather arriving, it means amusement parks all over the country will begin to open their doors.

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I've never been to Wonderland Amusement Park, never got the chance to go last year when we moved here. With opening day less than two weeks away though, I got curious to see if there's ever been a similar type of incident there.

I was very surprised (and happy) to see that there's only been 3-4 relatively major incidents that have happened since the park opened back in 1951. You would assume that over a 70 year period, there would be a fair amount to report, but Wonderland has done a great job with safety.

Out of the four incidents I was able to find, half of them were involved with one of the most popular rides at the park, the Mouse Trap.

The most recent one involved 12 children getting stuck near the top of the ride as it shut down. There was some sort of mechanical malfunction with the ride, but thankfully they were able to lock the ride in place as firefighters went up to rescue everyone. Thankfully, there were no injuries in this one and all the kids were safely removed from the ride.

Another Mouse Trap incident occurred when a seatbelt came undone in the middle of the ride. A young child was thrown to the floor of the car, but aside from maybe a couple of bumps and bruises from getting thrown, he was ok.

The surprising part of that one was even after the incident happened, the ride operator allowed the ride to stay open and more people got on the ride after that incident. No word on whether they checked the ride and deemed it ok to stay open or not.

Back in 2015, the Ride of Fear did just that...struck fear into a girl that was on it. While she was on the ride, she heard a loud pop. The pop was followed by a large piece of metal falling onto her head. This incident happened before the ride started, and the operator immediately ceased the ride from functioning and got everyone off. She was ultimately diagnosed with a concussion at the hospital.

The worst incident to occur at Wonderland however resulted in the only reported death to happen at the park.

In 1987, 15 year old Miguel Perez hopped in the last car on the Zyklon roller coaster. As the ride was coming to an end, the restraining bar that automatically comes down before the ride begins gave way and released. Miguel was thrown approximately 10 feet into the air and it ultimately led to his untimely passing.

All in all, Wonderland has proven to be a VERY safe place to go and have a good time, and I have no doubt their stellar safety record will continue. Thoughts and prayers to the family that recently lost their child, and to all who have lost a loved one in an amusement park accident.

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