Guest Suffers Terrifying Medical Emergency, Saved by Disney Cast Members

When guests think about all the fun things there are to do at Walt Disney World Resort, they typically think about activities at the Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom. However, there are two more theme parks that can be just as fun. Those are Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach water parks. Each water park has its own fun theme, great rides and attractions, and delicious dining options.

Credit: Disney

Related: Group of Guests Intentionally Poop on Disney Attraction, Area Shut Down

Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon has been a Walt Disney World staple since 1989. Guests visiting the water park can enjoy rides like Miss Adventure Falls, Bay Slides, Gangplank Falls, and Crush ‘n’ Gusher, a water roller coaster!

For a more relaxing time in the park, guests can ride Castaway Creek, a lazy river that takes you on a leisurely water journey through the park.

Unfortunately, for one family, a relaxing time on the lazy river quickly turned into a very scary experience. Thankfully, trained Disney cast members were there to save the day and help the family. The father shared his story on Reddit, praising everything the cast members did, not just that day, but for the rest of their vacation.

Credit: Disney

According to the OP (Original Poster), his partner began having seizures, and it took months before she was able to take the proper medication to help her. Her seizures are thankfully under control, but anything can happen at any time. Unfortunately for OP’s partner, she began suffering from a grand mal seizure while the family was enjoying a relaxing day at Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon water park.

During April vacation, my parents (60’s), my partner and myself (30’s) and our child (13), went to WDW. On the 2nd day of our trip, we decided to go to Typhoon Lagoon, it’s our favorite water park and it was a beautiful day. Around noonish my partner and I took our child for a trip around the lazy river, probably the last ride you would think a medical emergency would happen on. At one point my partner got a little ahead of us and was around a corner out of sight for a moment. When I came around the corner, she was standing straight up like a board staring straight into the sun. This is obviously not normal and I’ve dealt with this before, she was beginning to have a seizure.

Upon realizing she was having a seizure I ran to her as fast as possible, catching her right before her head was about to go under water. I then carried her through the river (my apologies to the gentlemen that looked at us weird) around the next corner where a lifeguard was stationed across from an exit.

Credit: Disney

Related: Guest With Medical Emergency Claims Disney Charged Them $135

Thankfully, the Disney cast member was quick to react and call for help from his fellow lifeguards, as well as professional medical services. Several lifeguards attended to the woman and helped keep her safe until ambulatory services were able to arrive at the park.

I shouted to the lifeguard “Lifeguard! She’s having a seizure!” Without skipping a beat, he picks up the radio, says something, and jumps in the water to assist me getting her to the other side where the exit was. By the time we got there, 3 more lifeguards were already there waiting to assist. I carefully propped her up on one leg, and quickly shoved the inner tube off of her, as we all catch her before hitting the water. They then put her on a board and carried her out. My son finally comes around the corner to see what is happening to his mother, and this is also the first time he’s seen her seize, but he was a trooper as I sent him to find grandma and grandpa to let them know what was happening. Now I don’t know if I can really express how amazingly the staff handled the entire encounter. Like instead of telling me to just step aside, they talked to me, like human beings, asked me about best practices for her specifically, let me stay with her and hold her, I know this doesn’t sound special, but it really is. After a few min the paramedics arrived, as well as my parents that our child was able to track down. She was slowly starting to come to, but was not very, for lack of a better term, mentally there and the paramedics had to take her to the ER as she couldn’t answer their questions correctly at the time. They allowed me to go with them in the ambulance and staff assured me that my parents and child would be taken care of, and boy were they!

Credit: Disney Parks

Not only were the lifeguards focused on OP’s partner, but they were acutely aware that their son was with them, watching his mother suffer. One lifeguard took the child away from the scene to get him a souvenir. On top of that, he told the family they could come to the park for free during their stay since this trip to the park took an unexpected turn.

The lifeguard that was politely asking me medical questions during the emergency, stayed with them until the cab he called for came for them. In that time, he could tell my son was upset, and brought him to a souvenir shop to pick out anything he wanted (he chose an adorable giant stich plushie). He then gave my parents his number so he could stay up to date on how my partner was doing and stayed in touch through our vacation. He also told us we could come back to Typhoon during our stay for free if we wanted to and this may have attributed to what happened on the last day.

Credit: Disney

If the Disney cast members were incredible already, the family received some extra pixie dust on the very last day. They were checking out but leaving their bags with the concierge since their flight wasn’t until late. They were hoping to purchase some tickets to EPCOT for the day, but when the cast member at the ticket book looked up their reservation, they were given the park tickets FOR FREE!

When we got there, I realized we spent alot less than we anticipated, so I thought that maybe if we could get the discount of staying on property (even though we technically left already), that maybe we could kill some time in Epcot. I went to guest services and explained the situation, and that we’d only be there for a couple hours. He asked for our account info, walked away for a few min, and when he came back, he handed my 3 tickets, said “I saw something on your account that I didn’t like, have a fun time in the park”…He let us in for FREE! This act of kindness literally brought me to tears. The ticket counter was asking $180 for a single ticket, and here he was, giving us 3 tickets. I graciously accepted and we ended our vacation with what turned into my child’s favorite park.

Credit: Walt Disney World

We are so happy that OP’s partner was okay and that she was able to get the help she needed. If you or someone in your party needs medical help while at Disney World, quickly find the nearest cast member or Disney security guard. They will do everything in their power to help, including calling medical professionals if the need arises.

Disney wants to keep everyone safe and happy, and this family is proof of that. Their vacation could have ended on a sour note, but Disney worked really hard to make sure that did not happen.

Have you ever needed medical help during your Disney vacation? Were cast members helpful? Let us know in the comments!