Disney World Employee Hit by 400-pound Boulder During ‘Indiana Jones’ Stunt Show 

Safety at Work

Hollywood, CA (WorkersCompensation.com) - A Disney World Hollywood Studios crew member was hit by a 400-pound prop boulder during a performance of the “Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular” on Dec. 30.  

Video of the incident shared on social media shows the rubber sphere jumping its track and bouncing onto the stage. As it hurls toward the audience the crew member rushes onto the stage to stop it from hitting anyone in the audience. However, the prop crashes into the crew member and its momentum knocks him to the ground. Another crew member was able to help control the prop and help the fallen crew member.  

"We're focused on supporting our cast member, who is recovering," a Disney spokesperson said, according to Variety. "Safety is at the heart of what we do, and that element of the show will be modified as our safety team completes a review of what happened." 

Based on the 1981 Steven Spielberg film “Raiders of the Lost Ark” the show features scenes from the movie and stunt men participating in them. Along with the boulder in the temple scene, performers do bullwhip demonstrations, falls from tall buildings, stunts with axe-swinging stone soldiers and punji stick pressure plates. According to the show’s official description, the performers are train on many “contingencies” in case something goes wrong. In the first scene alone, where the only performer on stage is the Indiana Jones character, the performers have 12 possible backup plans.  

While there isn’t a single public record of all of Disney’s employees injured on the job, recent reports as of late 2024 show the company’s incident rate is climbing - 7.66 per 100 workers in 2023, up from 6.5 per 100 in 2018.  

While the Disneyland’s injury rate is significant, it is lower than some theme parks. Dollywood’s HeartSong Resort in Tennessee has an incident rate of 9.86 per 100 and WonderWorks in Orlando has a rate of 16.8 per 100. Some theme parks have markedly lower incident rates, however. Universal Orlando has reported 5.1 incidents for 100 employees, while LEGOLAND Florida’s rate is 2.97 per 100 employees.  

Officials said the park’s sprawling grounds, complex ride systems and high-density crowds are factors in the higher incident rate, as well as mechanical features which require frequent maintenance and operational risks.  

The incident was certainly not the first to occur at the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular. In 1990, OSHA fined the park $1,000 after three performers were injured in three separate incidents  - a performer fell 30 feet when a restraining cable failed in one instance, a performer fell 25 feet when a prop ladder collapsed in another, and a performer was pinned by a malfunctioning trap door in the third. When Disney corrected the routine to be safer, another performer fell 25 feet onto concrete. And on August 17, 2009, a 30-year-old performer named Anislav Varbanov died after injuring his head doing a tumbling roll.  

In Florida that same year, a 47-year-old employee who was performing as a pirate in the "Captain Jack's Pirate Tutorial" show, slipped on a puddle on the stage and hit his head on a wall. He was taken to a nearby hospital with broken vertebra in his neck and severe laceration on his head that required 55 stitches. He died from complications four days later.  

On Feb. 11, 2004, a 38-year-old crew member named Javier Cruz was performing as Pluto died when he was run over by the Beauty and the Beast float in the Share a Dream Come True parade. Cruz had worked at the park for eight years. Osha fined Disney $6,300 for the incident.  

In fact, the parks have had incidents almost since their beginnings. On July 6, 1971, while the park was being constructed, a 61-year-old male construction worker from Fleming, N.Y., was hit by sheet metal that dropped 30 feet from a crane hoist. Another man was injured in the incident. The construction worker died as a result of his injuries, but the other man was taken to a nearby hospital in fair condition.  

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