Universal’s Epic Universe opened in Orlando in 2025, and one of its headline attractions, the high-speed Stardust Racers coaster, has become the center of serious injury claims. A 32-year-old man died after riding it, and a woman has sued in Orlando state court saying the ride threw her head into the headrest and left her with permanent injuries. Universal has said its internal review and state observers found the ride systems worked normally and that the death was accidental. For the millions of people who visit Florida’s parks every year, the cases raise a fair question: if a ride hurts you here, who answers for it?
This is general legal commentary on publicly reported matters, some of which involve a death and remain in litigation. It is not legal advice, and The Safir Lawyer does not represent anyone in these cases.
A theme park owes you reasonable care
A paying guest at a Florida park is a business invitee, which means the park owes a duty to keep the property reasonably safe, to inspect for dangers, to fix or warn about hazards, and to operate its rides with care. When a guest is hurt because that duty was broken, the claim is ordinary negligence, and it runs against the park as a personal injury matter. The question is rarely whether a park can be sued. It is whether the park did what a reasonable operator would have done.
The waiver does not automatically end it
People assume the fine print on a ticket or app agreement signs away every right. Florida law is more careful than that. A waiver can be enforceable, but only when it is clear and unambiguous, and Florida courts read these releases strictly against the company that wrote them. Just as important, a waiver does not cover gross negligence or intentional misconduct, and a parent cannot sign away a minor child’s right to sue, so a child hurt on a ride keeps their claim no matter what an adult signed at the gate. A waiver is the start of the analysis, not the end of it.
Florida lets the biggest parks inspect themselves
This surprises almost everyone. Under Florida law, the state’s Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services inspects rides at smaller parks and fairs, but permanent parks with more than 1,000 employees and full-time in-house inspectors, which means the major operators, are exempt from state inspection. Instead, those parks agree to report ride-related deaths and certain serious injuries themselves. That structure is exactly why an injured guest cannot just take the park’s word that everything was fine, and why an independent investigation of the ride, the maintenance logs, and the incident report matters so much.
When the ride itself is the problem
Sometimes the fault lies not in how a ride was run but in how it was built. When a restraint, sensor, or design is defective, Florida product liability law allows a claim against the manufacturer on top of the negligence claim against the park, and a product claim does not require proving the maker was careless, only that the product was unreasonably dangerous. Sorting out which party is responsible, the operator, the manufacturer, or both, is part of building the case.
The clock is short and fault gets split
Two rules from Florida’s 2023 tort reform shape every one of these claims. The deadline to sue for negligence is now two years from the injury, cut from the old four, and a wrongful death claim also runs two years. And Florida now follows a modified comparative negligence rule: a person found more than 50 percent at fault for their own harm recovers nothing, while anything at or below that reduces the recovery by the percentage of fault. Those two rules put a premium on preserving the incident report, medical records, and witness information early, before memories fade and footage is overwritten.
What this means in Florida
If a ride hurts you or someone in your family, report it in writing before you leave, get medical care the same day, keep everything, and do not let a waiver or a quick “the ride functioned normally” statement convince you the matter is closed. A park that inspects itself has every reason to reach that conclusion. An injured guest deserves an independent look.
Injured in the Tampa Bay area?
Hurt on a Florida ride and told the ride was fine? That is the park’s conclusion, not an independent one. Let’s get the records pulled and looked at properly.
About the author
Rory Safir is a St. Petersburg attorney who handles injury claims and criminal defense across the Tampa Bay area. He is one of a handful of ACS-CHAL Forensic Lawyer-Scientists in Florida and a former Assistant Public Defender in Tampa, and he brings that same evidence-driven approach to fighting for injured clients.
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Common Questions
Can you sue a theme park for a ride injury in Florida?
Yes. A park owes guests a duty of reasonable care, and an injury caused by negligence, poor maintenance, or unsafe operation can support a claim, with a possible product liability claim against the ride manufacturer.
Does signing a theme park ticket waiver stop you from suing?
It depends. A Florida waiver can be enforceable if it is clear and unambiguous, but courts construe these releases strictly against the company, they do not cover gross negligence or intentional misconduct, and a parent cannot waive a minor child's right to sue.
Are Florida theme parks inspected by the state?
The largest parks, those with more than 1,000 employees and in-house inspectors, are exempt from state ride inspections and instead self-report ride-related deaths and serious injuries.
How long do you have to file a Florida theme park injury claim?
Two years for a negligence claim and two years for a wrongful death claim, under the deadlines set by Florida's 2023 tort reform.