Disney grants man $8,000 after ride malfunction forces him to listen to It's a Small World for 30 minutes



A disabled man was awarded $8,000 by Disneyland after the It's A Small World ride broke, stranding him for 30 minutes while the theme song played on a loop.

Lawyer David Geffen says Jose Martinez was the only passenger not rescued when the ride broke down in 2009, and staffers failed to call the fire department to free him.

The ride's familiar, and arguably irritating, song could not be turned off the entire time Martinez was stuck.

Justice served: Jose Martinez was the only passenger not rescued when the It's a Small World ride broke down in 2009, stranding him for 30 minutes while the theme song played on a loop

Geffen says Martinez uses a wheelchair, suffers from panic attacks and high blood pressure, and needed to urinate for much of the time he was stranded on the popular ride in the Fantasyland area of the amusement park.

Geffen says half the award ordered Friday is for pain and suffering, and the other half for disability law violations.

IT'S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL

It's a world of laughter

A world of tears

It's a world of hopes

And a world of fears

There's so much that we share

That it's time we're aware

It's a small world after all

There is just one moon

And one golden sun

And a smile means

Friendship to ev'ryone

Though the mountains divide

And the oceans are wide

It's a small world after all

It's a small world after all

It's a small world after all

It's a small world after all

It's a small, small world

Martinez, a man in his late 40s who lives in San Pedro, was in the Goodbye Room when the ride hit a glitch the day after Thanksgiving in 2009, according to his lawyer.

Disneyland employees helped other visitors off the ride, but had no way to reach Martinez, who is paralyzed and wheelchair-bound, Geffen told the San Francisco Chronicle.

The man's chronic health conditions became an issue as he sat stranded in the boat with the 'Small World' tune playing over and over again, according to the attorney.



'He was half in the cave of the ride and half out,' Geffen said. 'The music was blaring. They couldn’t get it to go off.'

Martinez's lawsuit filed in February 2011 claimed that Disneyland should have called firefighters to remove the disabled man, but instead staffers waited for the ride to be repaired.

Martinez was eventually taken off the ride and treated at a first aid station, Geffen said.