After something like this, a family experiences a certain kind of silence. The heavier silence of ignorance—waiting for phone calls, medical examiner reports, or someone in a corporate office to finally say something that sounds like the truth—rather than the quiet of grief. That silence has lasted for months for Kevin Rodriguez Zavala’s parents, and it gets a little louder each week.
After riding the Stardust Racers at Universal’s Epic Universe in Orlando, 32-year-old Zavala passed away on September 17, 2025. On the coaster, a dual-launch attraction with a top speed of sixty-two miles per hour over five thousand feet of track, he was discovered unconscious. Deputies were informed by his girlfriend, who was riding next to him, that he used a wheelchair and had a preexisting spinal condition. Multiple blunt impact injuries were determined to be the cause of death by the Orange County medical examiner, who also categorized the manner as accidental. The family has received almost nothing more than that.
For those who watched closely, what transpired felt more like a corporate containment exercise than a transparent investigation. After conducting an internal review, Universal came to the conclusion that the ride “functioned as intended.”” That conclusion was supported by the ride’s manufacturer and an independent engineering specialist. The ride’s warning signs have been updated. The park then revealed plans to reopen Stardust Racers just a few weeks after Zavala passed away on it. Like most people, his parents, Carlos Rodriguez Ortiz and Ana Zavala, found out about the reopening through news reports. “By rushing to reopen this ride as if nothing happened, Universal is showing great disrespect for Kevin’s life, our family’s pain, and the safety of every rider who steps onto that coaster,” Ben Crump, their attorney, said.
It’s difficult to ignore the peculiar reasoning that underlies Universal’s stance. What does it say about the design if a man died from blunt impact injuries while strapped into a ride that operated exactly as intended? To put it plainly, if the ride performed as planned, then the design is lethal. A press release doesn’t address questions like that.
The family has called for complete transparency, requesting ride data, maintenance logs, inspection records, and video footage. It’s also possible that warning signs were overlooked prior to the fatal incident, according to Crump, who stated that other riders reported injuries on the same attraction. The pattern of a corporation controlling the flow of information while a bereaved family scrounges for details is a familiar one, though it remains to be seen if those claims hold up under scrutiny. Accidents involving amusement rides occurred in Ohio and New Jersey. In aviation, it occurs. It occurs when the organization in charge of the investigation is also the one that stands to lose the most.
This tension is more widespread than just one family or one ride. In the United States, state-level oversight varies greatly, and federal agencies such as the Consumer Product Safety Commission have limited jurisdiction over fixed-site amusement rides. This creates an odd regulatory environment for theme parks. Florida, which has the highest concentration of theme parks worldwide, exempts parks employing more than a thousand people from state ride inspections. This exemption essentially allows the largest operators to police themselves. No one in Tallahassee seems eager to respond to the question of whether that framework truly protects tourists or just protects revenue.
Incidents continue to mount in the interim. Twenty-three people were hurt when a ride in a Saudi Arabian park broke in half in midair in July 2025. A week prior to this article, a roller coaster malfunctioned in Galveston, Texas, leaving eight riders stranded thirty meters in the air. For a day or two, these events make headlines before the news cycle shifts. Families don’t.
The reopening of Stardust Racers felt to the Zavala family like a second loss, this time not of a person but of any last hope that the system would be on their side. If Universal declines to permit independent inspection, Crump has threatened to take legal action. The courts might eventually require responses. The legal process could also drag on for years, resulting in nondisclosure agreements and settlements that further obscure the facts. Usually, that’s how these tales conclude. Not with resolution, but with tiredness.
