Long Island Mom Sues Disney for $2M After “Mammoth” Wave Injury at Typhoon Lagoon

Edited by: TJVNews.com

A Long Island woman’s dream vacation to Disney World turned into a harrowing nightmare after she was violently injured by a massive wave at Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon water park, prompting her to file a $2 million lawsuit, according to an exclusive report that appeared on Saturday in The New York Post.

Kimberly Panetta, 45, of Dix Hills, filed her lawsuit in Brooklyn Federal Court, claiming that she suffered severe and permanent injuries after being pummeled by a powerful wave while retrieving her 3-year-old daughter from a children’s area water slide in April 2022. The annual family trip—an event that was supposed to create magical memories—was instead marred by a traumatic incident that Panetta says has left her scarred, self-conscious, and unable to enjoy activities she once loved.

Speaking with The New York Post, Panetta described the terrifying moment when a sudden, forceful wave knocked her off her feet: “It was so powerful it was actually dragging us under the water for several feet,” she said. “I just thank God I had the sense to push [my daughter] above as I was getting dragged. I knew if she was the one getting dragged she would have been cut all over.”

According to the court papers reviewed by The New York Post, the wave struck Panetta from the side with such ferocity that it skidded her body across the cement or gunite at the base of the water area, causing deep scrapes akin to severe “road rash.”

“I felt pain immediately and I looked down and there was blood,” Panetta recalled. “You think you’re in the happiest place on Earth and the safest place—but it’s like being dragged on concrete.”

The incident left her two children, then just 3 and 7 years old, traumatized by the sight of their mother bleeding profusely. “They were mortified—they just could not believe my legs. When they saw blood pouring out of their mother, their eyes were like saucers,” she told The New York Post.

According to the lawsuit, prior to the injury Panetta had been a “young, svelte woman” with no scars or marks on her legs. Now, she suffers from permanent scarring that has made her self-conscious to the point of avoiding shorts, dresses, or bathing suits, even in hot weather.

Her husband, Frank Panetta, a practicing attorney, emphasized to The New York Post the seriousness of her injuries: “She skidded for 15 or 20 feet across the surface. If my wife hadn’t shielded our daughter, she would have been severely hurt.”

The Panettas argue that Disney was negligent in allowing waves of such magnitude to enter a designated children’s area, an environment where families understandably expect safety and gentler conditions.

Beyond the physical injuries, Panetta described to The New York Post how the accident ruined the entire family’s vacation. Instead of enjoying the parks and pools, she found herself limping painfully, applying bandages, salves, and creams to her wounded legs, and staying indoors.

“We had all these plans and had to cancel everything. I couldn’t even go in the pool where we were staying. I had to stay inside. Everything was completely ruined,” she lamented.

According to the information provided in The New York Post report, Disney offered the family nothing more than a $250 credit—an amount that the Panettas viewed as woefully inadequate given the severity of Kimberly’s injuries and the extent to which it destroyed their trip.

This is not the first time Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon has faced allegations of serious safety lapses, The New York Post report pointed out.

In a separate incident in May 2024, Laura Reyes-Merino, a 25-year-old Florida woman, alleged that she lost consciousness and coughed up blood after riding the Humunga Kowabunga slide, which sends riders plunging 214 feet in a near-vertical freefall. Shockingly, Reyes-Merino claimed there were no lifeguards on duty at the time she was injured.

Another lawsuit stemming from 2019 alleged that the same water slide caused violent bodily harm to a female rider due to the intense force of the water, resulting in painful injuries.

These troubling patterns, highlighted in The New York Post report, cast serious doubt on whether Disney’s famed water parks are meeting the rigorous safety standards that families rightfully expect when visiting “The Happiest Place on Earth.”

As Kimberly Panetta’s $2 million lawsuit moves forward, her case—carefully chronicled in the report in The New York Post—raises critical questions about Disney’s responsibilities to its guests, especially in areas marketed as safe for young children.

The emotional and physical scars she carries serve as a reminder that even at Disney, accidents can have life-altering consequences. Whether the courts will agree that Disney bears legal responsibility remains to be seen, but the Panettas are determined to seek justice for the injury, fear, and loss they endured.

For millions of families planning their dream vacations, the case also serves as a stark warning: even in a world of magic and imagination, safety can never be taken for granted.