Family sues Disney over brawl in Flight of Passage line at Animal Kingdom

A family whose teenage daughter was struck during a brawl in the line for Avatar Flight of Passage at Disney's Animal Kingdom has sued Walt Disney World, alleging the company failed to staff and monitor the crowded queue, Florida Politics reported. The family is represented by the Orlando-based personal injury firm Morgan & Morgan, whose founder, John Morgan, is among Florida's best-known trial lawyers and political donors.

The fight, recorded by another guest and widely shared online, broke out on Sunday, Aug. 2, inside the queue for one of the most popular rides at the Bay Lake resort. The lawsuit turns a viral theme park clash into a test of how far a Florida property owner's duty extends when one group of visitors attacks another.

What the lawsuit alleges

According to the complaint as described by Florida Politics, the teenager was waiting in line with her family for Flight of Passage when an argument with another group of guests escalated. Members of the other group allegedly pushed the plaintiff and her relatives, climbed over the queue barriers and struck the plaintiff.

The suit accuses Disney employees of failing to monitor the queue and failing to provide adequate crowd control. It also alleges the line was understaffed and that no cast members intervened as the confrontation built. In a statement released on behalf of the family, Morgan and attorney Christopher Ryan said their clients, including the teenage daughter, were struck several times.

The family has not been publicly identified in coverage of the case, and the guests who allegedly attacked them are not named as defendants in the reports. Coverage of the filing did not specify the amount of damages sought. Disney World did not respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit, Florida Politics reported.

The Aug. 2 fight

Video of the incident circulated on Reddit and other social media sites the same day. Theme park news sites described a clip of roughly 76 seconds showing several adults exchanging punches and shoves inside the queue. Guests who were nearby said the two groups had been arguing for much of what was about an 80-minute wait.

The Orange County Sheriff's Office logged a 911 call classified as battery on Savannah Circle West, the address associated with Animal Kingdom, at 11:21 a.m. that day, according to WDW News Today, which reviewed the sheriff's call records. No arrests connected to the fight were reported, and neither Disney nor the sheriff's office publicly described what happened to the guests involved. Disney's general practice in such cases is to remove guests who fight from the park, according to theme park news coverage, but the company did not confirm any action in this incident.

Flight of Passage, which opened in 2017 as the centerpiece of Pandora: The World of Avatar, routinely draws some of the longest standby waits at Walt Disney World. Its queue winds through a lengthy indoor and outdoor path before guests reach the boarding area, which is where much of the confrontation unfolded.

Negligent security under Florida law

Claims like this one, in which a business is sued over harm caused by a third party's criminal act, are known in Florida as negligent security cases. Plaintiffs generally must show that the property owner owed a duty to protect them, that the danger was foreseeable and that the owner's failure to take reasonable precautions contributed to the injury.

The Legislature reshaped those cases in 2023 with House Bill 837, the tort reform package signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Under section 768.0701 of the Florida Statutes, created by that law, a jury deciding a damages claim against the owner or operator of commercial property over a third party's criminal act must consider the fault of everyone who contributed to the injury, including the attackers. In practice, that means Disney's share of any verdict could be reduced by the share of fault assigned to the guests who threw the punches.

The same 2023 law moved Florida to a modified comparative negligence standard, under which a plaintiff found more than 50% at fault for his or her own injuries cannot recover damages. Morgan & Morgan was among the most vocal critics of the 2023 changes.

Morgan & Morgan and Disney

The suit is not the first legal clash between Morgan's firm and the entertainment company. In September 2025, Morgan & Morgan filed a federal lawsuit in Orlando seeking a declaration that a firm advertisement using the public domain "Steamboat Willie" version of Mickey Mouse did not infringe Disney's trademarks. Disney said at the time it would enforce its intellectual property rights but never appeared in the case. The firm voluntarily dismissed that suit in November 2025 without explaining why, and Morgan later said publicly that the commercial was running.

Disney is a frequent defendant in personal injury lawsuits filed by Florida visitors, most involving ride malfunctions, slips and falls, or resort property. Suits centered on fights between guests are less common, and the outcome of this one may turn on what Disney knew about the argument before it turned physical and how quickly employees could have responded.

Crowds and conduct at Florida theme parks

The case lands as Central Florida's theme parks face recurring attention over guest altercations captured on phone video. Fights in lines and on park walkways at Disney World and Universal Orlando have repeatedly gone viral in recent years, and both resorts maintain conduct rules that allow security to remove and ban guests who become violent.

For Disney, the question of queue staffing carries operational weight. Long standby lines, a function of the park's popularity and its paid Lightning Lane system, keep large numbers of guests in close quarters for extended periods. The family's lawyers are effectively arguing that the company's responsibility includes watching those lines, not just running the ride at the end of them.

What's next

Disney will have an opportunity to respond to the complaint in court, typically through an answer or a motion to dismiss, and has not yet publicly addressed the allegations. If the case proceeds, discovery would likely focus on staffing levels in the Flight of Passage queue on Aug. 2, the timeline of the argument before it turned violent, and any internal reports or video Disney holds of the incident. Under Florida's 2023 tort changes, Disney could also seek to have the jury apportion fault to the guests who allegedly struck the teenager.