Man dies on Disney ride

I wrote Monday that despite the violence of the crash on Interstate 40 that totaled my car, I've had roller-coaster rides that were rougher.

Sadly, it was just such a roller-coaster ride that Jeffery Reed took at Walt Disney World Tuesday.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A 44-year-old man died Tuesday after riding a roller coaster at Walt Disney World that simulates a runaway train ride through the Himalayas, authorities said.

Jeffery Reed, of Navarre, Fla., was pulled unresponsive from the ride, given CPR and pronounced dead at a hospital. He had no visible signs of injury, the Orange County Sheriff's Office said. ...

The ride, Expedition Everest, made its debut in 2006 and features an 80-foot drop. Before Tuesday's death, at least 15 people had died at Disney's theme parks in Florida and California since 1989, some with previous health conditions.

Later reports say that an autopsy showed Mr. Reed died of dilated cardiomyopathy, a weakened and enlarged heart that cannot pump blood enough to sustain the body. It was apparently a pre-existing condition.