Feds launch probe into Busch Gardens, SeaWorld for rollator walker ban

The U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday it is investigating whether several theme parks, including Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by banning walkers with seats.

According to a letter from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida, the investigation centers on several complaints received from guests of United Parks & Resorts Inc., the parent company of multiple theme parks including SeaWorld, Discovery Cove and Aquatica in Orlando, as well as Busch Gardens and Adventure Island in Tampa. 

Three of the company’s parks — SeaWorld, Aquatica and Busch Gardens — recently banned the use of rollator walkers with seats, the DoJ letter says, instead offering guests with disabilities the option of renting “alternative mobility aids for a surcharge” that, in some cases, were “inappropriate for their individual disabilities.”

The ADA prohibits discrimination based on disability by public accommodations, which includes theme parks, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division says in a release. 

“We are committed to upholding our federal civil rights laws so that no guest is denied access or charged more because of a disability,” Dhillon says in the release.

A letter sent to United Parks & Resorts Inc. CEO Marc Swanson states investigators have yet to determine if the ban constitutes a violation of the ADA. It requests a meeting with a representative of the company within one week. 

“Every year, millions of people from around the world travel to Florida to visit our theme parks,” U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe for the Middle District of Florida says in the release. “No one should ever be denied equal access to public accommodations based on disability. Our office remains steadfast in our commitment to ensuring that all individuals with disabilities are guaranteed their rights under the ADA.”

Guest accessibility policies posted to the websites for each of the three theme parks state that walkers with seats are banned, but those without seats are allowed. Each park says it offers traditional wheelchairs and “electronic convenience vehicles” as an alternative that can be rented for a fee. 

The websites for Aquatica Orlando and Busch Gardens Tampa Bay state that the ban is due to “different pathway configurations” and “terrain.” The SeaWorld Orlando website, however, states that the rollator walkers with seats are banned for the safety of park guests.

Trial Attorney David K. Gardner from the Civil Rights Division’s Disability Rights Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexandra N. Karahalios from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida are handling this case.

The U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division is asking those who believe they have been a victim of disability discrimination at a United Parks & Resorts Inc. property to file a complaint online at www.civilrights.justice.gov, or by calling the Department’s toll-free ADA Information Line at 1-800-514-0301.