When a tourist almost became shark bait on Jaws the Ride

Teething troubles for the mechanical shark in JAWS (1975) are legendary, but it was very much of life imitating art when it came to Jaws the Ride at Universal Studios Orlando.

If a constantly malfunctioning ride wasn’t bad enough – it was even said that Steven Spielberg (who was a consultant on the attraction) and his family got stuck on the ride for two hours thanks to a power outage due to a thunderstorm – a tourist ended up in the water facing the very real threat of three tons of a fake but fearsome great white shark. Little wonder that the ride needing draining!

That close encounter of the mechanical JAWS shark kind took place in July 1990 when a then 39-year-old Anthony Salamone ended up in the ride’s lagoon and in the path of the shark, leading to screams from one of his children that “the shark’s gonna eat daddy!”

Salamone’s lawyer, Michael Diamond, claimed that he ended up in the water after a railing had broken, although it proved easier falling into the water than it was to get out of it.

Universal staff pulled Salamone out of the water, but just when they thought it was safe he slipped and fell back in, resulting in a scraped leg and bruising. However, he was finally hauled back into the boat before he had chance to become Estuary Victim 2.0.

It must have been quite the spectacle as the other visitors on the ride applauded, apparently thinking that the shark scene that had just unfolded was all a regular part of the show.

Lawyers clearly valued Salamone’s neck a lot more than three thousand bucks as he ended up suing Universal for $1 million, claiming that “the company and its employees were careless and negligent in maintaining the ride.” 

As a result, the $30 million ride was closed, redesigned and built up again. That original incarnation of Jaws the Ride closed on August 22, 1990, and didn’t open again until three years later in August 1993.

It continued to be plagued with issues, but no other guests ended up facing off against Jaws the Ride in the water, with it closing forever on January 2, 2012.

Words and interview by Dean Newman.

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