A Guest Who Sued Disney World for More Than $50,000 Over Main Street's Trolley Tracks Has Dropped the Case for Good
The trolley tracks running down the middle of Main Street, U.S.A. are embedded in the pavement. One guest said she caught her foot on them and took Disney to court. This week, she dropped the case.
Rhonda Smith has filed a notice of voluntary dismissal with prejudice in her trip-and-fall case against Walt Disney Parks and Resorts U.S., Inc., ending the lawsuit roughly seven months after she filed it and more than a year before it was due to be heard. Chip and Company, Inside the Magic and BlogMickey all reported the dismissal between July 15 and July 17.
Rails of the type at issue. The steel track and the flangeway grooves beside it are embedded in the pavement and cross the walking surface, which is what the suit was about. Photo: Michael Gray, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
What she said happened
According to the complaint, Smith was walking on Main Street, U.S.A. at Magic Kingdom at around 5 p.m. on October 24, 2025, when her foot caught on the embedded track. She filed suit in December 2025 in the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court in Orange County, Florida, seeking more than $50,000 in damages. Inside the Magic, which also reviewed the filing, reported that she claimed medical expenses of more than $20,000 along with lost wages and diminished earning capacity. She is a Kentucky resident.
How Disney answered
Disney fought it. In its response earlier this year, the company argued that the tracks are "open and obvious" and that Smith was negligent in her own right, saying she failed to pay adequate attention to her surroundings. Inside the Magic reported that Disney went further, asserting that Smith was more than 50 percent responsible for what happened, raising assumption of risk, and suggesting her injuries could have another medical cause.
That is a fairly standard premises-liability playbook, but it is worth noting what Disney was defending: not a one-off hazard it could quietly patch, but a permanent fixture of Main Street that its own lawyers called a design that has existed safely in Disney parks for decades.
A Main Street streetcar decked out in floral garlands, loading guests alongside one of the Main Street fire engines. Photo: Jackdude101, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The case simply stops
The court had set a trial for November 22, 2027. That date is now vacated. A voluntary dismissal with prejudice is the strongest form of walking away: Smith cannot refile the same claims later. Both sides will cover their own fees and costs, and no settlement terms were disclosed, which is normal. Nothing in the filing explains why she dropped it, and no public statement from either party has been reported.
So the honest summary is that we know exactly what happened procedurally and almost nothing about why. A private settlement, a change of heart, or a cold read of the odds against the "open and obvious" defense would all look identical on the docket.
The tracks are not going anywhere
Magic Kingdom's horse-drawn streetcars still run, pulled by draft horses along track embedded in the Main Street pavement. The rails have made news before, though for an entirely different reason: in March 2022, AllEars reported that the trolley's wheels came slightly off the track during a Dapper Dans performance, and Cast Members escorted the performers and the horse off the trolley with no one hurt.
One clarification worth making, because the headlines have been confusing lately. Several recent stories about Disney removing horses from Main Street, U.S.A. refer to Disneyland Paris, which plans to retire its horses by the end of 2026. The horses, the streetcars and the tracks all remain at Magic Kingdom.
Sources
- BlogMickey, Guest Drops Main Street, U.S.A. Trolley Track Trip and Fall Case Against Disney World
- Inside the Magic, Guest Sued Walt Disney World for $50,000 and Suddenly Walked Away
- Inside the Magic, Walt Disney World Fights to Keep Trolley Tracks in Magic Kingdom
- Chip and Company, Lawsuit Dropped After Disney World Guest Tripped
- AllEars, Disney World's Main Street Trolley Came Off the Tracks
- Inside the Magic, Disney Stripping All Horses From Main Street, U.S.A.
- Wikipedia, Main Street Vehicles
Image credits: Michael Gray (CC BY-SA 2.0) and Jackdude101 (CC BY-SA 4.0), both via Wikimedia Commons.
