Disneyland temporarily closes three rides over safety concerns

Three of the most popular rides at Disneyland in California were closed over the weekend due to safety violations at the theme park.

Space Mountain, the Matterhorn Bobsleds and Soarin' Over California were closed on Saturday, with Matterhorn later reopening.

A safety citation was issued to the park by California's Division of Occupational Safety & Health office (OSHA) on Friday.

A report on the Disney blog has a timeline of the reasons for the ride closures, dating back to November 2012.

On 22 November last year, an employee of a contractor was injured while performing maintenance on Space Mountain.

Violations included the failure to properly mount fire extinguishers on Space Mountain and guardrails not being provided on elevator work locations.

The OSHA website states that Disneyland failed to adequately correct "known fall hazards" on the exterior of Space Mountain.

"Furthermore, Disneyland Resort failed to have approved anchorages or approved tie-backs for contract employees to attach to when performing scheduled exterior building maintenance," it read.

Director of Media Relations and External Communications for the Disneyland Resort, Suzi Brown, said: "We have received notification of the citations and are working with OSHA to fully review them."

Speaking about the temporary ride closes, she added: "We constantly strive to maintain a safe work environment for our cast members and contractors - and we are reviewing certain protocols."

Last month, a disabled visitor won a £5,276 payout from Disneyland when he was stranded on a broken ride for 30 minutes.

The man was stuck on the It's A Small World ride and was forced to listen to the ride's theme tune playing on repeat as he waited for assistance.

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