We CANNOT confirm or validate the claims in this statement at this time.

According to a post on Reddit, an alleged eyewitness riding the same Stardust Racers train with Kevin Rodriguez Zavala onboard said “there was blood everywhere” when it returned to the loading station.

FYI: The information/statement was posted in a thread on the fan-run Universal’s Epic Universe community page on the social media platform.

Approximately 20 hours ago, u/itsallcharliework started the thread ‘Stardust Racers story’ with the following:

“Okay – the ride is open again and there’s more information out now, so maybe this is a good time to tell the story of what happened.

I’ve mentioned bits and pieces in a few posts, but I wanted to be sensitive until some time had passed. My wife and I were on the ride, second to last row, when the accident happened. She was right in front of Mr. Zavala, and I was diagonal from him. Stardust [Racers] was the first ride we did that morning, and it was probably the best rollercoaster I’ve ever been on — super smooth, fast, exhilarating. We decided to do it one last time before hitting the carousel and heading out for the night.

We noticed it was taking a while to get going, and when I turned around, I saw a man transferring himself from a wheelchair to the ride seat using the little “butt scoot” method. Unlike, say, the Hulk coaster with shoulder harnesses, Stardust [Racers] lets you turn around completely and see what’s going on behind you. Within the first third of the way through, the person directly behind me started screaming. I thought it was just normal “this ride is terrifying” screaming, but my wife said she could tell something was off.

When the ride finally stopped at the end, our car was paused a bit higher up on the track. That’s when I turned around — it was a very gory sight. He appeared to be seated oddly — higher up and leaning back. There was blood everywhere, with multiple, obvious injuries to his face and forehead (a huge knot on the left side of his head with blood coming out). My wife started to turn around, and I just told her “nope,” not to look.

The person next to him was panicking and screaming. As the car pulled forward, he slumped over, bending forward at the waist. My wife and I were both yelling for help and for a medic, but it was really loud, and being in the back made it hard to be heard. Since he was now slumped forward, it wasn’t immediately obvious how bad things were — it almost looked like he’d just passed out.

Thats also when I started to realized there was blood everywhere. I had it on me from literally head to shoe and it was all over the floor around our feet. The staff took a bit of time to respond. I saw him take a few heavy breaths, but then he seemed to stop. A woman in the queue said she was a doctor and eventually got over to him. This took a while because she was on the other side of the track opposite where they guy was sitting and they had to figure out how to get her over there. I saw her checking for a pulse at some point but she frowning and shaking her head no so I am guessing she could not find one. I’m not sure how long it all took — long enough for them to clear the queue and get a technician with keys. The whole time, the girl next to him was screaming: “Get me off!” and “His mom is going to kill me!”

They had to get a technician to manually unlock the restraints since our car hadn’t advanced all the way to the platform. They removed a plastic panel to access the lock — that’s probably the “piece of metal” people were curious about. They struggled to unlock my wife’s seat, then moved to me. I got my harness undone and they started yelling at me to get off the ride but I basically told them to go to hell because I wasn’t leaving my wife and she was still locked in. Once she was free, we just left.

I went to the restroom to wash the blood off my legs, then we went back to the hotel obviously stunned. Trying to deal with Universal afterward has been an ordeal. Every individual I’ve spoken with has been kind, empathetic, and understanding, but the guest services protocols are clearly geared toward things like “I bought an express pass and I’m unhappy I still had to wait” complaints not “I went home covered in blood” issues.

I called the Orange County Sheriff’s Office because the news said they were investigating, and I wanted to see if they needed a witness statement. I left a voicemail but never heard back. To be honest I’m kind of shocked about that and that Universal was not initially proactive in wanting to talk to us because this was not a ‘person had a heart attack on a ride’ sort of thing. It was much more extreme than that.”

Stardust Racers story
byu/itsallcharliework inUniversalEpicUniverse

Once again, we CANNOT confirm or validate the claims in this statement at this time. Stay tuned for possible updates.

Stardust Racers reopened for the first time since the tragic death of Kevin Rodriguez Zavala yesterday afternoon (4th October, 2025). You can find out more about the tragic incident below:

STARDUST RACERS INCIDENT RELATED ARTICLES:

EXTRA

Karen Irwin, Universal Orlando President and COO, has confirmed in an email to Team Members that Stardust Racers would reopen yesterday.

Irwin also confirmed operational procedures and signage for Stardust Racers and other attractions at Universal’s Epic Universe were being updated. Updates have been made:

Following the news of its reopening, famous civil rights attorney Ben Crump (representing family of Zavala) demanded Universal Orlando paused the reopening of Stardust Racers. You can find out what he said here. The family of Zavala also spoke out against this decision.

RELATED: RUMOUR: Stardust Racers Running “Exactly The Same As Before”

Stay tuned to Orlando Theme Park Zone for more Orlando theme park-related news and information.

H/T Reddit

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