{"id":64141,"date":"2026-03-26T19:08:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T23:08:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=64141"},"modified":"2026-03-26T19:15:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T23:15:32","slug":"the-u-s-department-of-justice-doj-filed-a-federal-lawsuit-today-march-26-2026-against-united-parks-resorts-the-parent-company-of-seaworld-orlando-and-busch-gardens-tampa-bay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/03\/26\/the-u-s-department-of-justice-doj-filed-a-federal-lawsuit-today-march-26-2026-against-united-parks-resorts-the-parent-company-of-seaworld-orlando-and-busch-gardens-tampa-bay\/","title":{"rendered":"The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a federal lawsuit today, March 26, 2026, against United Parks & Resorts\u2014the parent company of SeaWorld Orlando and Busch Gardens Tampa Bay"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a federal lawsuit today, March 26, 2026<\/strong>, against United Parks & Resorts\u2014the parent company of SeaWorld Orlando<\/strong> and Busch Gardens Tampa Bay<\/strong>\u2014alleging that its ban on wheeled walkers with seats violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Core Conflict<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, centers on a policy implemented in November 2025 that prohibits rollators<\/strong> (wheeled walkers with built-in seats).<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Position<\/td>Key Arguments<\/td><\/tr><\/thead>
Department of Justice<\/strong><\/td>Argues the ADA requires parks to permit manually powered mobility aids. Claims the ban discriminates against veterans, children, and seniors who rely on these specific devices for stability and rest.<\/td><\/tr>
United Parks & Resorts<\/strong><\/td>Contends the policy was created for “guest safety” due to repeated incidents of misuse\u2014specifically, guests being pushed by others while sitting on the rollators, which is not their intended design.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

Key Allegations in the Lawsuit<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • Barred Entry:<\/strong> The DOJ cited specific cases where visitors, including two veterans and an 8-year-old girl with a custom walker, were stopped at security and denied entry with their own equipment.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Illegal Surcharges:<\/strong> The complaint alleges that by forcing guests to leave their personal walkers behind and rent park-approved wheelchairs or electric scooters, the company imposed “impermissible surcharges” on people with disabilities.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Inadequate Alternatives:<\/strong> While the parks claim to offer seatless walkers or wheelchairs at no cost as a substitute, the DOJ argues these do not provide “equal access,” especially when a guest’s specific medical needs require the seating function of a rollator.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    What the DOJ is Seeking<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    The federal government is asking the court to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    1. Halt the ban<\/strong> and force a policy overhaul.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. Mandate ADA training<\/strong> for all park staff.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    3. Award monetary damages<\/strong> to guests who were turned away or forced to pay for rentals since November.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    4. Impose civil penalties<\/strong> against United Parks & Resorts.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      This legal action follows a months-long investigation that began shortly after the ban was first announced last year<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a federal lawsuit today, March 26, 2026, against United Parks & Resorts\u2014the parent company of SeaWorld Orlando and Busch Gardens Tampa Bay\u2014alleging that… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64142,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"17","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"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.2qmz3cfZkOL5FOtRdOXYZ0D0BQjSh4s3AHCxzTxwVkMMQ"},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[17],"tags":[13094,14207,14206,14205],"class_list":["post-64141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regional-and-world-news","tag-13094","tag-against-united-parks-resorts","tag-march-26","tag-the-u-s-department-of-justice-doj-filed-a-federal-lawsuit-today"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64141"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64145,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64141\/revisions\/64145"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}