LAKE BUENE VISTA, Fla. — A Disney cast member is being called ‘a hero’ after a stunt went dangerously wrong at Walt Disney World’s Hollywood Studios on Dec. 30. Video that went viral shows a 400-pound boulder prop rolling off course during the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular and one longtime performer stepping directly into its path to protect the audience.
Channel 9 spoke exclusively with Robert Herrick, the cast member who didn’t hesitate to jump into action.
Herrick said the only thing on his mind at that moment was to stop the boulder from rolling.
With no hesitation, video shows Herrick using himself as a shield for the hundreds in the crowd.
“I was probably out of my seat before it went over the thing, without any thought of what was going to happen,” Herrick said.
Herrick is now in a neck brace for the next eight weeks or so after fracturing two vertebrae. But he says it was all worth it.
“I can’t tell you that I was just thinking of anything other than it cannot make the audience,” Herrick said.
“Is it actually a 400-pound boulder?,” Channel 9 asked. “Yeah, absolutely,” Herrick responded.“And you felt it that day,” Channel 9 said.“Yeah, anyone that sees that and the way it propels me backwards, it’s not 10 pounds,” Herrick said.
In videos of the incident, you can see Herrick standing up with blood dripping from his head. He says his first reaction as a performer in front of children was to get off stage. Later, after the show continued, he waved to the crowd, letting them know he was okay. Many have commented, calling him a real-life Indiana Jones.
“He literally saved our lives… that guy,” a Disney guest said, pointing at Herrick in a viral video.
“So many people commented after seeing that video and said, you’re a hero for jumping into action,” Channel 9 said.
“I had a difficult time with that moniker, I do. I think 30-plus years of being on that stage that I love so much — I love that show with all my heart, my epic family I love — put me in that position. Hero, there was no thought, Ashlyn, about that at all. My only thought was that thing couldn’t reach the audience,” Herrick responded.
Between being an actor and a stuntman, Herrick has worked on the show for more than three decades and has seen this boulder scene thousands of times.
He said he feels like, because of his experience, it was a godsend that he was in that spot at that time to make a quick decision.
As for what’s next, Herrick says he’s looking forward to getting back to work soon. He says Hollywood Studios is his second home.
“I miss my Epic family, and I miss the audience. I missed the audience. I missed that little girl and the big eyes watching the show that I get a chance to make magic for people every day,” Herrick said.He said there are so many people doing good deeds every single day, including the doctors and nurses that took care of him after this happened. He said the only difference between him and them is that they don’t have 2,000 people watching in a crowd with cell phones out.
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