i skied vail one day last year and i was in the bowls all day... if this mini park you speak of is on the very far left of the mountain looking from trail map point of view, then i know exactly what ur talking about. in my one run on the front of the mountain i saw it happen twice.
also, on the trail i took to get there, there was an older woman about 65 in a full length fur coat down to her knees. She was on rossi zeniths (roughly a grand), in a wedge, on a green circle cat walk trail, with a person taking pictures of her and she was saying look, im doing it! im skiing!!! i skied past her at about 8 mph with at least 10 feet between us and she fell and called me a hoodlum.