Gator drags child into water at Disney's Grand Floridian resort

[2manyKidzzz]

There should be a "Be afraid of the Gator" culture at Disney. Really. People come from Europe, UK and such and I do not think they have gators at the Eiffel Tower. People don't expect it.

But if Disney made a big deal about gators, it might hurt business. That is how I view it. Every body of water should have numerous signs. When you check in to each hotel, there should be literature and a verbal warning about this.

But that would hurt business. I mean, I would be really put off. 

[TeaGrannie]

Our national park hands out bear and wildlife guidelines every time you enter. People still come to see the Rockies. They also still don't follow the rules but at least they have information to make a decision with. A brochure handed out when you check in coupled with signs stating "Use caution near water" or "Do not enter water" or even "caution be aware of reptiles" would go a long way towards educating people. At that point Disney has done something to educate people. Even "Do not feed the alligators" would work for most people. 

[carebaer]

I've been thinking the same thing.  A brief note about Florida wildlife with  warning not to enter the water or feed alligators would be helpful.  That won't keep some people from disregarding the rules.  Some people might not even bother to read such a handout.  But more people would be aware if Disney provided the information. 

I saw a cnn article with an alligator expert who gave the opinion that the gator had been fed by humans at some point and that's why it was willing to come up that close to the beach.  Whether it's true or not in this case, it certainly could be true in others.

The more people who are aware and informed, the better off everyone will be. (Although at this point, news being spread nationwide and internationally faster than it was in the 80s, most people are already more informed.)

 

[Grimalkin]

17 hours ago, TeaGrannie said:

Like others than down voted I wanted to say why too. In the many reports I've seen most indicate his mother was holding his hand while he waded and his father jumped in to try to save him. Hard to do when you aren't supervising in my humble opinion. 

The way I'm reading your statement is that a family deliberately set up a scenario where an alligator rips their child from them and kills him all so they can sue Disney? I find that extremely offensive if that is what you are implying.

        I give @Toothfairy a pass on this only because I know she fosters teens and has likely seen the worst of humanity.  Many foster parents have seen such ugly things most of us could not even imagine it. She is a hero.

[Meridae]

On June 19, 2016 at 0:33 PM, livinginthelight said:

This is belaboring the point a bit, but I am feeling grumpy.

I think most people on this thread are being very reasonable. They get that the norms in different parts of the country are different. But some, including @Meridae, I don't think are listening. Everyone does NOT know "don't go into water at night." Nor should they. Some of my best memories are cookouts and late night swims in oceans and lakes, way after dark. It was safe to do this because we were good swimmers and stayed together. Alligators never crossed our minds because there weren't any. None. "Don't go into water at night" didn't apply. It isn't common sense where I come from. Common sense says, go only as far into the water as you can safely swim, and don't swim alone. Period.

Until this thread, I never knew alligators fed at dusk.

 

 

If people don't know not to go into water at night, that's their call. I never said anyone HAD to know not to go into the water, either- simply that if you logically understand your vision at night is greatly diminished and logically that many dangerous animals feed at night, then maybe it's best to stay out of the water at night. During the day, it may not be a problem, but not at night. This was also a little kid by himself, not a group of older kids or young adults who were strong swimmers out in the water together.

I'd like to once again reiterate that I don't blame the parents one iota. "No swimming" to them meant wading was fine. That's subject to interpretation. But it could have absolutely been prevented by not allowing a two year old child to meander some 20-30 feet away at night and go into water, if only for the fact you just cannot see as well. He could have stepped on something sharp, waded out too deep, wandered off and gotten lost. It doesn't really have anything to do with alligators, anything could have happened to this kid.

And I'd like to add that Disney should definitely have better signs up.

[FakePigtails]

He wasn't by himself. I don't understand why people keep claiming that.

[louisa05]

20 minutes ago, FakePigtails said:

He wasn't by himself. I don't understand why people keep claiming that.

Thank you. Every single local report here (from the media in the family's hometown) indicates that his parents were right beside him and his mother was holding his hand. You can't hold a kid's hand from 20-30 feet away. Unless the woman has freakishly long arms. In which case, I probably would have heard about her by now. I actually know people who live in their neighborhood. Someone with a neighbor who has 20-30 foot long arms probably would have mentioned it. 

[Antimony]

On 6/19/2016 at 11:57 AM, 2manyKidzzz said:

Disney owns the responsibility for this IMO. 

My heart breaks for these people. It is ridiculous to invite people to an entertainment right on a beach where alligators swim in that water. Isn't there a pool deck/outside area away from the gators.

So strange. Bless these people. Their lives are forever scarred. 

I'm not from Florida. In fact, I never want to go. But I consider all water in Florida to potentially contain alligators. They cross land and even end up in residential  pools. I don't think there is an area away from gators to speak of with 100% certainty. 

There is gator control but only if you can spot them and they are masters of not being spotted. 

[2manyKidzzz]

None of the television commercials for Disney show alligators. 

[SilverBeach]

On 6/18/2016 at 11:27 PM, Toothfairy said:

Most Floridians get use to the wildlife in Florida. It's part of life. Lake Alice is right next to University of Florida. There's signs everywhere to stay out of the water.

1. Most DW visitors are not from Florida.

2. There was no sign to stay out of the water. Words matter, as we like to say on FJ.

3. To speculate such an awful thing about the parents, that perhaps they set this up, is completely heartless as far as I am concerned.

[SilverBeach]

20 minutes ago, Antimony said:

I'm not from Florida. In fact, I never want to go. But I consider all water in Florida to potentially contain alligators. They cross land and even end up in residential  pools. I don't think there is an area away from gators to speak of with 100% certainty. 

There is gator control but only if you can spot them and they are masters of not being spotted. 

Once again, gator knowledge is not a priority in metro Chicago. It would be safest for DW to assume its millions of domestic and international visitors don't know shite about gator safety.

3 hours ago, Grimalkin said:

        I give @Toothfairy a pass on this only because I know she fosters teens and has likely seen the worst of humanity.  Many foster parents have seen such ugly things most of us could not even imagine it. She is a hero.

Many kudos to Toothfairy for fostering teens, but I think her post was uncalled for. Sorry, no pass from me.

[bashfulpixie]

This was a freak accident.  It's the first alligator attack on Disney property in 30 years, despite it having tons of water and tons of people ignorant to Florida wildlife. 

Should Disney have signs up warning people of the potential danger?  Absolutely.  Did they feel that it was unnecessary, considering how many years it had been since an attack and how they do the best job they can at keep alligators away from guest areas?  Also yes.  Unfortunately, a little boy died because they didn't want to freak out guests who don't know that if you leave alligators alone, they leave you alone.  They aren't Nile or saltwater crocs, they'd much rather be far, far away from humans (unless the humans are STUPID and feed them).

The story is tragic enough, let's please stop exaggerating that this is some alligator invested swamp where people are lucky to board Space Mountain without getting eaten.

[formergothardite]

3 hours ago, Meridae said:

But it could have absolutely been prevented by not allowing a two year old child to meander some 20-30 feet away at night and go into water, if only for the fact you just cannot see as well. He could have stepped on something sharp, waded out too deep, wandered off and gotten lost. It doesn't really have anything to do with alligators, anything could have happened to this kid.

Well, they didn't. They were responsible parents who stood right next to their child. I would have let a child wade at night while I hold their hand too. This is a place where the advertisements use people wading barefoot, so I would have assumed it would not be an issue to do that, even at night. 

The parents did nothing wrong here, not sure why people keep trying to blame them. 

[SassyPants]

No reason for a fake beach with props  that entice people to sit down (chairs and tables and also sand toys from what others have reported), play and stay awhile if gators are known to infest (5 killed in 20 hours time) those very waters. In addition, gators roam on the land too...so the water is not the only issue here.  The lagoon either needs to be inaccessible to the public or dismantled.

[bashfulpixie]

12 minutes ago, SassyPants said:

No reason for a fake beach with props  that entice people to sit down (chairs and tables and also sand toys from what others have reported), play and stay awhile if gators are known to infest (5 killed in 20 hours time) those very waters. In addition, gators roam on the land too...so the water is not the only issue here.  The lagoon either needs to be inaccessible to the public or dismantled.

Do you have any clue just how big the two connected lakes are?  Five gators is NOT that many.  And again- these waters have operating like this for 30 years without incident.  They used to have a freaking water park that was attached to and used Bay Lake's water (the lake attached to the lake where this took place), and still didn't have incidents.  They shouldn't make the water as appealing as it is, but as I've said repeatedly, the lagoon is going nowhere.  It's a necessary evil in Florida where low water tables cause flooding without it.

Edit:  Disney's River Country, smack on the shore of the lake. 

[2manyKidzzz]

The child was buried today I saw. 

If Disney has created an attractive vacation spot in the midst of alligators, they need to make that very, very, very clear. Of course, now everyone knows. Not everyone knows all about alligators. 

[bashfulpixie]

 Disney was built on a swamp land and has had one freak accident in 30 years.  Including this incident, there's been four issues with alligators either killing, or being involved with a dead body since 2008 in the entire state of Florida.  Considering they can be found in every single body of fresh water in the state, and we have more than a million gators in this state, that's not very many.

It was a devastating, freak accident.  But it's not indicative of a swarming infestation of man-eating alligators.  Period.

Also, I looked it up, Seven Seas Lagoon (which is where this happened) is more than 200 acres.  Attached to it is Bay Lake, which is about a mile across.  Two very large lakes.  Five gators in bodies of water that size? Surprising in how few of them there were.

[Meridae]

If he was with his parents and someone was holding his hand, that's a slightly different story. Like so many details, I've heard different things- obviously some of those may have been incorrect. Regardless, it's still horribly sad, but hopefully Disney will use this incident to keep others safe at the resorts and we can impress upon our children the importance of water safety (which I stand by is extremely important and lifesaving. Water is dangerous, especially at night, and people need to be made aware of this).

[Antimony]

3 hours ago, SilverBeach said:

Once again, gator knowledge is not a priority in metro Chicago. It would be safest for DW to assume its millions of domestic and international visitors don't know shite about gator safety.

No, I don't mean they should know just out of nowhere, I meant that it is impractical for Disney, or any body-of-water-owning party in Florida to make something "gator free" or "away from gators". Their signage is another matter but I just mean you can't keep gators out of things, even man-made lagoons where they shouldn't have any natural, non-human prey to interest them, considering they show up in residential pools.

[2manyKidzzz]

38 minutes ago, Meridae said:

If he was with his parents and someone was holding his hand, that's a slightly different story. Like so many details, I've heard different things- obviously some of those may have been incorrect. Regardless, it's still horribly sad, but hopefully Disney will use this incident to keep others safe at the resorts and we can impress upon our children the importance of water safety (which I stand by is extremely important and lifesaving. Water is dangerous, especially at night, and people need to be made aware of this).

Excellent, and this is key. People need to be made aware. Very aware. If you don't live near gators, you don't think about them. I wonder if any info at all is given about those creatures when you check in at Disney.

[Maggie Mae]

9 minutes ago, Antimony said:

No, I don't mean they should know just out of nowhere, I meant that it is impractical for Disney, or any body-of-water-owning party in Florida to make something "gator free" or "away from gators". Their signage is another matter but I just mean you can't keep gators out of things, even man-made lagoons where they shouldn't have any natural, non-human prey to interest them, considering they show up in residential pools.

I think they stock the seven seas lagoon with fish, because you can rent boats and go fishing. Or at least you could back in the 90s. They might also have some sort of guided type fishing. Not everyone staying at the Disney Resorts are there for the Magic Kingdom.

 

1 hour ago, SassyPants said:

No reason for a fake beach with props  that entice people to sit down (chairs and tables and also sand toys from what others have reported), play and stay awhile if gators are known to infest (5 killed in 20 hours time) those very waters. In addition, gators roam on the land too...so the water is not the only issue here.  The lagoon either needs to be inaccessible to the public or dismantled.

Are you serious right now? 

[bashfulpixie]

29 minutes ago, 2manyKidzzz said:

Excellent, and this is key. People need to be made aware. Very aware. If you don't live near gators, you don't think about them. I wonder if any info at all is given about those creatures when you check in at Disney.

No, they don't.  Because this is the first time this has happened in 30 years.  Millions of people visit Disney every year, they have races that run around the bodies of water, starting when it's still dark, and water everywhere and until last week no one had ever been killed by an alligator on Disney property.  That would be creating unnecessary panic for something they didn't think they had to worry about.

[2manyKidzzz]

3 minutes ago, bashfulpixie said:

No, they don't.  Because this is the first time this has happened in 30 years.  Millions of people visit Disney every year, they have races that run around the bodies of water, starting when it's still dark, and water everywhere and until last week no one had ever been killed by an alligator on Disney property.  That would be creating unnecessary panic for something they didn't think they had to worry about.

They should have worried about it. A two year old was buried today. 

[Grimalkin]

1 hour ago, SassyPants said:

No reason for a fake beach with props  that entice people to sit down (chairs and tables and also sand toys from what others have reported), play and stay awhile if gators are known to infest (5 killed in 20 hours time) those very waters. In addition, gators roam on the land too...so the water is not the only issue here.  The lagoon either needs to be inaccessible to the public or dismantled.

           Disney is very well thought out. Most parts of that water are inaccessible . The more I think about it and see pictures the more I think this was an unfortunate freak accident in more ways than one. From what I read the alligator's response by not letting go was unusual. Same with it grabbing a person. 

         I did not realize this was the same body of water I took a jetty to the park last time I was there. It is a massive body of water. It's shocking and horrible and terribly unfortunate. I don't think they should dismantle the beach.

        

[bashfulpixie]

They had no clue something like this was going to happen.  After three decades and millions of visitors had no issues, no one could have seen this coming.  Hell, like I said, they had a freaking water park attached to one of the lakes for years.  Used to have water skiing and jet skis and stuff in the lakes too.  Gators tend to stay away from humans.

Freak.  Accidental. Tragedy.