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

[Maggie Mae]

@bashfulpixie I LOVED River Country. I heard that someone died of a brain amoeba infection and they closed it, but I also heard it was because Florida law stopped letting theme/water parks use natural bodies of unchlorinated water for their rides. Or, you know, the other water parks on Disney Property (Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach) were newer and shinier and other people rarely enjoy the things that I like. 

 

[bashfulpixie]

@Maggie Mae I think it was a combo of all those things.  According to Wikipedia, the brain amoeba happened in 1980, and River Country didn't close until 2001.  It closed after 9/11 hit tourism hard, and corresponded with the passing of the law regarding unchlorinated water and never reopened.  Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach definitely hurt too because they're way bigger with better rides and stuff.

[Maggie Mae]

@bashfulpixie I liked those parks as well, especially the wave pool at Typhoon Lagoon, but River Country was always sort of special to me. It was less "stand in line for this slide" and more actual swimming/playing/splashing/pretending. There were also fewer people at River Country which meant less being shoved around by other kids. 

Now I'm watching Youtube videos of people who are trespassing on the old RC spot, looking at the decay. It's amazing how fast nature will reclaim land.

[bashfulpixie]

I've seen those videos, as well as Discovery Island pictures.  It's crazy how fast nature works.

I never got to experience River Country.  We usually hit up the parks when we'd go there.

[Toothfairy]

On Sunday, June 19, 2016 at 1:11 PM, VelociRapture said:

I just want to take a moment to explain why I down voted. I don't usually explain, but I felt like I should in this case because your comment wasn't seriously out of line somehow (like racist or anything.)

As another poster stated, this child was not unsupervised. He was with one of his parents in the water when the attack occurred. His father fought the alligator to save him, receiving lacerations to his arms and hands in the process. The animal was too strong and he wasn't able to rescue his child. The amount of guilt and pain they must be in is simple unimaginable to me. My utmost sympathy and love go out to them and their little girl.

My down vote is because I disagree with idle speculation concerning the parents "setting anything up" in this instance. All the official evidence thus far has shown that this was a beloved child who died during a horrific accident - if it didn't gat would be a different story. Suggesting his parents purposely planned this for some reason is going beyond my own tolerance level however. You (and others) are of course free to disagree, but I felt strongly enough about this that I felt I should explain a bit.

(And I do agree that Disney should have made the signs clearer. It's horrible that this happened at all, but I am glad they switched the signs for clearer ones so quickly. Hopefully it helps prevent future tragedies from occurring.) 

It's just a theory.  I didn't say they set this up. Accidents happen. But let's not think parents haven't created situations to look like accidents to get away with killing their children. Sorry FJ you can down vote me all you want. This is my opinion on the  situation. The same state where Casey Anthony  & George Zimmerman  got off for murder. Yes parents do terrible things to children. Yes even for money.

 

When I first read the story I thought this happened at 3pm and the boy  unsupervised. Then reports said 930pm and unsupervised. There was also mentioned of a 4 year old sister. Reports said no swimming. No swimming to me means don't go near water it's dangerous. Parents should never leave young kids around water. Then it was said he was supervised with both parents there while 4 year old sister was sleeping. 

This story is a tragedy in itself. A young boy lost his life. This could've been my own kids. I know accidents happen.Disney should've been more specific and closed off the lake. This isn't the first time this shit happened at Disney. They usually throw it under the rug. It is partially Disney's fault for not dealing with this sooner. This story still has many holes in it. The media is reporting so many different things.

[VelociRapture]

7 hours ago, Toothfairy said:

It's just a theory.  I didn't say they set this up. Accidents happen. But let's not think parents haven't created situations to look like accidents to get away with killing their children. Sorry FJ you can down vote me all you want. This is my opinion on the  situation. The same state where Casey Anthony  & George Zimmerman  got off for murder. Yes parents do terrible things to children. Yes even for money.

 

When I first read the story I thought this happened at 3pm and the boy  unsupervised. Then reports said 930pm and unsupervised. There was also mentioned of a 4 year old sister. Reports said no swimming. No swimming to me means don't go near water it's dangerous. Parents should never leave young kids around water. Then it was said he was supervised with both parents there while 4 year old sister was sleeping. 

This story is a tragedy in itself. A young boy lost his life. This could've been my own kids. I know accidents happen.Disney should've been more specific and closed off the lake. This isn't the first time this shit happened at Disney. They usually throw it under the rug. It is partially Disney's fault for not dealing with this sooner. This story still has many holes in it. The media is reporting so many different things.

Which is why I think it's so important to be very careful in what we speculate on. Every single report I have read has stated the boy was closely supervised by both parents and it was absolutely an accident that could have happened to anyone. The media often gets stuff wrong at first though because they're rushing to be the first to break the story. I tend to be very wary of what they initially report unless the information is provided by a named Law Enforcement official.

Yes, many people do horrific things. And yes, some of those people are the parents. It is entirely unfair to suggest or theorize the parents purposely planned this when no official evidence has emerged to support that theory. Had official evidence appeared a named Police official would have been quoted as mentioning it at a Press Conference and the parents likely would have been charged. It's one thing to speculate if a situation occurs where the official evidence points towards the parents. That's not what has happened here though. And that is what my disagreement with you is based on entirely.

And yes, I do believe Disney bears some blame in this. The parents may have made a choice I may not have made, but they also did not have all the information I have now. Had they known the dangers they likely wouldn't have been wading with their son that night. You can only make decisions based off the information you have and I think Disney fell short in that respect.

[carebaer]

13 hours ago, Toothfairy said:

It's just a theory.  I didn't say they set this up. Accidents happen. But let's not think parents haven't created situations to look like accidents to get away with killing their children. Sorry FJ you can down vote me all you want. This is my opinion on the  situation. The same state where Casey Anthony  & George Zimmerman  got off for murder. Yes parents do terrible things to children. Yes even for money.

 

When I first read the story I thought this happened at 3pm and the boy  unsupervised. Then reports said 930pm and unsupervised. There was also mentioned of a 4 year old sister. Reports said no swimming. No swimming to me means don't go near water it's dangerous. Parents should never leave young kids around water. Then it was said he was supervised with both parents there while 4 year old sister was sleeping. 

This story is a tragedy in itself. A young boy lost his life. This could've been my own kids. I know accidents happen.Disney should've been more specific and closed off the lake. This isn't the first time this shit happened at Disney. They usually throw it under the rug. It is partially Disney's fault for not dealing with this sooner. This story still has many holes in it. The media is reporting so many different things.

But your theory is both ridiculous and based on faulty evidence.

From the beginning, reports stated that the dad tried to wrestle the kid free.  That has been a consistent report. There is no way the child was unsupervised or the dad was 20-30 feet away (which I'd like to see links to those reports as I haven't read anything of the sort).  Alligators snatch and run.  They don't hang round to check out the scene.  It's unlikely a dad 20ft away would have gotten himself bit.

Again, on the ridiculous.  "I'm going to hang out by this lake and hope there's a hungry alligator here tonight" is *NOT* a workable plan.  I get that there are absolutely terrible parents who come up with plans to do terrible things to their children, but realistically the odds of someone deciding they wanted their child eaten by an alligator AND having an alligator happen to be in the right spot is not in anyone's favor. 

[Maggie Mae]

I think the only way that Disney has any responsibility would be if they knew that guests at the Grand Floridian were feeding the crocodiles during movie night or during the water parade and did nothing to stop them. There is a culture of letting the people with the money do just about anything they would like at Disney. 

As for closing off access to the Seven Seas Lagoon from the resorts, that's unrealistic, IMO. The Seven Seas Lagoon & Bay Lake are a huge part of the resort. They have so many activities that occur using the water. From waterskiing, fishing, parasailing, boating there's even a triathlon. There are movie nights and a water parade. Millions of people have been in and near that water. Alligators are kind of shy, so it's not like this was something that anyone ever expected to happen. 

[Tikobaby]

Been to Disney World several times over the years. Worked there for about 6 months back in the late 1980s when I lived in Orlando. Native Floridian.  I would never go in or near that "lagoon" or any body of water there no matter what other people do because I know there is a chance a gator could be in it and I am not a risk taker.  Disney knows there are gators there and they take the risk knowingly. The guests should at least be informed of that risk.

[SilverBeach]

23 hours 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.

Point taken. My expectation was not so much thay DW make their park gator free, but that DW should not expect everybody to know what you posted here. So, visitors should be adequately warned and educated.

@Toothfairy, yes horrid things are done to children everyday. No one can deny that.

But I think your theory in this case is an idle speculation bus running amok, and it does have a parent blaming odor to it.

[Elvis Presby]

So, this is an old picture.  This was in 1999 in Winter Park, FL.  We stayed there while we visited Disney every day.  Gators, they're everywhere in Florida!  My oldest daughter was terrified to get a picture made by this sign. My youngest girl and I were not so afraid.  I must say though, that it did freak me out when I had to go to the utility room to move clothes from the washer to the dryer after dark!  I have been to DW at least 8 times, and I have never seen a sign warning visitors that gators could be near.  If the only part of Florida people ever visited was DW, then I am not sure they would be aware of how close they are to alligators, and alligators are always close by in Florida.  Maybe it makes it feel less like the "happiest place on earth" if they have to put up signs warning people about the presence of alligators.  

Spoiler

 

 

[Geechee Girl]

On 6/21/2016 at 1:38 PM, bashfulpixie said:

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. 

WDW Wildlife department does a good job of keeping the integrity of the land. They're many more acres WDW has yet to build on. When they do, it will include a water retention areas. There will be gators, deer, snakes, sand fleas, horse flies and giant flying palmetto bugs. Oh, and skeeters. Gators are going nowhere. They are their own attraction at  GatorLand where one could watch gator wrestling or see gators being fed with whole chickens. The more adventurous can charted an airboat ride to see them in their natural habitat.

I loved River Country. I was sad to see it. At first it was mentioned it was in line for rehab in 2001. Four years later, WDW finally confirmed it would not reopen. Yep, there is no escaping wetlands, swamps, lakes and ponds.

[MatthewDuggar]

I am not surprised that Disney closed River Country, but I didn't think they'd let it deteriorate.  I have a feeling that they wanted to reduce the congestion in that area since so many people pass through there due to Magic Kingdom and the several high end resorts.  When Magic Kingdom get too crowded and they put it on phased restricted entrance, the traffic back-up into the area is brutal.  It kind of scares me to think what would happen if some sort of serious crisis or tragedy happened in that area.  There appears to be limited escape points.  Then again, this is Disney and for all we know they have tunnels to China.

[2manyKidzzz]

Just saw that Disney has reopened beaches following the death of the child, with signage, barriers  and employee assistance on the beaches. So, supervision by employees as well as barriers and signs.