Anyone else annoyed by the ropes and nets all along the waters edge at all the beach front resorts?

[Dayma]

I noticed the nets and ropes the 1st time back after the incidents but we have been back at least 6 times since then and I dont notice.

 

[jaklgreen]

That water is really disgusting now. Even without the fence we did not get close to it.

 

[lawdogNOLA]

I'll be seeing them for the first time in less than 2 weeks. It's a tragic loss of innocence. I've seen speculation that it's not a coincidence that the attack came after the Polynesian Bungalows opened, with people living over the water, with reports/rumors that some people had been feeding gators from the bungalows, and also feeding other animals, with food ending up in the water, attracting gators. It is not fair to blame parents from a gator-free environment, Nebraska, about a risk that was not warned of. Keep in mind that just a few miles from where the tragedy took place, Disney runs a zoo, which includes alligators, with Disney employees who are experts on gators.

Gators were an endangered species back when the park opened in 1971. Gators breed like mad, and have come all the way back and then some. The fencing is about as well done from the pictures I've seen as you could hope for, and is a necessity.

Or you could take them down and hold a "Swamp People" convention every weekend.

 

[BoarderPhreak]

Some examples are always good...

 

[deeevo]

I think they alligators were considered endangered species until the late 80's so there weren't as many around when WDW opened. I remember going to a water ski show in 1983 Cypress Gardens and was thinking about the skiers falling in the water and may be gators. My sister let her kids go tubing on the lake next to Bay Lake Tower about 5 years ago and I couldn't believe it. They were told the gators stay away from the boat motor sounds. I told her she was crazy.

This very true and right now gators are overpopulated and the state needs to change their hunting laws for gators. The stupid lottery system isn't enough. Currently 6000 tags are issued via lottery per year so 3000 people win 2 tags. Currently we have over a million gators in our lakes and rivers and more people moving to Florida everyday so naturally you hear more and more about gator attacks. Just need to manage the population of them better.

 

[zurgandfriend]

I have been told, not by a bus driver, that Disney has permission to shoot an alligator on property at any time. I don’t know if this true but if it is there should have been better alligator control before the incident.

 

[BoarderPhreak]

I have been told, not by a bus driver, that Disney has permission to shoot an alligator on property at any time. I don’t know if this true but if it is there should have been better alligator control before the incident.

They can certainly dispatch/rehome these beasties, but shoot them on-property? I doubt that... I think most guests might object to hearing gunfire while in The Bubble™.

 

[Dreaming of Disney World]

I think the new barricades look great for what they are. I still find the boy's death incredibly disturbing. Anything to prevent that from happening again is welcome to me. I have two young kids and would be sick if something like that happened. I feel so sad for that little boy and his family.

 

[mouse_luv]

 

[EricPZ]

I was there when it happened a couple years ago. I understand why they did it and really don't have an issue with the measures they took.

 

[winstongator]

I have to admit they did a great job still making it look fabulous with the added rocks etc. but I really miss being able to see the water lap up on the beach and walk along the waters edge. I used to swim in bay lake on the Poly beach in the 70's. How come there were no alligators bothering us then?

When I was growing up (early 80’s) alligators were semi-protected. At some point they reinstituted limited. hunting. The number of tags issued is much higher now. From that I imagine that alligator populations throughout Florida are much higher now than 20, 30, 40 years ago.

 

[winstongator]

Hunting started back up in ‘88.

“Nearly extinct in Florida at that time, alligators today number more than 1 million, giving the state a people-to-gator ratio of 11-1.”

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1988-09-04/news/8801270797_1_alligators-nuisance-gator-hunt

 

[EdnaMode]

Our room at Polynesian had a clear view of the search and rescue on the beach and of the barriers being put in place shortly after the alligator attack. The nightclub murders had happened a couple of days before we arrived, and we knew before we got on the plane that Orlando was reeling.

It was such a bizarre juxtaposition to overhear conversations about two horrible events *everywhere*...and yet be surrounded by park and resort cast that were trying so hard to sprinkle every ounce of magic they could...harder than I've seen before or since, many of them certainly carrying their own unspeakable grief.

So....those safeguards on the beaches.....I know to some they are a blight. But I just couldn't live with Disney not doing something to separate the resort beaches from the water. Those barriers are also a little visual symbol each time we visit to remember and to pray for Lane and his family and to remember and pray for everyone killed in the Pulse nightclub and for everyone who loves each of those people.

That's my long-winded way of saying that I'm not annoyed.