From the OS: Gator drags child into Seven Seas Lagoon

[EngineJoe]

A gator can get in pretty much anywhere. A high school friend of mine lives on the St Johns River and she woke up to a 6 footer floating in her pool.

It is however not that common especially in WDW when there are almost always a large number of people around and the pools are they well maintained. They are typically looking for new food sources and pools just don't provide that.

Bottom line, you should assume that every body of fresh water in Florida has a gator in it and to act accordingly until you know otherwise.

Yup Disney would have to shut down all their pools to please the rabble rousers.

You would basically have to exterminate the gator population in the Orlando area just to prevent this very rare occurrence to appease the people who want 100 % safety instead of 99.9999% safety.

 

[cindy_k]

I just want to repeat for people who may not realize, Alligators aren't sharks. They will come out of the water to get prey, if they aren't scared of it. Normal wild gators are scared of humans. Gators that are habitually fed by humans aren't.
That child could have been a foot from the waters edge, and still been grabbed.
No swimming sign would have meant even less then.

I expect WDW beach closure will morph into some permanent change of how Disney allows the beaches to be used.

 

[JohnD]

Maybe I wasn't clear in my post, but it's not because of my concern about my children getting attacked. I think this was an extremely rare tragedy with a very low possibility of happening again. It's about the fact that my mind is not right because of how close it hits to home. I'm going to be consumed with thoughts about this family for a while, and we're going to be staying near the spot that this occurred. It's going to be difficult to disconnect like I normally do on a Disney vacation.

So changing your resort wouldn't help either? Not questioning your decision. Do what's best for your family. Just a thought.

 

[odmichael]

Informing the guests is really the best practice. This is an odd situation. Putting up fences will do no good for us or the alligators. And to be honest, alligators are the least of your Floridian problems.

A friend of mine recently stayed at this hotel in Florida and posted these pictures:

The snake is a cottonmouth/water moccasin. These are venomous snakes in the viper family. Apparently the hotel's policy is to remove only these snakes when spotted by patrons because of venom (which is what happened). Otherwise, all animals on property are fair game.

What does this mean? It means if you decide to go on a Florida vacation, you are vactioning on the home of a variety of different creatures and diverse species. You can't remove the animals because there are too many. I saw 3 gators at the Coronado Springs on my last trip there. The reality is they are usually peaceful creatures. This is a terrible situation and I wish the best for the family. But there's not much you can do. If this is the first Disney gator attack leading to death in 40 years, they're doing things right not wrong because there are probably a lot of situations that have happened on Disney property in the last 40 years that should have gone worse than this situation.

I'm curious to see what signs (if any) are at the lagoon. If it says something along the lines of "Waters off limits", then in my stupid teen years would have jumped right in. However, if the sign informed of the gators and snakes in the vicinity, I may reconsider. The signs should also probably have a couple language translations as back-ups as well.

 

[Glasgow]

I just saw this story and it literally turned my stomach. What a tragedy. I'm sure the prevailing thought will be to try and remove all dangerous wildlife (which they do anyway) but hopefully calm heads will make rational long-term decisions re: guest safety.

One of the first thoughts that entered my head was "Wow, what happens if you accidentally fell out of one of the small racer boats, or even one of the larger ships??" Yikes.

 

[Chef Mickey]

Isn't 7 Seas Lagoon completely closed off? I wonder how Alligators get in there. Are they now "native" to the 7 Seas Lagoon? I figured if you picked up a few and removed them, it'd be harder for them to wander in there and "live." Was this gator just visiting?

 

[Rteetz]

Isn't 7 Seas Lagoon completely closed off? I wonder how Alligators get in there. Are they now "native" to the 7 Seas Lagoon? I figured if you picked up a few and removed them, it'd be harder for them to wander in there and "live." Was this gator just visiting?

It's connected to bay lake. I wouldn't be surprised though either if the gator did travel.

 

[JohnD]

Isn't 7 Seas Lagoon completely closed off? I wonder how Alligators get in there. Are they now "native" to that area? I figured if you picked up a few and removed them, it'd be harder for them to wander in there and "live." Was this gator just visiting?

Easy. Wanders in from Bay Lake and swims into the lagoon via the water bridge. There are other tributaries, including Reedy Creek.

 

[prberk]

Just curious, since this has become well-known across all media now: I just wondered if regular park operations have been affected? For example, was a more somber tone at opening of MK this morning, or was business as usual (perhaps as a distraction for families and kids)? I had already thought to ask whether the flag was at half staff for the shooting victims, but had not had a chance to ask. I assume it is.

I assume long lines at the monorail, with no ferries or other boats operating on Bay Lake and Seven Seas Lagoon. Have boat operations ceased elsewhere, since the water systems and canals I assume are connected? (Someone can clarify this if they want.)

Something I had not thought of until someone else posted above, was the scene from Peter Pan with the crocodile about to eat Hook. So, I did wonder if Peter Pan were still running (or closed quietly to keep anyone's mind off of it).

All the way around this has been a trying week for the Orlando area, and I think of Disney World and especially its workers as they continue to work in what usually is a "happiness factory." It must be poignant for some.

I am reminded somewhat of the approach that The Disney Channel and Nickelodeon took immediately after 9-11-01: While their sister networks, such as ESPN, MTV, and VH1, all went to 24-hour news from their parent networks, the programmers made the conscious decision to keep the news off of The Disney Channel and Nickelodeon, with the stated intention of providing a sanctuary, even temporary, for children too young to understand and for those whose parents might want to shield them for a while for the overwhelming sadness and news of the day.

 

[donsullivan]

Isn't 7 Seas Lagoon completely closed off? I wonder how Alligators get in there. Are they now "native" to the 7 Seas Lagoon? I figured if you picked up a few and removed them, it'd be harder for them to wander in there and "live." Was this gator just visiting?

All of those waterways are part of a complete ecosystem and none of them are closed off. In addition to the connection between Seven Seas Lagoon and Bay Lake, there are countless flood management canals all over the property. When you combine that with the fact that alligators can walk on land, they can go wherever they want, there is nothing that can be done to remove them 100% it's Florida, they are part of life here.

 

[skimbob]

The topic of alligators comes up every trip I make to WDW. Disney will move nuisance alligators on property to AK or to a local gator refuge but there is no way to 100% guarantee that there aren't any in the lake. Like others have said people find them in their swimming pools. This incident is tragic but unfortunately this can happen. Alligators can also grab people on the beach if you are close enough to the waters edge. My heart goes out to the family.

 

[21stamps]

Here is my problem: This is FLORIDA - we are a swamp. Who is to blame? Well it is easy to say the parents, a 2 year old in no way should not be at the water alone. But this could have easily happened to a 5, 10 or 50 year old (likely with different outcomes). This is what we can expect, disney will get the blame and the beautiful open water way we have at disney will soon go away. More signs will go up about the danger but I expect a fence around the common areas.

I completely agree. Well, besides the "water alone" part. The parents were right there.

 

[ford91exploder]

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news...-dragged-alligator-disney-20160614-story.html


Fixed the title cause I put Bay Lake instead of Seven Seas Lagoon.

OH god how horrible, I just can't even imagine how the family feels. Orlando just can't catch a break these past few days

 

[Master Yoda]

What's the difference between night and early morning?

But I am curious to know why it's the "night time" that's bothering you.

Their vision at night is better than ours and the chances of them seeing you is better than you seeing them.

 

[rufio]

Sorry for the late post, but I was sleeping during most of this thread!

...I do feel Disney is to blame for this one though, knowlingy that Seven Seas Lagoon as alligators and not protecting their properties from it, I don't know they could have nets water fences or something that would prevent aligators from getting near the guest areas.

Placing blame on Disney seems kind of ridiculous, in my opinion. Disney World is in Florida and alligators exist in Florida. A lot of them. To think that they're to blame for not preventing alligators from being in a fresh water lagoon... it's just silly.

the family should NOT have been in the water but it was only 930pm (still light out in florida now) on a movie night and I think its fair to say that there is always a chance a family walks over to the beach during a movie night like this at the resort.

I'm nitpicking now, but I live 30 minutes from Disney and it is NOT light out at 9:30pm.


The whole thing is just awful. I know how easy it is to throw blame around and I'm honestly shocked that I'm saying this, but I'm not sure anyone is to blame here. Usually I'd be the first person to blame the parents for not keeping a closer eye on their kids, but from everything I've heard, I believe my own parents would probably have let me splash my feet in the water while we were watching a movie, even at 9:30 at night.

My husband and I are relatively new to Florida and, while we KNOW that there are gators in the water here, I don't think we've taken it very seriously before now. My husband has walked our 10lb dogs close to the lakes here and that's going to end. I know people don't want to see the beaches closed, but we've all seen Jaws. Maybe closing the beaches is for the best.

I do wish they'd stop killing every alligator they find though. At this point, they aren't finding the child. They're just going around killing the wildlife who are just hanging out in their natural habitat and minding their business, which seems really senseless knowing the child isn't going to be saved. :/

 

[Bairstow]

The amount of people blaming the parents are making me sick to my stomach.

Parent-blaming is our new national passtime.
It's fun, and anyone can do it!
Best of all, when it's done you feel good about yourself, because you just proved that you're a better and wiser person than someone else!

 

[MOXOMUMD]

CNN just said they are waiting for another press conference shortly.

 

[Chef Mickey]

Easy. Wanders in from Bay Lake and swims into the lagoon via the water bridge. There are other tributaries, including Reedy Creek.

Right, but don't they essentially control Bay Lake too? Or is it considered more "wild?" Just seems if they can relocate all the gators in Bay Lake and 7 Seas, there wouldn't be any unless "nature finds a way" somehow.

 

[EngineJoe]

All of those waterways are part of a complete ecosystem and none of them are closed off. In addition to the connection between Seven Seas Lagoon and Bay Lake, there are countless flood management canals all over the property. When you combine that with the fact that alligators can walk on land, they can go wherever they want, there is nothing that can be done to remove them 100% it's Florida, they are part of life here.

Yup the people who want to blame Disney and think it is easy to just put a wall up are not realistic in how hard it is to stop these gator since hey can walk on land and swim.

And then these same people will be outraged if Disney goes on an alligator extermination program as inhumane if Disney tries to appease them.

 

[Chef Mickey]

All of those waterways are part of a complete ecosystem and none of them are closed off. In addition to the connection between Seven Seas Lagoon and Bay Lake, there are countless flood management canals all over the property. When you combine that with the fact that alligators can walk on land, they can go wherever they want, there is nothing that can be done to remove them 100% it's Florida, they are part of life here.

No question...I completely agree with you. I just thought it was something Disney could keep more "closed" in the future, but they really have no way of controlling it since gators can walk.