From the OS: Gator drags child into Seven Seas Lagoon

[jaklgreen]

Can you swim in 2 inch high water??

Not personally but I am sure some kids would try. People can lay down in 2 inches of water. Is that still considered wading or is it swimming? I am asking what the cut off is? When does it go from wading to swimming. Basically OK to not OK when the sign is posted.

 

[Laura]

In regards to the signs, it is possible that Disney was hoping the No Swimming signs would be enough of a deterrent and that people would figure the rest out (Florida+Water=Potential Alligators).

May have already been covered in the thread...I fell about 20 pages behind at some point...but I am pretty sure those signs are there because the water is gross and unsanitary and they don't want people swallowing it. I don't think the signs have anything to do with alligators. I don't think alligators were the problem when the signs were put up.

 

[Laura]

Not personally but I am sure some kids would try. People can lay down in 2 inches of water. Is that still considered wading or is it swimming? I am asking what the cut off is? When does it go from wading to swimming. Basically OK to not OK when the sign is posted.

Swimming happens when your feet no longer touch the bottom.

 

[Shane7694]

How about having the sign say no entry?

 

[jaklgreen]

Swimming happens when your feet no longer touch the bottom.

Makes sense. Maybe the sign meaning is different depending on where you are from. Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, we went to the lake and were always told if the no swimming sign was up then you don't go into the water at all. Maybe that is what Disney assumed people would take it as when they posted it. I am sure they will be changing their signs to say stay out of water. I am still shocked how anyone can even get close to that nasty stuff.

 

[Laura]

I do know that the people saying they didn't know there are alligators on WDW property are "special".

I'm one of those hovering parents who never lets their kid more than an inch away from them. I am extremely overprotective and cautious. I have trouble sleeping most nights due to anxiety thinking of all the possible bad things that could happen to my children. I am also on track to graduate college with a GPA of about 3.99. I'm not stupid and I'm the extreme opposite of "careless" when it comes to my kids. But I have never in a million years thought that any of my kids could be snatched up by a gator playing on the shores of a Disney resort. The thought never crossed my mind until yesterday. I know there are alligators at WDW because I've seen them. But I have always felt pretty safe from wildlife while at Disney....maybe because in the entire existence of Disney World, no one has ever been killed there by an alligator.

 

[Matt_Black]

Can you swim in 2 inch high water??

You can drown in 2 inch high water.

 

[Shane7694]

You can drown in 2 inch high water.

Standing up?

 

[Daveeeeed]

Standing up?

I think what he means is you can drown from anything like a glass of water.

 

[Matt_Black]

Standing up?

If you're going to be pedantic, no. However, people can fall. They can stumble. That is precisely why you are not supposed to be in a pool without a lifeguard on duty, regardless if you stay in the shallow end or not.

 

[WDW1974]

No desire to wade back into what has largely become a cesspool, but I did see this story and ... well, again, it shows what I was saying. ABC's Nightline is right now showing little girls at a wedding at the GF two weeks ago acting excited by seeing a gator (captured on a phone) in the water.

http://www.thewrap.com/gator-attack...-staffer-asked-for-fence-at-lagoon-exclusive/

 

[HouseHacker97]

Can you swim in 2 inch high water??

the point is "no swimming" is very ambiguous. Would you enter a body of water *but not 'swim'* and pull out a dictionary when someone reprimands you? No one should go near a nasty swamp like that especially with signs that say no swimming

 

[Matt_Black]

I've not seen so much dickering over intent and word definitions since people tried to argue that Robin Hood was the best animated feature ever produced by Disney.

 

[MOXOMUMD]

Google Ninja gator.

I had to watch it more than once!

 

[TLtron]

No desire to wade back into what has largely become a cesspool, but I did see this story and ... well, again, it shows what I was saying. ABC's Nightline is right now showing little girls at a wedding at the GF two weeks ago acting excited by seeing a gator (captured on a phone) in the water.

http://www.thewrap.com/gator-attack...-staffer-asked-for-fence-at-lagoon-exclusive/

From the article:

The Walt Disney World Resort was aware of an ongoing problem of guests feeding alligators and had ignored staff requests to put protective fences in place, TheWrap has learned.

Numerous employees at the theme park expressed anxiety to management about guests feeding the animals within the past 14 months, an insider with knowledge of the resort told TheWrap.

I had a hunch, but this just confirms it. There is no way an American alligator would come that close to shore with all the commotion going on at GF with a movie night, play area, chairs banging, people talking & carrying on, etc. unless it had been trained to associate humans with free handouts.

I hope those idiot tourists who trained the animal to approach human activity for the reward of free food are proud of themselves.
If anything good can come outta this gut-wrenching tragedy, maybe, just maybe, people will wake up to the fact that YOU. DON'T. FEED. WILDLIFE.

 

[Tom Morrow]

Anyone that does not know that there are alligators in a giant lake in Central Florida is the reason plastic bags have warnings on them to not be put over your head. I don't know who is to blame for this incident but I do know that the people saying they didn't know there are alligators on WDW property are "special".

Yeah, how dare they put their feet in the water of this man-made lagoon that guests used to swim in! I'd dare you to say that to the father's face.

 

[Matt_Black]

Yeah, how dare they put their feet in the water of this man-made lagoon that guests used to swim in!

USED TO, being the operative word. Businesses used to put up signs saying "Irish Need Not Apply" and that's generally frowned on nowadays too.

 

[englanddg]

Yeah, how dare they put their feet in the water of this man-made lagoon that guests used to swim in! I'd dare you to say that to the father's face.

It hasn't been allowed there for decades.

Plus, anyone in their right mind would look at the untended waters just a few inches into SSL and say, no, no thanks. They are filled with nasty swamp grass and the color of the water is disgusting, not to mention the smell...

I still can't picture how anyone would let their child wade into that, even a few inches. The Disney beach areas, even around SSL, smell like the decomposing swamp bog they consist of.

 

[HouseHacker97]

We should probably close this thread- theres no point to argue anymore. Whats done is done and at the end of the day we can't bring back this child's life. Its terrible and its bringing out the worst of us and I wish I could take back a lot of the thing's I've said.

 

[DancingPhoenix]

The title of that article bugs me, it's so click bait-y.

"Gator Attack: Disney Knew of Problems, Staffer Asked for Fence at Lagoon (Exclusive)"

I mean yeah, they probably should put up fences or more than a few warning signs but the phrasing of that article almost makes it sound like Disney was being neglectful, when I'm pretty sure that isn't the case. At the end of the day it's a horrible accident, and I don't think putting the blame on anyone in particular will help at all. Nature is nature :\