I apologize in advance for this super long post, but I wanted to share my feelings about the situation and my own personal stories about Florida and Gators.
Oh, man this was just a freak accident.
I won't lie… the first thing I thought when I heard the few snippets that were coming out at first I did immediately think "What did the guest do to make this situation happen?" I really hate that I thought that why at first, but as a former WDW CP CM I have seen a bit too much to know that 7 out of 10 times, it is usually the guests fault. After learning all the details, this just was a freak incident. This was a perfect storm that had several factors working together that unfortunately resulted in this tragedy. I don't think there is one party that is to blame here. The chaos theory just sucks at times.
To add my own personal story about fresh water lakes and gators, I remember back when I was a CM (summer 2006 thru winter 2007) I lived in Chatham (one of the CP housing apartment complexes) that was directly across from Mickey's Retreat. Mickey's Retreat (for those that may not know about it) is this awesome little recreation area that is only open to CM's and their family and friends. It has tennis courts, a few pools, a little white sand beach with hammocks right on a lake, picnic area, etc. We had our 'gradation' party after completing the program. I made great use of it on days off. It was great walking across the street to this relaxing place without the hustle and bustle of the parks. I digress. I remember the guy I was dating down there at the time specially telling my this story about how he knew one of the guys he hung out with occasional had climbed the fence with his gf after hours when the recreation area was closed for the day one time. This guy and his gf wanted to skinny dip in the lake and they did. After telling me this story and asking me if this was a good idea for us to try since my bf liked to be mischievous, I remember flat out telling him those two were bat crazy for doing that. He was like "Why?!' I explained to that yes, skinny dipping is fun especially on a hot night in Florida, but not when there are gators waiting for easy prey to snatch up. He totally was unaware that their was gators in the lake and I couldn't believe he didn't even think of that. It was a fresh water lake and I can tell you there was no sight to the bottom of it. God only knows how many of those gators were lurking around in there. No thanks! Haha!
The reason I seemed to be way more aware of said situation is that on my first or second visit to WDW when I was either 5 or 10 (I can't remember which trip but it was definitely the 1st or 2nd one) we were on a tour up at Cape Canaveral at the Space Center and I remember the tour guide letting us know that to stay from the water canals because a family had been out on their little boat (somewhere else in FL) doing some family fishing and the child was snatch by the gator and killed. I was scared beyond anything you can imagine. Being a small child, I had nightmares that entire vacation it would happen to me. Basically being scared by that story and also having the fear of God put in by my parents to stay away from the fresh water lakes and ponds because there could be gators and snakes. That is something that I just remember being made to feel scared of as a child so it never crosses my mind to even stick a toe in any fresh water in FL. Plus, the bacteria. Yuck! LOL But I also don't knock those that have do those activities back when it was allowed at Disney because there really wasn't a direct threat at the time. The gator population was may more manageable for Disney standards because there weren't as many parks and resorts back in the day. Being that Disney has expanded by huge amounts, unfortunately the gators were going to set up shop even more.
I don't think I would be doing anything different from what this family was doing on a nice summer night while down in Disney. My now husband and I would always make some time at night to walk around the resort area to sit in the beach chairs, rocking chairs, or just wander the sand. Slim chance, but a gator can come up onto the beach and do that at anytime. It just is that Disney has been really lucky it hasn't happened before. Disney does have history on their side and I believe better signage (which is other resorts do mention the gators, though it wasn't at the GF) and better barriers between the wildlife and guests.
I think this one hits home a little more than we all expected because so many of us have grown up going to the parks with nary a problem with many things. This I believe makes each of us wonder what random safe activities we have done around the resorts while relaxing that could have changed in 30 seconds if something freakish happened. My thoughts and prayers are with the family and I just can't imagine what they are going through.
tl/dr: I love Disney and crazy things can happen. Still love Disney and know this will be a lesson for WDW and the guests. It reminds us remember just because the "Disney Bubble" makes us feel safe, we do need to be aware of our surroundings a bit better.
