21stamps
Well-Known Member
I lived in SoFla and I just posted a pic of me allowing my son to be at the waters edge. No one, Florida person or not, ever expects for something like this. Like you said- there is no blame to be placed.
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From the OS: Gator drags child into Seven Seas Lagoon
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zooey
Well-Known Member
Probably because in Nebraska where this family is from the waters edge is a perfectly acceptable place to be. This is a FREAK accident. This is up there with ride malfunction deaths. A great many factors came together to twist into a tragedy. It's like standing on a street corner and getting hit by a car in a high speed chase flying by and afterwards everyone asks why was he standing at the corner and not back at the seven eleven on the corner. Like that's the normal, safe way to stand at a street corner.
21stamps
Well-Known Member
Yes, probably. I posted a comment earlier about a girl who was attacked and killed while on a running trail at a park in SoFla, by a gator.
It happens, the chance is about as slim as a shark attack. No one would blame the condo they were staying at, or the parents, if your child is swimming and a shark decides he's hungry.
cindy_k
Well-Known Member
Gators will come out of the water if their target is close to the edge of the water, even if not in it. Small dogs get attacked like this all the time.
They go thru people's pool cages (screen room) to get at small pets when they are feeling feisty. You don't have to be swimming.
My thoughts and prayers are with that poor family.
This is horrible.
Matt_Black
Well-Known Member
The Cincinnati Zoo incident was a freak accident too; that didn't stop people from sending death threats to the parents.
DisneyDreamer08
Well-Known Member
Yes.
We have a trip coming up in September. My 5 year old asked to choose one character breakfast. After telling her all her choices, she was adamant she wanted to go to Cape May Cafe at the Beach Club. We've never been there, or even to the Beach Club so when I asked her why, she said, so we can play in the sand and swim at the beach! Once I found out there wasn't a swimming beach there, she changed her mind and we ended up booking Tusker House. But while we were discussing Cape May, in my mind I was already planning adorable beach side pictures of my girls in their cute little sun dresses. If we were there and my daughter asked to feel the water, I would have let her. Obviously not 'swimming' but dipping a toe in? Sure. Now after this, no way. But I never would have thought there would be alligators in there. Maybe that's just me being naive about Florida.
21stamps
Well-Known Member
Completely different.
In that situation a boy got away from his mother and climbed into a gorilla enclosure.
No one is to be blamed in that situation either.. Besides the little boy- but obviously he's too little to understand what he did was wrong.
In this horrible GF tragedy- absolutely no one, parent, child, or Disney did anything wrong.
Herbie
Well-Known Member
This issue aside, I wouldn't normally wish for the beaches to be closed off in general... but seriously,
how is waterskiing, waterboarding, and tubing even allowed near the Contemporary? What precautions are taken to ensure
that these activities are different than standing even in 3 inches of water? Do the boats never come to a stop or..?
how is waterskiing, waterboarding, and tubing even allowed near the Contemporary? What precautions are taken to ensure
that these activities are different than standing even in 3 inches of water? Do the boats never come to a stop or..?
prberk
Well-Known Member
Yes, I have thought about that, too. I am sure it will play out in his mind repeatedly, and he will think about letting go.
I cannot imagine greater depth of pain.
21stamps
Well-Known Member
Please please please don't be afraid of Disney or of Florida. Your chances of an alligator attack are so much more slim than by dying in a car accident. You can't prevent them unless you remove every gator from Florida.
FrankLapidus
Well-Known Member
This is a tragedy, one that is unimaginably horrible to even contemplate, that no one person or party is responsible for, neither the victim and his family nor Disney.
It's a freak incident, the first time anything like this has happened in nearly half a century of the resort being open. There are lessons to be learned from it, preventative measures that could be taken, but I wouldn't rush to assuming that every access point to a body of water will be fenced off or that the beaches will be permanently closed to guests.
I know from personal experience that Disney are very strict when it comes to people going into that particular body of water, it was only a month ago that I watched two lifeguards stop a child from wading into it in pretty much the exact spot that this attack happened. Maybe the signs placed around it on the beach of every resort on that lagoon need to be more strongly worded, perhaps they need resort security there as night watchmen to ensure that no one does go into that water. Maybe fences are the answer but you would hope now that no one staying at any of those resorts will go into that lagoon ever again.
When I stayed at both Wilderness Lodge and Caribbean Beach I was warned on arrival not to go too close to or into the natural bodies at either resort because of the dangers of the local habitat. I assumed that that would be compulsory at every hotel near such a water source but it doesn't look like that is actually the case; if not, it needs to be. It's very easy to be guilty of assuming that everyone knows the dangers posed by lakes, rivers, canals and lagoons in Florida. It was evident watching the coverage of this on British television this moning that many aren't.
It's hard to fathom that this is real. The trauma this family must be going through has to be utterly unbearable.
It's a freak incident, the first time anything like this has happened in nearly half a century of the resort being open. There are lessons to be learned from it, preventative measures that could be taken, but I wouldn't rush to assuming that every access point to a body of water will be fenced off or that the beaches will be permanently closed to guests.
I know from personal experience that Disney are very strict when it comes to people going into that particular body of water, it was only a month ago that I watched two lifeguards stop a child from wading into it in pretty much the exact spot that this attack happened. Maybe the signs placed around it on the beach of every resort on that lagoon need to be more strongly worded, perhaps they need resort security there as night watchmen to ensure that no one does go into that water. Maybe fences are the answer but you would hope now that no one staying at any of those resorts will go into that lagoon ever again.
When I stayed at both Wilderness Lodge and Caribbean Beach I was warned on arrival not to go too close to or into the natural bodies at either resort because of the dangers of the local habitat. I assumed that that would be compulsory at every hotel near such a water source but it doesn't look like that is actually the case; if not, it needs to be. It's very easy to be guilty of assuming that everyone knows the dangers posed by lakes, rivers, canals and lagoons in Florida. It was evident watching the coverage of this on British television this moning that many aren't.
It's hard to fathom that this is real. The trauma this family must be going through has to be utterly unbearable.
Figment2005
Well-Known Member
The gators avoid the loud watercraft in those situations. Every morning you can see the gators going from the middle of SSL to the edges in order to avoid the boats.
JohnD
Well-Known Member
No insult intended. But you're right. No one would think about alligators. As The Mom said, with more development gators are forced out of their natural habitats and go to other places where there's water, humans living there or not. In the 1970s, plenty of other places for alligators to go so they leave Bay Lake and stay clear of Seven Seas Lagoon which wasn't there before. Now they share space with guests at WDW.
zooey
Well-Known Member
There's a minimum age limit. Gators normally don't like humans and they aren't out in open waters where the boats are taking you. They also start their activities from elevated docks and such.
fractal
Well-Known Member
not good...
Family "chased" by gator a couple weeks ago at Poly. Reading the article, I don't think "chased" is the correct term but I'm sure we'll be seeing more of these stories.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/terrified-brit-family-chased-alligator-8197003
"We sat there for a while longer and dismissed her concern. The next thing, a Canadian family sitting a little way up ran over and shouted, 'Alligator!'.
"It was directly in front of us, around 40 feet away. It lurched out of the water and we had to run. It was pitch black with no lighting on the actual beach section.
"Our daughter was screaming, she was petrified."
He added: "[The alligator] was quite big, at least four-foot-long. It's quite scary to think that anyone with a driving licence can pull up to the resort."
Family "chased" by gator a couple weeks ago at Poly. Reading the article, I don't think "chased" is the correct term but I'm sure we'll be seeing more of these stories.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/terrified-brit-family-chased-alligator-8197003
"We sat there for a while longer and dismissed her concern. The next thing, a Canadian family sitting a little way up ran over and shouted, 'Alligator!'.
"It was directly in front of us, around 40 feet away. It lurched out of the water and we had to run. It was pitch black with no lighting on the actual beach section.
"Our daughter was screaming, she was petrified."
He added: "[The alligator] was quite big, at least four-foot-long. It's quite scary to think that anyone with a driving licence can pull up to the resort."
Phicinfan
Well-Known Member
Sadly, I believe it will mean the following:
1) Better wording of the signs, as pointed out no swimming isn't very clear, most don't equate walking in water to swimming. Area needs to be posted clearly Gator risk, and stay out of the water period.
2) For a period of time, I will expect to see beach activities at night to be curtailed, so movies and such won't be held anymore
3) depending on outcry, completely fencing off access to the water for the folks staying there.
NearTheEars
Well-Known Member
All of the above activities are available on lakes and rivers all over Florida that are home to thousands of alligators.
When I moved here, I thought people were nuts to get in any body of water here without the protection of a boat, but I've found attacks to be few and far between. They do happen, though. Very sad, scary.
FrankLapidus
Well-Known Member
Maybe someone can refresh my memory but is all lighting on the beaches dimmed or turned off entirely for the firework shows? From what I remember of my stay at Wilderness, the lighting remained on but I'm wondering now if I'm wrong.
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