From the OS: Gator drags child into Seven Seas Lagoon

[Incomudro]

There might be Jungle Cruise jokes about alligators or crocs that they could temporarily remove from their script. KS points out the crocs (no reason to make a distinction about species in this context). If there is a joke about don't fall in, you could be a tasty meal or something like that, they might as well not say it.

"Ginger snaps."

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Okay lets really put as much fact as we can in this...

Per multiple reports:

It was during the beach movie, so the family was all together to share in the movie, so why go to a pool?
Second, the child was young, got disinterested, and wandered by the water
Thirdly the parent were there, and the father was a few feet away watching the child.
The Child had at least one foot in the water, not deep, and was walking the edge.

I am one of the most conservative parents I know, and THAT is not swimming or wading, it walking a water edge. I am not from Florida, I DO know there are gators, and I do know they are around Disney. I would NEVER have thought this might happen. I can tell you neither did Disney...why? Cause there would be NO beaches or movies or activities near the water if they really thought this would happen. Lets add to the fact this is a family from Nebraska, and it probably isn't new for them to have a child walk the edge of a body of water.

So can we PLEASE now stop bashing the parents and Disney for this. It was a horrible event, unexpected by all. I can't see what possible good it does to blame anyone or anything on this horrible accident. Instead, we must learn from this, and figure out the best way to avoid it in the future.

That's not an excuse! As the father of a toddler, you don't let your toddler put themselves in dangerous situations just because "that's what toddlers do." The fact that young children have short attention spans is a reason to be extra vigilant and prevent bad things from happening, not an excuse when a bad thing does happen. If a toddler is anywhere near a large body of water, they should be in physical contact with a caregiver at all times, gator or no gator.

 

[Matt954]

I saw this guy in September at Coronado Springs. He was right up to the dock where you can sit down and eat,. He was waiting to be fed and wasn't afraid of humans. For those who have stayed there know that they would be able to come up on the grass that goes around the lake across from resort rooms. I asked someone what do they do about them and she said that they let them stay in their until they reach a certain size then they go and take them out. Just crazy that they know they are in there and don't put fencing our atleast signs up saying they are in there.

 

[EngineJoe]

If you do not know that gators are in Florida and choose to travel there you can not blame anyone else. It is not the responsibility of ANY hotel, resort, theme park to do research for you. And as has been made clear by a few of us- we KNOW that there are alligators in fresh water, yet we still allow are children to go near a body of water. Not because we are irresponsible, but because the thought or probability of this actually happening is so extremely RARE.

The photos that I posted of the crocodiles in Costa Rica, no one "warned" me about them. The same way a Beaches resort isn't going to send you literature and warnings that you could possibly be attacked by a shark if you swim in the water in front of their beach.

Yup its

If you do not know that gators are in Florida and choose to travel there you can not blame anyone else. It is not the responsibility of ANY hotel, resort, theme park to do research for you. And as has been made clear by a few of us- we KNOW that there are alligators in fresh water, yet we still allow are children to go near a body of water. Not because we are irresponsible, but because the thought or probability of this actually happening is so extremely RARE.

The photos that I posted of the crocodiles in Costa Rica, no one "warned" me about them. The same way a Beaches resort isn't going to send you literature and warnings that you could possibly be attacked by a shark if you swim in the water in front of their beach.

Yup it's like most people don't know that armadillos have leprosy and that you can get leprosy from petting them.

 

[FrankLapidus]

I don't think that applies to this situation at all- I'm just speaking in response of wanting everything handed to you.

You're welcome to take issue with that if you choose.

I don't see any problem with providing a little more information that could potentially stop anyone else getting hurt. It took less than thirty seconds for a CM to tell me that entry into any natural body of water on Disney property was prohibited and warn me about the potential dangers of doing so when I checked into Wilderness Lodge and Caribbean Beach, it really isn't that difficult or time-consuming, nor is it pandering to people who want "everything handed to them".

 

[21stamps]

Yup its


Yup it's like most people don't know that armadillos have leprosy and that you can get leprosy from petting them.

I actually didn't know that until your post. Learned something new!

 

[thomas998]

Yeah, I'll agree to disagree with that. People want everything done for them. You choose to travel, you choose to learn. That's on you.

I promise you, if you got to Key West and stay at a hotel- they won't send you warnings about barracuda.

If you go to Beaches Turks and Caicos, they won't send you warnings about sharks.

Any other resort in Florida? You won't receive literature about gators, snakes, sharks, crocs, or anything else.

If I go to South Africa, my hotel doesn't send me warnings on wildlife.

And so on and so on...

At some point you have to take responsibility for knowing about where you're going.

I don't think that applies to this situation at all- I'm just speaking in response of wanting everything handed to you.

You are right. About a month ago we went down to the keys to one for snorkeling.... Not one mention of sharks, jellyfish or barracudas... and we did see one barracuda and two lionfish... I didn't expect the boat that took us out to give us any educational overview of what was in the ocean, it was on me to know what to be on the look out for and was on me to make sure my kids knew what to look for and be aware of the dangers. Too often people don't bother to even consider what's around them that they should be aware of.... probably a result of decades of over the top litigation that inundates us with yellow and black warning signs everywhere... At some point you start to expect that every dangers is going to have a government standard warning sign near it and if you don't see those signs somewhere you just think everything is safe.

 

[Thessair]

Yup it's like most people don't know that armadillos have leprosy and that you can get leprosy from petting them.

Only the nine-banded armadillo, though.

 

[Incomudro]

That's not an excuse! As the father of a toddler, you don't let your toddler put themselves in dangerous situations just because "that's what toddlers do." The fact that young children have short attention spans is a reason to be extra vigilant and prevent bad things from happening, not an excuse when a bad thing does happen. If a toddler is anywhere near a large body of water, they should be in physical contact with a caregiver at all times, gator or no gator.

Agreed.
But it seems that in this case, the father war right there.

 

[zakattack99]

Sounds like they have given up hope and are now searching for remains.

 

[JohnD]

Sounds like they have given up hope and are now searching for remains.

 

[worldfanatic]

Heartbroken for the family.

There's a lot of people here claiming that it's "so obvious" that a child shouldn't be at the water's edge, and the parents should've known better. I very much doubt the majority of these "parent blamers" would've felt this way yesterday at this time.
It's amazing how 20-20 hindsight makes people experts.

"NO SWIMMING" signs are not the same as "ALLIGATORS PRESENT-STAY AWAY FROM WATER" signs.
However I don't blame Disney.
In it's 45 year history, nothing like this has ever happened at Walt Disney World.
This was a freak accident.

The ONLY thing that should happen now is that signs should posted around all necessary bodies of water throughout WDW warning of the possible presence & danger of alligators.
That's it, nothing more, nothing less.

God bless that child & the family.

 

[21stamps]

You're welcome to take issue with that if you choose.

I don't see any problem with providing a little more information that could potentially stop anyone else getting hurt. It took less than thirty seconds for a CM to tell me that entry into any natural body of water on Disney property was prohibited and warn me about the potential dangers of doing so when I checked into Wilderness Lodge and Caribbean Beach, it really isn't that difficult or time-consuming, nor is it pandering to people who want "everything handed to them".

So now that you know that there are in fact alligators in Florida..will you stop visiting? Or will you not let your child go near the water?

I cried my eyes out while watching the news this morning, especially since my child was literally just there, sitting on the edge of Seven Seas Lagoon.. And the horrible thought that omg it could have been me. I definitely hugged him a little tighter before camp this morning.

But we will be back there in December, and I know that this horrible tragedy will come to my mind. But-- we will still be on that beach while we are there.

Call me irresponsible if you wish, but freak accidents happen. And you can't live thinking that they will happen again.

 

[steviej]

So let me preface this by saying, my wife and I don't have kids yet. And I'm going with what I've heard the majority of the time, that the child was about 1 foot in from the sand with his parents watching from a distance.

Lets go with an assumption for the sake of discussion that the family has never been to WDW or Florida before.

Now, odds are that everyone here has been to WDW multiple times, I myself have been over 20 times. We all know that there's alligators in that lake, gas/oil residue from the boats, firework residue.

I think this is a matter of a bad call on the parents parts that led to an unimaginable, horrific, and tragic accident/mistake.

Maybe they didn't know Florida is a big alligator territory, that's ok. The fact is, is Disney has the 'no swimming' signs. It doesn't matter why it's there, it's there, it's their property and you have to follow the rules.

If I were at the beach in GF at night, and my 2 year old asked to go slightly in the water at the lake, my answer would be absolutely not. I wouldn't even want to chance fish nipping at him. And even if I did say yes, at night, not only would my kid not be allowed to go past their feet BUT he would be glued to my hip.

Apologies to those that disagree, but I place blame on the parents here.

I will say however, I think Disney needs to get cracking down on the people feeding animals.

If it was my call, I'd do it like this:
1st time caught feeding wild life: You get a warning and your name is put into a computer system
2nd time caught feeding wild life: 3 year ban from WDW
3rd time caught feeding wild life: 5 year ban from WDW
4th time caught feeding wild life: 10 year ban from WDW
5th time caught feeding wild life: lifetime ban from WDW

 

[Ted Daggett]

Are you serious?

Rumors are saying the parents had the kid by the HAND and that the father tried to wrestle the gator for the child back. It's Disney and perhaps a late night vacation treat. You may want to roll back this attitude quite a bit - especially since those parents just probably lost a child.

Also the family could have been coming from the west coast, and it was only 6:30 pm their time.....

 

[21stamps]

You are right. About a month ago we went down to the keys to one for snorkeling.... Not one mention of sharks, jellyfish or barracudas... and we did see one barracuda and two lionfish... I didn't expect the boat that took us out to give us any educational overview of what was in the ocean, it was on me to know what to be on the look out for and was on me to make sure my kids knew what to look for and be aware of the dangers. Too often people don't bother to even consider what's around them that they should be aware of.... probably a result of decades of over the top litigation that inundates us with yellow and black warning signs everywhere... At some point you start to expect that every dangers is going to have a government standard warning sign near it and if you don't see those signs somewhere you just think everything is safe.

I can't even tell you the amount of people who I have warned about removing their jewelry while in the ocean in SoFla or the Keys.

You will find that on almost every other issue, I'm much more open But anyway, I'm still shocked (actually I'm not) at the number of social media comments about the "OMG gators at Disney??!!! Kill em all!!" People really don't get outta their homes much anymore I suppose

Yeah, I definitely wouldn't have thought of it. But the amount of people calling to remove all gators? Umm...look at an aerial map of Florida. And there could be a reason why (my most hated school) has a Gator as their mascot.

 

[zakattack99]

Just asked them about the Polly incident a few weeks ago... OCS and FWS completely blindsided had no idea about incident

 

[R W B]

There's a picture of an alligator on the signs. It's pretty clear that the reason for the policy is gators.

ETA: Even if there were no such thing as an alligator, a toddler should not be in any body of water by himself. Drowning happens even when there's no wild animal involved.

Theirs a breath of common sense! Agree 100%

 

[Incomudro]

You are right. About a month ago we went down to the keys to one for snorkeling.... Not one mention of sharks, jellyfish or barracudas... and we did see one barracuda and two lionfish... I didn't expect the boat that took us out to give us any educational overview of what was in the ocean, it was on me to know what to be on the look out for and was on me to make sure my kids knew what to look for and be aware of the dangers. Too often people don't bother to even consider what's around them that they should be aware of.... probably a result of decades of over the top litigation that inundates us with yellow and black warning signs everywhere... At some point you start to expect that every dangers is going to have a government standard warning sign near it and if you don't see those signs somewhere you just think everything is safe.

You do realize the difference here I hope, do you?
Your Key West snorkeling took place in a completely natural environment.
Most Disney guests do not take "precautions" against natural predators at the resort.
Even going by your argument, many guided tours of sorts will instruct participants of the potential hazards of flora and fauna.
I'm not bashing Disney here, but for a change - for me - I'm not blaming the parents either.
This father was right there with his kid at a manmade resort and beach.

 

[HRHPrincessAriel]

Yup its


Yup it's like most people don't know that armadillos have leprosy and that you can get leprosy from petting them.

I live in Texas and have for well over 1/2 my life and did not know this