Sad News: Three-year-old drowns at Art of Animation Pool

[britdaw]

any word on what the parents were up to while this happened?

I wondered the same thing. I know not everyone is a Helicopter Mom/Dad but I am so paranoid my kids would run off they're never outside of 5 feet from me at all times when we go anywhere. I did see, though, a little boy who got out of his room while his parents were napping when we were at Shades of Green last trip and got lost.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

It was about 2-3 years ago at Pop Century. Similar incident though (the incident actually is what led to Disney now closing down main pools after certain times at night and fencing them).

This was my first thought, was the pool open or closed, was there a lifeguard on duty, and if closed how did the child get past the fence. I can't imagine what those parents are going through, euphoria of a WDW vacation to life shattering tragedy. We'll never be able to stop all accidents but hopefully we learn from them, RIP little one and prayers to the family.

 

[Next Big Thing]

This was my first thought, was the pool open or closed, was there a lifeguard on duty, and if closed how did the child get past the fence. I can't imagine what those parents are going through, euphoria of a WDW vacation to life shattering tragedy. We'll never be able to stop all accidents but hopefully we learn from them, RIP little one and prayers to the family.

It was only 8pm when the story was reported so there's no chance the pool was closed. Earliest i've seen a WDW pool close in the summer is 10.

I personally think it was likely a quiet pool where there are no lifeguards, fences, or closing hours. If true, I wonder if Disney will respond at all, possibly by stationing life guards at the pools and putting fences around them, as well as enforcing close times for quiet pools as they do with the main pools.

 

[ItlngrlBella]

Heartbreaking

 

[Jon81uk]

It was only 8pm when the story was reported so there's no chance the pool was closed. Earliest i've seen a WDW pool close in the summer is 10.

I personally think it was likely a quiet pool where there are no lifeguards, fences, or closing hours. If true, I wonder if Disney will respond at all, possibly by stationing life guards at the pools and putting fences around them, as well as enforcing close times for quiet pools as they do with the main pools.

I expect all the quiet pools will eventually get fenced too. Lifeguards would be too expensive. Would ruin the look of most pools unfortunately but hopefully would cut the risk of this sort of sad accident happening.

 

[Next Big Thing]

I expect all the quiet pools will eventually get fenced too. Lifeguards would be too expensive. Would ruin the look of most pools unfortunately but hopefully would cut the risk of this sort of sad accident happening.

Yeah, I foresee quiet pools being fenced and likely closing after a certain time in the day in the future.

This was a horrible thing to have happen and I really feel for the family (imagine that trip back home...), however I still would hate for the quiet pools to become restricted as well. With main pools now closing as early as 9 or so in non-peak season, the quiet pools are nice to relax at and they never truly "close". However, if they feel they have to make that call for the safety of the guests, then so be it. Not the end of the world.

Once again, horrible news. Really, really feel for the family in this situation.

 

[Next Big Thing]

UPDATE: The drowning occured in AoA's main pool, the Big Blue Pool, which is WDW's largest pool on property (lifeguards will tell you it's also the hardest to guard).

Per Inquisitir:
Information has come out that it was the main pool at the resort and it has remained closed through the evening. Lifeguards and others seen around the area were said to be crying and very shaken up, per a source for Inquisitr.

Disney’s Art of Animation Resort does have three pools available for guests with one in the Cars-themed section called the Cozy Cone Pool and the Flippin’ Fins Pool over in The Little Mermaid-themed section.


The resort does also boast the largest resort pool in all of Walt Disney World. The Big Blue Pool is themed after the Pixar film Finding Nemo and sits in the center of the resort.

http://www.inquisitr.com/2253016/ch...art-of-animation-resort-at-walt-disney-world/

It is apparently still unknown if lifeguards were on-duty or not.

 

[LAKid53]

How heartbreaking for this family. My prayers are with them.

 

[LAKid53]

this happens way too much in florida

Sadly, that is true.

 

[NowInc]

The drowning a few years ago at PoP involved a teenager, so the circumstances are a tad different (I was unfortunately involved with that litigation via one of my clients).

This one will without a doubt bring another suit against them (and I hate to say it, rightfully so). Pools (Private AND public) should have fences around them to prevent exactly these types of situations. I have lost count over how many child drowning cases I have worked on in the last 5 years alone that could have easily been prevented with the addition of fencing.

 

[GhostHost1000]

The drowning a few years ago at PoP involved a teenager, so the circumstances are a tad different (I was unfortunately involved with that litigation via one of my clients).

This one will without a doubt bring another suit against them (and I hate to say it, rightfully so). Pools (Private AND public) should have fences around them to prevent exactly these types of situations. I have lost count over how many child drowning cases I have worked on in the last 5 years alone that could have easily been prevented with the addition of fencing.

I agree... but it can't necessarily be proven a fence would have kept this child out of the pool area.... sometimes when people enter or exit they let others in or out as well behind them. It's just human nature. They might question it if it was a child without parents however. If there were lifeguards on duty I'm a little surprised this wasn't seen before it was too late and I'm a little surprised how parents could lose their child. If they were all already at the pool area in a crowd then I could possibly see this for a short amount of time however if the child ran off.

such a sad situation all the way around... one could also say if we have to put up fences around all the pools then why not all waterways, fountains, moats, etc.as the same thing could happen there

 

[Next Big Thing]

The drowning a few years ago at PoP involved a teenager, so the circumstances are a tad different (I was unfortunately involved with that litigation via one of my clients).

This one will without a doubt bring another suit against them (and I hate to say it, rightfully so). Pools (Private AND public) should have fences around them to prevent exactly these types of situations. I have lost count over how many child drowning cases I have worked on in the last 5 years alone that could have easily been prevented with the addition of fencing.

There IS a fence around the pool that this happened at. The AoA Main pool, which is said to be the pool where the tragedy occurred, has a fence surrounding the rather large pool (largest on property).

 

[JennSmith]

This makes me so, so sad. I can't even begin to imagine how the parents feel and even anyone else that was involved with the situation. Ugh this is so awful...it hurts my heart

 

[PRNCSAurora]

That is so horrible. I can't imagine how the parents are dealing.

 

[LAM378]

The Big Blue Pool keeps so many lifeguards on duty, and they are vigilant--they stalk that pool. In May, I was sitting next to a couple who were bickering because the father counted 10 lifeguards, but the mother was still insisting that he accompany their young child into the pool. He thought she was being silly, and he was wrong.

It's an enormous expanse of water, and I really don't know how the lifeguards make any sense of what they're seeing at that pool. I'm not surprised this happened there, and that's not a knock on the lifeguards--they keep people safe in that pool every single day, and I don't know how. My heart hurts for them as much as it does for the child's family.

 

[SYRIK2000]

My prayers go out to the family.

 

[NowInc]

There IS a fence around the pool that this happened at. The AoA Main pool, which is said to be the pool where the tragedy occurred, has a fence surrounding the rather large pool (largest on property).

Missed the part of which pool it was. Too early in the AM for my brain I guess.

 

[wdwmagic]

It had to have been outside of life guard duty in the main pool. The life guards at all WDW pools are extremely vigilant, there is no way anyone is drowning on their watch. Terribly sad.

 

[wdwmagic]

I believe the pool hours are 9am to 11pm this time of year, with lifeguards on duty throughout that time.

 

[olinecoach61]

What a horrible situation for all involved.