Some people drink the Disney kool-aid heavily. Bottom line Disney screwed up....big time. During the following morning of the incident before he was even found they were tearing down hammocks, closing "beaches" at all resorts, and not showing news in club level lounges. Signs said "no swimming". He wasn't swimming. Most resort CM's playfully refer to gators at the resorts as "resident pets". Because, you know, Disney is so magical. It's so devastating that it sometimes takes a tragedy to happen to finally put up non-sugar coated signs. And it's not like the area was a roped off construction site. The incident took place where they're encouraged to lounge and build sand castles. If Disney knew inches away there were alligators then they should've done something a long time ago. That spot is way too easily accessible and hardly warned, especially for what they were using the area for. All they could come up with was "no swimming" to keep it upbeat and magical.
Precisely.
These fake beaches were useless to anyone who has access to real beaches back home. They were small, they were hot, they had water you couldn't swim in, best use for them was towards the end of the day when the kids were bored with the pool and wanted to use the jungle gym and dad could relax with mom in a hammock.
And let's not forget, that this particular beach was used at primarily at night, pitch dark, for movie viewing. Who can see the murky, unclean water in the darkness? Who can see any signs at all without light? This was an accident waiting to happen and it's a good thing they're shutting them down, they really were more atmospheric than functional.