Gator grabs 2 year old at Grand Floridian?

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It sounds like there are a lot of alligators!
I don't like to hear about he alligators on the paths. I know I always wondered about them when I walked on the path at night at port Orleans!

I think the fence/sign is good to at least let you know not to enter.
 
Yeah not disputing that point..rteez already gave us tons of information regarding that. But a fence will not keep people out either..it's just a deterrent that will not be followed by EVERY person who encounters it.
Of course it won't. But the difference is that the fence climber will be knowingly putting themselves in harms way. IMO.
 
Exactly. A fence isn't and I highly doubt would encourage people to 'go take a look'. I mean really, are people jumping fences at WDW? I would think that is the sort of behavior that would get you banned. Certainly people are not going to toss their toddlers over to go take a look.
I can see your line of thinking. However, people do jump over fences to get things like hats and cell phones that have fallen off rides..extremely dangerous and has led to death multiple times still hasn't stopped those from getting over that "physical" barrier. People also hop over/go under rope barriers all the time in queue lines. They don't expect danger for sure but they still know the rope is there for a reason (for you to not cross it). Parents have put their children up on walls, like in zoos, even when a sign says not to (that's an obvious danger aspect). I'm not saying these are one in the same just giving examples.
 


I hope we don't wind up with a 4 foot wall around the entire lagoon and every body of water on property. One horrific death over the course of 45 years is better than I would have expected for a swamp, but I'm hearing a LOT of cries that people shouldn't be able to reach a space occupied by predators. Sadly, this ignores the reality of nature that wild predators still exist and we are not immune to their natural habits. I feel strongly that it's the personal responsibility of each and every one of us to be cognizant of the animals and plants that naturally inhabit our surroundings. I would equate the hazard of alligators with the hazard of mosquito borne diseases. Disney could mandate that every person have DEET on their person whenever on property, but that's silly. And claiming that Disney is at fault for failing to protect ignorant guests from natural dangers seems delusional given that every other location in Florida has no such requirement.
 
Had that fence been there a week ago, I feel fairly confident this would have never happened. Its not going to keep a moron from jumping over if they want to, but it will stop parents who wouldn't think you'd find an alligator in a manmade lake at a beach resort type hotel where kids are encouraged to build sandcastles and play in the sand from allowing their child to dip their toes in or walk in ankle deep water. I wouldn't even want my child fillings buckets for sandcastles from that water. None of the above IMO fall under swimming. I think if that family or any family on that beach had any idea there was a minimum of five alligators lurking in that water people would have been behaving much differently with being close to that water. In all the interviews I have yet to hear one person say...oh yeah I knew that lake had gators, but still told my kids to dip their toes in and fill buckets with water from that lagoon. Every parent who has allowed their child to splash or take water from that lagoon has said the same thing...I had no idea there were gators in that manmade lagoon.

ETA that from the pics the fence doesn't look like an eyesore...it fits in with the theme and says to guests stay back.
 


Of course it won't. But the difference is that the fence climber will be knowingly putting themselves in harms way. IMO.
On that we'll have to agree to disagree. That fence climber might be a young child who doesn't know any better especially if they have wandered off from their parents who aren't there to alert them. You will also have people who don't see the fence as something for them to stay completely away from unless a sign denotes "don't get near fence" regardless of a sign that says there are alligators to be aware of (some people will argue since the sign wasn't there saying stay away from the fence that they assumed it would be ok to lean on it, etc). I do agree that there will be some people who, knowing the full ramifications of their actions, see the fence as an opportunity to go over it..but it wouldn't be everyone.
 
A fence? Are you kidding me? Accidents happen. This one is so rare, yet we worry way more than car crashes, bee stings, spider bites, falls, etc that are all actually likely occurrences. A fence is a stupid, stupid idea.
 
I wonder if the buget cuts
We have been to Disney World over 20 times and never gave any thought to alligators being on property until last September when we saw one IN Magic Kingdom right by the pathway near the Tom Sawyer Island dock (see the red dot on the map). It was 4 feet long, I would estimate. The CM we pointed it out to didn't seem to care in the slightest! That was our wake-up call. But prior to that I honestly never would have expected they were on property. Call us naive but the thought never crossed our minds.

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It makes me wonder if the budget cuts made to cover the cost of Shanghai included less attention to the alligator clean up. I wonder if they slacked off in that area recently and now we have a plethora of them at WDW.
 
A fence? Are you kidding me? Accidents happen. This one is so rare, yet we worry way more than car crashes, bee stings, spider bites, falls, etc that are all actually likely occurrences. A fence is a stupid, stupid idea.

I think it's all about appearances. If they left everything as is they would be accused of being cavalier about the incident. I think the only real solution is to relocate every single alligator that is spotted on property and reported, and fining anyone caught feeding them?
 
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