Heartbreaking news...a big reminder to be aware of wildlife on property

[Dis703]

Excuse me, where did I say trap ALL the alligators? If you're going to attack me, at least be accurate. I'm sorry, but I think it's irresponsible to allow a gator to LIVE IN THE MAGIC KINGDOM. Not all gators everywhere. Give me a break.

Gators don't just stay in one lake forever. They travel. Stopping every gator from getting into a body of water at Disneyworld would be just as hard as stopping a squirrel, cat, rat, etc. from traveling into Disneyworld. Probably even harder because they enter large bodies of water where they are harder to find and are most active at night.

 

[Huff]

This is ridiculous. Disney is SO careless with their guests' safety sometimes, it's insane.

I tend to disagree with your analysis. In the history of WDW I don't believe there has ever been an alligator attack. Disney routinely removes alligators from its waters. 45 years of a perfect record on this suggests policies worked. However, with this case Disney must figure out what they missed and whats needed to prevent it again. My guess is an existing policy was not followed correctly, maybe a lapse in monitoring and removal. A 2yr old should never have been allowed anywhere near a lakes water, alligators or not.

 

[Wakey]

I don't get the mindset that the signs were too small or worded poorly. I am not Gator expert but if I see a sign that says No Swimming, that means stay out of the water. What's next, "don't cross the street" means don't take a piece of chalk and draw an "X" on the street but it's okay to RUN since the sign didn't say "no RUNNING across the street?" ridiculous. Now it's certainly possible I guess that the sign was not visible in the dark but common sense would dictate that you don't go into a dark, murky body of water at night when no one else is in the water. I am not saying this to pass judgment on the parents, because this could happen to any responsible parent and my heart goes out to them. I am writing this to reign in the silly statements about taking signs literally and expecting a company to dumb down every single sign so that there is no way that any human being could misunderstand something.

Swimming means body emersion in the water, floating and eliciting movement through pushing against the water by moving your limbs. It does not mean standing in a few inches whilst watching Wishes. I am a great believer in people being expected to exercise common sense, but I don't think this potential risk was warned of adequately. If the sign had said-

'WARNING. This lake contains local wildlife including allegators. Disney respects the natural environment and so as not to impede on this or risk guest safety, you are required to follow these instructions . DO NOT enter the water. Remain vigilant especially at night and keep away from the water's edge during hours of darkness. Do not allow your children to enter the water, even to paddle. Thank you, following these rules keeps our guests and the wildlife safe.'

THEN you could criticise the parents.

 

[Jennasis]

Disney is not at fault, IMO (though I'm sure they'll be sued). This isn't any different than a shark attack. It's terrifying and awful (and why I stay out of the ocean and lakes).

 

[yulilin3]

I definitely take your point about signs not being followed. I think that warning of dangerous wildlife including alligators would likely have better compliance than ones on flash photography.

And it would provide info to many who don't fathom this to be a possibility. Seems like a reasonable thing to expect Disney to do -- more than walling off every body of water, in my view.

I think that the impact of these horrible events will fade, if human nature and all past events are any guide. As heartbreaking as these events are, people are resilient and move forward. And Disney will still be far safer than most places many of us go every day.

I sure hope that people will, from now on, pay more attention to signs and verbal warnings from CM. I saw a guy jumping off of the MK train seconds after the warning of remain seated, he dropped his hat and the train had just started to move, he jumped off and busted his chin and had bloody hands
Walling off and closing all the beaches is not going to stop a gator that is looking for food or a place to sun themselves. LIke others have said,they can be seen even on road ways, they will find a way. It's up to everyone, not just Disney, to bem ore vigilant.

 

[dolphindan1]

They have closed all beaches on property now.....I wonder how long they will be closed.

I would venture to guess at the very least till they find the actual gator and the body...or until they figure out exactly how to deal with any future accidents...

 

[jahber]

Here's something to consider. There are many reasons not to enter a body of water in Florida, especially the further south you venture. The problem for Disney with updating their signs (I don't remember exactly what it says, but it's to the effect of stay out), if you say caution alligators, and someone gets bitten by a snake, they have opened themselves up big time for a lawsuit because Disney alerted me to just look out for alligators.

And that, unfortunately, is absolutely true and probably why there aren't alligator signs. Precedent set in court in Florida says that you are liable if you don't warn of a *known* threat (i.e. A specific alligator) or you don't warn sufficiently. If you admit you know there is a danger and something happens, you set yourself up for a lawsuit because you didn't warn sufficiently. Given that there hasn't been an alligator attack on that beach before (and apparently none in 30 years?), there was no known danger. I'm not going to argue whether it's right or wrong because I've lived here my whole life and seen how stupid some people are around alligators (and here I mean taunting or feeding gators). This was a tragic accident and I'll say it again, it could have happened to anyone. It could have happened to my 2yo, even though I'm, always watching for gators.

 

[tnd]

Add me to the people who had no idea there were alligators in SSL or the other bodies of water at WDW. I know Florida has alligators, but I assumed Disney took steps to deal with them since it so carefully controls all aspects of the property. I have seen the no-swimming signs and knew about the bacteria, so I have always kept my kids away, but I had never even considered alligators as a threat.

I cannot imagine what this poor family is going through. I have a 19 month old and cannot even fathom having such a thing happen. My heart goes out to them.

 

[Skywise]

They have closed all beaches on property now.....I wonder how long they will be closed.

I hope not permanently but I can see it happening. Once they prohibited swimming in the lake I'm surprised they KEPT the beaches (except for the Polynesian) and didn't convert them all to high lake edges with no real entry. The sandy areas with zero-entry that invite "swimming" next to a sign that says "NO SWIMMING" just don't make any sense.

 

[MariMama]

There will be a lawsuit.

Disney deserves to be sued and lose multi-millions. I'd say anywhere from 10-50 is reasonable (I know it's a wide range).

Yes there are signs but none warn of alligators. Any attorney will ask "why didn't the sign say 'danger: alligators are in the water'" Imagine you're on the jury and the lawyer points out the sign says "don't go in the water" vs "alligators are in the water" and asks you, the jury "how would you behave differently if you saw sign #2"? This is a slam-dunk case of negligence on Disney's part.

Will things change? Nope. What can Disney possibly do? Drain the lakes and fill them with sand? Build giant fences all around every body of water? Talk about ruining the beauty of the area. The lakes, waterways, boat transportation, etc are all part of the draw to WDW.

Frankly, from a business point of view, one alligator attack every decade and a $50 million dollar lawsuit is nothing. Remember the mayor in Jaws? That's not a completely made-up reaction of a business person/politician to these types of events.

Yes this is tragic, but let's all keep our heads here. Bad things happen and we don't need to go drastically changing everything just because of one sad event. The movies on the beach will still happen, there will still be smores on the beach, they will still have the "don't go in the water sign" but no "danger: alligator" signs.

I think that the beaches will all be removed or fenced off.

 

[Huff]

Having just come back from our vacation yesterday, this hit way too close to home. I just have to say this to all the people criticizing the parents: back off!

A 2yr old should not be anywhere near a lakes shore especially wading in foot deep water alligator or not. The parents share in the blame.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

Can people just start reporting posts like this? They aren't doing anyone any good.

It's a discussion board. Beyond expressing our horror at this event and deep sympathies to these parents, people will have opinions about every other aspect of this. That's just normal.

I sure hope that people will, from now on, pay more attention to signs and verbal warnings from CM. I saw a guy jumping off of the MK train seconds after the warning of remain seated, he dropped his hat and the train had just started to move, he jumped off and busted his chin and had bloody hands
Walling off and closing all the beaches is not going to stop a gator that is looking for food or a place to sun themselves. LIke others have said,they can be seen even on road ways, they will find a way. It's up to everyone, not just Disney, to bem ore vigilant.

Agree totally.

 

[yulilin3]

From the HUB:
All resort beach areas and recreational marinas are currently closed. Watercraft on Seven Seas Lagoon and Bay Lake, including the Ferry Boats, have also been suspended. Additional buses will be running to assist our Guests in these areas. We apologize for this inconvenience.

 

[jhaig]

It will be interesting to see if Disney will try to educate guests on wildlife dangers in the future. Wonder if they will include some kind of materials when you check in at your on-site hotel.

Someone suggested to me that every guest should have to sign a waiver upon checking in, acknowledging that they have been told of potential risks of entering Bay Lake, but there could be a million different things that could happen while you're there. Open that can of worms for lawyers and we'll all be spending hours at the front desk signing paperwork saying we are aware of gators, hurricanes, tornadoes, asteroids, zombies, etc.

I weep for this family and their loss.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

Gators don't just stay in one lake forever. They travel. Stopping every gator from getting into a body of water at Disneyworld would be just as hard as stopping a squirrel, cat, rat, etc. from traveling into Disneyworld. Probably even harder because they enter large bodies of water where they are harder to find and are most active at night.

Wow. So many people have a problem with reading comprehension. My post said that I thought it was irresponsible for the MK not to remove the gator that I saw with my own two eyes that was hanging out in Frontierland when it was spotted there. That doesn't mean I don't understand how wildlife moves around. Or that there are gators in Florida. Or that I think that Disney should remove every single gator it can from the property. All I said is I think that Disney's non-response to the gator that I spotted seemed irresponsible. Common sense dictates that once a dangerous wild animal comes into close proximity to humans that something should be done to remedy it. Since Disney isn't going to kick out all 19 million of its annual visitors to the MK, then at the very least it should be willing to relocate gators that have decided to take up residence inside the gates of one of its theme parks. Even if that means tomorrow another gator moves in. You move that one out, and so forth.

 

[Dis703]

If Disney is going to have beaches that people can easily access, it's their responsibility to both post signage warning people of the threat as well as be constantly patrolling/scanning the water to make sure there are no predators living there that could threaten their guests. This is a private lake, not a massive public beach and ocean. They have the money and the technology is there. They should be held responsible for this, and they will. Just based on some of the evidence that people have provided on this thread of previous alligator sightings being ignored or slowly addressed.

I don't believe Disney is in any way responsible for this tragedy. And if Disney should have provided more signage so should every business, property owner, etc. all across Florida. Or perhaps every property that has any potentially dangerous animal all across the country. Mountain Lions, wolves, bears, scorpions, poisonous snakes, etc. exist in nature all across the US. Actual fatal interactions with humans are statistically rare, but they can and do happen. If I invite people to dinner in my backyard, where bears have known to be seen, am I responsible if someone gets attacked by a bear that wanders into our dinner party?

A couple years ago a coworker was attacked by a rabid fox jogging the track at the high school. These things are rare but happen. Is the school at fault, especially for not posting signage that with the woods all around the school a likelihood exists of a wild animal getting close to them and that could possibly result in an attack?

It's absolutely tragic what happened, and I have no doubt Disney will respond with further safety measures because I do believe they care about the safety of their guests. But I don't in any way believe Disney to be at fault here.

 

[Skywise]

For the record I "know" there are alligators in Florida.

But -
How many of you have seen pictures of people swimming in the lake?
How many of you knew about Disney's active patrolling to remove snakes and alligators?
Why are the beaches (still at all the resorts) zero-entry into the water?

I'm not blaming Disney or the parents for this. It's a tragedy and it's life and "stuff" happens.

Frankly I'd like to see Disney just turn the whole thing into a giant swimming pool which would at least solve the amoeba problem. (And even then you'd STILL get alligators and snakes in there!)

 

[SaintsManiac]

I really hope the parents do not read these boards.

 

[2pinwheels]

My God. I can't believe this. So sad, I can not imagine the parents right now. Heartbreaking.

I knew the rest of Florida had gators, but I always thought they were joking about WDW. I can't believe they allow them in the waters. This is horrific and terribly unsafe. Brought back memories of DS the first time we stayed at Poly. I remember him being near the water. We won't be going near that at night anymore. What a terrible thing to happen.

Are you serious?

You can't put up a sign and ask gators to obey it.

I've spent time working at Kennedy Space Center. Every center briefs you on safety. Both Johnson and Kennedy stress the wildlife dangers on site. Kennedy is full on gator country. So is Disney. Johnson has a few sighting too each year. It's not something you can control for.

 

[luvthemouse71]

Can people just start reporting posts like this? They aren't doing anyone any good.

With all due respect, reporting a post because you don't agree with what is being said is ridiculous.

I feel badly for the little boy and his family. It doesn't change the fact that part of why this occurred was because they were wading in waters where gators live.