Alligator dragged 2 year old into 7 seas lagoon

[mefordis]

CNN is reporting that they found the little boy's remains My heart is broken for this family.

Thank God they found something. As a mom I would not be able to leave without finding something.

 

[mnrose]

Sigh. I'll just say again, in my area "don't enter the water." and "don't swim" are two very different things. Your mileage may vary, of course. But, please don't tell people that "don't swim" means "don't even think about dipping your pinky toe in the water." It doesn't. At least not universally. And, the fact that people on this thread, intelligent, thoughtful people all, are disagreeing about the meaning should tell you something. ESPECIALLY when the beach is set up as a place for people to play, it seems the intelligent thing to do to be more specific.

 

[cabanafrau]

Thank God they found something. As a mom I would not be able to leave without finding something.

I feel for those who had to face this thing head on and force themselves to do the grim task of finding this little one.

 

[pocomom]

I disagree with those saying more specific signs wouldn't work. Maybe an alligators sign wouldn't work for some people but our State Park has "Do not go in water due to high bacteria content" and people stay out. Poop keeps people out.
It might not fit with the Disney bubble, but if the signs read "Do not touch water, or stand past this sign due to brain eating amoebas, and aligator attacks." It would be taken more seriously and would be more clear, than "beach closed -no swimming"

Honestly beach closed to me makes it sound like it could be open at some point, leading more to an assumption that it is an issue of a lifeguard or something.

its insane to me that anyone here thinks that the "No Swimming" sign isn't adequate to warn people to stay out of the water. Yes, swimming a different action than walking, true, but really?? You think that walking in the water is ok because you aren't physically in the act of swimming?? I rarely swim, don't care for it, not good at it, however when I go to a pool or the beach (an ocean beach not Disney "beaches") I walk in the water, often up to my shoulders. My feet are always touching the bottom and I am walking along trying to stay cool. I am not swimming. So by the people here's interpretation that the sign is not adequate enough to warn people, it would be ok for one to walk in the water even up to there armpits, because its "not swimming"?? Thats just ridiculous, if they don't want you swimming gin the water, they don't want anyone there period.

And this isn't to place blame on the family at all...My heart is breaking for this family, I can not even imagine the shear horror of going through this. Just pointing out the idiocy of the comments that the sign doesn't adequately warn people to stay out of the water.

Judgemental much? The sign doesn't say don't touch the water, it says don't swim.
Our sledding hill says "no skiing, no snowboarding " do they mean don't touch the snow? -nope, just that you can't ski or snowboard .. sledding, making snowmen all OK. And we have bears. If I let my child make a snowman at the hill and a bear ran out out of the woods and ate them, it would be a freak occurance. Not idicacy on my part for interpreting the sign differently than you do.

 

[Ziggie]

CNN is reporting that they found the little boy's remains My heart is broken for this family.

Link

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/15/us/alligator-attacks-child-disney-florida/index.html?adkey=bn

 

[mi*vida*loca]

CNN says he was found at a Walt Disney Hotel.

 

[cepmom]

I disagree with those saying more specific signs wouldn't work. Maybe an alligators sign wouldn't work for some people but our State Park has "Do not go in water due to high bacteria content" and people stay out. Poop keeps people out.
It might not fit with the Disney bubble, but if the signs read "Do not touch water, or stand past this sign due to brain eating amoebas, and aligator attacks." It would be taken more seriously and would be more clear, than "beach closed -no swimming"

Honestly beach closed to me makes it sound like it could be open at some point, leading more to an assumption that it is an issue of a lifeguard or something.



Judgemental much? The sign doesn't say don't touch the water, it says don't swim.
Our sledding hill says "no skiing, no snowboarding " do they mean don't touch the snow? -nope, just that you can't ski or snowboard .. sledding, making snowmen all OK. And we have bears. If I let my child make a snowman at the hill and a bear ran out out of the woods and ate them, it would be a freak occurance. Not idicacy on my part for interpreting the sign differently than you do.

actually not judgmental at all, just pointing out the comments previously that the "sign does not say no walking in the water so walking must be ok" mentality.

 

[minnie56]

A tragedy...and I'm boggled that despite no swimming signs a tot was allowed to wade anywhere near the water, especially at night. Maybe I'm just too far the other way as far as being protective but it is what it is.
I've see. Many gators at Disney, lots of snakes...it's Florida and they are anywhere and everywhere.
Very very sad.

 

[mousefanmichelle]

My heart breaks for this family. Going to Disney for a family vacation should never turn out this way. May God walk along side of them, holding them up until they can one day walk again on their own.

Rest in peace little baby.

 

[Hikergirl]

I am so glad that they found him for the parent's sake. I can't even imagine losing your child and not being able to bring him home to bury on top of that.

 

[fly girl]

I do feel sorry for this family and I feel they should have known better. Maybe I expect too much from people in a civilized society but I don't see how you can think it's ok to wade, walk in or next to gator infested waters at night. That's even worse, I just realized it was at night. You're in Florida, you should always bank on a gator being in the water.

I bet you a million dollars those parents had no clue alligators could be in the water.

Should everyone know all Florida waters can have gators? That would be great in theory ... but they don't. And the probability of an alligator attack occurring at movie time on the manicured beach of the WDW flagship property? Never crossed those parents minds. They saw the NO SWIMMING sign. That's what that means NO SWIMMING. Not stay out of water brain eating amoeba and gator infested waters.

Like I said previously, we are Disney lovers on here. We know the waters are full of potential dangers. But as a casual visitor you may not be wise to that information.

Disney prides themselves on safe, family fun. Was this a freak accident? Yes, just like the Cincinnati Zoo. But I think Disney needs to change the signage from NO SWIMMING to STAY OUT OF THE WATER DANGEROUS WILDLIFE or something to that effect. That way it's clear to all visitors.

 

[cabanafrau]

CNN says he was found at a Walt Disney Hotel.

I believe it says he was dragged off at a WDW hotel.

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

I'm not wading through all of the posts and I don't know if this specific train of thought regarding the signs has been said:

There are many signs in FL that say "No swimming"(often right next to swimmkng areas). Lots of people still wade in those areas to fish, launch watercraft etc... Basically everything EXCEPT swimming. It's not far fetched or hard to understand that some pepole interpret those directions differently.

 

[bcla]

It may not be realistic to say, "but it's Disney, there shouldn't be alligators!", however I never realized until this tragedy that it's likely many people travel to Disney without having a background to reasonably suggest they should either understand that reality or have very good likelihood to be pointed to that information. To be honest, I'm surprised the Poly didn't have signage regarding alligators down at the beach. I guess I never paid attention because I only swim in pools, never natural bodies of water. I understood the likelihood of alligators being in the water there because of general knowledge I have outside of my Disney experience or researching for a WDW visit. If I were visiting from a part of the world where I knew little of Florida I could research the heck out of a WDW visit, even visit the boards here many times(prior to today) and never come across mention of an alligator and never have an idea I should be looking for that kind of info.

A lot of people thought that Walt Disney was crazy for thinking that his "Florida Priject" would get anywhere. He was buying up acres of marshland that was hot and humid in summer, and infested with annoying to dangerous creatures from mosquitoes to alligators. When it rains it comes down in buckets, and there's the risk of hurricanes.

 

[cepmom]

I bet you a million dollars those parents had no clue alligators could be in the water.

Should everyone know all Florida waters can have gators? That would be great in theory ... but they don't. And the probability of an alligator attack occurring at movie time on the manicured beach of the WDW flagship property? Never crossed those parents minds. They saw the NO SWIMMING sign. That's what that means NO SWIMMING. Not stay out of water brain eating amoeba and gator infested waters.

Like I said previously, we are Disney lovers on here. We know the waters are full of potential dangers. But as a casual visitor you may not be wise to that information.

Disney prides themselves on safe, family fun. Was this a freak accident? Yes, just like the Cincinnati Zoo. But I think Disney needs to change the signage from NO SWIMMING to STAY OUT OF THE WATER DANGEROUS WILDLIFE or something to that effect. That way it's clear to all visitors.

I agree totally that they probably had no idea of gators, brain eating amoeba or whatever lurking in the water. Its a tragedy all around. Its the people here that keep intimating that its Disney's fault for not being more clear. Its no ones fault, its freak occurrence and truly heartbreaking.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I believe it says he was dragged off at a WDW hotel.

My CNN app just alerted with "found at WDW hotel" but I did assume that he was dragged there.

My heart goes out to the parents. I'm glad they found him. I hope it gives them a tiny bit of comfort in this tragic time.

 

[cabanafrau]

A lot of people thought that Walt Disney was crazy for thinking that his "Florida Priject" would get anywhere. He was buying up acres of marshland that was hot and humid in summer, and infested with annoying to dangerous creatures from mosquitoes to alligators. When it rains it comes down in buckets, and there's the risk of hurricanes.

I wasn't suggesting I didn't have knowledge of Florida, merely recognizing how it might be possible for visitors to come from places where they don't have that knowledge and even extensive research for the visit might not lead them to it.

 

[Magpie]

CNN says he was found at a Walt Disney Hotel.

Well, yes. He was at the Grand Floridian Beach when he was snatched by the gator. So, logically he would have been found somewhere nearby.

 

[n2dzny]

I haven't read all post. I have a 1yo & 3yo, absolutely NO judgement, only prayers for the parents. I agree that it was no ones "fault" based on what has been reported. As a parent I'm sure they would have done something, A LOT of thing a different.
Glad they recovered the body.

Again, prayers for the family. How tragic.

 

[thedonduck]

It is being reported that the baby was more than 10 feet off the shore, not just a right off the beach. While it is probably super shallow in the area just because of the location, my guess is that is how and why the alligator was able to get him so easily without being spotted.
I hope finding the body brings some sort of closure to this Horrific accident for this family.

 

[lovemygoofy]

Bless baby Lane and the Graves family. I hope you feel the love and prayers of all the Disney family.