Alligator Incident Discussion/Fence being built at Grand Floridian?

[luvthemouse71]

Plenty of us don't live in the south and we managed to learn the fact that Florida has snakes, gators and bugs.

 

[luvthemouse71]

And allow for burying your head in the sand, maybe?

I wish I could like this more than once.

 

[boltjames]

Plenty of us don't live in the south and we managed to learn the fact that Florida has snakes, gators and bugs.

We know that the state of Florida has those things. We assume that Disney is protecting us from them because there are no signs warning us and they schedule family activities in the very habitat that is the most dangerous.

Here. Take this box. It's a cake. Open it. Whoa! Why so upset? What, you didn't hear that there are rats in New York City? Why did you expect to open a box of cake without a rat in it? Isn't that a great learning experience?

 

[Boardwalk Tigger]

They had a sign saying no swimming. Many feel ( I'm one of them), that should have been enough to keep people out of the swamp.

We also live in an age where information is everywhere. The fact that Florida is rife with alligators is not esoteric knowledge. Alligators make up much of the cultural fabric of Florida too. Many sports teams named after them, they're all over souvenirs, there are attractions focused on them such as Gatorland, which is fairly well known.

Disney is putting up more specific signs and fencing off water access. I'm sure they will settle with this family. What the heck else do you want. You didn't know about gators? Well fine, use this as a learning experience.[/QUOTE



That does not negate Disneys responsibility to warn its guests about alligators on its property and is doing so only because a two year old died unnecessarily

 

[luvthemouse71]

I am not from Florida and I knew all about them. And yes if I was traveling somewhere else I would be aware of natural dangers. That is my responsibility to keep myself and family safe.

Careful, that's crazy talk around here,lol.

 

[Accident]

Is that fence really just a couple ropes strung between poles? yeah that's not to protect anyone and just a barrier for humans to not go into the water.

 

[luvthemouse71]

We know that the state of Florida has those things. We assume that Disney is protecting us from them because there are no signs warning us and they schedule family activities in the very habitat that is the most dangerous.

Here. Take this box. It's a cake. Open it. Whoa! Why so upset? What, you didn't hear that there are rats in New York City? Why did you expect to open a box of cake without a rat in it? Isn't that a great learning experience?

Except that a cake box isn't a rat's natural habitat. A lake or swamp in Florida is the natural habitat of an alligator. Doesn't matter if it's on Disney property either since those man made lakes connect to other waterways and canals. Much of Disney property also consists of wildlife sanctuaries.

Nice try, though.

 

[luvthemouse71]

You know what, it was absolutely warranted. You read what she wrote, it was a disgusting thing to say and deserved an equally harsh response. No one is putting themselves in the shoes of the parents, no one is thinking of the child. She only cares about Floridian amphibian culture and you only care about statistics. This isn't Facebook. Your friends aren't going to hit the like button. You say something terrible you're going to get called out on it. The death of a child is a good "learning experience"? Disgusting.

I said I didn't blame the parents. Tragic things happen in life and you can't change them. At least if some other parents realize that letting their kids wade in a swamp can be dangerous, then something useful came out of the tragedy. Not hard to understand, unless you're just one of those people who lashes out when someone disagrees with you or posts something you don't agree with. Would you rather people don't learn from this and it happens again?

 

[HopperFan]

You know what, it was absolutely warranted. You read what she wrote, it was a disgusting thing to say and deserved an equally harsh response. No one is putting themselves in the shoes of the parents, no one is thinking of the child. She only cares about Floridian amphibian culture and you only care about statistics. This isn't Facebook. Your friends aren't going to hit the like button. You say something terrible you're going to get called out on it. The death of a child is a good "learning experience"? Disgusting.

Not warranted. Nothing disgusting was said at all. No harsh comment, therefore no harsh response was needed.

What happened was a horrible horrific accident. Everyone feels awful for this family and child.

But there are two different situations here. The accident is one and whatever happens is between Disney and them.

The other situation is this hysteria and obsession over the alligators and it is completely out of control. Posters are creating fear and drama over a situation that hasn't happened in over half a century.

I apologize that I prefer to look at statistics and facts rather than be argumentative. I believe in calm, due process and reasonable actions taken to help guests understand they are not to go in the water and not feed the wildlife. I get that it's not as fun or sensational to think with rationale but hey, that's just me. And regarding @luvthemouse71 only caring about amphibians........... yeah you would need to contact the State of Florida Wildlife Department and complain to them since this is their call, as has been said over and over.

 

[luvthemouse71]

BECAUSE IT'S NOT FEASIBLE!

I don't know why it is so difficult for everyone to understand - over a MILLION alligators living in 6.7 million acres - highly protected species that Disney gets to make no decisions about.

I don't know why it is so difficult to understand alligator attacks are rare. Visitors are very safe from alligators, if the visitors stay out of the water.

Death by:
- Alligator 1 in 12 million
- Shark 1 in 3.74 million
- Lightning 1 in 174,000
- Dog Bite 1 in 114,000
- Airplane & Transport 1 in 9,700
- Bicycle 1 in 4,300
- Fire 1 in 1,400
- Gun 1 in 358
- Car Crash 1 in 113

So while so many are getting hysterical and demanding Disney kill off all the alligators, folks might want to stay out of their cars, airplanes, bicycles and surely do not have a dog or light matches.









Seriously?!? It's bad enough to be argumentative and constantly attacking posters comments, but this post is beyond rude and inappropriate. We are a community of folks who love Disney World and wish to talk about all things that. I get that the late week has brought stress. There is no excuse for a comment like this towards another poster.

Thanks for your kind words. It's fine, Facebook and the Internet are full of people like that, that have no clue of how the world works. I also think Disney created a monster with "dumbing down" and making everything out of Pixie dust and unicorn farts. Namely, people don't expect to have to use their heads on vacation or be confronted with anything scary or dangerous. WDW isn't sealed off under a dome, bad things happen sometimes and they can't protect you from everything.

 

[luvthemouse71]

You know what, it was absolutely warranted. You read what she wrote, it was a disgusting thing to say and deserved an equally harsh response. No one is putting themselves in the shoes of the parents, no one is thinking of the child. She only cares about Floridian amphibian culture and you only care about statistics. This isn't Facebook. Your friends aren't going to hit the like button. You say something terrible you're going to get called out on it. The death of a child is a good "learning experience"? Disgusting.

Umm, there is a like button here.

 

[Boardwalk Tigger]

Problem you don't understand is it is Disneys responsibility to warn its guests of the presence of alligators in its waters and on its property and preferably before someone dies! I'm sure it is also their responsibility to monitor and advise the state regulatory agency of gators in their waters or on property in a timely manner. They just took out 7 alligators and counting. The signs have now gone up ...... A lot too late. Tell the parents of the two year old how safe it is. The signs said no swimming. That's a lot different than warning about alligators. Disney was negligent and now that a tragedy has happened it is finally taking steps to warn its visitors and other steps will come soon to protect the public like some form of permanent fencing.

I love Disney but they were wrong not to warn and protect their visitors. Happiest place on earth?.........not this week!

 

[HopperFan]

I said I didn't blame the parents. Tragic things happen in life and you can't change them. At least if some other parents realize that letting their kids wade in a swamp can be dangerous, then something useful came out of the tragedy. Not hard to understand, unless you're just one of those people who lashes out when someone disagrees with you or posts something you don't agree with. Would you rather people don't learn from this and it happens again?

Best thing about the new forum provider is the option to ignore. My option has been executed. Hopefully this thread will be added to the bucket with the other closed threads, but I'm exiting. Good night.

 

[luvthemouse71]

Problem you don't understand is it is Disneys responsibility to warn its guests of the presence of alligators in its waters and on its property and preferably before someone dies! I'm sure it is also their responsibility to monitor and advise the state regulatory agency of gators in their waters or on property in a timely manner. They just took out 7 alligators and counting. The signs have now gone up ...... A lot too late. Tell the parents of the two year old how safe it is. The signs said no swimming. That's a lot different than warning about alligators. Disney was negligent and now that a tragedy has happened it is finally taking steps to warn its visitors and other steps will come soon to protect the public like some form of permanent fencing.

I love Disney but they were wrong not to warn and protect their visitors. Happiest place on earth?.........not this week!

They put up alligator specific signs. They are warning people, although I think just closing the lakes access off is the best route. Hopefully, it's permanent.

No swimming to many people means stay the heck out. I'm sure you've seen that water. Murky and nasty looking. I admit, I've never seen the attraction with the fake beaches and swamp water.

 

[luvthemouse71]

Best thing about the new forum provider is the option to ignore. My option has been executed. Hopefully this thread will be added to the bucket with the other closed threads, but I'm exiting. Good night.

Point taken. I normally go a long way before blocking but I went ahead and did it. I like a good debate but you can't have that sometimes. Good night.

 

[Jessiemendez1]

I personally haven't seen a single report that would indicate that baby Lane was "several feet out into the water". He was wading in ankle deep water. He was 2 years old, so what? 35 inches tall? Give or take a few inches....I guarantee he was not several feet out into the water.

I thought he was in up to 1 foot of water. So knee/thigh high on a toddler. Then I also read 10 feet in and 1 foot deep. Not sure how the grading is in the lagoon. Regardless, if people want to build sand castles, go to the ocean. I wouldn't want my kids grabbing wet sand to build castles with the knowledge that there's gators in the lagoon. If you want to get your feet wet - go in the splash pad or pool. So not worth the risk.

 

[luvthemouse71]

There may be drop offs there too but I'm not sure how big or how far out.

 

[Boardwalk Tigger]

deleted

 

[luvthemouse71]

Well, given that gators can climb fences, I'm not imagining that fence as particularly gator-proof.

Yup, look at this.

Warning..the guy uses a couple of not nice words. One derogatory and the other not exactly classy. Not a swear word though.

I agree that the fence at GF appears to be a deterrent to people not alligators.

 

[Boardwalk Tigger]

Now that a two year old has died from an alligator attack and Disney has finally posted warnings in response to this death it would be crazy to let your children do anything near the lagoon!!!!!