Boy pulled from Disney resort pool dies

[LockShockBarrel]

*hops into flame suit* The bad news here besides the result is so long as there was that posted sign/stand thingie that said "swim at your own risk", Disney is totally not at fault. Like others have said, hotel pools all over rarely have life guards. It's not a prudent staffing decision. I'd really doubt that any policy will change because of this. You can't even say it was a matter of it being a kid. These kind of accidents can happen to anyone. I'm 5'2" and in my twenties. I'm not a great swimmer. If I was in the deep end (and I'm not referencing what the kid was doing or not doing) and something happened while their wasn't a life guard on duty, frankly I'm the one that took the risk. Even if I was 6'10" and in the shallow end, accidents happen. It'd still be on me.

That all being said, what a terrible thing for the family to go through, for a happy place not to be a happy place anymore.

 

[Mouseaholic!!!]

Here is my 2cents----worth 2cents or less.

In my later years (could I be more vague) with my first heart proceedure just behind me; I still remember my Mom's words to me when I was young.

"Just because everyone else is doing it doesn't necessarily make it right".

Now let's all take a moment for a dose of reality.

Imagine standing beside those big floor to ceiling windows today at Orlando Airport. You watch as they slowly load a small casket onto the waiting jet. Somewhere you know the family is learning a harsh, new reality.

Call me emotional, but I would give those rules a second thought.

 

[18sprint]

My heart and prayers go out to the family and friends of this young man and I, along with many people are truly saddened by this event.
Not trying to lay blame on anyone.....The article read that the boy was "jumping in and out with friends". I have to wonder if he hit is head or had the wind knocked out of him. The water, I believe is 4' or 5' deep which is why there are signs posted, and painted on the concrete "no jumping or diving". I agree, if there had been lifeguards on duty, their job would've been to stop the running and jumping and/or possibly diving that may have been going on. Was there any other supervision?

 

[smitch425]

My heart and prayers go out to the family and friends of this young man and I, along with many people are truly saddened by this event.
Not trying to lay blame on anyone.....The article read that the boy was "jumping in and out with friends". I have to wonder if he hit is head or had the wind knocked out of him. The water, I believe is 4' or 5' deep which is why there are signs posted, and painted on the concrete "no jumping or diving". I agree, if there had been lifeguards on duty, their job would've been to stop the running and jumping and/or possibly diving that may have been going on. Was there any other supervision?

His parents were there. His dad is the one who began CPR.

 

[ChipnDale79]

No lifeguard should equal no pool being opened! This is tragic, I am so sorry. With disneyworld money this is inexcusable.

Here's my view on it, I'm sorry this happened, as a father to two young children, I can't imagine what this family is going through. My heart goes out to them.

However, I can't put the blame on Disney, at some point we have to stop finding someone to blame for things, at some point we have to learn that sometimes accidents just happen.

Given the amount of pools and water parks disney has on property I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often. Maybe that speaks to how well Disney polices its pools.

I'm not one of those that believes Disney does no wrong, I find many things they do wrong, but I don't think this is their fault.

 

[chartle]

His parents were there. His dad is the one who began CPR.

I'm sorry to say that the parents being there and them supervising the kids are two separate things.

The story says that the parents lost track of the child.

 

[HippieChickadee]

drowning is such a quiet and (fairly) motionless thing. Don't blame his family for not noticing sooner. It was an accident.

 

[chartle]

No lifeguard should equal no pool being opened! This is tragic, I am so sorry. With disneyworld money this is inexcusable.

In order to do that they would probably have to circle the pool with an 8 foot tall barbed wire topped fence and/or patrol the pool. Here is the kicker, if someone sneaked in and had an accident, Disney would probably be at fault for having an "Attractive Nuisance" though the fence may protect them.

By putting up a "Swim at your own risk sign" they negate some of their liability and don't have a huge fence surrounding their pool.

 

[delilah]

I wasn't there, and don't know what happened, but, I can remember when I was about 12 years old watching kids jumping off of the roof of a nearby building into the motel pool. I remember that there were adults there (my parents wouldn't let us into the pool while they were there) and no lifeguard. It could well have been that the kids jumping were young adults--I just remember that they were older than me, and younger than my parents. And, over the years, I have cared for more than one patient who was in the teenage/young adult age range when they suffered some type of debilitating injury, that might have been avoided by better judgement on the part of the patient, or better supervision by a parent, or whatever. I had a classmate who died in a fall from the observation deck at O'Hare airport.

I really feel sorry for the family of this young boy. It is about the saddest situation that I can imagine to lose a child, for any reason, in any place.

But, I will take the unpopular stance that it is a bit unjust to sue a business, or individual, for an injury or illness that just happened to occur on their property. For example, I live on a wooded lot that is surrounded on 3 sides by a 10-15 ft ravine with a creek at the bottom, with a stop sign that is directly across from my driveway. There is a retention pond across the street. Nearly every winter, somebody manages to miss the turn, and drives there car into the ravine. Sometimes they hit my trees, or mailbox, or make deep ridges in my lawn. Somebody even drove their car into the retention pond, once. The street and pond don't belong to me. If you stop at the stop sign, and don't drive too fast, you should be able to miss the ravine and pond. I have lived here for almost 20 years, and have managed not to drive my car into the ravine, or hit the trees along my driveway, or drive into the pond. If you don't want me to sue you for hitting my tree, or my mailbox, or ruining my lawn, then don't sue me because you were driving too fast and drove into the ravine.

Likewise, if you are at an airport, on top of the parking garage, watching the planes take off, and you decide to climb onto the concrete barrier and fall, I think it's a bit unjust to sue O'Hare. Likewise, running on a wet pool deck, or whatever. Some things are just common sense. Which sometimes goes out the window when money is involved.

 

[jordanri]

as someone who worked at this pool, i'm deeply saddened by this event. my heart goes out to the family as no one expects to go on vacation and have to deal with loss

however, disney isn't responsible for this. it wasn't negligent on their behalf, let's be honest. most hotels don't have any staffing on their pools and there are "swim at your own risk" signs to negate any responsibility.

feature pools are closed as waterslides cannot operate without proper gaurding but quiet pools are an exception to this. the cost of blocking them off would be too great unfortunately and my thoughts are guest would cause an uproar about it. it was an accident that could of been avoided, but accidents happen...

let's try not to pin blame on anyone

 

[BigDisneyLove]

Everyone needs to stop playing the blame game. Accidents are called ACCIDENTS for a reason. People don't say "It was an ON PURPOSE", they say "It was AN ACCIDENT." For everyone who was there, for everyone who witnessed, helped, was involved in any capacity, they will have to live their lives with this event in their hearts, forever. For those of you who blame the poor young man's parents, shame on you. They will blame themselves for eternity. They don't need someone else to do it for them. For those who blame Disney, I assume it's only because you cannot accept that accidents of this magnitude happen, and it really is nobody's FAULT. Everyone involved in this tragedy needs love, support and prayers, more than a blame game of "How could you let this happen." Find your humanity, and let these people who were there and witnessed this sad event, and especially this poor little boys family grieve. In private. Without anyone, Disney, family members or anyone else, being blamed for this tragedy.

 

[JollyHoliday]

I feel really sorry for his family ,really so sad. I do think there could of been some prevention measures on Disney's part though. I could not own a built-in pool in my yard with out a fence around it and a childproof lock on the gate. They should close pools by 11pm with a lifeguard on duty till then. Also just because a sign says swim at your own risk in english would not work for travelers that don't read or speak english.

 

[OklahomaTourist]

Guys, could I respectfully suggest that we shut down the blame game. Or at least defer it for a few days. Or push it to a different "blame game" thread. But not here.

A family on a vacation has just gone through an inexplicable, unfathomable loss. The loss of a child. I can't even begin to comprehend how agonizing that would be. There aren't even words to describe it.

It could be any of us who have taken our families to Disney, or the lake, or on a boat, or even going to school for that matter.

Blame won't bring back this boy or calm the agony of his family.

Prayers for peace and comfort for them during this horrendous time.

 

[CuteAsMinnie]

Guys, could I respectfully suggest that we shut down the blame game. Or at least defer it for a few days. Or push it to a different "blame game" thread. But not here.

A family on a vacation has just gone through an inexplicable, unfathomable loss. The loss of a child. I can't even begin to comprehend how agonizing that would be. There aren't even words to describe it.

It could be any of us who have taken our families to Disney, or the lake, or on a boat, or even going to school for that matter.

Blame won't bring back this boy or calm the agony of his family.

Prayers for peace and comfort for them during this horrendous time.

Thank you for saying this.

Hopefully this thread will just be closed and everyone can keep,the family, including the child, in their prayers.

 

[Disney_Ohana]

Many prayers for their family & those that were there to help. So heartbreaking.

 

[conniehar90]

Many prayers for this family.

 

[rflorek]

I feel really sorry for his family ,really so sad. I do think there could of been some prevention measures on Disney's part though. I could not own a built-in pool in my yard with out a fence around it and a childproof lock on the gate. They should close pools by 11pm with a lifeguard on duty till then. Also just because a sign says swim at your own risk in english would not work for travelers that don't read or speak english.

Many hotels around the country would have to do this then. Disney pools are some of the few with lifeguards at any time in the many places I have visited over the years.

This is an accident & should be treated as such. There doesn't have to be someone to blame every time something happens. This is the result of our litigation-happy American society along with people lacking a feeling of personal responsibility.

 

[nuts]

this is an accident & should be treated as such. There doesn't have to be someone to blame every time something happens. This is the result of our litigation-happy american society along with people lacking a feeling of personal responsibility.

amen!!!!!

 

[ParrotBill]

Disney has been fencing their pools lately in new builds... which at least prevents small children from wandering up to the edge and falling in.

But to suggest all pools close without lifeguards is folly. That's far too expensive and rates for all hotels will go up... and there aren't enough people to staff them. Must we lifeguard the jacuzzis too? So we'd end up with no quiet pools and limited hours to protect a few families from their inaction.

My daughter NEVER swims at a pool that has no lifeguard. I am her lifeguard. I sit facing the water and keep track of her. I do not let her swim underwater for extended periods of time so that if she disappears for more than a few seconds I know to jump up and look for her.

that's how ALL families should treat a pool with no lifeguard.

 

[SFreelove]

Thank you for saying this.

Hopefully this thread will just be closed and everyone can keep,the family, including the child, in their prayers.

My thoughts exactly. It's a bit disgusting people are bickering on a board about this topic. It's tragic and sad. Not need for the bickering and point fingers, when none of you are personally related to the situation. The family is obviously in a ton of pain, imagine if one of them happen to come across this thread and see what some people are saying, that's the last thing they need. In cases of this it should strictly be, thoughts an prayers to the family and that's IT. So sad.