Gator grabs 2 year old at Grand Floridian?

[Delgado]

I agree with you here...

But here's the problem: all those water views carry a hefty price tag on your hotel bill.

Think of the big offenders: DVC hotels, mk hotels, and epcot resorts...

Big money.

The only Hotel that is built properly to separate tourists from
Nature?

Animals kingdom lodge

I agree with you! I agree a thousand timea over. The water views are wonderful but they should be enjoyed from further away and its disneys responsibility to make sure that happens.

 

[Delgado]

Just sick about this situation and my heart breaks for this family.
Now I do not feel like an over reacting / paranoid parent when I refused to let my kids stay on CBR beach alone while I filled up coffee mugs.

YeS!! I cant tell you how many people I saw doing this three years ago. We stayed in barbados and it was creepy walking around there at night. We constantly had talks about how long it would take for a gator to come on shore with kids there

 

[dlavender]

Holy moly! The depth of overreaction and ignorance to ONE tragic accident in the 50 years that the lagoon has been there MUST be Disney's fault! Are you kidding me?! This was a 1 in 100,000,000 tragic accident. You have a better chance of getting struck by lightning while walking down the street than getting eaten by a gator. I imagine the signage will change after this, but to blame Disney is asinine in the extreme. I guess Disney's future predicting machine was down for maintenance this week. Sheesh!

So you do agree that they should have had signage?

You are Disney and spot several alligators in that lagoon on a daily basis.

You decide that a no swimming sign is sufficient of the real danger in and around that lagoon?

Surely you do not.

You only make that call when thinking about your resort appearance and price point, not when thinking about safety.

Has no one watched Jaws? Did no one pay attention? I'll repeat, greed will get you every time.

I grew up on a lake in central Florida. When people visited for the first time, we would always let them know that there are alligators in the lake, and to just be aware.

Am I more courteous than a resort built on customer service? Or was I not trying to sell anything?

 

[DnA2010]

As humans we took over the alligators habitat. We need to learn to live in their world, not kill them and remove them from ours. As a fellow Canadian I'm shocked and slightly disgusted at your blunt views. Dangerous animal are will always be around. Unless they pose an actual threat to someone, most of them are left alone. What it really comes down to is people need to be educated. Btw, when was the last time you saw a polar bear walk down Main Street?

Well where I am there aren't polar bears, but plenty of black and brown- if they end up in the urban areas, they are shot- they are not left alone. I've seen bears in neighbourhoods all the time.

 

[ryansstitch]

I wouldn't be surprised if those $2000 bungalows have attracted gators with people feeding them from the balcony.

People are seriously feeding them from the balcony? Actually helping them grow? Oh my goodness...

 

[rteetz]

The father and child were at the movie on the beach that night. The child became disinterested and the father let the child play just outside the movie area. The child was in the water which is when the alligator attacked.

 

[rteetz]

People are seriously feeding them from the balcony? Actually helping them grow? Oh my goodness...

It's very possible. I don't have specific evidence of this but I wouldn't rule it out.

 

[rteetz]

I think it's very important to note that you can't really prevent something like this even with signs. Alligators also have never been a problem on Disney property before. Yes they have been spotted in lakes on Disney property but they have never done anything close to this.

 

[Metalliman98]

Let's see.....fence off the lagoon....get rid of all the beaches....kill all the gators in Orlando....wouldn't expect anything less from the fine citizens of America and Canada. Reminds me of the episode of The Simpsons where a comet almost struck Springfield, and afterward the enraged townsfolk shouted "let's go burn down the observatory so this will never happen again!" Hopefully rational minds prevail this time, but in 21st century America, I highly doubt it.

 

[whiporee]

Meaning it's an "ecosphere"...which means there needs to be room for everything...

Because Retlaw bought cheap acreage in 1965 doesn't mean that they have autonomous control over nature. It's a sad event...it's an accident...but this notion to "kill them all" I saw propagated earlier is not correct.

I'm not PETA...but this still doesn't seem like the right move. An overreaction in classic **** sapien form. I don't know...that's just my first take.

I'm the kill them all guy and I stand by it. And I say this as a native Floridian who grew up in Orlando. 35 years ago alligators weren't a problem because they'd been nearly wiped out by hunting until the 60s. But the population exploded exponentially because they have no predators, and by the time they allowed hunting again (limited tags in '87) it had already grown too large to control. Gar that used to eat babies don't breed in urban/suburban lakes. The movement to return Florida lakes to more natural settings (cypress tress and weedy shorelines as opposed to sandy beaches, which was the norm for urban/suburban lakes until the late 1980s) provided plenty of nesting habitat and favorable conditions for them to spread to those areas. As did the emphasis on relocation instead of just killing them -- it allowed the species to grow beyond anything natural would have allowed. Alligators in central Florida (all over Florida, really) are like Jurrasic Park -- the environment had been modified, and then we made efforts to bring them back. And this is what we get. I'm not talking about a random human attack -- I'm talking about a largely unfettered species that has no predators and can grow to monstrous size.

They aren't valuable to the Florida's suburban ecosystem any more than mosquitoes carrying West Nile are, and they needed to be treated the same way. Kill as many as you can, force them back into the wildlands where nature can deal with them. But the idea of relocating or tolerating them in suburban areas maybe well-intentioned, but in the end it's proving to be disastrous.

 

[jandlinz]

This is so tragic and heart breaking. My deepest prayers for the child and family.

 

[Delgado]

Holy moly! The depth of overreaction and ignorance to ONE tragic accident in the 50 years that the lagoon has been there MUST be Disney's fault! Are you kidding me?! This was a 1 in 100,000,000 tragic accident. You have a better chance of getting struck by lightning while walking down the street than getting eaten by a gator. I imagine the signage will change after this, but to blame Disney is asinine in the extreme. I guess Disney's future predicting machine was down for maintenance this week. Sheesh!

That one child out of a million doesnt matter? Its not extreme to think disney should have taken appropriate measures to possibly prevent this

 

[mshanson3121]

I think it's very important to note that you can't really prevent something like this even with signs. Alligators also have never been a problem on Disney property before. Yes they have been spotted in lakes on Disney property but they have never done anything close to this.

They may not have attacked but when they are crawling out of the water up into the Magic Kingdom like they did last year, or heck are even in the park waters, they need to be seen as a problem. Because the threat of something just like this exists.

 

[jimsanfilippo]

This was a very sad accident, not Disney's fault, not the gator's fault. Bad things happen and sometimes there's nothing we can do. We don't need a knee jerk barricade of waters and extermination of gators.

Something tells me a jury would strongly disagree with you. A "No swimming" sign does not convey the gravity of the potential consequences if you walk ankle deep in the water on a resort beach.

 

[rteetz]

That one child out of a million doesnt matter? Its not extreme to think disney should have taken appropriate measures to possibly prevent this

Sure Disney could have and maybe should have done more but alligators have never been a problem before in Disney. Disney routinely traps and removes gators when spotted.

 

[rteetz]

They may not have attacked but when they are crawling out of the water up into the Magic Kingdom like they did last year, or heck are even in the park waters, they need to be seen as a problem. Because the threat of something just like this exists.

Disney does in fact trap and remove gators from property pretty routinely. Obviously this gator wasn't spotted before the attack happened. And at night the gator is going to blend in and not be seen in the darkness.

 

[Madteaparty001]

Polar bears are the world's largest land carnivore...

And they have higher thought process than gators that are partying like it's 300 mil BC...

But you're telling me that the policy is "fire away"?

I'm Gonna give your people the benefit of the doubt and say that other options are explored or have been in the past.

And why are polar bears encroaching? The stupidity of another animal species...perhaps?

Have you ever killed an ant in your kitchen and then put ant poison down? Every use a rat trap? Kill a mole in your yard? Killed a spider on the ceiling? If yes then you're being a bit hypocritical here.

Just because they are bigger animals doesn't mean when they threaten human lives we shouldn't try and control them in populated areas. I wonder what you think of the kangaroo culling they do in Australia because of their exploding population, or the killing of deer for sport in the north because when left unchecked their numbers reek havoc on forest vegetation and make roadways unsafe.

In the end I think we can all agree this is a tragedy all around. I see validity in both sides: hindsight is 20/20 and an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

 

[horse11]

NP. You can always edit your quote I think and delete mine and put the correct one in, but I may be wrong.

I not sure how to do that on my phone.

 

[mshanson3121]

Disney does in fact trap and remove gators from property pretty routinely. Obviously this gator wasn't spotted before the attack happened. And at night the gator is going to blend in and not be seen in the darkness.

Oh i know they do. But they do no public education or precautionary measures (like signage) whatsoever.

 

[rteetz]

I just saw a report that there have been 26 alligator related deaths in the last 26 years and no major incidents on disney property. This isn't a common occurrence.