Girl Of 12 Attackedon I-drive

[cleo]

disneyholic, I didn't reply to your first post but now you've said it twice I feel a need to comment. America is NOT a dangerous country. Iraq is a dangerous country. I have lived in America for 42 years, we have a home in Orlando, and I truly take exception to your persisiting in giving out what I consider false information.

It is not helpful in any way to frighten people when in fact America is one of the safest countries anywhere in the world and Orlando is among our safest cities. Crime happens everywhere. Everyone, tourist or not, must use common sense and be aware of their surroundings, but to portray America as unsafe is irresponsible at best.

I would sincerely hope that people like cazzie do not get a false impression or feel that they are put off from visiting in future on the basis of a few extremely ill-judged remarks. Neither the statistics nor the sheer numbers of tourists bear out any indication of Orlando being anything other than a wonderful and safe place to visit. No one is trying to say crime doesn't happen in Orlando or throughout America, but to portray it as 'very very very dangerous' is just incorrect and deserves to be challenged.

 

[cazzie]

I am interested to ask is it safe would you say to walk along the I-Drive at 11pm at night or is that considered silly, I ask in all seriousness as we never gave it a second thought but now maybe we were slightly naive. I feel a bit confused now as we were never worried for our safety, ok we never did anything daft but on saying that how safe is it to walk about? There is a difference in a place having street crime (most cities & towns have that) to being dangerous and that does concern me.

On a lighter note Orlando has to be one of the cleanest places I have ever been to!!!!

 

[cleo]

Hi cazzie! I-Drive is quite busy in the evening with lots of people walking about. Common sense says, a woman doesn't go walking alone at night (anywhere), but I-Drive is certainly a safe location for couples or families.

Though I would never suggest exploring back alleys alone, you'll find the main tourist areas are active even into the night, which is a feature would-be attackers find too risky. Don't go off alone in any major city, but don't for a moment be afraid to walk along I-Drive with your family.

 

[SimonV]

Hi cazzie. The reason you felt safe on I-Drive before is that it IS safe. It is a real rarity in having pavements and walkways everywhere, and these are well used by the many thousands of tourists who stay in the area, usually late into the evening. With so many shops, restaurants and attractions along I-Drive, as well as the massive Convention Center, this is a well-used and very safe area to be in (with the possible safety exception caused by the heavy traffic at peak times). Frankly, it is annoying to see suggestions to the contrary based on one isolated incident like this - if there was anything unsafe about it, you simply wouldn't see people around here in any numbers - and you do, always.

 

[kevin harrison]

Bloody hell, talk about an over reaction.....

Orlando is a safe place to visit, if people reacted to every report of every peace of danger, you'd never leave your home. Nottingham is meant to be a dangerous city, yet in my 36 years, have never had 1 problem.

We only have 1 life, me, I'm going to live it without fear.

 

[cazzie]

Bloody hell, talk about an over reaction.....

Orlando is a safe place to visit, if people reacted to every report of every peace of danger, you'd never leave your home. Nottingham is meant to be a dangerous city, yet in my 36 years, have never had 1 problem.

We only have 1 life, me, I'm going to live it without fear.

Maybe it was an over reaction on my part but when someone who lives there tells me it unbelievably dangerous then yes I will react, I agree about only having one life and to be honest I am looking to keep mine a while longer if possible..

Cleo & Simon thanks for your comments they are appreciated, I shall have a good time but maybe I won't go wandering around on my own I shall stay by our hotel unless we are together.

 

[bozzly]

Its a real shame and upsetting to hear about this 12 year old girl.
I'm afraid it brings back memories from when I was in Orlando in April.
A young girl was also attacked in one of the hotels on I Drive by a stranger.
Just be on your guard at all times.

 

[cleo]

cazzie, just to clarify, the person who calls it 'unbelieveably dangerous' does not live in Orlando, or in the United States for that matter. They are 'American', but live abroad in an unknown 'safe country'.

 

[mark&sue]

Having stayed on International Drive this May after being used to staying on site I would say that we felt really unsafe. I know I have been spoilt by staying on site and as a new DVC member I guess I won't need to go off site again.

We really did not like the feeling of our hotel (Holiday Inn International Drive) or our location and this did spoil our holiday. I know other people love International Drive but we hated it and did feel vulnerable at times.

On memorial day sunday we were very scared on International Drive as the atmosphere was horrible. Would anyone know why International Drive felt so menancing on this day?

I guess Disney is just as dangerous but it really does not feel like it when staying at WDW.



Susan

 

[disneyholic family]

there was supposedly a rape of a teenage boy at wet and wild yesterday, though i don't know if it actually took place or not....the mother and son claim it did (it was on the local news last night).....it's not clear to me whether they're telling the truth or not...

i suppose you all don't remember the drive-by murders in Orlando a number of years back....one of those murdered was a german tourist....last summer when we were at WDW, there was at least one person robbed in the Pleasure Island parking lot, but it was late at night....

i think you can judge how dangerous a place is by how many personal experiences one has had or how many people you know who have experienced crime...

my 93 year old great uncle was murdered (not in orlando, but in the US)....the father of a good friend of mine was murdered...
i was the victim of several attempted crimes......in several different cities that i lived in...
and i can assure you i have never lived in low income areas...
and i know many many many women who have been raped....
where i live now, i never have to think twice about walking in a dark parking lot alone at 3 in the morning....
in america you must always be on your guard and vigilant...

pay attention to how hysterical american parents get when one of their children goes astray....there is a reason for that hysteria....

 

[cazzie]

On reflection I have decided not to worry about it, we walked to City Walk our first night and were always walking up and down the I Drive if I had read this before we went I wouldn't have gone anywhere without transport and that would have been a shame. We didn't feel threatened so I am going to go and enjoy it just as we did before.

 

[Paula WBA]

I think the best thing to remember is to take the same precautions on holiday as you would at home and then some.

I will stand by my point that the US is no more dangerous than any other holiday destination and that as long as you have your common sense with you it will be fine.

I wouldn't walk around Birmingham City Centre on my own no more than I would walk around I-Drive on my own late at night however, if I was with other people then it wouldn't bother me.

At the end of the day this 12 year was on her own, late at night in a unfamiliar place - it begs the question do her parents let her do this at home and if so why???

I know in a ideal world we should all be able to come and do as we please but unfortunately there are some nasty people out there and so we have to be aware and not put ourselves in situations that could be dangerous to us - again common sense.

I have been to other places in the US and I have found Florida and Orlando to be one of the safest. I would think the majority of people know that nowhere is "crime free" but I think that protraying the US as very very dangerous etc is unnecessary scaremongering and it should stop.

 

[SimonV]

Beth, we have tried to post a reasoned response to your ill-judged and, frankly, hysterical, posts about safety in Orlando and now I am going to say it straight: either stop posting such badly-informed scare-mongering nonsense or you will be banned from this site.

As just another example of your misinformation, the 'drive-by murders in Orlando a few years back' you mention were actually in Miami and Tallahassee in 1993, in areas that had a notorious crime rate back then.

I will not tolerate such blatant and reckless disregard for commonsense; you are disturbing people with these irrational and baseless attacks on both an area and a country, and they have no place here.

This thread is now locked.