Is the Seven Seas water safe?

[PolynesianAlex]

Lets just say the Only Place you can swim with a sand bottom is Storm Along Bay I crack my self up
But i hated that when we went to CBR there signs say NO Swiming Sharks in water you see to me that says really no swiming because i know about the lakes but if a person without that knowlege would take that as a joke

 

[maiapapaya]

I just told my dd that there are snakes in Bay Lake and there is no way in heck that she will go within 10 ft of the water now. Worked like a charm!

 

[bookgirl]

Florida....Water....Gators.

 

[bonybroad]

Aren't all the gators at Disney World the kind that dance with hippos?

 

[risingsunmom]

Ok. I'm done. The moderators can shut it down. I will not be changing our Polynesian reservations, but I will keep the kids out of the water.

 

[catne]

Aren't all the gators at Disney World the kind that dance with hippos?

You are so right...I've seen those myself. They're all over POFQ. Think they come out of the river over there.

 

[rudy7696]

If you're jetskiing and such I think you will be fine. If I remember correctly I believe I read that the bacteria lives in the silt on the bottom of the lake. It only infects people when they stir up the silt on the bottom then inhale or digest the bacteria. This is why people get infected in shallow water since they are walking and stirring up all the sediments on the bottom.

 

[NJ2Boardwalk]

My kids have gone water skiing and tubing in Bay Lake by the CR with Sammy Duvalls for 2 August's now and have been fine. For those activities they take you into deep water where there are no bacteria on the surface and haven't seen a gator yet. Disney would not allow these activites to take place if there was any remote possibility of danger. Think of the liability! We have also rented sea racers and have gotten sprayed and are all fine. All that being said - I would'nt let my kids in the standing shallow water by the beaches.

 

[MissionMouse]

Two sources regarding the infection-amoeba issue found in stagnate-warm waters in the South.

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dpd/parasites/naegleria/factsht_naegleria.htm
http://www.volusiahealth.com/eh/public_updates/amoeba.html

 

[Tarheel girl 1975]

My son loves water too. We've been talking about staying at the Poly for a long time, but everytime we see a picture of the beach I tell him over and over that he can't go in the water because there are gators. Luckily DH listened to them talk about it on the podcast so I know he's going to be careful too.

 

[ploto]

People, please do not let this ruin your vacation or allow it to make you terrified of Florida water. A splash of water is not going to put you in the hospital-that being said I'm not saying go play in the water. Just use common sense, stay out of the water and you are safe. If you take out a sea racer and get splashed don't go rushing to the hospital. Disney offers many water related options on BL and SSL and if there was a chance of people frequently getting sick those functions would not be available to guests.

So, enjoy the beaches and boats, but do not actually get in the water and you will have a very magical trip!

 

[francie57]

Between the bacteria and the gators stay away from the water. We were in the Magic Kingdom two years ago and were walking on the walkway by the water in Frontier Land and there was actually a gator on the edge of the water. The Disney CMs were keeping an eye on it but that has kept me from even taking the boat to Tom Sawyer island. As the CMs said, they tag the gators and take them away from Disney and release them but new ones (maybe even tagged ones) seem to find thier way in even though all of Disney's waterways are man-made. They said you can even at times see gators walking between two water areas on the highway exit ramp for Epcot. That is enough to keep me out of the water. Would not hesitate to rent the boats though.

 

[bookgirl]

People, please do not let this ruin your vacation or allow it to make you terrified of Florida water. A splash of water is not going to put you in the hospital-that being said I'm not saying go play in the water. Just use common sense, stay out of the water and you are safe. If you take out a sea racer and get splashed don't go rushing to the hospital. Disney offers many water related options on BL and SSL and if there was a chance of people frequently getting sick those functions would not be available to guests.

So, enjoy the beaches and boats, but do not actually get in the water and you will have a very magical trip!

It could actually happen anywhere. We lost a little boy in our state who contracted it at a local splash park. There were shallow muddy water areas in the grass from runoff. It was a wet year so it became a marshy area and the bacteria grew and the kids were playing in it.

 

[LovinPooh]

I guess its something you just grow accustomed to living in FL. Good info to know. I wouldnt go in any FL because of the gators alone. I had no idea about the bacteria. Is that why the water tastes so bad? Because of the treatments of the bacteria?

DH saw a gator last month when we were there. We were on our way back to Pop from MK and was bouncing all over that there was a gator on the shore of one of those ponds.

 

[portocall]

The water tastes bad due to the high sulphur content....
I grew up in Florida
Back when I was a kid, we used to go to summer camp and always swam in the freshwater lakes... I have never known anyone to get a fatal infection, stomach issues yes, but serious enough to even go to the Dr. much less the hospital, no...

Were there gators and snakes, I am sure there were... supposedly it was safe because of nets, but I rarely got in the water because I was a scared...

I say this to say, no, I wouldn't get into the water, but I wouldn't freak out if my kids found there way in to their ankles either. Remember that river country was lake water.... which is why they shut it down.... (I am not staying at a beach resort, however, but it wouldn't keep me away... my kids are scared of gators too)

 

[jkstewart1800]

There is no way Disney would let anyone be in a boat in the water let alone WATER SKI in the lake if it was going to kill you.
We were there in August of 2008 my my uncle and my two kids got in up to just our ankles and we also sat in it...
To say that the lake at disney is bad means that ALL lakes in Florida are bad....
I just don't buy it.

There was swiming allowed a LONG LONG time ago...I have the pictures to prove it. So why would the water be any different now!?

 

[safetymom]

Just because they allowed people to swim in the lake before means nothing now. If you do a search you will find there have been several deaths in the last few years of people that died in Central FL from this amoeba.

Yes all lakes in FL have this problem.

 

[Rebelmom67]

There is no way Disney would let anyone be in a boat in the water let alone WATER SKI in the lake if it was going to kill you.
We were there in August of 2008 my my uncle and my two kids got in up to just our ankles and we also sat in it...
To say that the lake at disney is bad means that ALL lakes in Florida are bad....
I just don't buy it.

There was swiming allowed a LONG LONG time ago...I have the pictures to prove it. So why would the water be any different now!?

Did you not read the article about the amoeba? My cousins have lived in FL all their lives and it is common knowledge to stay out of fresh water lakes there.