Swimming in Seven Seas Lagoon???

[maui2k5]

I have not stayed in Fort Wilderness in over 10 yrs, but I do remember that I could swim in the lake at FW. However, I read on another thread that you can no longer swim in the lake due to an organism in the water??? When did Disney stop allowing guests to swim in the lake?

 

[Deb & Bill]

We've been going for 7 years and they didn't allow swimming the first time we went. I think the kids did go into the water to get their feet washed off from the sand, though.

 

[mrsgus06]

I am not sure when they no longer allowed swimming. I was there last week and there are signs on both sides of the beach stating no swimming. Last summer a cast member informed me that it was mating season for the alligators and people were not allowed in the water. I asked him about the bacteria in the water but he played it off. There has to be something wrong with the water, why else would River Country be closed?

 

[maui2k5]

The being gator mating season seems kind of strange since that was never a problem when we used to go for several years this time of year in the 1970's and 1980's. Seems to me that the bacteria rumor may be more valid than the gator one... I wonder if there have been any incidents with gators in the lake or not??? As for River Country? Good point - that is right on the lake... Maybe that had to shut it down for health reasons...

 

[disneyfan67]

I'm sure that the gator excuse is valid but I think the real reason is the water is polluted/contaminated and you don't want to be turning off the guests by saying this. Remember, Seven Seas lagoon was man made when they built WDW in late 60's and early 70's and is not a natural lake. Think about all of the pollution from the boats, Water run off, Acid rain, and people since WDW opened in 1971. If you take a look at the first pictures of the Polynesian in the early 70's you can see people used a roped off section of the lake for swiming (Check out Tikimans website) but times have changed. It's impossible to keep a lake free of bacteria like you can a pool and that's one of the reasons I don't swim in lakes anymore.

Plus add in the Gators and the poisonous snakes and you wont dare to go into that lagoon. There is currently 6 types of poisonous snakes found in Florida, 2 of which live in or around water. Stay alert! Google it if you don't believe me I'm kind of a snake buff and I'm facinated by them, yet afraid of the dangerous ones. I'm not trying to scare anyone just make them aware. Remember, forewarned is forearmed as a wiseman once said!

There is no reason to swim in that dirty water when WDW has some of the best heated and cleanest pools around. Lakes are hard to clean, pools aren't!

 

[tiggersmom2]

One reason there is NO SWIMMING in the lagoons is......there are ameoba in all fresh water in Florida. There have been a few deaths from this...once an ameoba goes in the ears or nose...it eats the brain and there is no cure. The ameoba ONLY live in the sediment at the bottom of the lagoon, but there is a chance that can be stirred up. My cousin has been a CM at WDW for 15 years and I KNOW this is true....there are also alligators now and again.

 

[maui2k5]

Bummer that the lake is off limits though... I know when I was a kid I loved it. How times have changed... Way back when the WDW park opened they even had a wave machine near the Polynesian that they has long since been dismantled. That being said, I am happy we have the water parks now that are a huge improvement over River Country (I did used to love that also) and just swimming in a lake...

 

[paras4ri]

I was just going through some old guidebooks (Birnbaum's) and they were still allowing swimming in the lakes near the Poly, GF & FW until at least 1993.

 

[CarolA]

There is also a liablity issue. It is much harder to lifeguard a lake. Having worked a lake swimming hole, you lose the visability you have in a pool which can make it hard to ID distressed swimmers. Considering how often folks at Disney tend to let thier kids do swimming for which they aren't prepared I can see a major issue. (If your child cannot swim, personally I think sending him/her down the slide at SAB is a bit risky! I have seen parents take the kids life vest off just so he/she could go down the slide... When the child goes underwater EVERYONE panics, kids parents etc.. At least once I have seen the guard have to fish the hysterical kid out!)

 

[DawnCt1]

One reason there is NO SWIMMING in the lagoons is......there are ameoba in all fresh water in Florida. There have been a few deaths from this...once an ameoba goes in the ears or nose...it eats the brain and there is no cure. The ameoba ONLY live in the sediment at the bottom of the lagoon, but there is a chance that can be stirred up. My cousin has been a CM at WDW for 15 years and I KNOW this is true....there are also alligators now and again.

My DH is an infectious disease specialist and he says, (what you say) there are two varieties, acanthamoeba and neglaria that cause encephalitis, live at the bottom of all fresh water bodies of water and enter through the nose.

 

[AJKMOM]

Plus, alligators used to be a vanishing species. Since they went "endangered" they have multiplied like crazy. There are a lot of threads here about alligator sightings everywhere at WDW. Hotels, parks, even the moat around Cinderellas castle once.

 

[SuzyQ]

This has me scared, what about if you land in the water when water-skiing or parasailing?

 

[sotoalf]

This has me scared, what about if you land in the water when water-skiing or parasailing?

Yoiu're not underwater long enough to get contaminated. That's why Disney hasn't discontinued parasailing or water skiing (yet).

 

[DawnCt1]

Yoiu're not underwater long enough to get contaminated. That's why Disney hasn't discontinued parasailing or water skiing (yet).

We have water skiied many times. Alligators lurk near the shore and not in the deep water or near motor boats. I remember coming in from the ski boat and heading off to Narcooses for lunch. When we came out, the ski boat was still docked, which was odd for April spring vacation. When I inquired as to why the boat was still there, I was told that they had to cancel the ski reservations for the afternoon because a large gator had been spotted in the ski area. It happens but in all of these years I haven't heard any guests be eaten.

 

[simba122268]

I am concerned with response to the previous post about the organisms getting in your ears and nose....I frequently rent the water mice and am splashed with the water from seven seas lagoon. My brain has seemed a little foggier lately....How long does it take for these amoebas to completley tke over my brain???



LOL,LOL

 

[Kaitysmom]

Too funny, simba122268!

I was sitting at the beach at FW waiting for the Water Parade and a nice long black snake swam right by my bare feet. Yuck.

 

[HopperFan]

I think that the deeper water in the lake where they water ski and parasail is safer in regards to the bacteria/amoeba because it tends to survive in the sediment and the more shallow/warmer water better. Which would explain why the beaches are closed to swimming. Florida lakes have more issues with this because of the lower sea level - more shallow lakes and warmer weather allowing it to flourish.

Here is a quote from an EcoFlorida site "Florida may see a greater percentage of these kinds of infections because these organisms thrive in the warm muck of the lake bottoms -- and people seek the swimming holes to get a reprieve from the heat.

Florida state health officials have advised against going into Florida freshwater areas until temperatures drop. If you must go into a lake, according to the Florida Department of Health, wear nose clips, avoid stirring up sediment and avoid swimming near lake bottoms, where organisms are more concentrated."

ps On the release form for the athletes that compete in the lake I am sure Disney has themselves covered from any liability.

 

[kirkharrod]

I caught a lot of nice bass in the Seven Seas Lagoon, so i do not believe that it is overly polluted.

I see people on personal watercraft ALL THE TIME on Seven Seas Lagoon. People fall off them , jump off them, swim from them every day so i do not believe the amoeba is the reason there is no swimming. Same for gators.

I would bet that there is no swimming because there is more liability for the lifeguards.

 

[bunnyfoo]

How do the triathalon participants protect themselves from the amoeba? Don't they swim through part of Bay Lake for the competition?

 

[DawnCt1]

I am concerned with response to the previous post about the organisms getting in your ears and nose....I frequently rent the water mice and am splashed with the water from seven seas lagoon. My brain has seemed a little foggier lately....How long does it take for these amoebas to completley tke over my brain???



LOL,LOL

I think its too late. You are beginning to show signs of dementia. Just kidding, really.