Posted on 06/14/2016 8:59:48 PM PDT by gop4lyf
I’ve seen gators from bridges during half marathons at WDW, they are there.
This is a big news story so it should not be posted in CHAT.
It is news on several levels: tragic loss of life, dangerous wildlife, theme park safety,...
Agree....some pretty heartless comments on this thread. Prayers for this family.
Yes, the family was from Nebraska, on family vacation. Probably never even seen a gator before or had any reason to believe they and the kids might have been in danger. Some of the knee jerk stupid post I have seen here lately is astounding.
Time for the three “S’s” shoot, shovel, shut up. Problem solved.
Seriously, with the financial repercussions of any attack on guests, what sort of precautions did the resort take to ensure the dangerous wildlife had been removed from the area? Given the area, this would have to be done on a daily basis. My heart (small and black though it may be) goes out to the parents. Damn.
Maybe need to also pray for the ignorant people who post heartless comments.
Animals migrate, there is no way you can remove all natural hazards rather it be a spider, a snake or a gator. to take a certain snippet from a popular movie, “nature finds a way”.
I work with many Disney parks and can assure they are completely all about guest safety. protecting kids, including from stupid parents who let them run wild is their number one priority. If they were aware that gators were in this beach area, I can assure you that Disney would have contained the area and prohibited guests from utilizing this facility as would any prudent business! Comments on this thread regarding the parents and Disney are completely beyond the pale. The parents did not neglect their child and Disney does not send guests to beaches to be attacked by wildlife. Something smells here and it comes on the heels of a radical islamist terrorist attack on this same area. Then again someone might have let their pet “Wally” loose and this is the consequence.
My husband had a baby gator he bought from a pet store in 1980. He thought it was cute until it tried to take off his finger. Returned it to the seller.
According to AP there were signs saying no swimming in that lake and that the family was wading in it.
One must assume there are gators in EVERY body of water, lake, stream, or river in Florida. Never go into the water at night and always check your swimming pool too. Alligators can run faster than you.
That poor baby.
Thank you eastforker. That needed to be said. I can’t believe some of the heartless and completely ignorant and ill-informed knee jerk posts on this thread – but again - not.
@ sagar – your home page here says “This account should be banned or suspended.”
I agree. You should follow your own advice and self-ban yourself before you bring more shame upon yourself and on this site.
Seriously, with the financial repercussions of any attack on guests, what sort of precautions did the resort take to ensure the dangerous wildlife had been removed from the area? Given the area, this would have to be done on a daily basis.
“Alligators are understood to be fairly common on Walt Disney World property, although they are relocated and removed in most cases when near high guest population.”
“According to the blog Hidden Mickeys, one guest was waterskiing on the Seven Seas Lagoon several years ago when he dove in to cool off.”
“When he asked the boat driver if there were any gators in the water, he replied 'Yep, we pulled an eight footer out last week!'”
“The guest was assured that they are generally timid and scared of boats and metal screening is installed before the shorelines to prevent any of them from getting into the swimming areas or resort shores.”
Animals migrate, there is no way you can remove all natural hazards rather it be a spider, a snake or a gator. to take a certain snippet from a popular movie, “nature finds a way”.
Yes, it does. And one has to keep in mind that Disney and for that matter the whole city of Orlando and much of the towns in Florida are built on what was formerly swamp land and the surrounding areas still are. Gators are apex predators and opportunistic and will move to areas of opportunity despite efforts to keep them out.
Something smells here and it comes on the heels of a radical islamist terrorist attack on this same area. Then again someone might have let their pet “Wally” loose and this is the consequence.
I think this was just an unfortunate and tragic coincidence. And I don’t think this was the result of someone letting their “pet” gator loose. There are many, many gators in Florida and many, many lakes and waterways that they inhabit. I am sure that Disney does their best to remove gators and keep their guests safe. But as eastforker said, “nature finds a way”.
I came across this which I thought interesting on how Disney deals with and responds to alligators on their property:
Which brings me to the Magic Kingdom's alligator problem. Periodically, one of these large carnivorous reptiles will climb over those railroad tracks that separate this theme park from the marsh beyond. And then they'll slip into the Rivers of America and go in search of food.
Now while the Mouse may have made a lot of money off of "The Circle of Life" ... WDW officials don't actually want to see this concept played out. Particularly in front of the paying customers.
So a few years back, when a 7-foot long behemoth set up shop next to Splash Mountain and began dining on the baby ducks, Disney knew that it had to do something. Especially after they caught some stupid Magic Kingdom visitors tossing their partially-eaten turkey legs to this particular gator.
Now in the state of Florida, it's actually against the law to feed an alligator. Why For? Because -- by doing so -- you'll unintentionally cause these creatures to lose their natural fear of man. More importantly, you'll then teach them to associate humans with food. Which could have pretty disastrous consequences further on down the line.
Anyway ... Once WDW officials heard that this alligator had acquired a taste for turkey legs, they called in the cavalry. Which -- in this case, anyway -- was one of the veteran animal handlers from over at Gatorland.
And that morning ... Disney literally shut down traffic on the Rivers of America. As this Gatorland rep climbed aboard one of the Tom Sawyer Island rafts and then -- armed with an enormous net -- began chasing this gator up and down that waterway.
But the wiley reptile kept eluding his pursuers. Which is why the Gatorland guy then broke out the big guns: Kraft Jet-Puffed Marshmallows.
Now don't ask me why. But alligators just can not resist Kraft Jet-Puffed Marshmellows. And the gator in question here was actually lured up on shore inside of Frontierland by following a trail of this puffy white treats.
Anyway ... The folks visiting the Magic Kingdom that day were treated to quite a show. As this Gatorland rep -- in true alligator wrestler fashion -- first jumped on the creature's back and then ducktaped its jaws shut. Once this critter was incapacitated, they then threw that gator in a wheelbarrel and rolled him out through the Frontierland gate. To much applause, I might add. And just ahead the 3 p.m. parade
http://jimhillmedia.com/editor_in_chief1/b/jim_hill/archive/2008/04/23/alligator-alley.aspx
Gator is prejudiced on gator threads
I agree with you.....a gator can move on land like Derek Henry and snatch a two year old right out from under you and tourists won’t know about Florida lake and canal gator dangers at night like Deep South folks like me or Matt Bracken or Chasio649 might
I can’t imagine knowing my little glow of joy died so bad
It’s just horrible
I was in rattler country in New Mexico last week and warned my 8 year old to look for rattlers as we walked the rim of rio grande gorge tween Taos and Chama on US64..sure enough my 16 year old boy walks right up one on the trail but he was looking already
My baby the 8 year old with his very poor vision might not have seen it
About a 6 footer wrist size....long way to Taos medical for a 60 pound kid dosed up bad
I think that poor baby makes 4 humans killed by gators in Florida past few weeks....one was found as being eaten at the time so might have been drowning victim first?
Some posters on this thread are complete asses.
9:30 at night, dark and feeding time for gators. They are very slow, quiet and deliberate while on the hunt and what most don’t know is just how fast they are in a short distance, very fast on the strike. Then when the game is caught, they retreat almost as quickly into the water to their “gator hole” to roll the catch until dead and stored for consuming later.
That is the ugly but accurate truth. Those who are not aware of their environment, will succumb to it.
As for the parents not noticing, think about it. They are most likely not from anywhere close to here. They are “lounging” in the false safety of some sort of resort establishment chock full of the same people who are either from just as far away or willfully ignornt because of the resort atmosphere, and bamo, reality strikes.
Just like that group of people who most likely had a false sense of security in Pulse because they were isolated from the dark and mean world outside its doors. If there is an establishment that has their little gun free zone stickers displayed prominently on the entrance, I turn and walk away. Whatever I wanted to obtain from there, I could find elsewhere if not the internet.
Don’t bother trying to reason with “sagar”. It’s not worth the time or aggravation. You cannot reason with ignorance.
Freepers always like to blame someone for either risky behavior or negligence or stupidity when tragedy strikes.....and this was tragic no question
And kids can get away for an instant ....despite having June Lockhart as mom
Some posters are so effing perfect apparently....
Every freeper must be beautiful as Achilles or Artemis and smart as Oppenheimer and witty as Mark Steyn and Have the situational awareness of a Commanche.. And they all fart peonies to top off their immaculate perfection......cause they never fcuk up
How about a little simple empathy....bad things happen despite efforts and this is quite a bad one as any parent can attest just fearing it
Hell....it’s about as bad as it gets....
Some reports say the child was “wadding in one foot of water” in Florida without you......in a no swimming area.
Prayers
I used to go every year to this area because of work. I was amazed how many of these alligators I saw slithering back into the water as I approached. As a city girl, you can imagine my horror!
Movie night photo: http://yourfirstvisit.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Movies-on-the-Beach-at-Disneys-Grand-Floridian-Resort-from-yourfirstvisit.net_.jpg
Article with photos of past gators in the area: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/alligator-drags-toddler-water-near-8194447
Photo of a gator in a MK bathroom stall before opening (scroll down the thread): http://www.wdwforgrownups.com/forum/alligators-disney-property
Need to fill these openings sooner! https://jobs.disneycareers.com/job/lake-buena-vista/pest-control-operator/391/122157
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