Gee, @moooop , that’s just hilarious. Thanks.
Does anyone think Disney is in danger of a massive lawsuit from other people saying they allowed them out on boats and waterskiing without letting them know the dangers of alligators?
No. There has to be an injury before a person can bring a lawsuit. ^^
There’s a great, imo, post floating around FB that pretty much says what I’ve been thinking as I’ve read through this thread, which basically is:
This is a time when I detest the Internet culture we’ve created. Blaming and shaming, pretending to be Perfect Parents who would never, ever let their child do whatever it is–that’s what people rush to do, and do it vehemently. Would people say these things to the parents’ faces? Or would you just cry with them, hug them, and think, “It could’ve been me. Maybe not in that particular way, obviously not that particular day, but this could be me.” There’s a saying: “There but for the grace of God go I.” (And, no, I don’t want to Internet debate that phrase–another pet peeve of mine. It’s just a phrase that I like the sound of which tells how things can happen to any of us, and we’re just lucky this or that bad thing hasn’t happened to us–yet.)
Kudos to the mom posting pics of her son at the same spot a 1/2 hour to an hour before. This is a frightening experience for so many.
Yes, we should analyze things so that the chances of bad things happening again may be smaller. I just abhor the blaming and the perfect parent act.
“Enough with the “Midwesterners don’t know about alligators” speculation…you think people in the Midwest dont know alligators are dangerous & that Florida has alligators? You think those are secrets that the folks on the coasts have discovered, but the hayseeds in the middle haven’t quite gotten wind of?”
I live in Georgia in a city south of Atlanta. Recently a trucker saw an alligator in the creek that runs though the city. Not only was I surprised but so were most of the residents in our city and the surrounding area. Most people did not know that alligators were a possibility. They ended up having to capture and relocate him because so many people kept trying to take pictures of him. So it would not surprise me at all if the parents did not know that alligators were in that lagoon.
@eyemamom - that link in #194 is haunting. 
I have never claimed to be a perfect parent, nor will I ever. I tend to reserve the statement " there but for the grace of God go I " for situations that I truly have no control over for example Sandy Hook, Columbine, Aurora ,etc. I would most certainly use it if the alligator would’ve run up on the beach while my child was playing safely away from the water within close proximity to myself. I won’t use it in this circumstance because I know me. I know what I allow and what I don’t allow as a parent. My 2 year old child would not be wading in the dark in a lake with me up the beach. He just wouldn’t . Maybe another situation but not this one.
In terms of social media creating a climate where people are quick to rush to judgement and blame, I agree that it may have magnified the problem, but I disagree that it is the cause. People have been judging other people since the beginning of time . At church, at school, at work, in neighborhoods. It is not a new issue.
“A post from a woman whose son was there 30 minutes before the other boy was attacked.”
That spot is a lot less yucky than I was picturing. The zero-entry sand under the water hides the muck. The water looks almost clear.
@hanna That spot is a lot sunnier too
@carolinamom2boys , I’m still waiting for a verified report of exactly where the child was and where his parents were when this happened, as I’ve read numerous differing versions. The fact that his father was able to struggle with the alligator at all implies to me that he was very close to the boy as opposed to up the beach. Alligators are fast and don’t wait around once they’ve attacked. I expect an official investigation will establish how deep the water was and how far away a parent was more reliably than the news outlets have.
The picture shows exactly what I pictured, the sand being a gradual entry into the pond, as it used to be a swimming beach. Very different from a drop off where the toddler would have to step in and be immediately 6-12" in water. This is an attractive nuisance for a child to want to put his toes in the water (as clearly the other little boy did 30 minutes earlier and others probably did all day long).
I also don’t think it was ‘wading in the dark.’ Usually the areas around the resorts are pretty well lit. There was an activity there (the movie) just a short while before that. I bet there were lots of flood lights and that the area was fairly bright, with people waiting for the fireworks to begin.
I don’t think Disney did anything different than many other resorts with ponds or lagoons. They posted ‘no swimming’ but didn’t post that there were snakes and turtles and other dangers. Neither did the office park I worked in until the alligator was actually visible. If Florida wants every resort to post every danger, it can pass a law requiring it, but I don’t think it would make one bit of difference as to the behavior of people near the ponds, rivers, oceans. Do you ever see people with strollers, flip flops, crocs riding escalators? Signs say not to do it, people do it anyway and let their kids do it too.
I do think they will have short barrier walls around all the beach areas soon.
That’s exactly what I thought @Hanna.
Having been on that property I remember the beach area looking inviting and pretty. It doesn’t look like a retention pond you might see at a golf course or run-of-the-mill neighborhood.
I was at Disney last week, and it is not as bright as one would think. Every news cast I have seen has verified the boy was in the water alone . He was two. Very few people were reported on the beach and the fireworks are at 10:00, almost an hr after the attack.
Jerry Demings, the Orange County Sheriff who has given several press conferences, worded it this way - “the father then entered the water”. Now whether that was an accurate description of the sequence of events, I don’t know but I would imagine that he had spoken to the parents and whatever witnesses were available. Honestly, it really doesn’t matter at this point.
“Then entered the water” could mean he was 12" away.
In any case, I think we have established that A) MANY of us who do not live in alligator country are not accustomed to thinking that one might lunge out of any body of water at any time, much less in a man-made lake within a Disney resort complex, and B) There was nothing in the signage to indicate that kind of danger. Disney needs to settle with this family, fast, AND immediately redo its signage and barriers.
A few yrs ago, my first reaction to news that a facility for rowing (crew) racing was being built in Sarasota was “what about alligators?” Seems kind of odd to have unstable boats with lots of people in them skimming through water that might–and probably does–have gators. Floridians I talked to about this didnt seem worried…maybe they, like the Disney management, are too blase’ about the dangers.
Alligators terrify me actually, not that I ever seen one close up. The first time that I ever saw one in real life was about 15 plus years ago on a family trip to Disney/Kennedy Space Center and we were in the bus that takes you to the massive Vehicle Assembly Building and there was an alligator in what may have been a small creek or drainage area alongside the road.
I’ve never been nervous about alligators before, except when it comes to my 10 lb dog. With her I am over-the-top careful. ETA: all the years my kids were growing up in Florida, we always lived east near salt water so it wasn’t an issue. I would not have let my kids swim in a pond though.
You always hear that gators don’t like people all that much. They could mistake a child for prey though (unfortunately).
That being said, if I was allowed to walk around the Disney resorts with my doggie, I probably wouldn’t think twice walking near the water with her which is something I would never do in a central Florida neighborhood. That is how safe I would feel at WDW with her, for whatever that’s worth (not much).
“Maybe Floridians are aware that any body of water or shore anywhere in the state could hold life-threatening wildlife, but the rest of us just don’t think in those terms. When I go to the beach near home, my biggest worry is seagulls taking my lunch.”
I agree. I live in the Midwest. My ILs live in Florida and my father is a snowbird there. I know there is a berm near my in-laws that has wildlife (including the occasional alligator), and I wouldn’t allow a child to go in that water, but I did not know that it would be a reasonable expectation that ANY body of water in Florida might contain alligators. I never heard that before this thread. Why would I?
In New England, there is a reasonable expectation that upon occasion a deer will jump in front of your car, or into the side of it, especially at certain times of day and certain places. H and I hit a deer that jumped in front of us when we were going probably 15-20 MPH (CT). The deer died. A deer jumped into the side of my car in the evening, and dented the door so that it wouldn’t open, but bounded off (CT). H hit another deer that jumped in front of his car at dusk. It was badly injured–two broken legs–and the policeman who came in response to his call took 5 shots to kill it (ME). We’ve had to come to screetching halts to avoid hitting does and fawns (MI and CT). A friend had a deer literally leap into the open side window of his Ford Explorer in broad daylight on Main Street in Ridgefield CT, cutting the side of his face with its hooves.
In the more central-to-northerly parts of ME, there are highways where moose collisions are all too common. Moose collisions are more likely to kill the people in the car, since they have a higher center of gravity and are bigger. Physics is physics.
Some people in this thread have commented that anyone who doesn’t know there are alligators in FL and that they are dangerous all the time, everywhere, is an idiot.
I’m willing to bet that if you were in my state, you would think nothing of blasting along at the speed limit at night and be shocked if your car was totaled and you were injured by hitting a moose or a deer. Even though you know they are there.