Really? We’re going to judge people for not going to bed at sunset on freaking vacation?
@jym626 - recently scientists have determined that there are Nile crocodiles in Florida and they may be interbreeding with the native American crocodiles. The American ones are smaller and there’s never been a recorded fatal attack by one. The Nile crocodile is a far scarier creature. Scarier than an alligator too.
They also have a problem with Burmese pythons and boa constrictors in the Everglades. Idiot people release these exotic pets into the wild and they don’t just die and go away!
In general, dawn and dusk are the prime hunting times for predators. Certainly for alligators and also for sharks. Stay away from those Florida lakes at these times and think twice about that early morning ocean swim, especially if the life guards are not on duty yet.
It has been documented through several news agencies that the child was the only one in the water. I’ve read several places that " It’s a magical place and the parents probably let their guard down" I may be over protective , but with a two year old, you have to be on high alert, especially in an exciting , unfamiliar place like Disney .
“My question- if it was 9 pm-- what were a 2 and 4 year old doing up???”
Please, they were on vacation. If this is an indication of bad parenting, then I was a very bad parent. We are a family of night owls. It wasn’t unusual for my kids to be up at 9pm at that age, especially if there was some family event going on. I raised my kids to be flexible and adaptable in their schedule. Worked fine for us.
Of all the places in the world to vacation, WDW is the one where all the perils are part of the show and no one is ever really at risk, so I can easily see how a family would never consider that any part of an expensive on-site resort property like the Grand Floridian could ever pose a danger. Even if a guest spotted an alligator in the lagoon, it’s not inconceivable that it could be seen as a clever fake placed there just to add atmosphere. I’ve stayed at the Grand Floridian, and the lagoon seems more like part of the Disney illusion than an actual waterway…
A “No Swimming” sign seems entirely inadequate, but I suspect a “Danger! The lagoon contains deadly wildlife. Do not step into the water under any circumstances!” wouldn’t mesh with Disney’s self image. On the other hand, it appears that the parents were not as attentive as they should have been. So there was negligence on both sides here, but I predict that at the end of the day, Disney will pay up big time and the lagoon will be properly, if unattractively, fenced.
I’m not judging people’s bedtimes for their kids. This 2 year old child by all accounts did not break free from his parents grip. He was allowed to get into water ( inches to a foot deep depending on whatever news source you follow) in the dark without a parent within arms reach. I am hyper vigilant with kids around water, daytime or nighttime. That is my frustration . I hope that I am wrong and that the family provided the utmost supervision, was close to the child and that it was a freak accident. I will be the first one to admit that I was wrong and apologize for judging .
@MommaJ Unfortunately, people ignore danger signs more often than we like to think . There’s a beach in SC between Isle of Palms and Sullivan’s Island called Breeches Inlet. It is a very dangerous beach because of rip tides . People have been pulled under in inches of water. There is a huge sign with the Grim Reaper on it, " No swimming" " Dangerous riptides" and on any given day you can see people in that water with their kids. People will believe and do what they want no matter how explicit a sign is because they all think that it will never happen to them.
No one I know wants to spend the day at Disney World with a tired, cranky 2 year old. It’s ok to chastise them for letting the kid wade in the edge of the water, but it’s not ok to inquire why a 2 yr old is in the water at 9 pm. Ok this thread has officially jumped the shark.
"My question- if it was 9 pm-- what were a 2 and 4 year old doing up???
jym, Orlando is not in the same time zone as their hometown, so it was still 7 or 8 pm for the kids…
I’m sure that TONS of kids at Disney are awake at 9 pm. Far more than are in the lagoon (at 9pm or any other time). So yeah, asking why they were awake strikes me as a stranger question.
I mean, Disney has nighttime parades and fireworks. Every single kid at those is up past 9. Oh, the horror.
These parents lost their kid… really, you don’t think they’ve been punished enough? Stop judging.
Oh please. The child was 2. Many 2 year olds are afraid of fireworks.
I grew up in a family of night owls, also. My late nights started when I was a toddler and my dad was in grad school. He would get home late and let me watch Johnny Carson with him. 
To this day, I can call my parents at midnight and know they’ll be awake.
BB- How does anyone know how long they had been traveling, or where they might have been before Disney, or how many days they had been there. They could well have been perfectly acclimated to the time.
Neither of my kids ever went to bed before nine. I watched Letterman with my 2 year old every night.
Many 2 year olds are afraid of fireworks, so all 2 year olds should go to bed at 7? My son has never in his life been afraid of fireworks. Neither of my kids were actually. But my son LOVED them as a kid.
I wouldn’t judge someone who went to bed at 7 pm if they were at Disney (or anywhere else). I’d figure that worked for them. I hope they’d extend me the same courtesy, but if they don’t, I’m still going to do what works for my family.
The beauty of staying inside the park with young children is to have easy access to your hotel. We’d often get up in the morning (late because we are the night owls 
) and then hit the park, and then come back to the hotel and the kids could swim and take a nap. Then we’d hit the parks, restaurants, fireworks, and other events again. Based on being at WDW at night, I’d wager a majority of the kids are still up at 9PM. It’s not an unusual or irresponsible thing to do. It just isn’t.
“I wouldn’t judge someone who went to bed at 7 pm if they were at Disney (or anywhere else).”
I might not judge them, but I’d sure think they were missing out on one of the best times at WDW!
Most 2 year olds need a lot of sleep. http://www.webmd.com/parenting/guide/sleep-children Especially if they are going to be at a theme park for a good part of the day. Sounds like. Many here do things differently, but we didn’t leave the parks in the middle of the day to take naps. And fwiw there is only a 1 HR time difference between Orlando and NE. That said, it’s past my bedtime. You night owls can fight amongst yourselves.
Especially in the summer, going back to the hotel for a nap and swim is a very smart thing to do at Disney.
OK, time to move on!