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Accident of sorts at Disney in Florida, may be upsetting

549 replies

CheerfulYank · 15/06/2016 05:46

A two year old was dragged into the lagoon by an alligator a few hours ago and hasn't been seen since.

It's so awful I feel like I can't breathe. I cannot imagine how scared he/she was and what the parents are feeling.

Accounts vary but apparently they were sitting on the beach either waiting for fireworks or having movie night. It's just too awful. I'm sure it was supposed to be a wonderful trip and now this.

I know the chances that child will be found alive are almost nothing, but I am hoping against hope that he or she is. I just cannot imagine.

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18
Salene · 15/06/2016 22:38

Gators cannot chew. They drown there food then leave it for a few days to decompose then eat it as its soft. That's why his body is intact. The gator will have been near by guarding it . That's how they eat.

Knockmesideways · 15/06/2016 22:39

The reason why they are killing alligators is that, until they discovered the body intact, the only way of telling which animal MAY have eaten the boy was to open it up! Now they need to remove the animal that did grab the child. Like a dog that attacks, apparently once an alligator becomes unafraid of humans (which this one obviously was to come so close to an outdoor film night - imagine the noise from that), there is a real danger it will do it again. According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Executive Director Nick Wiley on the TV before they found the boy, they will be comparing bite marks once they had remains to compare with. An article on CNN says that Disney regularly patrol the lakes and if they see an alligator looking like it will become a problem they call in the Fish and Wildlife Conservation people who 'deal with it' - didn't say how that's done.

The man leading the search said that he had no doubt that the alligator took the boy down and the boy drowned - the autopsy would confirm that he said. So to me that says the boy had marks on the body that showed an alligator attack but was found without parts of him missing.

Terrible, terrible thing.

I didn't realise how close the animals came in Florida. My sister when first moved to Florida got a frantic call from her neighbour one day to shut her back door - an alligator had been spotted in her back garden! One of her boys had been in their pool and had gone out through the steel 'cage' gate and forgot to shut it...never did that again!

CwtchyQ · 15/06/2016 22:40

I have cried my eyes out at this tonight. My DD is 2. I might sound a bit wet getting that upset but fuck me, that's awful.

Disney should have had warning signs for gators around the area. Totally irresponsible not to.

Knockmesideways · 15/06/2016 22:41

Sorry Maddy - cross post!

AnneEyhtMeyer · 15/06/2016 22:41

Itsaplay - Florida is a swamp and all the waterways are interconnected. The lake is man made, but just to keep other areas drained. There are waterways all over Disneyworld, which is a huge huge area.

I've seen alligators on Disney property between the hotels and the parks, and on the road out to Kennedy.

jacrispy · 15/06/2016 22:43

I agree with pointlessusername I wouldn't care how many gators they killed if it meant I had some part of my child to lay to rest. I'm so glad he has been found.

Willow2016 · 15/06/2016 22:44

LilacInn & Samcro

THey didnt randomly kill alligators after the body had been found! They were trying to find his body ffs, so his parents could take him home to bury him.

I am an advocate of all things natural but I would want MY BABY back one way or another. There are plenty alligators in florida losing 5 of them wouldnt cause a major problem.

AnchorDownDeepBreath · 15/06/2016 22:45

Sky are now saying there is a sign reading "Do not feed or go near the alligators" right next to where his four year old sisters playpen had been set up. They are interviewing someone stood next to it at the moment.

It looks like all the beaches will be closed now, which is probably a wise decision.

I'm glad they've got him. This is probably the best they could hope for. RIP Lane.

Itsaplayonwords · 15/06/2016 22:46

It's concerning then that these "beaches" are made up with sun loungers. I doubt anyone would be wanting to go there to relax after this. Although with that said this is the first incident of this nature in the 45 years that WDW has been there. Maybe it's just a case that the danger has become greater in recent years and things need to change as a result.

Samcro · 15/06/2016 22:47

Willow plese do t attack me, like a lot of people i am trying to get my head round something so awful
I already thnked some one for explaining RTFT

AnneEyhtMeyer · 15/06/2016 22:48

These maps show the extent of the water in Disneyworld and the Orlando area

Accident of sorts at Disney in Florida, may be upsetting
Accident of sorts at Disney in Florida, may be upsetting
MaddyHatter · 15/06/2016 22:48

I'm told by friend living in Florida that they're everywhere, gardens, ponds.. even not unusual to see them sunning themselves by the side of the road.

They can climb fences, and will even take the hit from an electric fence and carry on like nothing happened.

LilacInn · 15/06/2016 22:49

The lake is 172 acres, not exactly a fishpond. And it leads handily by canals into even bigger bodies of water. And as AnneEyhtMeyer said, the state of Florida is essentially a giant subtropical swamp where some areas have been drained for development, but it is rife from top to bottom with interconnected waterways.

Msqueen33 · 15/06/2016 22:49

Alligators it seems are common. People have seen them wandering across golf courses to get to water, there's also gator land. What a sad thing. Hopefully the little lad didn't suffer too much and his poor partners having to go through this. Really makes you think about wildlife research before you go to some places. But Florida is built on swampland and is basically a giant swamp.

JeanGenie23 · 15/06/2016 22:50

I too wandered how 5+ alligators got into disney world, foolishly perhaps I thought it was a completely walled park, but having considered it I suppose they must get through the drainage system?...Blush

I think Disney need to consider during certain months of the year, if not all year round, having signs that say "alligator sighted, be warned" and put fencing around these lagoons. There can be no mistaking the meaning then

Salene · 15/06/2016 22:50

I can't understand why Disney would encourage you to sit on these bloody beaches with small kids when they know there is crocs about

After all Disney is a place visted by many international people , I for one wouldn't of had a clue that Crocs are in all the waters etc if I was visiting there.

I'd be holding Disney responsible if I was that child parents

Why play a dam movie near the water

JeanGenie23 · 15/06/2016 22:53

Just caught up with thread, sorry for X posts.

LilacInn · 15/06/2016 22:57

I am sure there are dozens if not hundreds of alligators on the Disney property. It is not an enclosed complex like a shopping centre, it is a sprawling development of thousands of acres with natural areas, lakelands, gardens, etc. all in the middle of a state that is home to a million gators.

It's like saying "I didn't think there would be birds on Hawaii because Hawaii is an island. How do they get there?" They live there and breed there, as the gators do at Disney. They were there first, in fact.

There are snakes too; a quick Google search shows snake bites have occurred at Disney from time to time.

Knockmesideways · 15/06/2016 23:00

JeanGenie - DW is pretty open really - you certainly would need to go to the sewers if you were an alligator. Humans just drive up, pay their admittance, park then go into the Magic Kingdom either by monorail ... or across the lake on a paddle steamer. So basically, if you were an alligator, you could sneak in via the front gate!

Plus of course, you only need a mummy and daddy alligator to get generations of them breeding in the area - they don't even need to come in from outside.

Apparently a British family were chased by an alligator at the Polynesian resort - which backs onto the same lake - a few weeks ago. They told staff and, as you would, left it at that.

Knockmesideways · 15/06/2016 23:01

Sorry should read 'certainly would NOT need to go to the sewers'

Bravada · 15/06/2016 23:02

Warning signs for sharks are huge and yellow, prominently positioned. "SHARK SIGHTED IN THE WATER TODAY. ENTER AT OWN RISK" with a picture too for non-English speakers.

OfficiallyUnofficial · 15/06/2016 23:03

In fairness to Disney I remember going and spending a lot of time on The Polynesian beach, it was really clear you shouldn't be in the water itself and the kids play/swimming bits are far away from the shore. I don't think the alligators are a danger on the beaches, just in the water itself.

But in the dark, maybe they didn't see the signs? It could maybe be made clearer on check in or something NEVER to go in the water.

stareatthetvscreen · 15/06/2016 23:08

don't know exactly goofy
if the alligators are everywhere wouldn't this sort of accident be more common?
it seems at odds with disney's corporate image to be open to this sort of risk

JeanGenie23 · 15/06/2016 23:12

Thank you knockmesideways for the information, I feel a bit stupid now but never having been there it's very difficult to imagine!

I'm sure the will be no ambiguity now, in fact I think I read on here, or perhaps it was a news story, that Disney are working with a local wildlife authority to make new signage.

datingbarb · 15/06/2016 23:16

I have just read that they are now saying the boy was 10ft out in the water, if that's right then the gator didn't actually come right up to the beach and snatch him

Either way it's just awful

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