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I just realized what was going on. The boy and his father were on the beach with other spectators waiting for the electric light parade, which had just started at the Polynesian and swings close by the beach. It's a promoted event and would have been irresistible for a two-year-old boy. With all eyes on the floats, there's little chance anybody would have seen an alligator stalking the shoreline.
One of Disney's goals with the Grand Floridian was to create a beach environment so that upscale guests (rooms $600+/night) would stay and spend on site and not take day trips to Daytona or Tampa/St Pete. beaches.
Their website still advertises fishing, relaxing on the beach and beach party bbqs.
Experience bass fishing at its finest with a guided excursion departing from the Marina. (chum for alligators)
Gather ‘round as the sun goes down for old-fashioned family fun as you roast marshmallows by a crackling fire.
Come for the Campfire – Stay for a Movie! (at dusk when alligators are on the prowl)
Bask on the white-sand beach...
Kadie Whalen, who lives in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, saw no evidence of that system when she visited Disney World with her family four years ago.
Whalen said her three young children and niece were playing on a resort beach at the water's edge with buckets and shovels provided by Disney workers when the beady eyes of a 7-foot gator appeared in a lake just a few feet away. She screamed and everyone scattered.
Whalen said that's what happened in 2012 after the gator appeared in the water near her kids at Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort, which is on a different lake than the one where the boy was killed.
As shocked tourists looked on, she said, trappers caught the animal and carried it away, writhing, across a pool and courtyard area outside the hotel. Disney workers threatened to confiscate the phones and cameras of anyone who tried to photograph or videotape the spectacle, she said.
Whalen said she complained to the front desk and wrote a letter to Disney but never heard back. She was also chided by Florida residents who questioned why she'd ever let her kids get near the water, even at Disney.
"It never crossed our minds at Disney World that we would have to worry about a predator eating our children,
1. Child was not swimming.
2. Child was being appropriately supervised by father.
3. The beach made it inviting for guests to spend time at the water's edge.
4. The resort held events for guests around nightfall when alligators are actively hunting.
5. Disney has a long history of actively managing the local wildlife to minimize risks.
6. No signage warning that alligators were present in the lagoon.
Result = Disney is at least partly culpable, because it was a predictable accident.
I disagree, Disney has no fault in any of this. This is clearly just a failure to supervise by the parents with just an ounce of common sense.
The sign clearly said "no swimming", in what brain does someone not interpret that to just stay out of the water? Furthermore, who says that the child's intention was not to swim?
In what brain does someone think that it's ok to go '"wading" or splashing aroundin a pond or lake when it clearly tells you not to swim? WHo does that?
If you're at Yellowstone National Park and a sign reads "Don't feed the bears", is Yellowstone Park under obligation to post a sign that says "No petting the Bears" or is it just common sense not to do so?
WHat do people expect Disney to do, place armed guards around the ponds so because people are too stupid to realize that a "no swimming" sign is just a broader message of telling you o say out of the water period?
Who the hell let's a 2 year old out of their supervision for a nano second in a pond at 9 pm in Florida anyway?
The father if anything should have been arrested for endangering the welfare of the child, because with just a grain of common sense that child would have been alive today.
I understand that they'll win a settlement to prevent any more bad publicity in this litigious society, but if it ever went to trial, and I were on the jury, I wouldn't award them one cent.
I disagree, Disney has no fault in any of this. This is clearly just a failure to supervise by the parents with just an ounce of common sense.
The sign clearly said "no swimming", in what brain does someone not interpret that to just stay out of the water?
In what brain does someone think that it's ok to go '"wading" or splashing aroundin a pond or lake when it clearly tells you not to swim? WHo does that?.
FOR THE BAZILLIONTH TIME! THEY WERE NOT IN THE WATER! In what brain do you not get that?
Kadie Whalen, who lives in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, saw no evidence of that system when she visited Disney World with her family four years ago.
Whalen said her three young children and niece were playing on a resort beach at the water's edge with buckets and shovels provided by Disney workers when the beady eyes of a 7-foot gator appeared in a lake just a few feet away. She screamed and everyone scattered.
Whalen said that's what happened in 2012 after the gator appeared in the water near her kids at Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort, which is on a different lake than the one where the boy was killed.
As shocked tourists looked on, she said, trappers caught the animal and carried it away, writhing, across a pool and courtyard area outside the hotel. Disney workers threatened to confiscate the phones and cameras of anyone who tried to photograph or videotape the spectacle, she said.
Whalen said she complained to the front desk and wrote a letter to Disney but never heard back. She was also chided by Florida residents who questioned why she'd ever let her kids get near the water, even at Disney.
"It never crossed our minds at Disney World that we would have to worry about a predator eating our children,
If this story is true than Disney is going to be paying out a very large award to the family that lost it's son. Because now you know that they knew this was a problem.
FOR THE BAZILLIONTH TIME! THEY WERE NOT IN THE WATER! In what brain do you not get that?
And in what BRAIN does you NOT realize that EVERY NEWS SOURCE AVAILABLE SAYS THAT THE BOY WAS IN THE WATER?
NY TIMES:
Quote:
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Lane Graves was doing what any 2-year-old boy would be doing on a hot Florida evening — splashing around in the shallow waters of a lagoon.
CNN
Quote:
The boy's family was at a movie night outdoors at the Grand Floridian resort when around 9 p.m. the boy waded into about a foot of water in a lagoon
NYDN
Quote:
Lane Graves, a Nebraska toddler, was wading in the Seven Seas Lagoon at the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa about 9:15 p.m. Tuesday. A gator suddenly grabbed the boy, who was near the edge of the water — just a foot deep.
SHould I post an Al-Jezeera quote too? OR are none of these credible enough?
Were you there, did you film it to prove otherwise?
Lake is about 30 years old. This is the first time an allegator attacked.
Disney typically holds Movies under the Stars on the beach. Perhaps this was why the family was at the beach.
Why a beach when swimming is not allowed?
The lack of appropriate signage warning of potential risks is huge. People visit Disney from all over the world and US and likely do not understand remote risks like alligators. Likely the insurers of Disney's liability plans sold pieces of it to the international reinsurance markets. They will settle with the family.
There was an allegator attack at a Disney campsite about 30 years ago. Kids were playing in the swamp. Child was older and sibs distracted and beat on the alligator and saved their brother.
Perhaps we should just pass a piece of broad legislation requiring that every park, lake pond and backyard post explicit signs warning of the potential wildlife in the area?
I'm sure some of my neighbors would be thrilled to see signs posted all over the place about the endangerment of squirrels, pigeons and alley cats and the potential harm that they may cause.
Exactly, everyone knows there are gators in Florida just like we know there are bears in Yelliwstone. No signs should be needed.
People are literally suggesting that their lack of common sense should be held accountable by someone else.
"The signs say don't feed the bears....but it doesn't say say not to pet them"
Oh but there's a sign that says "thin ice, no skating" but it doesn't mean that I can't stand on it
It's just common sense. "No Swimming" obviously means stay out of the water. For whatever intention, at no time I would even think of going into a body of water that says "no swimming."
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