I stay over there pretty often and there are signs posted everywhere around all the waterways at all the resorts saying no swimming allowed. Actually had a discussion about this 2 weeks ago when we stayed over there and I had mentioned it was prob due to the alligators. Crazy that this happened 2 weeks later

Letting a child play in the water in central Florida is like hanging a chunk of chicken on a stick at feeding time. Those alligators feed all the time on turtles, birds, raccoons, and anything else they can get in the water. Gators doing what gators do, eat. And the parents will probably try to sue Disney over this. Parents fault 100%.

A toddler in the water of a lagoon at 9:00 in the evening looks like an easy meal to a gator.
I do feel bad for the parents who lost a child. I just couldn't imagine the heart ache and sadness that they are going thru.

We did a split stay (3 nights at Animal Kingdom Lodge, 3 nights at Bay Lake Towers) just 3 weeks ago. Bay Lake Towers is just across the lagoon from Grand Floridian. Yes, there are signs up about not getting into the water. I can't imagine what was going through this father's mind in letting his son play in the water at such a time.

Disney World was built on 28K acres of pure Florida swampland. There is a plethora of wildlife down there, including poisonous snakes and alligators. Disney is pretty diligent about removing the gators when they get to a certain size, but I'm sure there are some that aren't identified and relocated.

My prayers are with the family, but there's really no excuse for this kind of thing to happen. Common sense, and heeding the warnings posted would have prevented this. As it stands, at best Disney will probably have to put up fencing on the beaches to protect the morons from themselves. At worst, they're looking at an enormous lawsuit due to a complete lack of common sense on the part of the father.

With Disney's legal team, I'm sure they have guarded against this situation...

Absolutely correct and they were from Nebraska and likely had no clue how dangerous it was. Plus there were no "alligator warning" signs just "no swimming" signs. They were on clean beach (no grass or overgrown weeds around) and in ankle deep water with the boy's parents only being a few feet away. Incredibly sad situation.

Unfortunately, people don't think about things like this in many cases. It's Disney. It's the "Happiest Place on Earth." They have animals like in a zoo. Surely they wouldn't let anything dangerous get in here. It's right by the hotel. It's shallow water. Nothing can happen.

People think that way, unfortunately. Tragic situation. Preventable, though.

They're now killing alligators and searching for the body parts inside of them.

Yes, they have a jam-up legal team. But, that doesn't stop them from being sued, either. It also doesn't stop them from going overboard in situations like this. Case in point: Up until a year or so ago, they had serve yourself "liquid cheese" dispensers at several restaurants. Warning signs up about the cheese being hot, etc. Someone lets their kid attempt to use it, kid burns him/herself. No more liquid cheese dispensers.

Sometimes, you just have to protect people from their own stupidity, especially in such a litigious society we live in today.

Just because you sue someone, doesn't mean you'll win. I'm sure they signed somewhere that they were personally responsible for any contact with wildlife or whatever. I'm sure they'll sue and disney will offer a few million and settle out of court.

People in general have lost all common sense. It is now somebody else who has to make sure that you don't get burned by hot cheese, or hot coffee, or get bit by a wild animal.
The burden is on whatever business owner's to make sure that stupid people can remain stupid and have no consequences for their action.
The general public has no common sense any more.

When bad things like this happen people lose their minds and want to lash out at someone. It is usually at whomever has the deepest pockets.

I don't think anyone has suggested that all lawsuits end up as wins for the plaintiff.

But, even if Disney wins a case like this, it's a huge waste of time, money, resources, and it's a huge PR "hit"...none of which Disney (or any other company, for that matter) cares to go through, especially as it refers to its parks.

A Brit family is saying they were chased on a beach in the same lagoon a few weeks ago.

Wow, I didn't know Aldeer was loaded with so many people that have NEVER done something that they would look back on to regret, or say that was a stupid move. This poor family will live the rest of their lives in guilt and questioning themselves. It's nice to know the world, including this site, is in no shortage of folks ready to play judge/jury, ready to form an opinion on limited knowledge and throw rocks at the parents. To start with, the folks were from Nebraska where the worst thing that can happen with wildlife is a run in with a coyote or maybe step in an ant bed. I know, I lived there for nearly six years. I'm sure the thought of an alligator was the furthest thing from their mind because they have zero experience with them in the Midwest. Secondly, anyone that has been to the Disney resorts knows they have Disney sponsored activities on the beach at night for families. These activities are right along the shoreline and include movies, campfires/smores, entrances to water slides, etc... So, the fact that they were out there along the shoreline is VERY common at the resorts. Was the kid in the water's edge? Yeah, according to witnesses. Was it the smartest move? No it wasn't but what's done is done and how those parents won't end up putting a bullet through their own brain will be beyond me. Rather than being so quick to bash them though, try showing a little compassion and saying a prayer for them. Hug your own children and thank God for them, asking for Him to protect them.

As terrible and tragic as this situation is, and all others involving the loss of a child, as a society we must take responsibility of our own actions. It is the responsibility of me to educate myself on potentially dangerous situations and inform my family. Unfortunately due to the personalization and assigning human character traits to animals by media and Hollywood, people grow up believing wild animals are capable of rational thought, emotion, and reason, which they are not. It's sad this happened, but the sadder fact is that people have no idea of what wild animals are capable of because we are no longer exposing ourselves to them and educating ourselves on their behavior.

Spot on, Matt. Exactly right.

Very sad.

I tell people all the time that Bambi and Thumper are fictional characters. I am SHOCKED at how many people thing animals are rational like some humans. Hollywood continues to paint animals as warm cuddly creatures that just want to play and frolic.

It is a jungle out there and animals will do what they have to do to survive. And in many cases, that is they KILL!

Good post. Animals are made to eat, and reproduce. This one was doing what God made it to do. The parent however, wasn't doing what God made it to do, and an unfortunate thing happened.