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WaPo: Disney knew its park was full of alligators. It caught hundreds before a boy was killed.

Somnia

Somnia

Chicken Chaser
Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,944
Noroi_Kisaragi said:
They still have time to launch a lawsuit

http://statelaws.findlaw.com/florida-law/florida-civil-statute-of-limitations-laws.html

Statute of limitations for gross negligence in Florida is 2 years. Two years haven't passed yet.
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They won't however as they've stated multiple times. They got that statue put up to honor their son at the Grand Floridian and to let people know about the charity in his name and they got a settlement from Disney (obviously no one knows how much or what as it was done all outside of the courts).

The parents have openly said they do not blame Disney.
 
Solace

Solace

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Oct 29, 2017
1,919
Having a 3 year old nephew who is the sweetest little brat ... just the thought of watching your kid being taken away by a gigantic beast is soul crushing.
Fucking a man.makes my blood boil.
Is it really that hard to secure the entire area? I have no idea about the size of disney world.
Those poor parents better sue the hell out of them so it wont happen again.
 
TDLink

TDLink

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
8,411
ahoyhoy said:
So it has nothing to do with the ever increasing amount of gators being removed from the park?

Unless they just didn't care about the gators before, it seems like something has changed for there to be a higher gator population in the area and Disney probably knows about it.
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As far as I'm aware the amount of gators on Disney property is no greater than the amount of gators elsewhere in Florida in general. Disney has always removed gators when they find them both before this instance and since. But nothing stops them from just coming back, or other gators coming in. Disney's property in Florida is larger than many cities -- it is a city itself. It's impossible to get them all. There isn't some sort of event that occurred that caused alligators to show up to WDW in greater numbers. The resort is just literally built on Florida swampland -- their natural environment. It's not that Disney didn't care about the gators before, it's just that it's a fact of life of having the park in central Florida and that's always been the case. In over 40 years this was the one instance of a kid getting taken by an Alligator, and only because the kid was playing in the water (which signs told people not to go into). Most people who visit WDW will never see a gator, especially within the actual theme parks.
 
peteykirch

peteykirch

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,831
How people don't know there are Gators in Florida is beyond me.

DISNEY WAS BUILT ON A SWAMP!

What's the mascot for the state university? A FLIPPING GATOR!

It's a lose lose scenario. Disney cannot logistically and humanely make sure there are no gators on Disney property, when Disney property also includes protected wet/marshlands.

The parents shouldn't have let their kid wade in the water in the manmade 7 Seas Lagoon...especially at night when it's dark.

The parents claim their kid wasn't swimming, but to me NO SWIMMING = DON'T GO IN WATER
 
TAJ

TAJ

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Oct 28, 2017
12,446
The day that happened there were former employees saying that they'd found alligators in the restrooms in the early morning.
 
Doc Laserstein

Doc Laserstein

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Oct 25, 2017
4,567
Solace said:
Is it really that hard to secure the entire area? I have no idea about the size of disney world.
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It's enormous, forty-something square miles all told, and yes it is that hard. It's probably hard to imagine just how pervasive they are for somebody who didn't grow up around gators, but they're literally everywhere. They climb fences, burrow under walls, and navigate through storm sewers long forgotten by time and survey maps. They prefer fresh water, but will thrive in brackish waters if circumstances dictate. And then, even if you somehow manage the impossible by making body of water adult gator-proof, they leave the nest when they're tiny and adorable and immediately seek out territory with a high concentration of fish and low concentration of adult gators. In other words, exactly the baby gator haven you just created.
 
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Shola Akinnuso

Shola Akinnuso

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,493
Henderson, NV
wow. the responses in this thread still shock me. Many are being incredibly callous.
People really need to remember that 1. the boy wasn't playing in the water, 2. Just because a sign posts no swimming and maybe you even know of alligators in the states, it doesn't occur to ANYONE that a company like Disney would host an OUTDOOR MOVIE right near the water at sunset which, apparently, prime time for alligator hunting. Now, with the reveal that the rise in Alligators has been climbing and that Disney was warned in advance about the threat, the resort is extra accountable.

I'm from the east cost, I know that gators are in florida, and STILL it wouldn't have occurred to me that the no swimming sign meant DEADLY ALLIGATORS CAN JUMP OUT OF THE WATER AT ANY MOMENT.
 

AndreGX

GameXplain
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Oct 24, 2017
1,815
San Francisco
Xita said:
They should do research on more than just the park, it's not like it's disconnected from the state it's in.
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It's essentially marketed as an isolated travel destination, a self-contained "world." I don't think it's exactly shocking people are unaware that such an unusual danger exists, nor do I think they should they should be blamed for such. And this isn't even accounting for how rare gator attacks seem to be on property--tourists have higher odds of dying in a car crash on the way to Disney World.

Despite such, Disney's negligence in this area should not be excused, particularly with reports of how employees had even been feeding the gators at times
 
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MasterChumly

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,895
TDLink said:
keep in mind the resort, and the hotel where this occurred specifically, have been open and operating for 45 years and this is the only instance of something like this happening. It's very much parental negligence.
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So all the other parents that let their kids play in the water were monsters as well? Disney didn't even make sure that people stayed out of the water. It's pretty obvious that NOBODY expected this. Just blaming this on the parents is ridiculous. They were at a top end resort at Disney world. They last thing they are thinking is that Disney is putting them in danger if they don't watch their kids like hawks
 
Bengraven

Bengraven

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Oct 26, 2017
26,759
Florida
This would be more scandalous if they weren't actively removing them.

The only issue is not marking areas where gators could be present.
 
Mr_Black

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Oct 27, 2017
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How about instead of, removing the alligators from their natural habitat. We remove ourselves????

EHH MEH GAWWSH
 
LL_Decitrig

LL_Decitrig

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Oct 27, 2017
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Pirateluigi said:
Is this that surprising? It's Florida. If there's water, there's probably a gator in it.

I don't know if there's any realistic way to prevent gators from entering the grounds.
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Do alligators burrow? You'd have to put bars and meshes over any rivers and streams passing into or out of the park, and any springs entering from beneath.

I suppose that, coming from a country where the most dangerous water-borne animal is a very rare otter, I find the idea of a family park full of alligators unacceptable. I agree that the owners of the park should be sued. They've got deep pockets but if you hold out long enough the bad publicity may persuade them that the problem deserves more than just a payoff.
 
bear force one

bear force one

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What's the controversy here? It's Florida. We have gators.

Go play in the water unwatched little child. It'll be fine. That's bad even without alligators. Place fault where it lies.
 
Maximus

Maximus

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Oct 27, 2017
3,586
What a tragity and what good character for not trying to cash in on such a horrific incident.
 
Z-Beat

Z-Beat

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Oct 25, 2017
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I think a lot of people knew about the alligators prior to that incident. Wasn't really a secret.

That said, most people in WDW are tourists and aren't expecting to find alligators anywhere near an extremely well known theme park.
 
Pendas

Pendas

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Oct 28, 2017
4,646
PanickyFool said:
20 million people go there a year.

I would honestly say they have a pretty good track record.
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Pretty much this. You can't stop all gator attacks, but a 99.9999* percent Ratio is the best you're going to get.

My sister works for the law firm that handles most of Disney's Lawsuits. I know what happened to that kid was a tragedy... but the amount of money the family got is absurd.
 
Professor Fate

Professor Fate

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Oct 25, 2017
6,813
Yeah any local could have told you this. It's the middle of Florida, in swampy area to boot. Doesn't lessen what happened of course. Disney World also has a deer problem (because obviously you can't hunt in the grounds) and frequently traps them as well. As they mow down more of the natural habitat for park space over time it has increasingly made the deer more visible and dangerous to all the traffic.
 
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RomanticHeroX

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Oct 27, 2017
2,883
It's not at all uncommon to see gators in the waters going between parts of the property on boat, and the boat captains always point them out. They seem especially prominent in the trip between Port Orleans and Downtown Disney. Though they don't advertise it, Disney doesn't try to deny that they're there.
 
Snarfington

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Oct 25, 2017
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I've visited Fort Wilderness every year for a long time now and I'm 100% sure that we've pretty much always had a warning slip in our arrival packet advising us about various things such as snakes, mosquitos and gators. I would be surprised if this wasn't included at every resort, but would also be surprised if >10% of guests bothered to read it.

I felt very very aware of the gator problem at WDW, but Disney has know that the majority of their guests don't care to inform themselves even with the information they're given.

Many guests think they're in a fantasy world where nothing bad can ever happen and don't inform themselves about where they ACTUALLY are. It's an issue that's very hard to tackle unless you literally sit every guest down and give them all these warnings face to face - which doesn't exactly make the place seem pleasant.

I'm not at all saying the family have responsibility for this, but the event exposed an issue with guest attitudes that's being taken advantage of for this article. It's an issue of people not informing themselves or being aware and it's an epidemic at these parks. Just look at all the people who would swim in the lagoon 10+ years after they put up massive NO SWIMMING signs.
 
Razgriz-Specter

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Oct 25, 2017
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Wasn't the lagoon originally supposed to have a lot of water activities(surfing for example)?
Wonder how they originally intended to deal with gators
 
Titik

Titik

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Oct 25, 2017
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Blackbanditsho said:
wow. the responses in this thread still shock me. Many are being incredibly callous.
People really need to remember that 1. the boy wasn't playing in the water, 2. Just because a sign posts no swimming and maybe you even know of alligators in the states, it doesn't occur to ANYONE that a company like Disney would host an OUTDOOR MOVIE right near the water at sunset which, apparently, prime time for alligator hunting. Now, with the reveal that the rise in Alligators has been climbing and that Disney was warned in advance about the threat, the resort is extra accountable.

I'm from the east cost, I know that gators are in florida, and STILL it wouldn't have occurred to me that the no swimming sign meant DEADLY ALLIGATORS CAN JUMP OUT OF THE WATER AT ANY MOMENT.
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You are the reason why warning labels are ten pages long.
 
Aaronrules380

Aaronrules380

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Oct 25, 2017
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I mean, I think most of us agree Disney should've put up more and better warning signs for those unaware of the environment in Florida, but that's about the limit of what can be reasonably asked of them beyond what is already being done. And it's not like these attacks are frequent at all. I mean, many millions of visitors go to WDW each year, and have been doing so for years. Has there been any more than this one attack? I mean it's a tragedy, to be sure, but it's also a statistical anomaly and nowhere close to a common occurence
 
Aprikurt

Aprikurt

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Oct 29, 2017
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We're impressed by dinosaurs but you Floridians have fucking alligators in your back yards. Jesus.
 
bear force one

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ScreenSplitter said:
We're impressed by dinosaurs but you Floridians have fucking alligators in your back yards. Jesus.
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It's really not a big deal. It just sounds like it. I moved here from Chicago and got used to it almost immediately. I respect them and they're beautiful creatures. We are lucky to have them and the black bears.

We have to stop pretending like it's only a planet for humans.
 
NoRĂ©N

NoRĂ©N

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Oct 26, 2017
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bear force one said:
It's really not a big deal. It just sounds like it. I moved here from Chicago and got used to it almost immediately. I respect them and they're beautiful creatures. We are lucky to have them and the black bears.

We have to stop pretending like it's only a planet for humans.
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Instead of responding to this thread and risk getting called callous or insensitive, ima focus on your AWESOME username. Goddamn that's a throwback.
 

Snack12367

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,191
Typhon said:
Well...it is Florida. Alligators in the water is kind of a given.
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I mean they can do all they can to protect people from them, but I don't think it would be possible to keep them out of the water. My understanding was that there were even signs and warning to not go near the water.

I mean Disney can only really be held so responsible surely?
 
Bengraven

Bengraven

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Oct 26, 2017
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ScreenSplitter said:
We're impressed by dinosaurs but you Floridians have fucking alligators in your back yards. Jesus.
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To be fair I live in a pretty swampy part of Florida and I've only seen one in the wild maybe twice. I also have a lot of brackish swamp the water with the long grass and yet I've never seen a poisonous snake once in 10 years.

Then again I don't get out much because there are fucking snakes and alligators outside.
 
Book One

Book One

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Oct 25, 2017
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KarneeKarnay said:
I mean they can do all they can to protect people from them, but I don't think it would be possible to keep them out of the water. My understanding was that there were even signs and warning to not go near the water.

I mean Disney can only really be held so responsible surely?
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There was a no swimming sign because of a 'drop off'. No mention of gators. It was also a resort designed to look like a beach where they would hold events on the sand. Water access was not cut off. IIRC The kid was playing in the sand and was in less than a foot of water when the gator grabbed him.

I mean I wouldnt have done it, but even then - and especially since they knew behind the scenes the lengths they had to go to to get gators out - Disney did the bare minimum here.

After the kid died they have much better warnings and precautions now. It shouldn't have come to that.
 

Snack12367

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Oct 28, 2017
3,191
Vyer said:
There was a no swimming sign because of a 'drop off'. No mention of gators. It was also a resort designed to look like a beach where they would hold events on the sand. Water access was not cut off. IIRC The kid was playing in the sand and was in less than a foot of water when the gator grabbed him.

I mean I wouldnt have done it, but even then - and especially since they knew behind the scenes the lengths they had to go to to get gators out - Disney did the bare minimum here.

After the kid died they have much better warnings and precautions now. It shouldn't have come to that.
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That makes sense. All the pics i've seen show warnings. A few articles even present them as if they've always been there.
 
Somnia

Somnia

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Vyer said:
There was a no swimming sign because of a 'drop off'. No mention of gators. It was also a resort designed to look like a beach where they would hold events on the sand. Water access was not cut off. IIRC The kid was playing in the sand and was in less than a foot of water when the gator grabbed him.

I mean I wouldnt have done it, but even then - and especially since they knew behind the scenes the lengths they had to go to to get gators out - Disney did the bare minimum here.

After the kid died they have much better warnings and precautions now. It shouldn't have come to that.
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You're right, Disney did do the bare minimum, but they were doing something.

Again I don't put the blame on one specific person and like you said I wouldn't have done that either. No way I'd let my 2 year old in water, in the pitch dark of night with signs saying STEEP DROP OFF NO SWIMMING. It was a tragic event, but I don't think blame needs to be passed around on this one to anyone as there were faults by a lot of people.

edit: Not necessarily "pitch dark" as that area is pretty well light, but the water itself isn't, no way to no how far out the drop is, even more so for a 2 year old who was in the water.
 
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