Oh no! Trigger child harm

[Deleted]

Two year old dragged into lake by an alligator at the Grand Floridian.  It's been almost an hour so it's not looking good. 

[Deleted]

My husband just sent me an article about it How horrible.

[krystee]

Some witch in Facebook comments is questioning their parenting skills. I hope I don't regret wading into that conversation, but I was horrified. According to eyewitnesses, the kid was right next to his mom watching s movie on the beach.

[marie3246]

Jun 14, 2016 22:19:48 GMT -5 krystee said:

Some witch in Facebook comments is questioning their parenting skills. I hope I don't regret wading into that conversation, but I was horrified. According to eyewitnesses, the kid was right next to his mom watching s movie on the beach.

I just read a comment on Facebook saying the mom was holding her hand when it happened

[marie3246]

Jun 14, 2016 22:27:41 GMT -5 Loco Coco said:

Jun 14, 2016 22:24:34 GMT -5 marie3246 said:

I just read a comment on Facebook saying the mom was holding her hand when it happened

Holy fuck. This is breaking my heart. My DD is the same age, and I can't stop thinking about that poor baby and her family.

I know... we go there every time we go, DD is 2 and ran around on the beach last time right before the movie. I know gators are everywhere in Fl but never in a million years would this be on my mind to be on the lookout for.

[bronxgirl]

how horrifying! It would never occur to me to think something like this could happen. that poor family.

[anakenzie]

Not sure if he misspoke but saw a video clip of the sheriff I believe speaking saying they were wading in about a foot of water and that the parents were right by the child and the dad (and possibly the mother as well) struggled with the alligator trying to get the child back. I can't even imagine. My thoughts and prayers are with that poor family.

[mmmomof2]

I saw this article on Facebook and I was hoping it was some sort of hoax or scam article. Damn, that's so awful. I know the beaches there say "no swimming", but I never would have thought wading wouldn't be ok. But I guess the gators could get out of the water anytime too.

I've seen a small gator in the water around Tom Sawyer Island by Frontierland in the MK once, but never in the "wild" there. I rented those Searay boats in 2002 and drove all over the Seven Seas Lagoon and I'm sure there were gators, but didn't see one. I don't think I could ever rent one of those again or let my kids ride in one. You're a little close too the water!

[chicago]

I am tearing up reading this. I want to go wake my two year old and give her a hug. I can't even imagine.

[spaghetticat]

I am speechless. How do you even go on living after something like that happens to your family? And fuck all of these people blaming the parents. You just want to be smug about it all already? Jesus.

[ilikedonuts]

Jun 15, 2016 4:56:47 GMT -5 @mrsbecky said:

Absolutely horrifying.


We saw a gator (small one) in the water below the bridge overlooking splash mountain when we were waiting for my dad and H to finish the ride. But someone at AOA told us they check the water for gators constantly and they have people on staff who remove them safely. Seven seas is obviously a lot bigger than the lake at AOA though.


That poor family.

The splash mountain one has been spotted a lot. I'm not sure why Disney hasn't removed it. You would think they would have by now!

[zarapipe]

This is horrifying. I can't even imagine.

[sagelily]

If an alligator has been spotted near Splash Mountain, do they move it and it keeps returning? Does Disney feed them if they stay in the area? It seems like even if the alligators are hunting other animals in the lagoon, it would be upsetting to the Disney visitors who witness the attacks. Sorry if my questions are dumb, but I've only been to Disney once in the past few years and I can't picture the area by Splash Mountain at all.

[origami]

I can't even imagine the terror they must be feeling. Count me as another one that never thought alligators were something to worry about there.

[marie3246]

I worked at a hotel outside of disney while and college that had a large lake guests used for fishing/boating/etc. It had gators and they weren't able to be removed unless they were 4ft or larger. There were also tons of poisonous snakes and they weren't allowed to kill them, could only relocate.

I have lived in Fl for about 8 years and know about gators and have been to the GF beach many times. It still never would have crossed my mind this could have happened. There are no swimming signs, but I don't remember seeing gator signs. The beach is also set up to seem like a regular beach with chairs, etc and it is right by the pool.

I have seen tons of kids playing in the sand right by the water and sometimes getting buckets with water to make sand castles. Even at night since they have movies right there.

I feel so bad for the parents, I hate how people are jumping to blame them. I could see this happening to us easily. I've always been under the impression that gators pretty much leave humans alone and that you don't disturb them or feed them. This is so terrifying.

[Deleted]

Jun 15, 2016 8:13:24 GMT -5 Loco Coco said:

The parent blaming is ridiculous. I worked with gators for years. I can tell you that controlling even a 4 foot gator with two grown adults who know what they're doing and a gator who was used to being handled was a damn near impossible task sometimes. Unless you've handled one, you really can't imagine the strength and the speed. By all accounts the parents were RIGHT THERE.

Between this, and the gorilla incident, I'm getting really sad/annoyed with all the parent blaming during fluke accidents.

[curbsideprophet]

CNN is reporting that Disney has closed all its beaches.

How horrible.

[spaghetticat]

I can't stop thinking about this.

[alleinesein]

Back when I worked at WDW I used to see alligators sunning themselves underneath the monorail track between the TTC and EPCOT. I would see them at least once a week. I know that there are signs at the golf course that warn of snakes and alligators since both of them like to hang out on the course (and the snakes occasionally eat golf balls).

[Deleted]

Jun 15, 2016 11:50:58 GMT -5 Loco Coco said:

Jun 15, 2016 10:40:30 GMT -5 spaghetticat said:

I can't stop thinking about this.

Me too. I hope, at this point, that they can find that alligator and the family has remains to put to rest. God, that was awful to type out/think about.

Looks like they found the remains & the family has been notified.