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    Sunnyside_LadyClover Hope
    6/20/16 10:00am

    I know a lot of people are arguing that it should be common sense that alligators are in the water, but I wouldn’t have known that. Particularly not in a Disney Park - just wouldn’t have thought of it. The fact that these signs weren’t posted to begin with is amazing and to be honest, I think Disney didn’t put them up because it some marketer argued it would “break the atmosphere”.

    And for people who argue that there’s the “no swimming sign”, wading is different than swimming, and here’s a photo of the beach and the barrier that is up NOW - but wasn’t before. I’d certainly dip my toes in before knowledge of alligators. There’s a lot of pics of families wading in the low water here. The fact that Disney knew that people waded in the water but still put up no barrier is certainly cause for a lawsuit - one I hope the family wins.

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      MajesticSeaFlapFlapSunnyside_Lady
      6/20/16 10:11am

      There won’t be a lawsuit. Disney always settles out of court and pays VERY handsomely when they do so. This family won’t have to worry about money for a very long time but I doubt its any consultation.

      That poor little boy, his poor family. Its heartrending.

      And everyone blaming the parents here is heartless and stupid. A local news anchor posted photos of his children playing in the exact same spot it happened - and he is a local and knows about gators.

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      bitemekinjaSunnyside_Lady
      6/20/16 10:12am

      I agree with you wholeheartedly on Disney’s motivation for never putting signs up in the first place; it endangers the aura of “the happiest place on earth”. (Not as much as a two-year-old getting dragged horribly to their death, but hindsight is 20/20.) This will never go to court: Disney will quietly settle a metric shit-ton of money on the poor kid’s family.

      I also have a question for you, and I don’t mean it condescendingly: until now were you truly ignorant of alligators as a threat in any given body of water in Florida? Multiple people have mentioned similar thoughts and it’s just so odd to me. Granted: I live in Florida and so am well-aware of their specific behavior, but I consider myself reasonably well-informed of apex predators in places beyond my home range. Maybe it’s all those episodes of Man vs. Wild I used to watch.

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    RootyTootyClover Hope
    6/20/16 10:14am

    I don’t understand why these weren’t in place before this. Even the dinky pond at the fenced in dog park in my neighborhood has a sign-and a gator. Every body of water bigger than a puddle has a gator in it, whether you see it or not. But I make this assumption based on living in Florida. If I was from Nebraska, how would I know that? How would I know that June is mating season and therefore gators are more aggressive? How would I know that gators feed at dusk, and lay submerged in shallow water waiting for small animals and birds? How would I know that gators move faster and more quietly than you think? That they can jump out of the water and climb a fence? That it doesn’t matter to a gator whether the splashing came from a toddler or a seagull? That a resort billed as a beach club with a sandy beach, umbrellas and sand chairs would be unsafe?

    It surprises me that Disney didn’t have this covered-they are so in control of every aspect of running these parks.

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      Harbour SealRootyTooty
      6/20/16 10:24am

      This. I’m from Scotland and my daughter’s BF goes to Florida Disney every year and even she wasn’t fully aware. I had no clue that there would be alligators there.

      It's the equivalent of coming to Scotland and getting to acquainted with midges and neds. There's stuff you just know about where you stay that no tourist would ever have to consider.

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      freaks go all the wayRootyTooty
      6/20/16 10:25am

      If I was from Nebraska, how would I know that?

      Because everybody knows Florida has gators. I mean, just a couple weeks ago there was that viral video of a giant monster sauntering across a golf course. We hear about your alligators all the time outside of Florida. The first thing I think when I hear “Florida” is “alligators.”

      But imho, there was no sign because Disney didn’t want to ruin the false sense of security people have in their parks. If people are too aware of the very real danger of alligators, they might not enjoy their stay as much. They might even choose not to visit at all.

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    JujyMonkey: Clever tagline goes hereClover Hope
    6/20/16 9:54am

    Walt Disney World Resort is adding warning signs around the resort area where a 2-year-old boy died in an alligator attack.

    Alligators can read?

    sorry everyone, but how ‘bout we just....

    GIF
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      eats books and leavesJujyMonkey: Clever tagline goes here
      6/20/16 9:59am

      It’s still funny, sweetie.

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      Mary-GraceJujyMonkey: Clever tagline goes here
      6/20/16 10:00am

      No. I love Disney World and I won’t have it floating away. I WON’T HAVE IT!

      If you could somehow saw around Disney World, creating Disney Island, I’d be on board.

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    PlumberZekeClover Hope
    6/20/16 9:56am

    See that’s the problem, they fed the wildlife.

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      GreenchristyeyePlumberZeke
      6/20/16 10:01am

      That is a major problem but the tourists who do not know that other guests feed the gators leading them to lose their fear of humans pay the price. Anyone local knows to stay away from water sources but this whole thing was poorly handled. The signs are important. Poor little guy.

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      Ken YadiggitPlumberZeke
      6/20/16 10:09am

      ohhhhh my god, I feel really bad for laughing at this

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    randilynisFINDILYNClover Hope
    6/20/16 10:09am

    Disney is usually pretty good about keeping the Happiest Place in the World title. They tend to excel at masking real life dangers and they do run the whole show from underground. I would have expected signs (before this) that downplayed but still acknowledged risk.

    (Like having a cartoon character doing the warnings).

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      Lannister HandjobrandilynisFINDILYN
      6/20/16 10:48am

      Croc from Peter Pan, obvs. “No tick-tock will warn you for a ‘gator, kids! Stay out of the water”

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      randilynisFINDILYNLannister Handjob
      6/20/16 10:50am

      YES!!!

      ETA: “something something playing Hook-ie.”

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    sybannClover Hope
    6/20/16 10:56am

    This is a heartbreaking tragedy. Please remember “No Swimming” means stay out of the water - not “no backstroke or butterfly” - or wading.

    And people who live and work here get bitten and killed and eaten too.

    And while it’s not surprising that a family from Nebraska was not aware - everyone should be made aware that alligators are fast, agile (can climb chain link fences), territorial - meaning they’ll find a new home if there’s a bigger dude in their pond/lake, and that they frequently eat cats and dogs that wander too close to canals, ponds, lakes etc. and have been seen as far north as Virginia but are common in North and South Carolina. It’s a damn jungle out there. But please don’t blame the parents or Disney - it’s on the reptile.

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      OvariesOfDiamondsybann
      6/20/16 11:37am

      It’s on the parents. Completely on them that their kid died. There is a reason there is a sign saying stay away from the water. It’s not on Disney because they had a sign and employees do mention wildlife in the water.

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      sybannOvariesOfDiamond
      6/20/16 11:51am

      I’d agree without reservations - if I didn’t have reservations. They don’t need blame on top of crushing guilt and grief.

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    PrincessMonsterTruckClover Hope
    6/20/16 11:12am

    I am very hurt by comments that it is the family’s fault for letting their child get too close to the water. Parents can turn their back on their child for seconds and something like this could happen. My little brother died because my mom left my 6 year old brother in the backyard for a few minutes to make him lunch. He was digging a hole in the backyard because kids like Tonka trucks and whatnot and sand collapsed on him and he couldn’t get up. He died from lack of oxygen. I would be furious to the point of tears if anyone said it was my mother’s fault. She is a good mom. Parents can’t watch their kids 24/7.

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      TrogdortheBurnernatorPrincessMonsterTruck
      6/20/16 11:23am

      Oh, you missed the Twitter shitstorm where a bunch of online “feminists” (starting with one who had the handle @femme_esq) blamed the parents and spoke about the child in really dehumanizing terms and turned it into a race and sexuality issue, doubling-down on disgusting comments about the parent and child, suggesting any criticism of their comments was coming from “cis het white” folk who didn’t show the same concern over the Pulse shooting and also some comments about how it was coming from Berners/Bernie Bros. I have never seen anything like that from online feminists and I found it appalling, as a queer Latina feminist. There was an article referring to the initial tweet as “the worst tweet ever”, which is an exaggeration when there are literal Holocaust deniers on Twitter, and I am sure these women dealt with tons of harassment and I think if your response to shitty tweets is doxxing and harassment you are in no position to moralize. But it was also really cruel and callous and I’m pretty ashamed by this display by self-identified public feminists. Sady Doyle was one of the worst, but a number of people came in to weigh in when they really should’ve closed the computer and taken a deep breath.

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      BeyoncePadThaiPrincessMonsterTruck
      6/20/16 12:30pm

      When I was a kid my sister died car accident. My Mom sent me to a grief group for siblings and I heard stories like yors a lot. It made me understand what a lot of people don't, it really does happen in a second. Also, not everything is foreseeable. I'm sorry about your brother.

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    tealstarClover Hope
    6/20/16 10:59am

    Some alligator experts have been questioning the information that has been made public in this case. Specifically the injuries to the child’s body. Allegedly they are inconsistent with most gator attacks.There is other shady stuff being rumbled about too, but they are verging too far into conspiracy territory.

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      tealstartealstar
      6/20/16 1:34pm

      It is really hard to source Disney employees that I know personally, without leaving them open to harassment, and I’m not going to do that. People need to grow up and get over themselves.

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    olivianewtonjohnClover Hope
    6/20/16 9:57am

    I was in that area a couple of years ago for a family wedding and stayed at a hotel that bordered the Disney property. They also had a beach on a man-made lake...and there were TONS of “no wimming” signs, all with prominent images of alligators on them. It freaked the crap out of me! I let my kid play in the sand, but the water was totally off limits.

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      jcsmith2olivianewtonjohn
      6/20/16 10:12am

      Unfortunately few other Guests follow that same common sense approach. They see the signs and think “well, they’re just splashing around or wading, they’re not really ‘swimming’ so where’s the harm?”

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      MalMalMalMalMalolivianewtonjohn
      6/20/16 10:16am

      When I was there I remember riding the boat between destinations and the fella talking about there being alligators in the waters that they tried to remove once they reached a certain size. They were far from a secret.

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    HecateBarTheDoorClover Hope
    6/20/16 10:25am

    Alligators are incredibly creepy and, while I enjoy visiting Florida, it’s unnerving to think these things are pretty much everywhere.

    Everyone who visits Florida should drive through the Everglades and see them. I took this photo just off the roadside (from a designated viewing area).

    Ain’t nothing cute about an alligator.

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      Bantha FodderstompfHecateBarTheDoor
      6/20/16 10:39am

      Counterpoint:

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      chocolatechipcookiesforbreakfastBantha Fodderstompf
      6/20/16 11:52am

      I would feel pretty safe with a mom like that.

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