Disney World adding alligator warning signs around resort property

Disney World Resort Vice President Jacquee Wahler explained that these signs are temporary, and the company is working on some more permanent fixes.

The death of a two-year-old boy from an alligator attack at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida earlier this week have caused the public to blame both the child’s parents and the five-star luxury resort where they were vacationing.

A fence has now been erected around the Seven Seas Lagoon where the gator, which witnesses said was 4 to 7 feet long, snatched the toddler.

Before Friday, “No Swimming” signs were dotted around the lagoon, but there were no posted warnings specifically about alligators.

The absence of signage throughout the Disney theme parks, located in a state with more than a million gators across all 67 Florida counties, has drawn criticism from legal experts, among others, who say Disney could be held liable for the child’s death. The Orange County sheriff said it was the first time an alligator had killed someone at Disney in its 45 years of operations. “Neither Melissa, myself or anyone from our family will be speaking publicly; we simply can not at this time”, the statement said.

Disney World shut down River Country after the splashier water parks, Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon, grew in popularity.

“They put the hotels right on the edge of the lake and they mixed people with the water, which they know they alligators are in, so at a minimum they had a duty to warn”, he said.

The signs and barriers come too late for little Lane Graves, whose family was visiting from Nebraska.

“They presumably know, since they have caught four or five alligators in this area, that the area has dangers that far and away exceed the danger of drowning”, said Miami-based defense attorney Scott Leeds.

Whalen screamed, she told the AP, and everyone scattered.

“They are low-key, contrite and helpful”, Juda Engelmayer, a crisis manager at 5W PR, said of Disney’s response. His body was recovered the next day. Rather less commendably, Disney’s workers threatened to confiscate the phones and cameras of anyone who tried to photograph or videotape the spectacle, Whalen added.

Sign that will be installed at the Walt Disney World Resort. It’s unclear if the alligator involved in the attack has been captured.

The attack on Tuesday night at a Disney resort in Orlando was, by all accounts, a parent’s worst nightmare. “And I see this alligator that I would estimate at 6 feet plus or minus beelining straight for him”, he said.