It has been anything but a good week in Orlando. Another awful event happened last night, this time at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort.
According to USA Today, a family from Nebraska was on the beach at the resort and the father was wading in the water with his toddler. While they were wading in the shallow water an alligator grabbed the little boy and started to drag him into the water. The father tried unsuccessfully to free his son.
The search is continuing this morning. CNN reports that the Orange County Sheriff’s Office is still hopeful they will find the child, but Sheriff Jerry Demings said it’s a sad reality that, since it has been several hours, they are not likely to recover a live body.
Both articles state that there are no recent records of nuisance alligators in the area, but it is Florida and there will be alligators in bodies of water. This is one of the main reasons for the “No Swimming” signs.
The Grand Floridian beach where the boy was taken is on Seven Seas Lagoon and there are “No Swimming” signs posted around the lagoon and clearly visible to guests. Responders have been searching Seven Seas Lagoon all night and have removed some alligators from the lake, but haven’t found the boy.
A spokesman for Disney World told CNN that Disney is “devastated by this tragic accident” and they are helping the family and assisting law enforcement.
CNN received a video of some of the search boats from a guest at the resort.
Responders at Disney World searching for boy who was dragged into a lagoon by an alligator. https://t.co/suskABi6UPhttps://t.co/AfEdaZei5G
— Josh Berlinger (@j_berlingerCNN) June 15, 2016
My heart is breaking for this family. I can’t imagine watching your child being dragged into the lake and not being able to stop it from happening.
When you are in Disney World, and near a body of water, please, please pay attention to the “No Swimming” signs. There are signs all over Disney property near all bodies of water stating people are not to go in the water. The signs are there for a reason; Disney does not want you going in the water.
Please keep this family in your thoughts.
I’ll update as necessary with this story.
Thanks for reading!
*Liz*
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Liz
I love all things Disney, but my main love is for Disney World and I'm always planning for the next trip. Before becoming a Disney blogger, I was a radio DJ, so I guess I'm just continuing in the communication industry, just in a different form. I love talking Disney and I could talk about Disney all day. That's why I started blogging and created the Facebook group. The Disney community is full of friendly, helpful, and happy people...and I love being a part of it! If there is any Disney subject you would like to see covered just let me know! Need help planning your Disney vacation. Feel free to contact myself or Melissa at Never Stop Dreaming Travel Co. We love helping people plan their trips! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy! Don't forget to check out our Countdown to Disney app! Feel free to email me with suggestions of things you would like to see in the app :-)
We will pray for this family every day!!! What a horrible tragedy, God grace this family with strength to survive this devastation.
It’s just terrible. I am keeping them in my prayers as well. I think they need all the prayers they can get 🙁
Disney is a place of magical memories and for this family this has not been the case , my family and I are currently in Florida , we cannot believe this has happened . We have enjoyed many holidays here and never experienced such a devastating tragedy , our hearts n prayers go out to the family ..