Disney Ignored Complaints About Guests Feeding Alligators

[jberryhill]

One of the problems with "there have been lots of visitors and no problems" to the 28 year old Grand Floridian resort at Disney is that even if a facility has been open for a long time, conditions can change over time.

Apparently, Disney very recently opened a set of bungalows on piles in the water, and guests have been feeding alligators from their decks. Employees were aware of this practice, but since the bungalows go for $2000 a night, it's not as if they are going to reprimand those guests for causing the alligators to associate humans with food:


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3645504/Disney-ignored-employees-complaints-guests-2-000-night-bungalows-feeding-alligators.html

The problem has allegedly been exacerbated by the opening of the new $2,000-a-night Bora Bora Bungalows, a an expensive collection of private rooms situated directly on the Seven Seas Lagoon - just across from the beach where Lane was snatched.

The bungalows have private porches and guests apparently feed the alligators as they float past.

'Disney has known about the problem of guests feeding the alligators well-prior to the opening of the bungalows,' said an insider. 'With the opening of the bungalows, it brought the guests that much closer to wildlife. Or, the wildlife that much closer to the guests.'

A few employees said they had complained about the bungalow guests feeding the alligators, but alleged that park officials may have been hesitant to reprimand guests staying in $2,000-a-night suites.

'Disney knew these alligators had become desensitized to humans, as they had begun to associate guests with food, and did not act in a proactive manner,' the insider added.

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A change in conditions, about which they were aware, caused a substantially new and different risk relative to what had previously been the norm.

[trumad]

1. If this is true--Disney is fucked.

[mopinko]

4. they are and they arent.

from the lawsuit, they will settle and it is a drop in the bucket for them.
decreased attendance, tho, is gonna smart.

eta- of course, it will be the employees who are laid off that will bear most of that burden.

[n2doc]

2. Well, penny wise and pound foolish

Because Disney is about to pay out many times that amount in legal fees and judgements. Plus bad press. Unfortunately the folks at the top who made these decisions probably won't feel a thing.

[csziggy]

3. It's not as though there had not been a previous attack, either

30 years ago another boy was attacked by an alligator at Disney. Here is his story.
By Brady Dennis June 16 at 2:59 PM

<SNIP>

But it turns out that in 1986, an 8-year-old boy visiting from New Hampshire suffered serious injuries when he was attacked by a gator at Disney World’s Fort Wilderness, a themed camping resort not far from the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa where Tuesday’s attack occurred. He had been playing nearby when he wandered away to watch ducks at a nearby pond. The gator exploded from the water and grabbed his left leg.

The boy, Paul Santamaria, was fortunate to survive the attack. He is now a grown man living in New Hampshire.

In the video above, he recounted to Boston station WFXT this week how the scars from it remain — some physical, some mental. Santamaria told the station that he was hospitalized for a week with lacerations on his leg. Doctors even removed an alligator tooth from inside his thigh.

Santamaria said that the attack haunted him for years and that for a long time, he didn’t like to sleep alone or go near water. He said the wrenching death this week of 2-year-old Lane Graves brought back memories of his own harrowing experience.

More: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2016/06/16/30-years-ago-another-boy-was-attacked-by-an-alligator-at-disney-here-is-his-story/

With warnings from people a year ago and within the week before the attack, they should have realized what was inevitable. Disney will pay out - but will they change their policies about allowing people to feed the alligators and about warning people about them?

[davidthegnome]

5. Hmm.

Too bad those wealthy, adult guests who were feeding the alligators didn't actually feed the alligators because, you can bet your ass if they'd eaten some rich people, something would've been done about it pronto - and the loss would've been less significant. Instead a toddler had to pay for their idiocy with it's life.

There's a lunatic up here in my neck of the woods who buys giant bags of dog food and other things to feed bears. There's already been complaints and a neighbor's dog that was mauled because of it - but for some reason, nothing can be done to stop her.

Seriously, for those who want to feed really dangerous, really unrestrained, untamed animals... please don't - some of us enjoy living - you can always go to the zoo or something, ask some employee there if you can help feed the animals. There are even petting zoos for that purpose - though granted, I don't think they have alligators. Maybe do that on your own time in a more out of the way place. Not too difficult a concept - and maybe no one will get eaten.

Yeah, Disney is definitely going to hurt for this, but so should those idiots who were feeding the gators. There's a reason you shouldn't do that.

[madamvlb]

6. The Shades of Green resort on Disney

It's an armed forces hotel on Disney property next to the Polynesian Hotel. When I stayed last year I noticed many alligators in the pond. There are signs posted all over saying stay out of water and do not feed or approach alligators. This hotel is not owned by Disney but is on Disney grounds. I don't understand why the SOG hotel is the the only place on Disney that's warns of danger.