Reason to be fearful?

[Mel522]

There's just two very conflicting messages here. When the tragedy happened the boards were full of people saying "it's Florida! They should've know any body of water can be dangerous".
Now I'm seeing people saying "you should not be worried about wildlife in seven seas lagoon".
So which is it? I understand it was one incident in many many years. I understand that logically alligators won't approach you doing water sports as you're moving so quickly and noisily etc. But people criticised those parents for assuming that lake was safe, so shouldn't we be assuming it's not?

There's not two conflicting messages, there's two very different situations. An adult tubing in the middle of the lake behind a moterized boat during the day is very different then a toddler playing at the waters edge alone at night.

 

[Nancyg56]

If you're going to be worried about the risk- don't do it. Everyone else is giving you their opinion of what they would do. You decide if your desire outweighs your worries- well then you have your answer. No one can give you good odds or predictions about what will happen. And only you can gauge just how much the thought of alligators or brain bugs bothers you.

I agree. I am a big ole chicken so if I worked up the nerve to try this, I would be a mess. It does not matter to me that the incidents are rare, they would be looming over me, along with visions of anything else that lurks in water.

No one can tell anyone else what their comfort level will be. If you are asking, you need to know yourself well enough to know if you can make those questions disappear. If he? Go. If no? Save your money for a different activity.

 

[DJFan88]

My question is why do it here? This is an activity you can do lots of places in the US. Much better places, the NE comes to mind. Why here then with more things to do if you don't even know if you want to do it

 

[MainMom]

Nope, no way. Plus there we have plenty of lakes and friends with boats in alligator and brain eating amoeba free water where we live.

 

[my2lovedisney]

I absolutely would not ever in a thousand years do it even if someone tried to pay me. Nope.

 

[kandb]

Years ago we went water skiing at the CR. We had no problems and had a great time and would do it again if we could. I would think if there were problems with the ameoba or aligators then Disney would stop these activities. Obviously you have to make your own decision as to what you feel is safe. Have a wonderful trip!

This isn't true. When people swam in seven lakes lagoon years ago a boy did die from the amoeba and Disney did not close the lake after that. I assuming Disney felt the risk was small so therefore kept the lake open for swimming.

 

[kandb]

You will be fine. They do the water sports in deep water. Alligators can't really attack in deep water...they need land to lunge. These are not salt water crocodiles here. The alligators rarely attack anything in deep water, except maybe fish...just not how they naturally hunt.

Also, the bacteria lives in the silt at the bottom of the lake. The most dangerous places are the shallows where, when you wade, you stir up the bacteria. If you fall off your tube in the deep water, you won't hit the bottom. Wear a nose plug if you are really worried, but you will be fine without one.

This is informative!!!!

 

[kandb]

The brain eating amoeba enters through mucous membranes. A few people here in Louisiana died from getting water in their noses while in their showers. The amoeba showed up in their municipal water systems. Every water system in Louisiana had to do a system chemical burn over several days to kill any possible amoeba in the water system. There was also a young girl in Arkansas who got it in her nose, but was able to be saved through the use of an experimental drug.

The flesh eating bacteria was found in fresh water in Charlotte County in Florida maybe last year or the year before.

The amoeba totally freaks me out. I have never heard of people contacting it from showering. I have heard people getting it from using those pod's that they spray up their noses. It's really rare but fatal almost 100% of the time.

 

[Eastern]

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/health/fl-brain-eating-amoeba-cure-20160819-story.html

 

[bettybooplove]

Maybe what you're feeling isn't fear but just good old intuition. If something inside is telling you not to do it, then don't it.

You're still at Disney and there are dozens of other things you can do to entertain yourself without being worried.

Personally I wouldn't worry about the gators, but as others said, I've always been worried about bacteria. And I would worry about that in any lake.

 

[AllieBoo]

I probably would not worry about the gators as much as the amoeba if you are doing this in the summer.

 

[bellebud]

I wouldn't do it or allow my kids to do it. In NY where we live, sure. In Florida, no way!

 

[Hikergirl]

From what I understand the boats scare the alligators away. They are afraid of getting hit.

They aren't afraid of air boats. We went on a tour and drove right over one, well he dived as we approached and then popped his head up next to us. Closest I have ever been to a gator.

 

[cheshirealliekat]

Forget alligators and amoeba for a moment and that water is still filthy from ferries and boats and tourists dropping trash, etc. You could not pay me to put my hand in it let alone risk my entire body being submerged. There are probably 100 places you could go tubing in Central Florida, for much cheaper, that have much cleaner water if it is something you must try.

 

[dmea10]

Oh heck no! I would never put my toes in the lakes in Florida. Gators are everywhere and they are definitely in the Seven Seas Lagoon as we all know. Go tube down the lazy river at a water park. Why is River Country closed? I always wonder if it was because gators could get in there easily. Just my opinion, don't do it. Gators are not predictable.

 

[dmea10]

Yeah...we all know there's nothing bad floating around in the ocean waters... Though knowing where you're from, I would agree that the ocean in Florida is a heck of a lot better than Jersey. So comparatively speaking, you're right.

Have you been to the beaches in Jersey?

 

[dmea10]

I'm still surprised considering Disney's non-reaction to the Fort Wilderness attack years ago and their HUGE reaction to the recent tragedy with a complete "lockdown" with fences and rocks of the WDW beaches,that they didn't go ahead and eliminate any Sammy Duvall activities with "Guest entry" possibilities into the lake.

Exactly!

 

[disnut8]

Whether you go into the waters at Disney World or take part in the water activities at Disney World remains only one person's opinion and that's your own. If everyone stopped doing things because they heard about someone else on a discussion board having a problem, then nothing would be done at all anywhere. Or if someone had a problem on their own and never did it again, then I wouldn't wash my hair or drive a car.

 

[mom2rtk]

Whether you go into the waters at Disney World or take part in the water activities at Disney World remains only one person's opinion and that's your own. If everyone stopped doing things because they heard about someone else on a discussion board having a problem, then nothing would be done at all anywhere. Or if someone had a problem on their own and never did it again, then I wouldn't wash my hair or drive a car.

Just for the record, I'm going on the record as being against washing hair in the 7 Seas Lagoon too.