Disney World Reopens Beaches Following Fatal Alligator Attack

Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, has officially reopened its beaches today with fences and signs warning visitors about alligators following the fatal attack of a 2-year-old boy named Lanes Graves by an alligator.

According to Daily Mail, Disney World has included other security measures to forestall a recurrence of the tragedy. The beaches will no longer be open at night and guests can use them from one hour after sunrise until one hour prior to sunset. The “Movies under the stars” that had been held on the beaches will now take place on the hotel lawn areas.

Reports also show that all alligator and crocodile jokes from the park’s scripts and familiar characters like Peter Pan’s Tick Tock Croc. have been removed from the beaches. The line which warns parents to “watch their children or the crocodiles will” around the beaches has also been removed, as it is now considered in appropriate.

References to the predators have also been removed by the guides on the Kilimanjaro Safari ride at Disney’s Animal Kingdom from their tour through the park’s wildlife, sources say.

You will recall that an alligator attacked the 2-year-old boy as he was by the edge of the Seven Seas Lagoon at Grand Floridian Resort & Spa. His body was found the next day and the cause of death was listed as drowning and traumatic injury.

Photo credit: Flickr/John Malone