LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – A family from North Carolina is preparing to file a lawsuit against the Crowne Plaza in Lake Buena Vista, nearly a year after their young daughter drowned in one of the hotel’s pools.

“I’m standing here today not because I’m brave,” said Victoria Chen. “It’s just because I don’t have other choice.”

Clutching her daughter’s favorite toy, Chen told reporters that her daughter, six-year-old Mia Xu, had a knack for dancing.

Chen, her husband, and their two daughters arrived in Orlando on Dec. 27, 2024.

[WATCH: First responders share safety resources to keep children from drowning]

“I trusted that place to be safe for families,” Chen said through tears. “But it was not. And now my daughter is gone forever.”

Standing next to Chen at a press conference Thursday, at

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