Snakes and gators in the park

[AnnaMom]

Have seen acouple of snakes on different trips once at Port Orleans French Quarter at the bus stop & once at CBR sunning along the lake.

[MargaretMessler]

Saw a couple of gators sunbathing along the side of the one the highways on Disney property once, don't remember which one. That's about it. A snake here and there over the years. Oh, and we had a tiny lizard running amuck in our hotel room one year at CBR. It was harmless, but I thought we would destroy the room trying to catch and evict it.

[ransam]

That's it, never going back.

[darthmacho]

We didn't see it, but when we stayed at Coronado Springs in 1999, there were some Cast Members investigating a gator sighting near where we were walking by one of the canals. I was both intrigued and concerned, but nothing came of it.

In 2003, however, an armadillo ran right past us along a path at All Star Music, and my DD (2yo at the time) dubbed it "Baby Dillo".

Other wildlife we've encountered have been the usual lizards and birds, as well as bunnies, deer, and my favorite, Baby Ducks!

[wdw dude]

A few years ago I saw a very large snake on the walkway between the Boardwalk and Studios. Talk about ! And it wasn't one of those animatronic ones either!!

[Mrs Bus Driver]

I feel so left out all I have ever seen are the flying squirrels at CBR.

[waymickey]

That's it, never going back.

We saw a gator in the MK in the water between TSI and Country Bears. A CM was watching it and waiting for animal control to come and pick him up.
I have never seen a snake, but have seen: rabbits, armadillo, Bald Eagle, lizards by the ton and one very very very big Spider. This spider was at the Boardwalk and was yellow and black and as big as a mans hand. I had a real hard time sleeping the rest of the trip after seeing it.

[Main Street Jim]

The Rivers of America in Frontierland were *notorious* for 'gators, especially when the Turkey Leg wagon was right there across from Pecos Bill's.

When I worked at Splash in 2003-4, we actually had a "Gator Watch" position. Why? Because guests couldn't stop feeding the gators :/ They'd hang out under the boardwalk behind the Turkey wagon for obvious reasons.

We captured (and released on another part of the property, far away from the parks) a NINE-FOOT, 600+lb gator in 2003, in the retention pond right behind Thunder's maintenance building.

When I was on the Tom Sawyer rafts, we were crossing the river - *with guests* - and a 5-footer swam right alongside my raft, almost close enough for guests to actually touch the thing. "Ooooooo, it looks just like a real alligator!" "It is, lady...it is."

On the steam trains, going down between Frontierland and ToonTown stations, there's a canal that runs along the back of the park. We'd see 'em in there all the time, along with deer - that wouldn't get out of the way until we got right to 'em. And no, not the "animatronic" kind, either...LOL

[11290]

I think it was last summer, they all kind of run together after awhile, we had a water moccasin between the turnstiles and bag check at MK one afternoon. Some of the managers / coordinators put boxes around it to ring it in until animal control got there.

One of the managers thought he was going to catch it with his trash picker, got in the ring of boxes, tried to grab it and that sucker started chasing after him. Never saw him run so fast getting out of there. He's never even thought of trying that again.

[j2k]

I will be on the lookout while there in August.

[AmandaChan]

Ok, its time for my Disney gator story! Yea!

Here goes: About ten years ago I was at the Magic Kingdom with my wife early one morning. We caught the first ride of the day on the Liberty Belle (which I recommend, by the way) and as we were peacfully cruising along a gator swam up beside the boat. It was a pretty big one, between three and four feet long. Anyway, there was a couple next to us watching it and the wife said "Is that a real alligator???" The husband laughed and said "Of course not, this is Disney!" They actually thought it was part of the ride!

By the way, I told the CM on the bank about it when we got off and he said that he would call animal control. Apparently they get into the Rivers of America overnight and have to be removed...

now I'm just going to be looking for gators the whole time I ride that again.

[Mickey'sGirl]

We have seen a gator outside of the parks in one of the ponds along the roadways. I don't mind them there so much!

We saw deer on the grassy area near the parking lot at the Trasportation Center as we were leaving the Magic Kingdom to go to Old Key West one evening.

We saw a huge black snake at the Lighthouse pool at OKW a couple of years ago. It left quickly ... and so did I! I don't care for snakes at all!

I like seeing the ducks. Ducks are more my speed.

[Disney Crazy]

We saw a black snake in the foliage at Typhoon Lagoon. He was trying to get up the courage to cross the sidewalk. I am not sure if he was scared or if the sidewalk was too hot!

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

On one trip, we saw a gator several times hanging around just under the boardwalk by Frontierland - pretty good sized critter as well.

The last time we stayed at Coronado Springs a gator came swimming up to the ouside lounge area and hung around in that general area for a while - probably a regular as folks were feeding him.

On our trip last month, we saw a gator twice - once one swam by by waterway (We were at the Beach Club) behind the bus stop and another day we saw - probably the same one - in a different area of the waterway over by the Beach Club building.

I don't recall seeing any snakes - have seen otters, armadillos, deer, lots of lizards, a huge owl, and a bald eagle.

Oh my, that's bad. You should never, never feed an alligator. Not only is it illegal, it makes them lose their fear of man and thus makes them a danger.

[PlutoPlanet]

No gator sightings, thankfully. I did see a small green snake at a water park. He seemed more scared of me than I was of him.

[disneykid99]

We saw a gator in 2010 in AK. No - not on an attraction but swimming in that river that goes around AK (I do not know the rivers name). We were sitting at some tables off the beaten path in Africa I think. It swam right up to the dock area where we were. It was small only about 3ft or so long. It was a real thrill for my kids then 10 and 7

Fun Post! Thank you!

[Disdad13]

Last fall we were walking in the shrub maze in the UK pavillion in Epcot and there was about a 3 foot black snake sunning on top of one of the shrubs making up the maze. We watched it for several minutes, directing others who were walking thru the maze around that section while my DS went to alert a cast member. A couple years prior to that, we were having lunch at Flame Tree in AK and were eating in that little eating area right on the lake and there was a small 2-3 foot gator there in water. Some kids were dropping food to the very large turtles that were there in the lake, and the gator was right there with them.

[Wolf]

We saw a gator in the MK in the water between TSI and Country Bears. A CM was watching it and waiting for animal control to come and pick him up.
I have never seen a snake, but have seen: rabbits, armadillo, Bald Eagle, lizards by the ton and one very very very big Spider. This spider was at the Boardwalk and was yellow and black and as big as a mans hand. I had a real hard time sleeping the rest of the trip after seeing it.

I know this won't comfort you much cause they are massive but those huge black and yellow spiders are actually harmless. They live outside our front porch every 2-3 years for a few months, they terrified me as a kid but then I looked them up and they just eat nasty buggies so we leave them alone now, once I read how many mosquitos and other nasties they eat the spider developed abit of charm lol

[Stu29573]

I know this won't comfort you much cause they are massive but those huge black and yellow spiders are actually harmless. They live outside our front porch every 2-3 years for a few months, they terrified me as a kid but then I looked them up and they just eat nasty buggies so we leave them alone now, once I read how many mosquitos and other nasties they eat the spider developed abit of charm lol

Yeah, we always called them "garden spiders." I'm not sure what their real name is.

[texas211]

Seen snakes at the resorts. But, I was playing golf at Osprey Ridge... Big gator down where my ball was... I elected to donate the 5 dollar ball to him, and stroke, and drop further away.