Wildlife @ POR

[Lynne M]

Where did you see the gators? If they are mostly in the water, I'll be okay. Seeing them wander around the property would definitely make me a little paranoid. I know the odds are probably low. I don't think I could ever live in Florida. I read about someone finding a gator in their bathroom!! The picture made me lose my breath... for real

The gators are mostly in the water, or very close to it; you don't see them roaming around the resort, and they don't go hunting for people to eat. Their food is in the water, so they stay close by.

The ones you see at WDW are pretty small; when they get big, they're removed and 'relocated'.

Just like snakes, alligators would much prefer to avoid humans. I don't remember there ever being a case of an alligator bite at WDW in the nearly 40 years that it's been there. And that right there should tell you that you don't need to be worrying about alligators.

 

[SV24]

The gators are mostly in the water, or very close to it; you don't see them roaming around the resort, and they don't go hunting for people to eat. Their food is in the water, so they stay close by.

The ones you see at WDW are pretty small; when they get big, they're removed and 'relocated'.

Just like snakes, alligators would much prefer to avoid humans. I don't remember there ever being a case of an alligator bite at WDW in the nearly 40 years that it's been there. And that right there should tell you that you don't need to be worrying about alligators.

Thanks! I know you are right. I'm sure it won't be a problem. It's reassuring to know that there aren't many reported incidents. It's a huge park so they must be doing something to miminize the risk.

 

[sumsmommy03]

The gators are mostly in the water, or very close to it; you don't see them roaming around the resort, and they don't go hunting for people to eat. Their food is in the water, so they stay close by.

The ones you see at WDW are pretty small; when they get big, they're removed and 'relocated'.

Just like snakes, alligators would much prefer to avoid humans. I don't remember there ever being a case of an alligator bite at WDW in the nearly 40 years that it's been there. And that right there should tell you that you don't need to be worrying about alligators.

I agree they would like to avoid humans but I have to point out that there was an incident with an alligator much less than 40 years ago. It happened to friends of ours from New Hampshire in 1986. Their son was feeding ducks at Fort Wilderness (so the story goes) and a pretty good sized alligator came out of the water and took his entire leg in it's mouth. His sister thinking quickly waited for the gator to open it's mouth again and pulled the boy out. Disney tried to squash this pretty quickly but the evidence (teeth removed from his leg) was there and they couldn't dispute it. I have the newspaper clipping somewhere. There are no articles online that I can find that date back that far. I am sure that after this happened they have been much more dilligent in removing large gators.
It is Florida, there are so many man made and other bodies of water in and around Disney. There is no way that anyone can say there are no alligators or venomous snakes etc. We saw a small gator in the back of MK between Frontierland and Toontown when we were on the train ride.
That being said there is no way I would be standing by the bank of any body of water throwing food or rocks or anything in there...nor would I allow my kids to do that. I must have told my kids 50 times on our last trip to stay on the paths at POR and do not walk into the bushes. My daughter (4) ended up stepping on a fire ant mound at the Serpentarium place in the next town over and that nearly ruined our day (lesson learned for us!) I can only imagine how a snake bit or a gator bite would ruin a vacation or worse. I would just use caution and common sense.

 

[tinkerbell310]

I have been to Disney 9 times and I've stayed at POR 3 times and POFQ twice. In my 9 times at Disney I have never seen an aligator anywhere. At POR the biggest thing we saw was a turtle that the staff named BOB. We are going back to POR in June and are not worried about anything that might eat, bite, or sting us. I wouldn't ruin your vacation by worrying about that. Go stay at AB and have a good time. Nothing is going to happen.