Real ALLIGATORS at Magic Kingdom?

[jeannebrown]

Hello, everyone. Just returned from a week at DW and I was shocked to see an alligator in the Magic Kingdom Park. We rode the Liberty Riverboat that goes around Tom Sawyer Island and about 2/3 into the trip, in the water was an honest to goodness REAL alligator. We were at the front of the boat, on the top deck. The people next to me saw it also. It was swimming along the edge of the water. It was not a fake or animatronic one, it was 100% real!!! It was about 4 feet long...not full grown. Does Disney monitor for this? Is this common? Do they know and are not concerned? Are there others? Couldn't this be dangerous? Very interesting indeed!

 

[WEDWDW]

What you saw is not unusual.Disney relocates the alligators when they reach a certain size.

 

[Damien2213]

Hello, everyone. Just returned from a week at DW and I was shocked to see an alligator in the Magic Kingdom Park. We rode the Liberty Riverboat that goes around Tom Sawyer Island and about 2/3 into the trip, in the water was an honest to goodness REAL alligator. We were at the front of the boat, on the top deck. The people next to me saw it also. It was swimming along the edge of the water. It was not a fake or animatronic one, it was 100% real!!! It was about 4 feet long...not full grown. Does Disney monitor for this? Is this common? Do they know and are not concerned? Are there others? Couldn't this be dangerous? Very interesting indeed!

Seems to me there has been a video floating around of a small one in the splash mountain water. Not where the actual ride passes through but off to the side in one of the water holds....

 

[Old_School]

If you check out you tube there is footage of a worker keeping a gator away from Splash Mountain. But, the gator was right up next to the ride. There was also footage of a kid feeding a gator from one of thr bridge of one of the resorts. I know I'm going to look for it when I go in November.

 

[Pecobill]

Seems to me there has been a video floating around of a small one in the splash mountain water. Not where the actual ride passes through but off to the side in one of the water holds....

I saw one there when I went last month.It must be a problem then if more than one has gotten in.

 

[jb01]

Yes we have seen some small gators there. I'm sure Disney monitors them.

 

[Wall-E1]

They are everywhere in Florida. Unless it is determined that they are a nuisance or extremely large, the gators are generally left alone. Alligators, in general, are no danger to humans. If you leave them alone, they won't bother you. They are not aggressive, like crocodiles. Alligators have also been seen in various canals and waterways on the Disney property. When you consider that Disney World has been around for almost fifty years, and there have been no alligator attacks on property, that shows that they are not a danger to guests. Even Captain Hook has never had a run in with an alligator.

 

[PrincessKsMom]

What you saw is not unusual.Disney relocates the alligators when they reach a certain size.

Once they've fed enough, they reach that certain size.

 

[civileng68]

They are everywhere in Florida. Unless it is determined that they are a nuisance or extremely large, the gators are generally left alone. Alligators, in general, are no danger to humans. If you leave them alone, they won't bother you. They are not aggressive, like crocodiles. Alligators have also been seen in various canals and waterways on the Disney property. When you consider that Disney World has been around for almost fifty years, and there have been no alligator attacks on property, that shows that they are not a danger to guests. Even Captain Hook has never had a run in with an alligator.

Its true. As someone who lives three hours south of WDW and last week found an alligator in our parking lot greeting us to work, in general they are harmless to humans.

The rule is pretty much not to mill around at the edge of the water (where they are most dangerous) and to just stay away from them. We go play golf and see them sunning out on the fairways. WE just go around them. They dont want to bother you.

The only time they are relocated or killed (during season) is if they are considered to be dangerous or a nuisance.

 

[Dissy]

Last Sunday we watched a small one swimming in the river at AK Park. Could see it from one of the bridges.

 

[WEDWDW]

Alligators aren't the only wildlife that can be seen at Walt Disney World.Other wildlife that has been spottted at WDW include Deer,Armadillos,Snakes,Rabbits,Bobcats,Otters,Squirrels and Turkeys.

 

[Wall-E1]

Alligators aren't the only wildlife that can be seen at Walt Disney World.Other wildlife that has been spottted at WDW include Deer,Armadillos,Snakes,Rabbits,Bobcats,Otters,Squirrels and Turkeys.

We have seen deer several times on property. One place they seem to be at a lot is just outside the Magic Kingdom. When you are on the monorail between the Contemporary and the Magic Kingdom stop, look out to your left. There is a large grassy field surrounded by a wooded area. I have seen deer there almost half of the times we have passed by that area. When my son was younger, I used to tell him, "There's Bambi".

 

[bullwinkl]

Nobody believes me here when I say I saw one at Animal Kingdom...they all think it was an animatronic or one in an exhibit... But saw one from the bridge to Dinoland in AK--good sized too!

 

[satorifound]

We have seen deer several times on property. One place they seem to be at a lot is just outside the Magic Kingdom. When you are on the monorail between the Contemporary and the Magic Kingdom stop, look out to your left. There is a large grassy field surrounded by a wooded area. I have seen deer there almost half of the times we have passed by that area. When my son was younger, I used to tell him, "There's Bambi".

You go to Disney a LOT. I am jealous.

 

[Gizmo1951]

These 2 were taken at Beach Club Villas

 

[kidsister]

I never heard that 'they were most dangerous around the water's edge', but I'll make a note of it now!

I have bear, moose, elk, deer, fox, coyotes, mountain lion where I live. The bear's been inside the house ($75,000 of damage), a moose peeked in the door the other day to say hi, the fox used to come play with one of my cats, the mountain lion took one of my cats and isn't welcome here anymore. I don't like the coyotes.

But no alligators, thank God. I always wondered if the reason they closed swimming at the 7 Seas Lagoon was more because of gators than bacteria...I loved swimming at the Poly beach!

 

[tony609]

Can someone PLEASE clarify for me? There was one in Splash Mountain...the ride?????? WOW! I leave tomorrow. I will have to think twice about riding Splash ........

 

[Old_School]

Not in the ride, beside it. But it was close, look it up on you tube.

 

[tony609]

I just saw the youtube video......it was close enough, for me to the ride vehicle. It won't stop me from riding splash though. I wonder what happened to it.

 

[zackiedawg]

Nope...not really a worry at all. Alligators are indeed generally fearful of people, and rarely attack unless either provoked or confronted with astoundingly and irretrievably stupid or inattentive behavior (jumping in a swamp at night drunk, standing in murky water up to your waist for 4 hours not paying attention, stopping along a canal bank and lying down to rest on the slope of the bank...BTW all of those were real situations involving alligator attacks). And even then, usually only the biggest of the big would think to make a move on a person.

As for gators in Disney...it is indeed very common. I've seen them along the banks at Fort Wilderness, in Magic Kingdom's Rivers of America, near the boat launch at Hollywood Studios, at Coronado Springs resort, in Animal Kingdom...not at all uncommon.

Here's one hanging out in the river in front of the Dawa Bar in Animal Kingdom:

It's part of the fun of living in Florida! Seeing alligators in swimming pools, parking lots, and the middle of the road. Having 6-foot iguanas parading through your backyard. Having possums living inside your house wall. Opening the front door to a flock of 3-foot tall ibises standing in your front lawn waiting for some food handouts. Finding your trash strewn across your driveway by the roving gangs of raccoons that knocked over your cans. Feeding blue jays by hand in your backyard, and watching them get snatched by red-shouldered hawks as they fly back to their tree. Yanking 4-foot-long red-bellied black snakes out of your pool filter intake pipe after realizing the jets weren't circulating the water. (yes...all of these things happened or are happening to me). Ah, Florida!