Snakes at WDW & FW....

[ekuhlman]

Hello everyone!

My wife and I are going to spend a week at Ft Wilderness the first week of May, 2002. We will be towing our 26 foot travel trailer there from Baltimore Maryland.

Anyway, my wife has a fobia of snakes. She literally goes bezerk whenever she sees one, whether it's in a movie, on TV, or in real life.

So far, the Disney folks have told me about one place that would be bad to take her and that is the "Honey, I shrunk the Audience" show.

Are any of you aware of any other places in WDW that may have snakes... real or otherwise?

Has anyone ever seen a snake on the Ft. Wilderness grounds?

Although we camp a lot, and most of the time it is "woodsy" where we camp, encounters with snakes have been extremely rare.

Thanks for any info....
Ed & Barbara

 

[melk]

I'm sure that they are there but in my many visits I have never seen one. Once though, several years ago we were at River Country and they had to close one of the water slides to "remove a snake." Fortunately I didn't see it, though. You will see a lot of peacocks and armadillos at FW! I think that since you camp a lot and haven't had an encounter, I don't see FW as being a problem. Have fun!

 

[fortwilderness]

We once saw a huge black snake at the TTC but that is the only one I have seen. I have seen many lizards in Fort Wilderness so I am pretty sure that there are several snakes slithering about although I have never seen one.

There is a huge fake python on the Jungle Cruise so if she is really horrified on snakes you might want to skip that one. But it dosen't look very real at all so it might not bother her too much if she knows it is going to be there.

 

[Disney Campers]

We have seen more snakes at the water parks than anywhere else, Did see one snake in Fort Wilderness and we go quite often, so chances are good you will not see any.

 

[ekuhlman]

Thanks a lot for the feedback.

It's strange, but even seeing a toy stuffed snake will make her go completely nuts.
Even so, she will still watch westerns, knowing that on occassion, a snake will appear.

We're not much on water sports, so will not be spending time at the water parks. It appears that other than the "Honey, I shrunk the audience", and the Fantasma show, there doesn't appear to be any more opportunity for encountering snakes than at at any other place.
We'll also stay away from the petting zoo at the AK and the Jungle Cruise at MK.

Thanks again

 

[Selftops]

Worked at FW for 9 mo and never saw a snake, and only had one report of one. Animal control will come down and remove any dangerous animals.

 

[Grumpy92]

Wont be a problem at FW. I certainly understand her fear, so here are a few location to avoid. The Great Movie Ride at MGM. There is an Indiana Jones scene with quite a few snakes. Definitely dont take her in this attraction. A few on display at AK, train that takes you to education area. Also on the MK train there is a one small section with a few fake snakes. Not sure about BTMR either, I think there might be some there too.

 

[Rhonda]

Good thinking Grumpy! I forgot all about the Indiana Jones snakes on the GMR! That would have freaked her out!

We've been camping at FW for 15 years - and I've never seen a snake in the campground. I ws nervous about them our first year too, but the CM said they don't see them much.

We used to see one every once in awhile over at Discovery Island - but now that's closed so you don't have to worry about that!

 

[ekuhlman]

Great info... thank you very much.
I've been on the GMR myself years ago, and now that you mention it, I know the part you mean... Indiana Jones. I think I can get her through that one alright because I know exactly where the "problem" is, and can have her close her eyes until we get past it.

I wish I knew where the snake was on the Jungle Cruise... I could probably get her through that one, too, if I knew just where the darn thing was.

I'm just going to stay away from the "Honey, I shrunk the audience"... and Fantasmic because I wouldn't be able to warn her soon enough.

And I'll definitely stay away from Pocohontas and be very careful in the other Animal Kingdom sights. I'll ask the CM's every chance I get.

Thanks again for the really good info everyone.

 

[fortwilderness]

ekuhlman

The giant snake on the Jungle Cruise is towards the beginning of the ride. Don't worry about knowing where it is because the driver will make a joke about the snake right before you get to it and your wife could shut her eyes. That snake is far less intimidating and less realistic than the snakes in the great movie ride. But now that I think about it I think that there are some king cobra snakes in the forbidden temple part of the ride too. They are more similiar to the snakes in the great movie ride but they are not as close to you as the ones on the great movie ride. She could just shut her eyes when you go into the temple.


I would hate for you all to miss out on such a great classic Disney ride because of just a few ol nasty snakes

 

[GeorgeG]

My wife is terrified of snakes, too. She freaked at the one in "Honey, I Shrunk The Audience" and avoids that since. She still goes on the "Great Movie Ride," but knows when to close her eyes for the snakes, which do look pretty real there. The snake on the "Jungle Cruise" is almost cartoonish and she has no problem with that one.

I always keep a vigilant eye out while walking around the gardened paths so I can steer her away in case of an encounter, but have never seen one snake in the 16 years we've been going. The people I've talked to that have were usually there in summer, if that makes a difference.

 

[Safari Steve]

The only snake in Fantasmic! is "Jafar as a cobra". It's projected onto water screens (just a clip from that part of Aladdin), and then it's a giant puppet on the stage (about 100 yards away)... It looks like one of those Chinese dragon/lion puppets and is a bright orange. I really don't think that it should be a problem at all.

 

[bambi1218]

I seen a black snake as we were walking up to go in AK and of course
I had to scream April 2000, and that drew attention to the snake it seems it was as afraid of the people
as I was of it...... HA HA it did not spoil the trip.....

 

[LML]

Just got back from a weeks stay at FW. Saw snakes on three different occasions sunning themselves in the dog walk area. I almost stepped on one. I was walking my shepard in a nice heal position and we both almost stepped on it!! We both jumped and I screamed . After that we were both leary of the sticks that are in that area! The snakes moved quickly and wanted nothing to do with us. In talking to another camper she too had seen snakes. She said "The black ones are not poisonous. The ones with red or yellow are dangerous." She had called a CM to remove a snake from her site.