WDW SNAKE BITE - pics of my son's "adventure

[sabrecmc]

That has not been my personal experience with cottonmouths, we have had them chase us, with us in a boat and try to get in the boat. That is pretty aggressive to me.

Agreed. Maybe we have militant cottonmouths around this part of Florida...

 

[homeschoolmomof4]

Love the pics!! I'm glad he survived the ordeal with his sense of humor intact.

Seriously though, it's wonderful to see him doing so well after such a horrible experience.

 

[chocolateMinnie]

thanks for posting, we were aware of the dangers of water amoeba and also of gators in Florida but would never have thought snakes were such a problem. I dread to think what I may have allowed my children to walk through near our rooms that could have been a danger.

Now racking my brain about all the dangers - day or night, where is most likely etc.......off to do some research.

 

[MusiqChic99]

Thankfully we have never seen a snake. We stay at POR mostly but have stayed at CBR.

At POR in October we saw frogs by the dozens! Even had one sitting on the door handle of our hotel room ...not sure how the fellow got there, can they jump that high? My son was in a stroller when we were walking but i would have never even considered a snake being a problem.

Thanks for the useful information. It's always good to be alert to your surroundings. I think of all the kids out skipping down the pathways excited to catch a bus! I hope these stories are few and far between.

Sooooo happy your son is well. That's something to celebrate!

 

[think-like-tink]

O.m.g.I am so sorry that happened to your son. and to you. That must have been one scary time. Thank you for sharing

We are staying at Poly and I will have my eyes PEELED for snakes. They sure can be hidden anywhere

 

[It's A Small World]

Glad to hear your son is A OK!

We stayed at the Poly May 12-18. There was a huge...I'm talking 4 foot long snake sunning himself on the beach. The staff brought in a snake wragler and got rid of it. Keep your eyes wide when on the Poly beach. We saw quite a few water snakes too.

 

[think-like-tink]

Its a small world. Now I will be having nightmares. Did you ummm happen to get pics? Of the resort of course!

 

[happycamps]

I'm glad to hear he is okay and glad to be reminded to watch out for snakes there.
We were waiting for a parade at AK when a snake came through the shrubs. Everyone was sitting on the rocks on the side of the parade route - I won't sit on the ground again at the AK.

 

[toonaspie]

I'm probably beating a dead horse with this but these are my thoughts:

Having read both threads thoroughly I'm still standing by my personal belief that Disney should've covered the hospital bill, given the exact account of the situation and the photo evidence in the first post.

People can argue that venomous snakes are nature and that this is technically their turf etc etc. I can understand if this were to occur in let's say a construction area or a grassy knoll off the road inside of WDW because those aren't areas where guests are expected to be around (or should mingle anyway). Inside of a resort where hundreds of people will be walking about, it's a whole different story.

And people can argue that the OP didnt watch her child despite the fact that he only reached his arm into the landscape and didn't take one foot off the sidewalk. But this was landscaping that is manicured and tended to by cast members, not some natural shrubbery that is left there to grow. The landscape was created and placed there to be part of the resort and guest experience (see the mulch in the OP pic) and is therefore supervised by the landscaping or resort people. Otherwise there would just be a bunch of mixed up trees and tall grass.

An animal that can cause deadly harm to people has no place in an area like that where there is a high expected exposure of people. I'm sure the resort people ensure that dangerous/venomous animals do not step foot in an area like that because that snake could've easily slipped into one of the rooms. They wouldn't just let the crocodiles escape from the water and run around the parks. I'm not saying they should've been sued for all their worth but if other guests are getting full coverage by Disney for falling on a sidewalk while you have to pay full price to save your son's life because of something that happened within a tended-to resort like that, I consider that a ripoff.

I don't mind if Disney wanted to hide something like that from the media but if all I got out of rare life-threatening situation to my child in WDW was a resort switch, I personally would've felt insulted.

Anyone is free to disagree with me but this is my honest opinion on this.

 

[cab0ad]

Firstly, thank goodness your son is okay. That is a blessing!

I'm kinda surprised Disney didn't offer more either. Did they at least prolong your vacation for free to make up for the days you had to spend in the hospital? I thought they would at least do that.

That being said, the important thing is your DS is thriving today and well!

 

[Sammie]

There is absolutely no way Disney can prevent everything natural from happening.

Preventing snakes from being on Disney property would be as hard as preventing a hurricane.

I am just glad the OP has shared her story I am simply amazed at the number of people that do not realize that snakes, bugs, and alligators are the norm for Florida.

 

[Deb & Bill]

A black bear was spotted in May at OKW. We saw another black racer at the South Point pool at OKW last week.

And I agree with Sammie.

 

[letthewookiewin]

Thank you so much for posting those pictures. What a great way to celebrate how brave and strong he was through that ordeal.

I was watching a "Where are they now" Bridezilla show and while they were filming one of the women they found a snake in the pool of her FL home. Anytime I see a snake I think of your son, and that made me wonder how he was doing. Thank you again for the update.

 

[dixiegirl]

Thank you so much for sharing your story and the details. It's very easy at WDW to forget that there are things to always be on the lookout for - especially in Florida. If nothing else, it's a great reminder. I am very happy to know that your son was okay after this awful bite.

 

[saintstickets]

We had a "visitor" outside our balcony at OKW in May, 2010. It wasn't poisonous but it wasn't welcome either. We had been feeding the ducks and birds each morning and then this guy appeared - probably hoping to get fed himself.

It wasn't a problem for us but as others have said, just be aware of your surroundings. Wherever there is lush, tropical flora, there will ALWAYS be snakes...WDW is no exception.

There are more pics of our trip at the link below.

 

[diddldonna]

Thanks for sharing your story, glad your son is okay now. It's something I will be reminding my family about this vacation. On previous vacations the only wild animals we saw were, squirals, rabbits, deer, lizards . You do forget about the other wild things hiding.

 

[Beckypooh1972]

Wow! We are planning a move to Florida next year. This thread is a reminder that there is dangerous wildlife in Florida. We'll take this into account when looking for a place to live:

Need a fence to keep out the alligators
Need simple landscaping to keep from attracting the snakes. There goes the idea of a big backyard (who wants to mow all that grass on the weekend anyway when we can always spend our weekends at the parks.) A 3rd floor condo is looking better all the time...

Great story to keep sharing!

Thanks

 

[Naisy68]

I really appreciate you reposting this story. I didn't catch it last year. I cringe just thinking about the areas where we have had our kids pose for pics. In the flowers, by the bushes and greenery. I would never have consisdered something like this occuring at Disney. I will definitely keep all this in mind on our trip coming up in September. We are staying at CBR. Truth be told, when I first read it, I seriously considered changing our ressies but I know that there is a chance of this anywhere in Florida so we will stick to our original plans.
Also, I enjoyed the pics, what a brave young man. I cannot even imagine going through this with someone in my family. Wow! My hubby is notorious for following the geckos around and looking for the local "wildlife." He's going to be a lot more careful from now on.

 

[racefanof88]

I am so glad your brave little man is fine. We were just at CBR May 23-30 and I would have been scared to death if I had read your story before we went. I live in Alabama so I am very aware that snakes can be anywhere, but I would not have thought they would be in such a heavy traffic area. I was concerned walking along the water front path to the main pool and food court, but I did not think about it in the parking lot area.

 

[kjs1976]

Thank you for reposting. I live in MN and although I know these types of hazards exist in southern states, I've never thought of them as being an issue at WDW! I have a DD who is 2.5 and I could see her darting off into the bushes or being the first to notice a snake somewhere and wanting to go up to it. We saw a huge, yes, like the size of DH's hand, under the steps at POFQ two years ago. I should post the pics and see if anyone knows what kind it is. Anyway, people were always stopping to look at it. We saw it each day as we had to go around that corner to get to the busses. Maybe it was poinonous too! Always good to keep an eye out!