Wild animals at Walt Disney World

[W.E.D.]

Homosapien are every where around that area. Scariest thing I ever did see.

Nice! LOL!


I'll just list last trip:

An otter in the Sasagoula at POR.
Lots of Egrets at POR.
Brown squirrels everywhere at POR.
Those tiny lizards were all over the "rocks" at BTMRR
Saw some deer on the way to EPCOT one morning
There was a small gator in one of the waterways along the road on our way out. ME driver pointed it out as we passed.

 

[skeeter31]

- If you play golf on the Disney courses you see tons of gators in the water holes.
- One year we were staying at OKW in a 2nd story room and as we came down the stairs we noticed a small black snake wriggling near one of the 1st floor room's doors. My dad tried to scare it away before it managed to get into the room and the snake kind of reared back and sprung towards my dad. He got out of the way, but it was freaky.
-Tons of armadillos in the campground or along the side of the road at night near the campground.
-I've seen otters and even a river rat in the rivers along POR and POFQ.
-Of course tons and tons of lizards. One that stands out to me had a really cool blue tail. I still have the picture on my phone of that one.

 

[Safari Queen]

Our favorites are the large turtles in the water around the Beach Club, usually at the bridge in front.

 

[gypsydoodlebug]

We saw a bald eagle flying overhead on the boat from DHS to BC/YC -- the boat captain actually pointed it out mid-spiel. Also saw one driving to WDW with friends in 2010.

 

[kaligal]

I used to work with an environmental services company in Florida that helped with the Panther census, and I'm sorry to say that it was unlikely that you saw a panther. As far as I know there are no known panther populations in that portion of central Florida. There are between 100-120 panthers living in the state currently (numbers are rising! ) but they are mostly south of Lake Okeechobe.

That being said, it could always have been a rouge cat, who somehow wandered its way north. I remember when I was working there was a lot of excitement because there were reports of a panther on a huge undeveloped property in St. Johns county. We didn't find any evidence, but with numbers increasing, its possible in the future we'll be seeing more panthers throughout Florida.

You never know.

A woman here called the cops to report a buffalo. Since there are no buffalo in this state or any of the surrounding states, they kept suggesting that it was a deer, which are plentiful.

She wasn't 100% positive on the buffalo thing, having never seen one IRL, but she kept telling them that it was very large and that she'd lived here her whole life and knew a deer when she saw one and this was no deer. It was a very large animal, probably a buffalo.

The cops were like, "Yeah, yeah, we'll look into it," and figured it was a deer.

Then more calls rolled in.

It was a buffalo. There were three that had been kept and got out.

You never know.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

Although I've always wanted to have an encounter at WDW with some cool wild animal, I never have. But I will stop in here to make mention of my favorite regular WDW residents: the Scarlet Ibis. I end up taking several photos of these every time I'm down there. The herons too, they let you come so close and they perch in the funniest places.

 

[chmurf]

2 ducks came swimming with us in the bowling pin pool at POP

at POP again, a small frog on a door, a rabbit in the bushes, lizards

and squirrels, loads of them

 

[PoohsFan1]

Our favorites are the large turtles in the water around the Beach Club, usually at the bridge in front.

We saw them this past January when we stayed at BCV. Also last May (also stayed at BCV), I was sitting outside on our balcony and happened to look down...I found 3 huge (almost obese looking) rabbits just munching away on some grass. Then during that same trip, while DH and both DDs were swimming in the BCV quiet pool, and while I was laying on one of the lounge chairs, there were about 5 or 6 baby ducks that came waddling along and decided to take a swim in the pool (it was a hot day so I couldn't blame them). They were the cutest things ever and had no fear of the human swimmers already in the pool. Then out of nowhere Mama duck decided to take a dive into the water (she was flying over from somewhere), which luckily my DD7 (at the time) had just stuck her head underwater for some reason because as she did, is when Mama duck flew right over her head....if DD hadn't gone in the water, Mama's duck's feet probably would of made contact with DD. Man if my DD had been aware of what had just happened? She would of freaked out Again, the Mama duck had no fear of the other swimmers, no matter how close they got to her or her babies.

 

[Andtototoo]

Last time we were there, we saw an alligator in the drainage pond on the right side between Contemporary and MK.

 

[aurorae]

Saw a large hawk perched near a viewing area at the Animal Kingdom Lodge.

The CM there was answering questions about the animals, and was trying to ignore the hawk. She seemed kind of put out when I asked about it.

 

[mommy2paisley]

We've never seen much and I'm thankful! LOL I've seen ducks, a couple lizards and a couple rabbits and I believe that's it.

I'm very thankful, though, because I'm terrified -- and I mean TERRIFIED -- of snakes and mice/rats! I've read stories on here and other sites about sightings of these and I pray I never see them. I know they're there, sure, but I've made a promise to myself to NEVER look for them and just hope I don't see them! LOL It would truly ruin my trip as I am thatscared of them, unfortunately!

Seriously, though, the FL panther would be cool, though I'd be very scared if I saw it and wasn't in my car! Are they dangerous? Are they very aggressive? I would assume they are but maybe they're not?

We see deer, turkey, opossum around here ALL.THE.TIME, so that wouldn't surprise me to see. Maybe I have seen them and didn't give it much thought??

 

[Little Flower]

Love this question, as wildlife viewing is one of my favorite parts of a Disney trip. Being from the Midwest, I enjoy all of the wading birds. Last year there was a family of otters in the water near the WL. I see lots of deer. And now that I know what to look for, I see lot of gators too.

BUT...one sighting a few years ago still eludes identification. I saw a BIG wild cat. Much bigger than the bobcats we have here. For some reason, the most distinctive thing I noticed at the time was that the last several inches of its tail were black (as opposed to the rest of it being tan). I still have no idea what that was...I really think it was almost as big as a mountain lion. Any locals who can shed light?

On our last trip, one of the Disney bus drivers was telling us about local wildlife and he said the coolest thing he'd seen was a pair of panthers really late at night. Apparently there were some concerns about staff members moving around late at night because of them

The worst thing ever to do with wildlife - we were getting off the magic kingdom ferry and heading into the park when my husband brushed my shoulder and down my back! He later explained that there was a kind of cockroach with wings and antennas sat behind my shoulder blade!!! I nearly died! Could you imagine if he had told me it was tere at the time? I would have had a meltdown and probably ripped my top off!!!!!!!! Anything to get the horrid bug off

 

[2goofykiddos]

Probably a Palmetto/Water bug. They are horrid and hard to kill.

 

[Little Flower]

I'm so glad I didn't see it. I really hate bugs lol

 

[aleksandr]

One of our coolest experiences was at Winter Summerland last year. It was a nice evening for some mini-golf when we heard the bushes rustling. I looked and there was an armadillo rooting around looking for food. He was completely unphased by the people all around. He walked around for quite a bit, I followed for a little while, snapping pictures.

While not Disney, the roads all around Kennedy Space Center are great places to spot feral pigs, alligators, bald eagles, etc.

And of course, there are the great comments from the kids about the "strange 2-headed bugs!" (love bugs).

 

[Prock]

Years ago there used to be a duck who would walk onto a boat at fort wilderness and ride it to MK every day around noon when there weren't any people on board. Just shows how used to people all the animals have become.

 

[pmaurer74]

The squirrels at the Poly and GF at very brave and walk right next to you. It made me feel uneasy. The ducks were rather brave too.

 

[disnut8]

ugly black and white ducks with red heads

Just have to say no living animal is "ugly".

 

[disnut8]

We've seen osprey, bunnies, ducks, alligators, turkeys, armadillos, lizards galore, and even an eagle once. We are the ones who stop in the middle of a sidewalk and let the lizards go across so they don't get stomped on by anyone. And yes, that was my husband helping the turtle get across the Hess gas station entrance so he (the turtle, not my husband) wouldn't get crushed. And yeah, that was my husband and my granddaughter helping some yellow squishy caterpillar like thing get to the grass so he (the caterpillar thing, not my husband) wouldn't get smashed. My husband actually will swerve a bit on the road if he spots a worm.

 

[Simba's Mom]

The last few years we have seen a fork-tailed bird flying around SSR. I think it may be a Cormorant or Enhenga(sp?) with a damaged tail, but, can't see it close enough to tell.

The fork-tailed bird may have been a Swallow-tailed Kite. We're bird watchers and have seen several "firsts" at WDW, including that Kite.
On our visit last month we went to the Disney Wilderness Preserve and although I didn't see any birds we were looking for, I did see the largest alligator I've seen in Florida. And I agree with the PP who said there are alligators on the golf course. When I went with DH, we saw a total of 6.