Last Week while a family was on vacation in Walt Disney World they suffered the most tragic event anyone on vacation could ever think of, While staying at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort one night they let their 2 year old son play by the shore unaware of the danger of what was in that lake, as the kid played along enjoying the water a 6 foot alligator came ashore and pulled him into the water, Alligators are attracted into splashing noises, so it was most likely the son was jumping along, and the gator might of been near by when it got alerted of something being in the water. Here's my side of the story as i've been going to Disney world for years now and also stay on site at their Disney Resorts, throughout the years i have seen many alligator sightings on both bay lakes and the seven seas lagoon,not to mention also inside Magic Kingdom. Living in Florida us Florida Residents know if their is water there is a gator. The Disney Company Claims this tragic event has never happened before, but I'll share some light on that, many years ago one similar event happened to a 8 year old at Fort Wilderness Campground. As he was feeding the ducks the alligator came out of the water and also tried pulling him in, screamed for help and his brother and sister were both able to fight off the gator from having him being taken into the lake. The Disney Company is aware of the wildlife danger these lakes hold yet from that first event that happened about 30 years ago, they just ignored it. Now back to our Recent tragic event which a family actually lost their son, Disney waited all these years until a death occurred to finally come out and say we will be putting up warnings signs along each Resort of the dangers that's around our guest surroundings.
A couple weeks ago while i was on vacation i spotted a gator around 1 a.m as i roamed around the Art Of Animation as i was crossing the bridge that connects both Pop Century and Art i noticed these strong Bubbles that kept coming up from under the water. I stayed in that spot waiting to see what would come up if it was a fish, or a turtle but as the time went by it was a alligator that appeared for a few seconds floating above water. The scary part is i've seen kids fish right on the shore of those lakes unaware of the wildlife, A lot of these guest are tourist from around the world who have never been to Florida before, yet don't even know we have alligators, especially in the Happiest place on Earth. Now my opinion should be Disney should hand out flyers at check- in letting guest know what type of dangers surround them while on vacation, Or since they are doing direct to room via text message they should send a notification through text also letting guest know about the dangers.
Guest are coming forward now saying they have seen other people Feed Gators while staying in these Disney Resorts, One topic i did touch on with a close friend of mines is that Disney completed the DVC Bungalows recently, and all of a sudden this tragedy happens. Recent News just came out stating guest staying in those Bungalows feed the gators. I have told my friend a while back this was going to happen these Bungalows are Bora Bora Style rooms that are right in the waters of the seven seas lagoon. It's going to give guest freedom to through unnecessary food out they no longer want. The only way to stop those guest from feeding the wildlife from their balconies there is they have to put up those nettings along the balconies which will block any type of food from being thrown into the lakes. Disney said they are putting temporary barricades along the beaches until they figure out a long term solution to keep both guest and alligators from coming in contact.
Disney Snakes
When it comes to Snakes the only place you can think of seeing one is at Disney's Animal Kingdom Park in their exhibits, Not really True Walt Disney World to remind everyone was back then built on Swamp Land, so Walt Disney had to work around these acres of Swamps he had purchased, Way before Animal Kingdom Park Existed Disney had their very own animal sanctuary right in the middle of Bay Lakes in which you can find near the Contemporary Resort, it was in a small island and this island was known as Discovery Island it, guest took a boat from one of the monorail resorts to get to that small island. Inside this small island Disney housed thousands of animals anywhere from poisonous snakes to endangered birds. Years after Disney Constructed Animal Kingdom and decided to close that island down and move all the animals to that new location/Park.From Disney relocating these animals half of these animals got released on property meaning at Discovery Island, ranged from water snakes to vultures. Now throughout the years Disney has seen increase of snakes being spotted in these Parks and Resorts. Back in 2012 i was staying at Pop Century, walking along the 80's section of the resort right in the middle of the walkway i seem to spot something curled up and turned and looked at my brother and said are you seeing what i am seeing, we walked a little closer, and behold it was a adult cottonmouth also known as a Water Mocassin, i immediately turned back around and alerted guest who were walking through that same route that there was a poisonous snake blocking from getting over. Guest have seen snakes all through the parks and Resorts yet Disney never did anything about them. Does anyone remember a recent incident about a boy who got bitten by a snake who fell from a tree at Animal Kingdom, Disney claimed it wasn't one of their snakes that got loose. Thankfully it wasn't a serious bite and the kid was okay.
Below I'll share some clips from guest encounters to these wildlife animals and footage of the old Discovery Island
Discovery Island
Snake spotted inside Epcot's Giftshop
Snake spotted at Epcot
Alligator in Splash Mountain
twice the sighting of the alligator in splash mountain