With all this talk about the dragon that flew over New Fantasyland during a media event in 2012 – it was bound to happen. Conversation reemerged about about this video of the Splash Mountain gator. My first thought? Of course there are gators in Splash Mountain! They sing, dance and play the fiddle!
But this gator is not the singing kind – or even the University of Florida kind. I thought this story couldn’t possibly be true – so I had to see for myself.
The guests weren’t in any danger since the gator was not IN the Splash Mountain attraction itself. He was actually in the Rivers of America (where the riverboat and the rafts are) safely separated from guests on the ride by a dividing wall. I can’t believe people on the bridge were feeding the thing popcorn, however. That is just asking for trouble.
How did the gator get in to Magic Kingdom without a ticket? Well, this body of water he is enjoying is said to lead to a waterway – that then leads to Seven Seas Lagoon and finally empties in to Bay Lake. I’ve lived in Orlando my entire life so I can tell you from experience that Gators abound in Florida lakes. Man made or natural bodies of water can attract them, they do not discriminate. It is not unusual to see news stories about gators that have found their way to the backyard pools of Florida homeowners!
However…this is Disney after all…and this was filmed way back in 2003. I imagine some sort of precautions have been taken since then that would prevent anything like this from happening again. Unless of course…this is actually a baby dragon. I have heard that 9 years is about how long dragons take to mature into adults.
Maybe this guy just wanted to get a good spot for the parade or fireworks like the rest of us. What do you think?
Reblogged this on Julia's Disney Blog and commented:
Alligator spotted at WDW!
To funny. They can travel in the sewers. One ended up in the little lake in front of my parents and it ended up being about 10 ft when they got it out. Maybe he was looking for Captain Hook and Peter Pan and got lost?
LOL Jamie – I guess anything is possible – it’s WDW after all! 🙂 Thanks for your comment!
I have seen pics of an aligator on the side of the Splash mountain ride outside near the water with a CM trying to get it. I also saw video of a CM catching a baby alligator at AK. It is part of life in Florida.
It sure is. 🙂
We saw one on the river side in October 2015.