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?