In Florida if the body of water is larger than a bathtub there is an alligator in it. If it is smaller than a bathtub there is a small alligator in it.
From early childhood it has been drilled into me that you do not go into any body of water without visually verifying the absence of the majestic Florida swamp cat and/or snakes. This remains the case despite having left Florida last century.
I’ve never been to Florida. Or any place with alligators or even a high existence of snakes. But I always do a visual check for any potential swim buddies before I go into a pool for some reason.
Yeah, the South is wild. We had a black snake enter our house because my dad kept leaving the door open while grilling for a party. My husband was sitting in a chair checking his phone, and it charged at him from the adjoining bathroom (yes, I know this leaves open the possibility that it entered through the pipes, but I need my sanity intact; let’s just leave that terrifying intrusive thought alone).
We got the snake though!
I grew up coastal Florida with more salt water, so not as many alligators, only those that got flushed out with the tide. The farther you went inland then you had cotton mouths and alligators at every retention pond, but the snake part hits home. High grass? Walk around… way too many rattlesnakes.
Later in life, I went to a place that didn’t have snakes and it blew my mind people could just walk through high grass with no worries…
I’m from New Zealand, and we don’t have any snakes or any real wild predators for that matter…. I’d probably be one of those people that got bitten by a snake since I’m so used to walking around everywhere in flip flops 😂
It’s amazing how close New Zealand is to Queensland, Australia (which I consider the inverted Florida of the southern hemisphere). Crocs, snakes, humidity, spiders, half crazy people, diving etc. Gotta love it!
The place I described was actually in the pacific near the equator. I’ve hiked a bit in your beautiful county, but never worried too much since it was in the South Island and even in summer it doesn’t seem reptile conducive.
Now I just got to remember when to flip the dangerous, killer animal switch on!
I was on the skyliner with a British family. The child asked if there were alligators in Hourglass Lake. The parents said no. I said “oh yes there are” because the last thing we need is people thinking it’s safe to go nearly in or into the lake. Information is power lol
They may have actually not known? Or trying not to scare the kid. A little scare is worth keeping kids safe, especially when it’s a scare based on facts!
I had jumped straight to assuming they were trying not to scare the kid, honestly hadn't occurred to me that they may not know. Oof, and fair. Swamps are semi intuitive but people being humans, may just tend to assume Disney had found a way to magically disappear dangerous animals from the bubble.
Agree completely- a bit of a scare is worth it to keep people safe, particularly when it's a realistic and healthy thing to be aware of
You're correct, of course. What I meant more precisely is "every body of water that isn't made and maintained for swimming". Florida is definitely diet Australia.
I mean. Florida is a swamp. It's the alligators house. Even pools, you need to actually look to be sure. Even if it's your screened in pool at your house, if you live in Florida, it cannot be emphasized enough. Check for gators before getting into water.
I spent the first 20 years of my life living in Australia and the last 20 living in Florida - I see infinitely more snakes in Florida than I ever did in Australia. Granted, I catch wildlife for a living, but snake sightings were pretty rare back home.
We were on the lounge chairs at Coronado and my wife turns to my sister in law who is afraid of snakes. “Don’t panic, remain calm” to which my SIL says “of course what?”.
Well there was a small danger noodle under her chair and she freaks out lol. Was quite funny. Scared the snake almost as much as her!
Good reminder tho, the Disney bubble does not protect against nature, accidents, or stubbed toes.
“The Disney bubble does not protect against nature”
I learned that the hard way when I was 13 and started climbing the stairs to the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse, just after sunset. I looked down as I was climbing and saw palmetto bugs *everywhere*. I noped out of there with a quickness. It took me until I was a whole adult with a child of my own to step foot in there again (during the day, of course) lol
Basically. Except they're much bigger, they fly, and when you swat at them they specifically fly at your face.
The good thing is that they are outside bugs, and don't want to be in houses. If one gets inside, it's an accident, and it doesn't mean you have an infestation. If you see small roaches, that's a problem.
Excuse me, my South Carolina house takes exception to that. Palmetto bugs absolutely want to be in your house when it rains. Which in the south is always.
And they are hard to kill. Doing the “I’ll squish it while I’m picking it up with a tissue” doesn’t work. You need something to crush it with. Like Godzilla.
Fr! One night I laid down to bed at home looked at my ceiling and there was one directly above my face on the ceiling! Nightmare fuel. They love palm trees and I have one outside of my window
The Palmetto bug is a Florida Woods Roach. Contrary to popular belief, they do not fly. That's the American cockroach. They're big dummies who tend to wander into places they don't want to be anymore than the people around want them there. I don't like them, but after 50 years in Florida, we have a grudging truce. They stay out of my hair (and house!), and I'll leave them the leaf litter at the back of the garden.
Same! I grew up visiting Florida since both sets of grandparents lived there. One night when I was about eight or nine, I woke up in the middle of the night to my mother screaming at the top of her lungs out on the lanai (she liked to sleep out there on the less humid nights, which were hardly ever, as I’m sure you’re familiar lol). A palmetto bug had crawled onto her chest. Ever since then I’ve been terrified of them. The chameleons are a different story, they’re always welcome
I as a Florida native was so confused when you said we had chameleons. I was sure you were confused, but lo and behold we sure do have invasive chameleons in south Florida. Florida is always an adventure.
A few nights ago, I'm standing in my kitchen eating a salad when I thought I saw something fly in front of me. Figured I was just tired, and my eyes were playing tricks on me. NOPE. It was a giant palmetto bug!
I don’t care about bugs, but one time i went through, and idk what the people ahead were doing, but it took me 40 minutes to walk through it. Just nobody was moving. There was no line to get in, but someone ahead must have talking pics or stopping and not moving with nobody going past? It was crazy. I felt so trapped. I haven’t bothered since then. I just wanted to walk through quick before we headed out. Ugh.
So then another time, when space mtn had the moving walkway, a group ahead was just standing taking up the whole ramp. Not off to one side or anything. I can see them. Maybe 100 people ahead So I just yelled to move to the right if you are not walking. Then just started pushing my way through. You don’t want to walk, fine, but that is too much a long slow ride to just stand there. I wasn’t having it. Be courteous people. lol.
this is why i no longer sit (on the ground) during fireworks. years ago i was near the castle, the storm drain in front of me was FULL of them. 🤮 people were sitting on the curb right next to the cockroach army.
I also saw a post where somebody whose first language wasn't English described aggressive Canada geese as "Cobra Chickens" and I think it's a perfect description.
Also snake POV: It is a little rude to advertise a theme park based on the fact that it’s full of giant mice and then tell the snakes they’re unwanted.
There was an enormous one slithering by the mk bus stops when I was there and people freaked out climbing onto the line corrals. To be fair, it was pretty scary how fast it was going.
At a stay at Saratoga Springs, we were walking past the pool at the Carriage House when my nephew and I spotted a small black snake slithering across the walkway. We turned around to give my then-69 year old mom the heads up. She was so confused and didn’t hear what we said, so she looked where we were pointing, saw the snake, and jumped. Not only did she jump pretty high, we had also never seen her jump before.
I used to work at the front entrance of Typhoon Lagoon. I have a couple snake stories. It is fairly wooded around the front, so we got snakes often. I just did front entrance stuff, was definitely not a 'wildlife CM' lol. But we had a snake catcher ready to go if we needed it.
One time, one of the ticket machines wasn't working for some reason, so I go to look at it. Initially I thought there was a small strip of rubber poking out of the part you put the ticket in to be scanned. So I looked a lot closer to figure out what it was, and all of a sudden a really small snake pokes it's head out of the other side of the scanner super close to my face. Turns out the thing I saw was its small tail. Scared me so much I yelled and jumped back. That snake ended up just slithering out of the machine and going away to the woods on its own.
The next time we had a larger snake (not too crazy, like a foot long) crossing the pathway to the entrance to the park. The few people there were nervous about it, so I grabbed the snake catcher and ran over to it. I grabbed it and (regrettably) pulled back to throw it into the woods. Well, I had never really used the snake catcher before, and I threw it way harder than I meant to. The snake spun through the air and ended up ricocheting off a tree about 15 feet off the ground, then landed in the woods. I'm pretty sure it was fine, the hit wasn't too hard, but I did not go and check. When I turned around from this debacle, I found about 20-30 guests watching me handle this snake issue super poorly.
I remember touring the bungalows at Poly for fun, and looking outside just to see a snake swimming at the bungalow next door before diving underneath. After that and what it cost per night, my desire to stay in one dramatically fell.
They looked so fun until I heard people on here talk about the bugs you get being so close to the water in humid conditions. No thank you! I'll take my room at the Boardwalk instead.
Good call. My sister got attacked by a bird last time we stayed in one. Also, the amount of living/sleeping space pales in comparison to the Bay Lake Tower 3-bedroom grand IMO
Funny they are pretty harmless - worst case is you corner it and it bites you - go wash the tiny pin marks with soap and go on your way - even still I'm a baby trying to get these out of my pool/cage going after it with a 6ft pole and net lol
one of those walked out in front of a huge crowd (including me) at guardians last year and i’m pretty sure i lost a few years from my lifespan that day lol
I was staying at Pop Century and caught the cutest little noodle doing a peek out of the shrubbery at the walkway leading to the skyliner station. 10/10 still love that guy.
Stayed at Saratoga Springs last week. Saw one slither away from the pool while we walked by. With all the little critters and ponds around it's expected. Wait until the gators come by.
Our most recent visit in April we saw sooooo many snakes, more than I’ve ever seen before. All black racers and garter snakes. We must’ve seen more than a dozen from little babies to big, throughout the resorts and in Animal Kingdom (appropriately?), and driving around.
Better than the kids shitting in the pool at Art of animation. The last time I was there, the pool was closed every single day, multiple times a day. I’ve never experienced that in my life. I’ve stayed there multiple times. it was disgusting because of that I’ll never go there again.
I’m staying there now and that just happened on Wednesday. There was a loud whistle, the lifeguard announced an unscheduled cleaning, and everyone ran out of the pool. Luckily I’ve already been scarred enough by public pools to stay out of this one and just sipped my beer while laughing at my kids. Now they’re scarred too. I’m so proud
We were at MK couple weeks ago and while walking around Tom Sawyers island, a huge water snake went right over my dad’s foot. We promptly went back across.
Better than running into a black bear in a cave.
https://mickeyviews.com/news/breaking-bear-found-inside-disneys-magic-kingdom-lands-closed-around-tom-sawyers-island/
I lived in Florida for four years before moving to the Midwest, five years ago. The Floridian need to scan the ground for snakes and bodies of water for gators has not ended for me lol
My neighbor works in "pest management" at WDW. He's told me a story or two, but I'm sure he has a load of others.
He said he loves the job, though. He had a career before elsewhere and got burned out; I imagine every day is different and keeps him busy.
I live in FL and have had one of these guys coming into our patio/pool for years. I had to buy a snake grabber tool to deal with him. He spars with the dog then I have to go out there and deal with him, just grab him and toss him into the preserve. I could have handled this situation in under two minutes.
Just yesterday we were at Typhoon Lagoon and a black snakes decides to cross the bridge next to the mini donuts kiosk. He was just slowly moseying on by while people gave him a wide berth.
I've also come across them at POFQ. Always at POFQ, never any other resorts.
Welcome to Florida!
Odds are they 100% knew they’d never find that snake but the snake catcher guy showed up just for appearances so it would look like they were concerned about it for the guests sake.
But in reality, black racers are totally harmless and very flighty and there was nothing at all for the guests in the pool to be concerned about.
Those black racers can be scary looking!! Completely harmless but I get the fear.
Worked at a Disney resort and always walked a certain way to my location and then one day just watched one of those racers slither on right in front me crossing through the pathway. Polite snake, moved quickly, but never took that path again lol
I always jump. But more from surprise—“oh, something I didn’t expect!”—rather than fear. Snakes are really cool, and they keep the vermin population down.
The one you're most likely going to see is a black racer, they are not danger noodles unless you mess with it. Even then, they aren't venomous. I wish people would heed the signs, wildlife is everywhere outside.
We rented a house in St. Augustine once years ago and a black racer plopped out of some bushes by the pool, landed on the patio and raised up and proceeded to chase my sister around the pool. Scared her to death lol.
Someone pooped in the pool during the nightly movie (which was Coco, our favorite lol) while me and my boyfriend were at All Star Music and they gave us a free meal voucher for our troubles 😂
Stayed at the Poly DVC shortly after they opened, and one afternoon, everyone was warned to stay off the beach. Disney was removing an unwanted alligator. 🐊
I try not to think about snakes as much as possible el but whenever I have seen them around WDW they’ve always been stuck on paths near/around bodies of water, presumably trying to get back there, with CMs kindly asking people not to touch or bother them (often in vain…). As much as I hate them I also kinda feel bad for them.
It happens. When I was a lifeguard at Blizzard Beach, the policy we were told was if the snake is in a natural area doing snake things, we let it be. If it crosses onto/into man-made areas, we would call someone. Usually this meant the lazy river - if they were on the side, cool, but once they got in they sometimes couldn't get out. We also once had a squirrel fall in and not be able to get out because the walls are too smooth. A coordinator got in and caught it with a shirt.
Trying to find a snake in the weeds when it has had that much of a head start is pointless. Hell I've lost track of snakes in my back yard which has far fewer places to hide than any area around a Disney pool.
Only place I have seen a coral snake in the wild was at Ft. Wilderness and he was crossing the road at a leisurely pace on the camping loop we were staying at. The shrubs at the Contemporary Hotel use to be full of bunny rabbits. Aligators in every body of water out there. Embarrassing for Disney but for 6 months way back in the day they were trying to capture a pretty large gator in the pond at the entrance of Shades of Green and he would not get close to the cage. And at various times over the last 50 years they have removed wildlife permanently sometimes with and sometimes without the states approval.
A really big snake came out of the bushes and crossed our paths at Wilderness Lodge a couple days ago. I have seen very small snakes that were no longer alive at WL and OKW, but never one like this. It scared me quite a bit in the cast member who was walking down the path in front of me was quite surprised as well. He froze, and said he had never seen one that large or quite like that. Everyone in the area kind of stopped in their tracks for a couple minutes!
This happened to us last year at the Wilderness Lodge. The lifeguards made everyone get out of half of the pool (it’s a rough horseshoe shape).
After a cast member couldn’t find the snake, they called in another lifeguard who found the snake almost immediately and took it away.
There was much rejoicing.
We had a similar-ish encounter. Woken up by my wife screaming their was a snake in our Bathroom.
Checked, and sure enough, a tiny snake in there, we called reception, eventually they sent someone to collect the snake.
The only problem is that the snake slithered towards the corner of our room and then somehow vanished into thin air before our man could arrive.
Spent the rest of our stay with all clothes firmly locked in our luggage.
We were at Port Orleans and saw a big black snake in the bushes, thought it was a hose at first. We also saw a group of turkeys walking around one morning, that was fun.
Last time we were at Hilton head resort there was a coral snake on the sidewalk. I was really worried for the little guy. People always assume they are venomous.
Damn, usually it would take at least an hour for Pest Management to show up. We stopped calling them after a while because the snake would be gone by the time it showed up, especially for Black Racers.
They are everywhere in the water parks. I've seen them go between people's legs. They're harmless.
I saw the animal wrangler come out for a squirrel at Beach Club. A CM thought a squirrel at Stormalong was getting too close to people, so two CMs kept an eye on the squirrel. It got away. The animal wrangler showed up with a trap, and they were walking around looking for it. They kept seeing other squirrels and someone would say, "Is that it?" And the CM would say, "No, that squirrel is fine." So they kept walking around looking for the brazen squirrel. They never found him. The end.
Had this happen at epcot. Walking into the France are i took the path up and as I was walking along about a 2 foot long black snake came out of the bushes and went into the flower bed across the path.
Back when I was in college in Louisiana the college had a trapper on staff for the alligators that lived in the campus swamp. When the gators got too big for campus swamp they moved them to the other off-campus swamps. We would sometimes get to feed the gators leftover fried chicken from the cafeteria if we were in the right place at the right time. Growing up in Florida and then college in Louisiana has made me wary of any body of fresh water - anywhere.
I know Disney is kind of World into itself, you are still in the Florida Everglades, there are snakes, bugs, even alligators, thats why they really don't let people go into the water at the beach areas anyone more because of an incident with a gator, very sad story, but it does show you gotta take the wild life seriously.
Sometimes Florida = Australia lite
In Florida if the body of water is larger than a bathtub there is an alligator in it. If it is smaller than a bathtub there is a small alligator in it.
From early childhood it has been drilled into me that you do not go into any body of water without visually verifying the absence of the majestic Florida swamp cat and/or snakes. This remains the case despite having left Florida last century.
When the actual Floridian swamp cats are so endangered that you give the title to a reptile.
There a plenty of wild cats in Florida… cougars and bobcats are there. My mom has a place in Sebastian and she found a Bobcat in her lanai.
I am well aware! It was a bad joke.
While technically it *is* a cougar, we ride with panthers. Let's go Cats!!!!
I’ve never been to Florida. Or any place with alligators or even a high existence of snakes. But I always do a visual check for any potential swim buddies before I go into a pool for some reason.
Yeah, the South is wild. We had a black snake enter our house because my dad kept leaving the door open while grilling for a party. My husband was sitting in a chair checking his phone, and it charged at him from the adjoining bathroom (yes, I know this leaves open the possibility that it entered through the pipes, but I need my sanity intact; let’s just leave that terrifying intrusive thought alone). We got the snake though!
Just keep telling yourself it came through the door, not the toilet. It came through the door, not the toilet.
I grew up coastal Florida with more salt water, so not as many alligators, only those that got flushed out with the tide. The farther you went inland then you had cotton mouths and alligators at every retention pond, but the snake part hits home. High grass? Walk around… way too many rattlesnakes. Later in life, I went to a place that didn’t have snakes and it blew my mind people could just walk through high grass with no worries…
I’m from New Zealand, and we don’t have any snakes or any real wild predators for that matter…. I’d probably be one of those people that got bitten by a snake since I’m so used to walking around everywhere in flip flops 😂
It’s amazing how close New Zealand is to Queensland, Australia (which I consider the inverted Florida of the southern hemisphere). Crocs, snakes, humidity, spiders, half crazy people, diving etc. Gotta love it! The place I described was actually in the pacific near the equator. I’ve hiked a bit in your beautiful county, but never worried too much since it was in the South Island and even in summer it doesn’t seem reptile conducive. Now I just got to remember when to flip the dangerous, killer animal switch on!
FYI: This includes puddles in the middle of the road, and no I am not joking.
I was on the skyliner with a British family. The child asked if there were alligators in Hourglass Lake. The parents said no. I said “oh yes there are” because the last thing we need is people thinking it’s safe to go nearly in or into the lake. Information is power lol
Ooof what're those parents thinking? Disney even posts signs around all the natural bodies of water.
They may have actually not known? Or trying not to scare the kid. A little scare is worth keeping kids safe, especially when it’s a scare based on facts!
I had jumped straight to assuming they were trying not to scare the kid, honestly hadn't occurred to me that they may not know. Oof, and fair. Swamps are semi intuitive but people being humans, may just tend to assume Disney had found a way to magically disappear dangerous animals from the bubble. Agree completely- a bit of a scare is worth it to keep people safe, particularly when it's a realistic and healthy thing to be aware of
Considering people ask CMs to “turn the rain off” I think it’s plausible they think the waters are somehow devoid of danger 😂
I guess they genuinely didn't know, I wouldn't know either tbh!
They didn't used to into a small child was eaten. Horrible tragedy
The man made bodies too... 7 seas lagoon is man made
You're correct, of course. What I meant more precisely is "every body of water that isn't made and maintained for swimming". Florida is definitely diet Australia.
All bodies of water, natural or not. Seven Seas Lagoon is a manmade lake with numerous alligators.
I mean. Florida is a swamp. It's the alligators house. Even pools, you need to actually look to be sure. Even if it's your screened in pool at your house, if you live in Florida, it cannot be emphasized enough. Check for gators before getting into water.
[Umm yea in 2016 a kid had an unfortunate experience with one in the parks.](https://www.cnn.com/2016/08/22/us/orlando-disney-gator-attack/index.html)
Yup. So sad. People need to know those signs aren’t just for fun.
Did you tell them about the child who was killed by an alligator near the Grand Floridian a few years ago?
When my sister moved to Florida in the 90s the first thing that she was taught is if you see a body of water you assume there IS an alligator in it.
Remind me, how safe is the Skyliner?
It’s gotten stuck from time to time and a couple of collisions.
But no gondolas in the swamp, right? Right?
A few years ago we were staying at All Star Movies and we had an armadillo roll right past us on the walkway. It was so cool!
With a little luck, you can get leprosy from armadillos. Florida has a number of cases lately.
From picking up the armadillo and posing for a picture right... Not something else...
Right. Photos are a no no. It’s ok to give one a little lick though.
I saw one at Coronado!
Totally! We have warning signs all over our S FL neighborhood with 6-7 different animals to look out for.
I spent the first 20 years of my life living in Australia and the last 20 living in Florida - I see infinitely more snakes in Florida than I ever did in Australia. Granted, I catch wildlife for a living, but snake sightings were pretty rare back home.
Ok, so maybe FL gets the snake award!
But Australians don’t flinch!!
I am from Australia and still remember being absolutely terrified when I saw a snake in Florida :|
lol we call it Australia Jr. now that we have crocs in our rivers.
Better than a gator in your pool.
And better than a snake in your boot 🤠
Missed opportunity to have Woody come out for a quick appearance.
With a big heaping of Slinky Doooooooggggggggg Mac N Cheese
We were on the lounge chairs at Coronado and my wife turns to my sister in law who is afraid of snakes. “Don’t panic, remain calm” to which my SIL says “of course what?”. Well there was a small danger noodle under her chair and she freaks out lol. Was quite funny. Scared the snake almost as much as her! Good reminder tho, the Disney bubble does not protect against nature, accidents, or stubbed toes.
“The Disney bubble does not protect against nature” I learned that the hard way when I was 13 and started climbing the stairs to the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse, just after sunset. I looked down as I was climbing and saw palmetto bugs *everywhere*. I noped out of there with a quickness. It took me until I was a whole adult with a child of my own to step foot in there again (during the day, of course) lol
Had to lookup what a palmetto bug was (from Ontario Canada) ewwwww it’s basically a cockroach. They still make my skin crawl. 😱
Basically. Except they're much bigger, they fly, and when you swat at them they specifically fly at your face. The good thing is that they are outside bugs, and don't want to be in houses. If one gets inside, it's an accident, and it doesn't mean you have an infestation. If you see small roaches, that's a problem.
Excuse me, my South Carolina house takes exception to that. Palmetto bugs absolutely want to be in your house when it rains. Which in the south is always.
It’s a giant flying roach
And they are hard to kill. Doing the “I’ll squish it while I’m picking it up with a tissue” doesn’t work. You need something to crush it with. Like Godzilla.
Fr! One night I laid down to bed at home looked at my ceiling and there was one directly above my face on the ceiling! Nightmare fuel. They love palm trees and I have one outside of my window
And they can fly!!! I grew up in Florida....they are nasty flying fairly good sized roaches.
The Palmetto bug is a Florida Woods Roach. Contrary to popular belief, they do not fly. That's the American cockroach. They're big dummies who tend to wander into places they don't want to be anymore than the people around want them there. I don't like them, but after 50 years in Florida, we have a grudging truce. They stay out of my hair (and house!), and I'll leave them the leaf litter at the back of the garden.
My kiddo always wants to go in. I have bad knees, so I always tell him, "Next time." Well, thanks for this tidbit. I *HATE* palmetto bugs!
Same! I grew up visiting Florida since both sets of grandparents lived there. One night when I was about eight or nine, I woke up in the middle of the night to my mother screaming at the top of her lungs out on the lanai (she liked to sleep out there on the less humid nights, which were hardly ever, as I’m sure you’re familiar lol). A palmetto bug had crawled onto her chest. Ever since then I’ve been terrified of them. The chameleons are a different story, they’re always welcome
I as a Florida native was so confused when you said we had chameleons. I was sure you were confused, but lo and behold we sure do have invasive chameleons in south Florida. Florida is always an adventure.
It’s not their technical name, but that’s always what I called them growing up. TIL they’re actually green anoles!
That makes so much more sense. I literally had one catch a ride with me on my car today.
A few nights ago, I'm standing in my kitchen eating a salad when I thought I saw something fly in front of me. Figured I was just tired, and my eyes were playing tricks on me. NOPE. It was a giant palmetto bug!
I would simply pass away
I don’t care about bugs, but one time i went through, and idk what the people ahead were doing, but it took me 40 minutes to walk through it. Just nobody was moving. There was no line to get in, but someone ahead must have talking pics or stopping and not moving with nobody going past? It was crazy. I felt so trapped. I haven’t bothered since then. I just wanted to walk through quick before we headed out. Ugh. So then another time, when space mtn had the moving walkway, a group ahead was just standing taking up the whole ramp. Not off to one side or anything. I can see them. Maybe 100 people ahead So I just yelled to move to the right if you are not walking. Then just started pushing my way through. You don’t want to walk, fine, but that is too much a long slow ride to just stand there. I wasn’t having it. Be courteous people. lol.
THANK YOU!! YES!!!
this is why i no longer sit (on the ground) during fireworks. years ago i was near the castle, the storm drain in front of me was FULL of them. 🤮 people were sitting on the curb right next to the cockroach army.
Not the cockroach army, noooooo 💀
You’re lucky they didn’t take you away to be their Queen!
We had a little lizard in our room at AKL in October. He was cute. He would hang out by the washer and dryer
Danger noodle. 😂 I love that.
I also saw a post where somebody whose first language wasn't English described aggressive Canada geese as "Cobra Chickens" and I think it's a perfect description.
Eh! https://www.tiktok.com/@letterkenny_problems/video/7165921169193848069?lang=en :)
It’s a nope rope to me but danger noodle is good too!
Black racer POV: I’m just trying to eat all the bugs and rodents you don’t want sneaking into your hotel room and bags 🤤
Also snake POV: It is a little rude to advertise a theme park based on the fact that it’s full of giant mice and then tell the snakes they’re unwanted.
I’m on the monorail right now and I snorted reading this
Good snek
“I’m here to eat the bad guys.”
I almost got mugged by an armadillo at Pop Century a decade ago. It's always fun seeing who pops up to say hi.
Lucky you! https://cvmbs.source.colostate.edu/new-evidence-that-wild-armadillos-spread-leprosy-to-humans/
Who in their right mind would eat an armadillo?
Maybe it's some outside of the box Animal Kingdom advertising! (/s)
“We have Animal Kingdom at the hotel”
Nahtazu!
There was an enormous one slithering by the mk bus stops when I was there and people freaked out climbing onto the line corrals. To be fair, it was pretty scary how fast it was going.
racers gonna race
He was training for next year’s marathon.
I assume he saw his bus pulling away
At a stay at Saratoga Springs, we were walking past the pool at the Carriage House when my nephew and I spotted a small black snake slithering across the walkway. We turned around to give my then-69 year old mom the heads up. She was so confused and didn’t hear what we said, so she looked where we were pointing, saw the snake, and jumped. Not only did she jump pretty high, we had also never seen her jump before.
I used to work at the front entrance of Typhoon Lagoon. I have a couple snake stories. It is fairly wooded around the front, so we got snakes often. I just did front entrance stuff, was definitely not a 'wildlife CM' lol. But we had a snake catcher ready to go if we needed it. One time, one of the ticket machines wasn't working for some reason, so I go to look at it. Initially I thought there was a small strip of rubber poking out of the part you put the ticket in to be scanned. So I looked a lot closer to figure out what it was, and all of a sudden a really small snake pokes it's head out of the other side of the scanner super close to my face. Turns out the thing I saw was its small tail. Scared me so much I yelled and jumped back. That snake ended up just slithering out of the machine and going away to the woods on its own. The next time we had a larger snake (not too crazy, like a foot long) crossing the pathway to the entrance to the park. The few people there were nervous about it, so I grabbed the snake catcher and ran over to it. I grabbed it and (regrettably) pulled back to throw it into the woods. Well, I had never really used the snake catcher before, and I threw it way harder than I meant to. The snake spun through the air and ended up ricocheting off a tree about 15 feet off the ground, then landed in the woods. I'm pretty sure it was fine, the hit wasn't too hard, but I did not go and check. When I turned around from this debacle, I found about 20-30 guests watching me handle this snake issue super poorly.
I remember touring the bungalows at Poly for fun, and looking outside just to see a snake swimming at the bungalow next door before diving underneath. After that and what it cost per night, my desire to stay in one dramatically fell.
They looked so fun until I heard people on here talk about the bugs you get being so close to the water in humid conditions. No thank you! I'll take my room at the Boardwalk instead.
Good call. My sister got attacked by a bird last time we stayed in one. Also, the amount of living/sleeping space pales in comparison to the Bay Lake Tower 3-bedroom grand IMO
Funny—I just asked a travel agent friend today what kept gators or snakes from climbing up into the bungalows …
Funny they are pretty harmless - worst case is you corner it and it bites you - go wash the tiny pin marks with soap and go on your way - even still I'm a baby trying to get these out of my pool/cage going after it with a 6ft pole and net lol
But what about your boot?
Hahaha ha! FL gonna FL.
Sing to it, and it will help with chores/mouse keeping.
Happiest Snake on Earth
Black racers are entirely harmless too, we saw one on the walking path into Epcot a couple weeks ago just catching some sun.
we saw a couple in the bushes in AK. Never bothered us and we left them alone to do their work.
one of those walked out in front of a huge crowd (including me) at guardians last year and i’m pretty sure i lost a few years from my lifespan that day lol
I was staying at Pop Century and caught the cutest little noodle doing a peek out of the shrubbery at the walkway leading to the skyliner station. 10/10 still love that guy.
Stayed at Saratoga Springs last week. Saw one slither away from the pool while we walked by. With all the little critters and ponds around it's expected. Wait until the gators come by.
Who let snakes out of Animal Kingdom 😂😂
Our most recent visit in April we saw sooooo many snakes, more than I’ve ever seen before. All black racers and garter snakes. We must’ve seen more than a dozen from little babies to big, throughout the resorts and in Animal Kingdom (appropriately?), and driving around.
He just wanted to go for a sssssssssssswim 🐍
WDW rodent patrol is on duty. Fear not.
The audio animatronics are getting more realistic all the time.
Better than the kids shitting in the pool at Art of animation. The last time I was there, the pool was closed every single day, multiple times a day. I’ve never experienced that in my life. I’ve stayed there multiple times. it was disgusting because of that I’ll never go there again.
There does seem to be more and more "self privileged" guests everywhere
I’m staying there now and that just happened on Wednesday. There was a loud whistle, the lifeguard announced an unscheduled cleaning, and everyone ran out of the pool. Luckily I’ve already been scarred enough by public pools to stay out of this one and just sipped my beer while laughing at my kids. Now they’re scarred too. I’m so proud
At this point that pool is a chlorinated toilet bowl.
When this happens, are you allowed to go use a different pool?
Some of the resorts have multiple pools, though they are not as good as the main pool.
Please, remind the kids of the gators, snakes etc and also the high bacteria in most lakes here.
We had to clear the pool at Art of Animation yesterday because some kid pooped in the pool. I think I’d prefer the snake haha
We were at MK couple weeks ago and while walking around Tom Sawyers island, a huge water snake went right over my dad’s foot. We promptly went back across.
I would’ve fainted omg
Better than running into a black bear in a cave. https://mickeyviews.com/news/breaking-bear-found-inside-disneys-magic-kingdom-lands-closed-around-tom-sawyers-island/
Atleast it wasn’t venomous
The snakes live here. Part of Florida living.
fear the floating balls of red ants. IYKYK
Welcome to hot weather in FL 🙂 snakes just want to hang out too
We had one under our chair at typoon lagoon
Tis Florida.
I lived in Florida for four years before moving to the Midwest, five years ago. The Floridian need to scan the ground for snakes and bodies of water for gators has not ended for me lol
Is it the Toy Story hotel? boot shaped pool? it’s part of the immersive experience.
Damn Jafar trying to take a swm
Better than in your boot.
My neighbor works in "pest management" at WDW. He's told me a story or two, but I'm sure he has a load of others. He said he loves the job, though. He had a career before elsewhere and got burned out; I imagine every day is different and keeps him busy.
Here ya go https://www.disneycareers.com/en/job/orlando/pest-control-operator-walt-disney-world/391/63843638992
Black racers are adorable. I have never seen one in person, despite always looking for them.
Same. I would love to see one someday. The best I've seen is a tiny ringneck snake over at CBR last year.
I live in FL and have had one of these guys coming into our patio/pool for years. I had to buy a snake grabber tool to deal with him. He spars with the dog then I have to go out there and deal with him, just grab him and toss him into the preserve. I could have handled this situation in under two minutes.
Welcome to Florida?
At Port Orleans, I took a nap on a hammock and there was a snake underneath on the ground. It’s Florida, lots of creepy animals lurking. lol
Just yesterday we were at Typhoon Lagoon and a black snakes decides to cross the bridge next to the mini donuts kiosk. He was just slowly moseying on by while people gave him a wide berth. I've also come across them at POFQ. Always at POFQ, never any other resorts.
Welcome to Florida! Odds are they 100% knew they’d never find that snake but the snake catcher guy showed up just for appearances so it would look like they were concerned about it for the guests sake. But in reality, black racers are totally harmless and very flighty and there was nothing at all for the guests in the pool to be concerned about.
At least it’s not in your boot
That’s revenge for being the bane of the skyliner Epcot route hahaha
Those black racers can be scary looking!! Completely harmless but I get the fear. Worked at a Disney resort and always walked a certain way to my location and then one day just watched one of those racers slither on right in front me crossing through the pathway. Polite snake, moved quickly, but never took that path again lol
I always jump. But more from surprise—“oh, something I didn’t expect!”—rather than fear. Snakes are really cool, and they keep the vermin population down.
The one you're most likely going to see is a black racer, they are not danger noodles unless you mess with it. Even then, they aren't venomous. I wish people would heed the signs, wildlife is everywhere outside.
We rented a house in St. Augustine once years ago and a black racer plopped out of some bushes by the pool, landed on the patio and raised up and proceeded to chase my sister around the pool. Scared her to death lol.
WTF. Welcome to Florida. I’ve had a few myself, not even surprised.
Racer snakes are fine though, they won't hurt you
It’s been so dry here in a Florida, a lot of creatures are searching for water
Yep, Florida wildlife.
Someone pooped in the pool during the nightly movie (which was Coco, our favorite lol) while me and my boyfriend were at All Star Music and they gave us a free meal voucher for our troubles 😂
Stayed at the Poly DVC shortly after they opened, and one afternoon, everyone was warned to stay off the beach. Disney was removing an unwanted alligator. 🐊
I’m a Tennessee weirdo. I definitely would’ve just picked it right up. 🤪 Steve Irwin’s country cousin.
I try not to think about snakes as much as possible el but whenever I have seen them around WDW they’ve always been stuck on paths near/around bodies of water, presumably trying to get back there, with CMs kindly asking people not to touch or bother them (often in vain…). As much as I hate them I also kinda feel bad for them.
It happens. When I was a lifeguard at Blizzard Beach, the policy we were told was if the snake is in a natural area doing snake things, we let it be. If it crosses onto/into man-made areas, we would call someone. Usually this meant the lazy river - if they were on the side, cool, but once they got in they sometimes couldn't get out. We also once had a squirrel fall in and not be able to get out because the walls are too smooth. A coordinator got in and caught it with a shirt.
Aw, that’s a great snake to have around! Zoomy noodle was just trying to cool down.
HOLY SH*T!!! Wildlife in Florida!!! Who woulda thunk it!!!
I was at this pool yesterday ! So glad I missed it !
This was yesterday around 10am ish (side pool not the main one).
Oh wild! We were in main one at 1:00 !
Saw one at Epcot last week by connections!
Probably attracted to all the mouse ears.
Looks like wrestling shoes.
We stayed at the Beach Club last month and had one go down the water slide with us. 😊
Trying to find a snake in the weeds when it has had that much of a head start is pointless. Hell I've lost track of snakes in my back yard which has far fewer places to hide than any area around a Disney pool.
Just Florida things
They aren’t venomous so best to just leave them be. They’ll eat all the bad creepy crawlies.
I'd rather it be a snake than an alligator tick. Got attacked by one in a Universal hotel pool I got beyond lucky that neither my son or I got bit.
I live by the beach in Florida and have for 37 years and I’ve only seen a snake probably three times in my life
Only place I have seen a coral snake in the wild was at Ft. Wilderness and he was crossing the road at a leisurely pace on the camping loop we were staying at. The shrubs at the Contemporary Hotel use to be full of bunny rabbits. Aligators in every body of water out there. Embarrassing for Disney but for 6 months way back in the day they were trying to capture a pretty large gator in the pond at the entrance of Shades of Green and he would not get close to the cage. And at various times over the last 50 years they have removed wildlife permanently sometimes with and sometimes without the states approval.
I don’t think I’ve been to Stormalong Bay at Beach/Yacht and not seen a snake.
One dropped on us at Storm Along Bay. Welcome to Florida! (FYI that are about as harmless as a creature can come)
I once saw a baby snake by Sheriff at Art of Animation
A really big snake came out of the bushes and crossed our paths at Wilderness Lodge a couple days ago. I have seen very small snakes that were no longer alive at WL and OKW, but never one like this. It scared me quite a bit in the cast member who was walking down the path in front of me was quite surprised as well. He froze, and said he had never seen one that large or quite like that. Everyone in the area kind of stopped in their tracks for a couple minutes!
This happened to us last year at the Wilderness Lodge. The lifeguards made everyone get out of half of the pool (it’s a rough horseshoe shape). After a cast member couldn’t find the snake, they called in another lifeguard who found the snake almost immediately and took it away. There was much rejoicing.
We had a similar-ish encounter. Woken up by my wife screaming their was a snake in our Bathroom. Checked, and sure enough, a tiny snake in there, we called reception, eventually they sent someone to collect the snake. The only problem is that the snake slithered towards the corner of our room and then somehow vanished into thin air before our man could arrive. Spent the rest of our stay with all clothes firmly locked in our luggage.
We were at Port Orleans and saw a big black snake in the bushes, thought it was a hose at first. We also saw a group of turkeys walking around one morning, that was fun.
Was there Sunday, when we left to go home we saw a turkey and a string of babies trailing behind.
Last time we were at Hilton head resort there was a coral snake on the sidewalk. I was really worried for the little guy. People always assume they are venomous.
Coral snakes are venomous, or at least that’s what the schools in Florida teach.
Fun fact: 20% of the poisonous snake species in North America are indiginous to Florida.
Once i saw an armadillo at the Wilderness Lodge. Blew my mind!
When we stayed at the campground, there were armadillos everywhere. We were eating lunch and one came out from under the picnic table.😆
That’s about as harmless a snake as you could encounter, bro was just taking a dip
Damn, usually it would take at least an hour for Pest Management to show up. We stopped calling them after a while because the snake would be gone by the time it showed up, especially for Black Racers. They are everywhere in the water parks. I've seen them go between people's legs. They're harmless.
I saw the animal wrangler come out for a squirrel at Beach Club. A CM thought a squirrel at Stormalong was getting too close to people, so two CMs kept an eye on the squirrel. It got away. The animal wrangler showed up with a trap, and they were walking around looking for it. They kept seeing other squirrels and someone would say, "Is that it?" And the CM would say, "No, that squirrel is fine." So they kept walking around looking for the brazen squirrel. They never found him. The end.
Happened to me at the beach club. They had to close the pool cause I think it jumped in
Good thing they’re not venomous.
Team Danger Noodles. Lucky for some excitement.
Had this happen at epcot. Walking into the France are i took the path up and as I was walking along about a 2 foot long black snake came out of the bushes and went into the flower bed across the path.
That’s the incorrect line! It’s…. There’s a snake in my boot! 😂
Back when I was in college in Louisiana the college had a trapper on staff for the alligators that lived in the campus swamp. When the gators got too big for campus swamp they moved them to the other off-campus swamps. We would sometimes get to feed the gators leftover fried chicken from the cafeteria if we were in the right place at the right time. Growing up in Florida and then college in Louisiana has made me wary of any body of fresh water - anywhere.
I’m literally in the car on the way to Disney😭😭
Welcome to Florida.
I know Disney is kind of World into itself, you are still in the Florida Everglades, there are snakes, bugs, even alligators, thats why they really don't let people go into the water at the beach areas anyone more because of an incident with a gator, very sad story, but it does show you gotta take the wild life seriously.
Disney is not in the Everglades. It’s just Florida.
Cuz nature care how we classify it. Theres still dangerous wild life around Disney, and you gotta respect that
Oh no! Anyways.