January 2018..... who will be there?

[Disneypeach]

Got my bike out yesterday and rode over to Wilderness Lodge using the asphalt path between the Fort and the Lodge. Really pretty and usually see wildlife along the way.


Along the way I saw that the "do not enter" barriers were down where the old cocquina path is (they were there during the WL new cabins build out) so naturally my bike decided to roll on over and see the sights.




the path is right along the water's edge...



Unfortunately the old path is blocked at both ends. There are signs towards the Fort saying access is restricted to cast members and this is what you find at the WL end.



Oh well, it was still pretty and I saw a deer along the path...no pix because I wasn't fast enough to stop and get the camera out before she disappeared into the shrubs.

 

[Teamubr]

Nice pics Peach. Looks like the are trying hard to keep the riff raff from the WL Villas from invading the Fort.

j

 

[ilovedisneymm]

Am I the only one that noticed the alligator? What the #$@#! Did that really happen? Cause the drama queen in me would have died. Just fell over dead in the canoe from fright alone. Please tell me that you just added that pic from another location, not from the fort.

 

[tiggerdad]

Am I the only one that noticed the alligator? What the #$@#! Did that really happen? Cause the drama queen in me would have died. Just fell over dead in the canoe from fright alone. Please tell me that you just added that pic from another location, not from the fort.

Looked like FW grass and water to me.

Great pic too!

 

[snowmedic]

Am I the only one that noticed the alligator? What the #$@#! Did that really happen? Cause the drama queen in me would have died. Just fell over dead in the canoe from fright alone. Please tell me that you just added that pic from another location, not from the fort.

Sorry, it is at the Fort. I seen him off in the distance but didn’t say anything to DW & DD until we got closer. I stayed in the middle of the canal and he just laid there as we went by.
When we got back to the bike barn I she asked if we seen any and I showed her the pic. She got her supervisor and I showed him, and showed him on the map we seen it. He told us that the only time they catch and relocate alligators is if they are a nuisance.
If they come toward people instead of staying put or the gator moving away, then that is when they take action.

Here is a map with the area circled on where we seen him.

 

[mco65]

Thought my eyes were getting worse because i couldn't find the gator in DisneyPeaches pics..... because its on the previous page of snowmedics pics!

Definitely would have freaked me out..

 

[sirenia88]

I saw the gator in snowmedic's picture. It was on the water's edge. The gator was not casually wondering down a main road or loop path. No reason to be freaked unless it is right outside your door of the tent or camper.

 

[snowmedic]

We get excited when we see an alligator.

 

[FtW Mike]

We get excited when we see an alligator.

Right there with you especially when they are on the menu.
How many of us have enjoyed the post card with an Alligator on it claiming to represent "Florida's Original Sun Bathers" or "Send More Tourists, The Last One's Were Delicious" I would bet more than a few of us have seen the UTUBE videos of Gators on golf courses or crossing roads around public access recreational areas. Rule of thumb I follow is simple. Alligators natural habitat is swampland. Disney World is built on SWAMPLAND. In the state of Florida any free standing body of water is likely to have an unseen gator lurking init.
If I see one I move away and respect his territory. If it come to where I am That is now his territory and I leave. Snow Medic did the right thing He didn't treat it as Tourist attraction he respected a Wild Animal. He reported it to CM where it's presence was likely documented and if conditions warrant steps will be taken to better ensure guests safety. As the Warning shown at the start of every "GATOR BOY'S' episode I ever saw said " Don't try this at home unless you are a trained professional An Alligator can Maim, Kill, or Consume You Consume means eat

 

[tiggerdad]

Here in MS my family mostly made their living operating fish hatcheries. From time to time we would end up with alligators in our ponds and we learned to just work around them.

One January we had drained a pond and were catching the remaining fish with a 100' foot net. It was probably about 45 degrees, had gotten below freezing night before so it was cold. We were wearing chest waders. As my cousin is pulling this net around the pit he feels as if it had a snag in it so he starts feeling around under the water trying to find the stick, but instead comes up with a 5' gator. Carrying it like a baby. The poor creature was so cold it wouldn't even move. He set it behind the net and we finished. After about an hour the thing had moved about a foot slowly trying to climb back to the water.

When we would run our 15' bush hogs cutting the pond dams they would follow behind us. Things were smart enough to know that snakes would run out of the grass as we were cutting and they would run up and catch and eat them when they came out of the grass. They were just part of the workforce.

 

[FtW Mike]

You hit it on the head there Tiggerdad Ole Al E. Gator is a cold blooded critter. While most of us were in the grips of that recent Polar Vortex I read a report on gators forcing a hole into the ice on pond and the like that would freeze and get frozen in place with little more than their snouts protruding to breathe

 

[bama_ed]

Nice pics Peach. Looks like the are trying hard to keep the riff raff from the WL Villas from invading the Fort.

j

Next they'll be trying to sneak into the Meadow pool. May have to call the Popo on them....



Bama Ed

PS - good pix, Peach

 

[pluto67]

Lets see, people in canoe, in canal , alligator in canal. What could possibility go wrong !!!!!

 

[Disneypeach]

The only time I've seen a gator at the Fort was a baby one sunning itself on the bank behind a campsite while I was paddling a kayak in the canal south of the bike barn. It was kinda cute at only about 18 inches long.

Went to HS today...fun but crowded. They are making progress on the new skyway station:



Couldn't really see too much in Star Wars land:

 

[Disneypeach]

Saw some cool models of what's to come in Toy Story land:



The ride vehicles in model form:





In preparation for the new entrance to Toy Story Land, the existing entries (FP+ and standby) have been changed. We are now going in thru a side entrance with the big room that the original lines snaked through walled off now. This makes both lines have to weave around outside. I almost fainted when I saw the FP+ line...it was the longest FP+ line I've ever seen but it moved pretty quickly. The CM guiding the lines said it would be this way until the new land opens.

 

[snowmedic]

So I am slacking, one day behind. Yesterday we went back over to Cocoa to do some more sight seeing. Had lunch at The Cove in the port area, a nice restaurant called FishLips. You might remember from my March post with the Disney ship going by. After lunch we drove around looking for dolphins and manatees, didn’t see either. As we where heading back to the Fort, we stopped off at a place on the 520 where we usually see alligators. Earlier in the week when we stopped we could see any. Yesterday we seen 4 up on the bank near the water sunning themselves.
When we got back we had dinner at the site, pulled pork sandwiches then I took DD and her friend up to the movie to watch The Incredibles. After it was off to bed.

 

[snowmedic]

Today was a pack up day for us. We got everything but the tent and beds moved over to storage. DD did the barn tour up by TE with her friend and her father. Then it was of to TE for our last ressie.




We did not stay very long, DD was not feeling well when we got there and barely ate anything. After went to Settlement Trading Post for a souvenir for one of our other daughters, then back to camp.

We will be leaving for home at about 8 am, with a stop at Waynesboro North 340 Campground in Va. to visit with DW father, who has recently retired and is traveling in his TT. We will be leaving there Sunday morning for the rest of the way home.

The kids area at the Meadows pool got a new paint job about 2 days ago.





Off to bed for now then heading out. More when we get to Waynesboro.

 

[tiggerdad]

Lets see, people in canoe, in canal , alligator in canal. What could possibility go wrong !!!!!

They forget their favorite alligator recipe book?

 

[Disneypeach]

I was sitting on the TE front porch this afternoon when I overhead a camper talking about bikes being stolen in the last couple of days. One was taken from the bike rack in front of TE! Another was locked up but the cable was cut off. Seems like the Fort has an issue with this. if they have cable cutters I’m not sure how we can prevent the loss. My bike is old and has some rusty spots so I’d be surprised if anyone stole it but I still lock it up.

 

[snowmedic]

Made it to Waynesboro Va. in 13 hrs. We pulled out of the Fort at 10, took 417, I-4, 95, 26, 77, 81, and A few miles of I-64. The only traffic issue was at the N/S Carolina border with stop and go traffic for about 8 mi.