When Walt Disney first conceived of Disney World he wanted to avoid the encroachment of civilization that happened at Disneyland. The goal was to get a lot of land in a place that wasn’t surrounded by people. Central Florida had most everything that Walt wanted, but the area was basically all swampland before construction began. Sometimes we are reminded of this fact, as we were recently, when a snake tried to visit the Magic Kingdom. It’s unclear if it had a reservation.
A TikTok video going viral shows a Cast Member outside the gates of Magic Kingdom trying to wrangle a snake that has wandered onto the footpath between the park’s front gate and the area where guests disembark from the various modes of transportation that bring them from resort hotels or the Ticket and Transportation Center. She appears to be handling this situation much more calmly than I would be.
@disney_with_bren ♬ Stay Calm _ Fire Drill _ Michael Scott - The Office
Two Cast Members are working together to try to deal with this snake. And while I’m guessing the snake in question isn’t that dangerous, it’s difficult to be sure from this distance, you never quite know how an animal is going to react to being physically moved. You can tell both Cast Members aren’t really loving this job, but they’re still handling it better than a lot of us probably would.
At the same time, while we don’t get pictures of snakes wandering through Magic Kingdom entrance plaza on a daily basis, it probably isn’t that unusual an occurrence. Walt Disney World is still located on Florida swampland and while there was surely a great deal more wildlife on the land before development started, you’re never going to get rid of all of it. Especially since there is still plenty of water near Magic Kingdom and lots of land within Disney World that isn’t developed yet.
When it comes to the wildlife you’ll find at Disney World, random snakes are worse than some, but not nearly as bad as others. You’ll honestly be surprised how few mosquitoes you’ll have to contend with at Disney World, as the annoying insects are part of an ongoing battle to be kept under control.
Another, far more dangerous, wildlife issue, is alligators. Disney World also works with trappers to keep the dangerous predators away from guests, especially following a tragic event a few years ago when a small child died in the Seven Seas Lagoon at the hands of an animal.
If nothing else, people that really don’t like snakes can rest assured that Disney World Cast Members are here to make sure guests won’t need to worry about such things. They’re doing important work and we love them for it.
