WHEN MOTHER NATURE COMES TO VISIT . . . AND STAYS

As I mentioned in an earlier posting, wildlife is everywhere at Disney. In the late nineties I was leaving the studios one afternoon and had to come to a complete stop. The car behind me wasn't too happy about this, but I saw a bobcat tooling around in the bushes. It looked around for a few moments, then slipped back into the woods. Just the other day at the Wilderness Lodge some guests said, "We just saw the coolest thing." The cashier said, "Oh, really, what was it ?" "We were watching a rabbit out the window, then from out of no where a bobcat snatched it and vanished into the woods." My first thought was," Atleast they weren't upset about seeing Thumper get eaten."

Squirrels are often called 'Rats With Good Press Agents'. While at Epic, we, the cast, did a very bad, but contagious thing. We fed the squirrels. In case you don't know, if you feed these little beggars, they become brazen and fearless. In fact Epic had to be stopped. . . in the middle of show . . . because of squirrels. There is a flame affect that floats on a sheet of water at the beginning of scene three. A squirrel thought the water was it's own personal fountian and stopped for a drink. . .a long drink. It's kind of a 'Guest Dissatisfier' to see a little furry woodlands creature get torched in the Dragon Burner flame effect, So every one got over time because the show ran long as the techs tried to herd the squirrel off stage. It's kind of fun though, watching a performer try to stay in character as a villian when two love smitten squirrels are racing around his feet.

I think the final straw, however, was when the squirrels discovered food in the parked strollers out side of the stage. The little theives would trash the guest's belongings during the show, then afterwards, it'd run up the leg of an suspecting guest trying to beg for more.

I never knew until recently that the Pirates of the Carribbean ride wasn't totally enclosed. Apparently, after the Johnny Depp rehab work a guest was talking to a cast member about the improvements. They said they were so impressed with the new animatrons. . . 'even the Alligator looked so real'. The cast member played it off well and asked which one they noticed. The guest described with scene it was in and went on thier way. The ride was shut down as the 'powers that be' removed the very real alligator that had found it's way into the ride. (Disneyland may be older, but our Pirates ride have real alligators. . . at times.}

Any building with massive amounts of people coming and going and the doors left open most of the time is bound to gather some uninvited guests. The character costuming builing had a nest of finches in the rafters one year. It was small, they didn't bother too many people. The next year, how ever, it turned into a condo. After nesting season and the babies were gone, we were vigilant about keeping the doors shut. WELL, that didn't work. They discovered a new exit point above the roll up door. The year I left, they were about to enter the third finch season and the third year of covering the costumes in plastic.

At one point, the character costuming building had a black bird who was drawn to our coffee pot. He would follow us in and go straight to the back of the building. My fellow cast members tended to over react and tried to chase him out of the building. You can not 'chase' a bird out of . . . anyhwhere, but he was smart enough to find his way out. The dove at the Boardwalk Resort was another story. The floors had been revarnished and the fumes were over powering, so we openned the doors to air out the lobby. A dove found it's way in and spent at least two days in side. Several of us called pest management and insisted they do some thing before it died. The operator said "it would be okay because she was sure it had found water". I ensured her it had not and that this bird was going to die if some one didn't do some thing. Long story short, that night, my manager said they had, had enough and decided to chase it down. The theroy 'if it was going to die, at least it would do so trying to rescue it'. He said they tired it out to the point of barely being able to fly and they were able to catch it and returned to the out doors.

Anyone visiting Florida has to realize, we are a swamp state. As a swamp state we have reptiles. I almost ran over a black snake with a Segway at the Allstar Resort. Scared the fool out of me. A few days later another runner had parked his pargo (modified golf cart) in the same area and, I think it was the same snake, tried to get into the pargo. When I used to work in the phone bank, I had a guest tell me that she was trapped in her room because a snake was curled up on the sidewalk in front of her door.

When I did my orientation tour of the lodge, there was a pair of Mallard Duck bopping around in the pool with the guests. I was surprised that no one gave them a second thought.

I'm sure there will be more critter stories. If you have heard of any, please let me know and I'll add your stories here too.

P.S. Today I had a lady asking where they could find bugs. She wanted to bring some home with her. I'm not making this stuff up. As we talked, I realized her daughter had a school project due on bugs.

Armadillos and Gators and Deer . . . Oh My

Disney has always been known as an eco-friendly place. Inspite of major habitat desctruction, wildlife still runs rampant through out the property. Not long ago I was working as a Front Desk Runner for the All Star Resort. Between runs, I usually would find a shady spot and park the pargo (modified golf cart). The nice thing about All Star sports and All Star Music is that the designers incoorporated the natural landscaping into the suroundings. So there was plenty of old growth pine trees, palmetto bushes and other ground cover. On this particular day, I heard a noise crushing it's way through the palmettos. I stopped and waited. I thought it can't be anything dangerous we're in the middle of the resort. A few moments later an armadillo crawled out of the bushes went under my pargo, came out the other side, looked up at me then meandered it's way across the drive.

That's what wildlife does on Disney property. They know that no one hunts them (anymore), so they meander. The next time you go to Magic Kingdom, keep and eye out on your left (East. . .I think. The opposite side of the monorail.) I usually find anywhere between four to ten wild turkey 'meandering' along the open fields beside the road. I had to park in cast parking for an overtime shift last year and found that the cast members have learned to share thier parking lot with them as well.

I don't golf. I have never golfed and know I would be horrible at it. The only time I have ever been on a golf course was when my brother and two of his friends wanted me to get them a tee time on a Disney course. Since there was three of them and two golf carts, I tagged along. A little side note, I learned that they weren't very good golfers either. :) Anyway, the back nine of the Magnolia course is full of deer, rabbits, squirrels, you name it. I felt like i was in a Bambi movie. If you are ever driving around the back side of Magic Kingdom, you're not supposed to be that far back, but in case you are, take those curves behind Grand Floridian slow. That is prime deer territory.

Back a few years ago, I had just left the Studios on the way home, and in the wooded area between the Studios parking lot and Victory Way, I saw a large clump of tan scruffy fur on the edge of a swampy area. I came to a complete stop on the road. I know the people behind me thought I was nuts, but I had to stop. The clump of fur was a Bobcat. A real, life, top of the food chain Bobcat. He tooled along the edge of the woods for a few moments then disappeared back into the undergrowth.

I can't end this enstallment with out talking about one of our most meligned and misunderstood creatures. . . The Alligator. I can always tell when guests are from up north and out west. We usually get biraged with gator questions. I have had guests ask 'Disney relocates all of the gators, right?' 'Ahhh, No.' Logistically that would be impossible. I was flying back to Orlando from England a few years ago and a gentleman asked me, 'Now, seriously, do alligators really get into swimming pools ?' I had had to confirm that 'yes they do get into swimming pools', but I am pretty sure that you'll see them before you dive in the deep end. At that point I always go into my Gator 101 class. Number one, if you see a gator and it doesn't acknowledge you, that's good. It means that it's doesn't associate people with food. Number two, never, ever feed an alligator. There will be no Crocodile Hunter activities allowed on property. Number three, assume that all bodies of waterin Florida and the Southeast have at least one and probably more gators. However, if you are on Disney property and you rent a Sea Racer or other water craft, have fun and don't worry about alligators. They are usually very shy creatures, that when not fed by stupid people, pose very little threat.

We did have a guest paniced one day. She swore that there was baby alligator in her hotel room and that she wanted it removed immediatedly. . . . It was a tiny lizard, but more about our lizards, geckos and snakes later.

Until next time---