Attack of the 100 Foot Alligator!

Do you remember what it was like to be riding along in the car as a kid? Maybe you were gazing out the window, daydreaming, completely out of it... when suddenly, some absurdity of nature or anomaly of creation quickly catches your eye, and you practically spill your soda trying to turn your head fast enough to take it all in?

Welcome to that moment.

It's not a scene that's often realized on a lazy afternoon trek, but if you've driven along Hwy 192 in the Kissimmee/St. Cloud area of Florida, then maybe you've diverted your eyes for a moment to look over at a dinosaur-sized gator, its head tilted up in victory, its hapless victim an inverted, crushed car with who- knows-what-inside. And maybe, like me, you've said, "Now there's something you don't see every day."

I don't know when this "gatorland" or gator attraction went out of business, but the past few times I've driven past, there hasn't been any cars in the parking lot. I took the pictures of the giant alligator (Click the numbered squares on the photo above. Clicking the photos makes them bigger too.) on my return trip from the dilapidated theme park, Splendid China (Link below). Pulling into the parking lot, I promised my wife that I wouldn't be long. After a few pictures of Mr. Teeth himself -- he is a lot larger up close than I thought -- I walked across a small, wooden deck that crossed a dirty pond and into the cave-like entrance of the main building. Peering through smeared, dirty windows, it looked obvious that the previous occupants were no longer present.

Since the "Gator Motel" sits directly next to the gargantuan lizard, I figured I'd make a phone call and see what I could learn. After all, if the motel has "gator" in the title, they've got to be gator experts, right?

A pleasant woman answered the phone and sadly reported that the gator farm attraction had been shut down for a while. "You should see behind the building," she told me. "The part where the gators were goes way, way back."

This surprised me. I'd always assumed that the alligator attraction was only in the main building, but after a quick scout of the property using the satellite and plane imagery of Bing Maps (click here) I saw a kind of decked walkway, and water and maybe even what looked like cages. The water canals reminded me of my recent trip to the now defunct Tropical Wonderland in Titusville. There was much more to this alligator world than met the eye from highway 192.

The nice woman on the phone told me that she'd heard that the building would soon be turned into a paintball store or park.

No matter who goes into this location, I hope they keep the gator. A car-chomping, dinosaur-sized monster sitting in the parking lot is just what is sometimes needed to perk up an otherwise ordinary drive through Kissimmee.

Now, if someone would pass me some napkins, I've got some soda to clean up.

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Other Resources:

►Bing Map showing the Alligator Car-Chomping Monster - Click Here

►Google Map of Kissimmee Gator - Click Here

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