A Bear Made Its Way Into Disney World and the Rest Was History
The bear was spotted near the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and forced a partial closing of the park.
On Monday afternoon, Disney World's Magic Kingdom Park—which is located in Orlando, Florida—had to partially close, and it was all thanks to one particular guest.
Before you start wondering what could a human being possibly do to lead to a partial park closure, just know you're off track. The visitor in question was, in fact, a black bear who, as News 6 Click Orlando reports, got stuck in a tree on the western side of the park, near the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in Frontierland.
Several rides and portions of the park were forced to close, and guests had to wait for some attractions to open after a delay, including Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, and Haunted Mansion.
With the fall season and hibernation time approaching, authorities from the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) think that the bear probably accessed the park in search of food. While usually bears are best to be left alone until they decide to move, in this case authorities chose to try and manually relocate the bear for safety reasons.
"Biologists with the FWC's Bear Management Program, as well as FWC Law Enforcement officers, are on scene," the FWC said in a statement. "In most cases, it is best for bears to be given space and to move along on their own, but given this situation, staff are working on capturing and relocating the bear."
Thanks to the FWC help, the park then reportedly made the decision to reopen Frontierland, Liberty Square, and Adventureland, as announced in an official statement. All told, the closed areas of the park were shut down for about an hour and a half, based on news reports.
This is not the first time a black bear became an unusual guest in a non bear-friendly environment. Just this summer, Florida had to witness another event of the sort, when a black bear was reportedly seen swimming up to shore in a very crowded beach to the disbelief of beachgoers. At the time, the FWC explained that the cub was likely coming back from a gulf island after scavenging for food.