Good Alligator Encounters?

The zoo. Seriously, the zoo.

One of my best friends lives in Florida and she doesn't understand the fascination with the gators. Her neighbors constantly lose their pets to the gators in their backyards, and it's a risk constantly to children. She can't let her children out in her backyard without supervision.

My best encounters with gators have been when they were deep fried.

We loved gatorland. But, we are official reptile dorks. I'd bore you with first-hand stories of friendly and not so friendly gator encounters in my backyard when I lived in Ft. Lauderdale, but... I need to get to bed!

If you happen to get down to the Ft Lauderdale area, Holiday Park has great airboat rides and they'll take you out to where some native americans do a great show with alligators.

Trust me, stay behind the fence! Use your zoom!

I read your title and thought : oxymoron!

Nothing good about Alligators! Ugh! But then they used to eat one kid a year or so from my elementary school. Dozens of pets. In the golf courses, swimming pools, parks, everywhere the bloody dangerous nuisances. Ugh. At least bears & cougars are mammals and can be raised not to eat you. Shudder. Crocs & gators are like reef sharks. Avoid. Avoid. Avoid. Lightning fast, & wicked dangerous.

That said... There's lots of farms about with tours & such. I'll leave current locals to recommend. But seriously... Don't let your guard down. Ever. In movies they half freeze them so they're slow. They go from zero to crunch almost as fast as snakes when they're warm. Faster than cheetahs for the first 5-15 feet.

Never smile at a crocodile
No, you can't get friendly with a crocodile
Don't be taken in by his welcome grin
He's imagining how well you'd fit within his skin

Never smile at a crocodile
Never dip your hat and stop to talk awhile
Never run, walk away, say good-night, not good-day
Clear the aisle but never smile at Mister Crocodile

You may very well be well bred
Lots ot etiquette in your head
But there's always some special case, time or place
To forget etiquette
For instance:

Never smile at a crocodile
No, you can't get friendly with a crocodile
Don't be taken in by his welcome grin
He's imagining how well you'd fit within his skin

Never smile at a crocodile
Never dip your hat and stop to talk awhile
Never run, walk away, say good-night, not good-day
Clear the aisle but never smile at Mister Crocodile

I'm sorry - but really? Are you serious? You seem to be a troll with "interesting" posts...

You REALLY want your child to "hang onto" an alligator? Do you know how fast those bad boys are? Well, okay...if you must. Darwin might work.

I hear there are places....I just did a quick internet search...found this..
http://www.floridatravelusa.com/articlesnew/aligatorsjan0...

maybe you could do the same? If you were making a trip to Florida, did you not plan it out better?

And I'm sure your 5 year old is not walking "thought" Disney, but THROUGH it.

There's a mini gold place in Orlando that has baby gators, you can feed them and I think hold them, not sure on the holding part but feeding you can. It's called gator golf

Good alligator encounter said no one EVER!

Ummm...there is NO safe, reputable business that would let you "hang onto one." I mean, really? You want your kid to hang onto a gator? It literally takes a second with a gator to have their head.

I agree with Riley. Ask locals, they will know of the best places.

My husband went to Gatorland when he was young. He loved it!

I would get tired of walking through Disney too. Have you gone to the beach at all? Seriously, if I ever went to Florida, I would park myself on the beach until they pried me away. :)

Enjoy the rest of your vacation!

The Zoo.

Would you care to see pictures of raw gator meat? My brother was lucky enough to win a lottery drawing this year and got to hunt one. He stayed with us while on the hunt and cleaned the one he harvested, at our house.