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TikTok video reveals why there are zero mosquitos at Disney World and minds are blown

TikTok video reveals why there are zero mosquitos at Disney World and minds are blown
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A TikTok user has blown some minds and triggered an avalanche of comments after revealing that Disney World is home to zero mosquitoes.

“There are no mosquitoes in Disney World, even though it’s in the middle of a Florida Swamp,” Michael McBride, who posts under the name Idea Soup, told viewers in his viral video.

“They have a ‘Mosquito Surveillance Program.’ It’s one of the best in the world. They spray 86 miles with insecticide every day.”

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“They even have ‘sentinel chickens’ whose blood they test for mosquito-borne illnesses,” McBride added.

Commenters were blown away, rightfully. But the TikTok is completely true: Disney World, which opened in 1971 in Orlando, Florida, really does keep mosquitoes outside of the massive park, in order to send guests away without bug bites or any bad feelings.

The Surveillance Program was led by Major General Joe Potter, and works to keep mosquitoes as far away from the rides and fantasy characters as possible.

To do so, the Walt Disney drained the entire swamp they were building on, the start of what several critics consider to be an ecological disaster in order to create fun for Disney-loving families (and now, adults).

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At least one TikTok user, going by the name Ken, shared the complaints of many Floridians, sarcastically writing “nice - that must be so good for the environment.”

After the swamp was drained, the park itself was built with the pests in mind.

Because mosquitoes are most comfortable in standing water, the park also runs entirely with moving water, like fountains, to keep the pests away. There are no structures in the park that can collect water either.

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This design, which keeps the bugs away on their own volition, is supplemented by the aforementioned insecticides.

But the chickens are real as well.

The birds roam the grounds eating any potential mosquito invaders, and their blood really is tested for Zika and West Nile regularly. These viruses can’t make the chickens sick, according to Mental Floss, but can be detected in them.

Probably because of the questionable components of the Mosquito Surveillance Plan, TikTok users’ reviews were mixed.

One wrote: “The world: cure cancer, save the bee. Also the world: insecticides on everything."

Someone else joked that anyone who does encounter a mosquito at Disney World should try suing the park, since the lack of bites is obviously a major draw.

And at least one user denied the whole existence of the program. “This is false,” wrote Sof, “because I got bit 1 (one) single time.”

Still, one question remains unanswered by the TikTok: exactly where do all the displaced mosquitoes go?

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