Disney World: Magic Kingdom After Dark

After spending several hours at Animal Kingdom, we went back to our coach to rest for a few hours, then headed out again to Magic Kingdom, for a special “After Dark” visit, where we (and hundreds of others) could enjoy the park after closing hours, with pretty much no lines for any of the rides, and “free” popcorn, ice cream, and beverages.

We timed our arrival well, and with some help from the ferry boat skipper going extra slow, we were able to see the early evening fireworks from the boat:

Fireworks from ferry boat

Fireworks from ferry boat

A posed photo in front of the castle:

Posed photo in front of the castle

Side of the castle:

Castle

Little Mermaid ride:

Little Mermaid ride

“The backside of water” on the Jungle Cruise ride:

The backside of water on the Jungle Cruise ride

Pirates of the Caribbean ride:

Pirates of the Caribbean ride

Riverboat and castle:

Riverboat and castle

Haunted Mansion ride:

Haunted Mansion ride

Haunted Mansion ride

An amusing Haunted Mansion pic:

Amusing Haunted Mansion

Castle selfie:

Castle selfie

Later fireworks and light show:

Fireworks and light show

Fireworks and light show

Fireworks and light show

Fireworks and light show

Fireworks and light show

Teacups ride, with Jenn’s giggles:

Teacups ride

Peoplemover ride:

Peoplemover ride

Space Mountain ride:

Space Mountain ride

Tron ride:

Tron ride

Tron ride

A video with us:

Heading out, with a mostly empty Main Street:

Mostly empty Main Street

A magical experience.

Disney’s Fort Wilderness Campground

We stayed at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Campground within Walt Disney World, Florida. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A magical campground within the Disney World bubble.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2025-02-09
  • Check out: 2025-02-16
  • 7 nights

Weather:

  • Partly cloudy
  • High temps 79-87°F, lows 59-66°F
  • Little wind, gusts to 20 MPH, but sheltered

Noise:

  • A little road noise (including bus on main road)
  • No train horn noise
  • A little neighbor noise (kids)
  • Fireworks most nights

Site:

  • #555, back-in, concrete
  • Needed to disconnect toad, parked beside coach
  • Level site; used hydraulic leveling
  • Concrete driveway about 55 feet long by 25 feet wide
  • 30 feet to neighbors on both sides
  • Trees between sites
  • Picnic table
  • Fire pit
  • Tall trees
  • Clean site
  • Elevation 100 feet, front facing West

Utilities:

  • 50 amp power, conveniently located
  • 75 PSI water, conveniently located
  • Good sewer connection, very conveniently located (2 2-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • T-Mobile: 230-300 Mbps down, 20 Mbps up, 15-35 ms ping
  • AT&T: 155 Mbps down, 32-55 Mbps up, 60 ms ping
  • Verizon: 5 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 35 ms ping
  • Starlink: not used
  • Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

  • Pools
  • Garbage bin near site
  • Golf cart rental
  • Boats and buses to Disney World parks

See our previous stay here for our review on Campground Reviews.

Campground map:

Map

Another map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site, with our rental golf cart out front:

Our site

Our site

Not quite as long as the site we had last time, but there was room to hang off the back of the pad:

Our site

Our site

Convenient utilities:

Utilities

We rented a golf cart, and decorated it a bit to be festive, and to be able to identify it in golf parking lots:

Golf cart

Solar-rechargeable lights at night:

Golf cart

Other nearby sites in our loop:

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

A squirrel trying to get into a box left on a neighbor site:

Squirrel

Horse-drawn carriage ride:

Horse-drawn carriage

A bus stop near our loop, that we used to pick up our golf cart:

Bus stop near our loop

We could have used the shuttle bus to get from one end of the campground to the other instead of getting a golf cart, but the cart was more convenient:

Shuttle bus

Playground over the road from our site; not as annoying as the basketball court we had next to us last time:

Playground over the road from our site

Golf cart parking:

Golf cart parking

Meadow Swimmin’ Pool:

Meadow Swimmin' Pool

Meadow Swimmin' Pool

Meadow Snack Bar near the pool:

Meadow Snack Bar

Meadow Trading Post:

Meadow Trading Post

Definitely the best place to stay when visiting Disney World.

Travel from Clermont to Disney World, Florida

We drove our coach just 48 miles, about one hour of driving, from Clermont to Disney World, Florida.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading in a deliberately long route, to kill time before check-in time:

Route

An interactive map:

Checking out of TTO; unusual to need to check out, but at TTO one needs to hand in the site number tags:

Checking out

Leaving TTO:

Leaving TTO

Clermont water tower:

Clermont water tower

An idiot driving with a flat tire, practically falling off:

Driving with a flat tire

Driving with a flat tire

Going through a toll plaza, entering Florida’s Turnpike:

Toll plaza

Florida’s Turnpike:

Florida's Turnpike

We stopped at Turkey Lake Service Plaza for lunch, and to kill some time:

Turkey Lake Service Plaza

Turkey Lake Service Plaza

KFC for lunch:

KFC for lunch

A trailer staging area in the service plaza, which we could have used if the truck/RV parking was full:

Trailer staging area

Toll plaza when leaving the turnpike:

Toll plaza

Exit to Disney:

Exit to Disney

Entering Walt Disney World:

Entering Walt Disney World

Entering Walt Disney World

Exit to Fort Wilderness:

Exit to Fort Wilderness

Passing by Magic Kingdom parking:

Passing by Magic Kingdom parking

Entering Fort Wilderness:

Entering Fort Wilderness

Fort Wilderness security gate:

Fort Wilderness security gate

Fort Wilderness Reception Outpost:

Fort Wilderness Reception Outpost

Unhitching area, where we untoaded:

Unhitching area

Kennedy Space Center

We visited the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex on Merritt Island (by Cape Canaveral) on the coast of Florida.

An interactive map of the area:

Selfie:

Selfie

Orbit Cafe:

Orbit Cafe

Orbit Cafe

Atlantis Space Shuttle building, with the booster rockets and fuel tank out front:

Atlantis Space Shuttle

The shuttle is suspended in the air:

Atlantis Space Shuttle

Atlantis Space Shuttle

Atlantis Space Shuttle

Atlantis Space Shuttle

Atlantis Space Shuttle

Space Shuttle

Space Shuttle

Space suit

Engine

Atlantis Space Shuttle

Space toilet:

Space toilet

Space bed:

Space bed

Challenger and Columbia memorial:

Challenger and Columbia memorial

Challenger and Columbia memorial

Shuttles:

Shuttles

Astrovan:

Astrovan

Bus tour to the Apollo/Saturn V Center:

Bus tours

Rocket:

Rocket

Vertical assembly building:

Vertical assembly building

Saturn control room:

Saturn control room

Saturn control room

Saturn control room

Saturn V rocket:

Saturn V rocket

Saturn V rocket

Saturn V rocket

Saturn V rocket

Space suits:

Space suits

Capsule:

Capsule

Rocket garden:

Rocket garden

Green-screen pic:

Kennedy Space Center

An interesting place to visit, at least once. We probably won’t visit again, though.

Bok Tower Gardens

We visited Bok Tower Gardens on Iron Mountain in Florida. It is a 250-acre garden and bird sanctuary, with a tower that includes a 60-bell Carillon. The “mountain” on which it is built is one of the highest in Florida, at 295 feet elevation (yeah, Florida is very flat).

Here’s an interactive map of the gardens:

The brochure map:

Map

Tower cross-section:

Tower cross-section

Entrance:

Entrance

Visitor center:

Visitor center

Exhibits:

Exhibits

Exhibits

Exhibits

Exhibits

Changing Florida:

Exhibits

Elevations of Florida:

Exhibits

Exhibits

Cafe:

Cafe

Gift store:

Gift store

Bok Tower:

Bok Tower

Bok Tower

Bok Tower

Bok Tower

Bok Tower

Bok Tower

Bok Tower

Bok Tower

Bok Tower

Pond

Flowers

El Retiro historic home:

El Retiro historic home

Art boardwalk:

Art boardwalk

Art boardwalk

Art boardwalk

Window:

Window

Sundial:

Sundial

Bok quote: “Give to the world the best you have and the best will come back to you”:

Give to the world the best you have and the best will come back to you

A fascinating tower and nice gardens. Highly recommended.

Thousand Trails Orlando RV Resort

We stayed at Thousand Trails Orlando RV Resort in Clermont, Florida. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A third visit to TTO, the flagship Thousand Trails park. Actually the first of two stays here this year, totaling five weeks, separated by a week in the Disney bubble.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2025-01-19
  • Check out: 2025-02-09
  • 21 nights

Weather:

  • Mostly sunny, a few rainy days
  • High temps 45-80°F, lows 36-61°F
  • Occasional wind, gusts to 31 MPH

Noise:

  • A little road noise
  • No train horn noise
  • Little neighbor noise
  • Gas golf carts going by (on the route for maintenance workers)
  • Distant fireworks from Disney most evenings

Site:

  • #49 Hurricane Road, back-in, concrete
  • Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
  • A little unlevel site; a little high on driver side and rear; used hydraulic leveling
  • Concrete driveway about 55 feet long by 12 feet wide
  • 25 feet to neighbors on both sides
  • Just grass between sites
  • Picnic table on 25 by 10 feet concrete patio
  • No trees, one shrub
  • A bunch of small trash on site
  • Elevation 120 feet, front facing South

Utilities:

  • 50 amp power, conveniently located
  • 40 PSI water, conveniently located
  • Unthreaded sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • Starlink: 140-180 Mbps down, 12-25 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
  • T-Mobile: 25-30 Mbps down, 7 Mbps up, 35 ms ping
  • Verizon: 5 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 20 ms ping
  • AT&T: 0.7-38 Mbps down, 0.3-11 Mbps up, 60-180 ms ping
  • Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

  • Garbage dumpsters only in a central location
  • Package delivery to office, for $5 per package (we got a local mailbox)
  • Pools

See our previous stays here for our review on Campground Reviews.

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

After setting up our griddle and furniture:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Utilities:

Utilities

Aerial view of our site:

Aerial view of campground

Aerial view of a long line checking in, shortly after noon:

Aerial view of long line checking in

Aerial view of long line checking in

Aerial view of campground

The new section; nicely paved sites, but don’t you dare even think about putting anything on the scraggly grass:

Aerial view of campground

Aerial view of campground

Aerial view of campground

Aerial view of campground

Aerial view of campground

A line of RVs snaking around the parking lot and road by the tennis courts, waiting to be guided to a site:

Aerial view of campground

Another view of the entry road:

Aerial view of campground

Above our loop:

Aerial view of campground

Aerial view of campground

TTO is very strict about only allowing checking in after noon. They don’t even let you line up on their entry road before then. So some people wait for noon on the highway turn lane, which risks getting ticketed by cops:

Waiting to check in

Check in line:

Check in line

Line to be assigned a site:

Check in line

Other sites:

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Most sites are back-in, but there are some pull-through buddy sites (that we’d avoid like the plague):

Other sites

Main intersection:

Main intersection

Pool:

Pool

Game courts:

Game courts

Group fire pit and benches:

Group fire pit and benches

Lake:

Lake

“Alligators and snakes in this area”:

Alligators and snakes in this area

Pond and birds:

Pond and birds

More birds roaming the campground:

Birds

Birds

Birds

Birds

Birds

Lizard:

Lizard

Lizard

A nice thing about TTO is there is a Publix grocery store and pretty good Chinese food nearby:

Chinese food

And a Japanese restaurant:

Japanese food

Japanese food

Plus Chick-fil-A and pretty much any other fast food you might want within about 10 minutes drive:

Chick-fil-A drivethru

Back to TTO soon!

Travel from Dunnellon to Clermont, Florida

We drove our coach 77 miles, only about 1.5 hours of driving, from Dunnellon, Florida to Clermont, Florida.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading southeast:

Route map

An interactive map:

After exiting our (very nice) site and looping around, we passed our site on the way to the check in area to toad up:

Passing our site

Exiting the campground:

Exiting park

A fuel stop:

Fuel stop

Filling the DEF (Diesel Exhaust Fluid):

Filling DEF

“Welcome to Florida’s Turnpike, The Less Stressway”:

Welcome to Florida's Turnpike, The Less Stressway

Toll plaza when exiting the turnpike:

Toll plaza

Arriving at Thousand Trails Orlando:

Thousand Trails Orlando

“Welcome to Thousand Trails Orlando; We Are Family”:

Welcome to Thousand Trails Orlando; We Are Family

A long line to get sites:

Line to get sites

At TTO people go to a parking lot then are guided to a site; you can request an area that you like, and are shown to that section, and can ask for a different site if you don’t like it. Kinda a hybrid between the usual Thousand Trails approach of first-come-first-served, where you roam around and find a vacant site, and the more typical assigned sites approach of other RV parks. Though Thousand Trails is moving to an assigned sites approach.

A bunch of RVs waiting to be guided to a site; this is where motorhomes untoad, too:

Waiting for a site

Guided to our site:

Guided to our site