Finally, we spent a day at Disney’s Animal Kingdom park, which is part theme park, part zoo.
The central Tree of Life:
Avatar land:
Africa:
Jenn likes collecting the pressed pennies:
African safari:
Lunch:
Train:
Snack:
Tortoise:
The Tree of Life; if you look closely, it’s covered with animal sculptures:
The backside of water:
One day was enough to see everything we were interested in at this park. Worth a visit, but probably not a re-visit.
We also visited Hollywood Studios in Disney World a couple of times.
Entrance:
Main street:
Us in front of the Millennium Falcon in Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge:
Smugglers Run ride:
Drinks and snacks at Oga’s Cantina:
Uh oh:
Lunch:
Rise of the Resistance ride:
Muppets:
Runaway Railway:
Hollywood Tower of Terror:
Video:
Mickey ice cream:
Toy Story Mania:
Alien Swirling Saucers:
We went to the Brown Derby restaurant for dinner:
Neon:
Another day:
Back to our favorite part, Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge:
Transition from Galaxy’s Edge:
… to freeway tunnel:
We had dinner at the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater restaurant:
Neon:
The Fantasmic! show, better than in Disneyland as they have actual seating:
More neon:
We visited Epcot within Disney World a couple of times.
Epcot’s Spaceship Earth globe:
We dropped off our backpacks at a locker, and marveled at the advanced futuristic technology nearby:
Spaceship Earth:
A customized video created at the end of the ride.
Topiary:
Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind ride:
Monorail:
Epcot is arranged in several sections called pavilions, around a central lake. We first visited the Mexico Pavilion:
Frozen ride:
United Kingdom Pavilion:
Fish & chips for lunch:
France Pavilion:
Morocco Pavilion:
Japan Pavilion:
USA Pavilion:
Germany Pavilion:
We had dinner at the Coral Reef Restaurant:
Seas exhibits:
Mission: Space ride:
During our second visit the Flower and Garden Food Festival was underway, so we sampled several of the options:
Journey of Water:
The second day, we had dinner at the Space 220 Restaurant, which simulates a restaurant on a space elevator 220 miles above the Earth:
Spaceship Earth globe:
We did the Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind ride again:
Monorail:
We spent eight days at the four Walt Disney World theme parks. We took over 3,000 photos during that time… so a bit of a challenge to filter them down to a reasonable number for the blog. (Where “reasonable” is rather subjective.)
I’m doing a separate post for each park, starting with Magic Kingdom.
Us in front of the railway station:
Main Street USA:
Cinderella’s Castle:
Adventureland:
Pirates of the Caribbean:
Something we don’t see in California’s Disneyland: alligators and snakes:
It’s a small world:
The line was inside, vs outside in Disneyland:
New Zealand representation:
Teacups:
The new Tron lightcycle ride:
A video:
Speedway:
Carousel of Progress:
Train:
Liberty Belle Riverboat:
Haunted Mansion:
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad:
The Dapper Dans:
Haunted Mansion:
Parade:
Skipper Canteen restaurant:
Back to the campground:
Boat from campground:
Monorail:
Train station:
Jungle Cruise:
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train:
A video:
Rain:
Tomorrowland:
Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor:
Peoplemover:
Space Mountain:
Peter Pan’s Flight:
Journey of the Little Mermaid:
Gaston’s Tavern:
Monorail:
Ferry boat:
Parade:
We stayed at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Campground, within Walt Disney World, Florida. (Campground Reviews listing.)
So nice to spend over a week inside the Disney bubble. Disney World is huge, covering 25,000 acres (39 sq mi; 101 sq km), including four theme parks, dozens of resorts, golf courses, etc. The Fort Wilderness Campground is 750 acres of tree-covered paved campsites, cabins, and various amenities, with boats and buses to the parks.
Dates:
Weather:
Noise:
Site:
Utilities:
Internet (in usage priority order):
Amenities:
Our review on Campground Reviews:
A state park, but make it Disney!
If you’re an RVer and want to do the Disney Bubble experience, this is the place to be. Direct access to all the parks from the campground (boat to Magic Kingdom, buses to all the others) and a bit of that trademark Disney flare in the campground itself. We stayed a week and have already booked for next year, we enjoyed everything so much. We spent pretty much all day every day at the theme parks, so didn’t use many of the amenities in the campground, but it looked like you could have a blast of a day just hanging out here.
Our site (1334) was plenty big enough for our 40′ motorhome, tow vehicle, and rented golf cart. Renting a golf cart is a must. There are shuttles that run through the campground, but we enjoyed the freedom of getting around on our own timetable. Unfortunately, our site was right next to a playground with a basketball halfcourt that some sociopaths thought would be fun to play on late at night and early in the morning. Not cool.
One other minor niggle was that we decided to extend our stay while we were there. I called the number for reservations and was told that only the front desk could do that. Went to the front desk and was told that they couldn’t do it because we’d booked a package through the Disney Travel Co. So I booked a new reservation online and then went to the front desk to get them to join the two reservations so we didn’t have to check out and check in again. A bit less magical than I expected from Disney customer service, but we got there in the end. We camped at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground in a Motorhome.
Campground map:
An interactive map:
Our site:
We rented a golf cart during our stay, which is highly recommended to get to the boat and bus stops, and other amenities:
(They do have a shuttle bus to take people to various parts of the campground, too, so a cart isn’t critical, but it is more convenient.)
More of our site; we didn’t really use the site, other than to sleep, since we were at the parks during the days:
Utilities:
One thing we didn’t enjoy was that our site was right next to a playground, with a basketball hoop; kids bouncing basketballs is super annoying for us DINKs:
The campground offered horse and cart rides:
A popular thing is to decorate the golf carts, which not only makes them more festive, but also easier to spot in a parking lot (if you look at the earlier pictures, we added a couple of koi wind socks to ours).
Some examples of decorations:
On our first evening we attended the onsite Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue:
Afterwards, we watched the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the nearby beach:
Welcome to Fort Wilderness:
Store:
We took the boat to the Magic Kingdom park on several days:
Pioneer Hall has mobile-order or grab-and-go food options:
Bathrooms:
Other sites, which people often decorate too:
There are sections of the campground with cabins, for people without RVs:
The Meadow Swimmin’ Pool:
An excellent campground. We’ll be happy to stay here again in the future (though would see if we can request a site away from playgrounds etc).
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 213 miles from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Disney World, Florida, including a picture-in-picture from the 360 camera on the truck being towed behind the coach.
We drove our coach 213 miles, about four hours of driving, from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Disney’s Fort Wilderness Campground in Disney World, Florida.
Here’s a map showing our route:
An interactive map:
Paladin was happy to have his nest on the stacked dining chairs:
Leaving the resort:
A drawbridge:
On the Florida’s Turnpike toll road:
“Sample Road” — someone forgot to give it a real name?
Accident:
It was nice to see a bunch of wildflowers alongside the road:
A stop at a service plaza for lunch:
Back in the coach, having a snuggle with Paladin:
Another service plaza stop for a bathroom break (and yes, a truck in the RV-only sites):
Paladin on the passenger chair:
Yeehaw Junction:
More wildflowers:
Approaching Disney World:
Entering the Walt Disney World bubble:
Fort Wilderness campground:
Security gate:
Reception:
Unhitch area:
Following the coach to our site:
Our site before parking:
