Fort Wilderness Campground and Magic Kingdom - April 4

THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH!

After a long flight the night before, Mackenzie took advantage of sleeping in the next day. I had to get the lazy teenager up at noon. And although I would have loved to sleep in, I managed to get up at 9am. It's an age thing...

We had breakfast at the cabin, because I was smart enough to pre-order groceries to be delivered. Hash browns, fruit, juice and eggs. Yum!

We showered up and were just getting ready to head out the door to explore when my sister, Tami arrived. It was perfect timing. So, we helped her unload her very full car. She brought some groceries too, among other things. We determined quite quickly that we had enough crackers to feed the entire resort for the week. ha ha ha!

Once all was put away, we headed off to see some of the resort and to head over to Magic Kingdom on the boat. Fun!

Fort Wilderness has so much to offer. You can swim in one of two pools, rent canoes, boats, bikes, golf carts, or do Segway tours. You can fish, ride horses, watch movies under the stars, attend sing-a-longs and bonfires and so much more. You could just stay at the resort and have tonnes to do. Oh, and did I mention that they have dinner shows,  restaurants, arcades and stores too?!!!! You can bring your motorhome, pitch a tent or rent a cabin.

Walking trails everywhere

Bridge to one of the swimming pools

By the lake near the Bike Barn

Lots of trees for shade

Great walking/running paths

Go for a horse drawn carriage ride

As we walked around, it became pretty obvious that some of these folks in the motorhomes were real Disney buffs. They had their rigs decorated up in true Disney fashion. I should have taken a few pictures of these. Some people went all out. Mickey figures, lights, banners, torches, you name it, they had it. Kind of creepy actually.

Map of Fort Wilderness - We were in loop 2300 Great spot!

Ok, enough about the resort for now. Let's talk about the first Disney day.

Magic Kingdom! 

A great place to start your Disney Vacation. The epitome of Disney ideas and atmosphere. 

We were excited!

We walked down to the marina were we would catch our boat over to Magic Kingdom. 

Signage

One of the boats

 Views of the lake from Ft Wilderness Marina

Now, because we were Disney resort guests, all of our travel for the next week was free throughout Disney World. No need to worry about car rentals or paid parking, or taking trams to the entrance of any park. Just climb aboard a Disney transportation vehicle, whether it be boat, bus or monorail and be magically whisked to the location you desire. How carefree and wonderful is that? They run such an efficient system. The longest wait time we had was about 15 minutes. For the most part, we hardly waited more than 3 minutes.

So, we get on our boat and head to the kingdom. It was a 5 or 10 minute ride across the lake. You pass by the Contemporary Resort, which was the first resort on Disney property. You pass the Wilderness Lodge and boaters zipping about the lake. Lots of bird life can be seen as well. Very peaceful ride.

Contemporary Resort

Mack and I enjoy the ride

Mack on the boat

 

MAGIC KINGDOM

Let The Memories Begin Mack!

Classic Shot!

Me, Mack and my sister, Tami

For the first day, we focused on Tom Sawyer's Island, Fantasyland and Frontierland.

Tried to find a paintbrush on Tom's Island. I had read on-line that the cast members hide a few whitewash paintbrushes throughout the Island and if you find one you get free Fast Passes for all the rides for your family for that day. So, we went a searchin'... to no avail this day I'm afraid. :(  It was pretty late in the day to be looking, though one of the cast members told us that there were still 2 hidden from two days ago. Some of them are hidden very well.

Oh, well, we shall return!!

Shootin in the Fort

In one of the caves on the Island

Tom Sawyer's has so many fun places to hide and play in. Its great for little kids, and well, those of us that never truly grow up. 

Looking out to Thunder Mountain Railroad from the Island

That night we ventured into Frontierland, Fantasyland and shopped. It was fairly busy until 1/2 an hour before the parade and fireworks started. Then people were waiting on the parade route and for the fireworks. This was the time to do the rides. We went on Thunder Mountain Railroad a few times and Splash Mountain, where Mack and I sat in the front and I proceeded to get SOAKED! The little twerp ducked.  -.-

I do love his expression the first time we went down though. Ha! Ha! Priceless! He looked completely freaked out. Auntie Tami, (sitting behind us) was having a great time too.

Brilliant!

We also did Pirates of the Caribbean, Peter Pan, Its a Small World. Mackenzie thought that he was in hell on that one. That song...

We checked out Buzz Lightyear, and just enjoyed the sights and sounds. It was a gorgeous night.

We cruised Main Street USA, which was beautiful all lit up at night. So magical.

 So, that was our first night in the parks. We had a great time and didn't leave until 1am.
Who needs sleep anyway?
The Disney boat took us on our peaceful journey to the campground. Our little cabin welcomed us back and we were lulled to sleep by the quiet and the singing frogs.

Tomorrow - Hollywood Studios and Fantasmic