Walt Disney World Vacation (Post 2)

This is Post 2 of our Walt Disney World Vacation. Catch up on Post 1 here.

Last post, we left you at our first night at Fort Wilderness in Walt Disney World resort. This post will cover the first half of our time at Walt Disney World and Fort Wilderness. I hope you enjoy as I am enjoying reliving all of our memories from this trip.

Day 4 (June 29, 2021) – Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World

Early Morning at Fort Wilderness

Before most of the campground got up, Jack got up and went for a bike ride around Fort Wilderness. The campground is so peaceful and calm in the morning. Here are some good shots from the ride:

Magic Kingdom in the Morning

Our plan was to hit the park early and hard. Wake up for the rest of the family was 6:30 am. One of the great benefits of Fort Wilderness is that it’s on Bay Lake at Walt Disney World and has direct boat access to Magic Kingdom. We headed towards the marina at Fort Wilderness and caught some “pixie dust.” We got off the internal Fort Wilderness bus at the marina and a bus headed for Magic Kingdom pulled in right behind us, score! We got to security at 7:40 am and made it to the rope in front of Adventureland shortly after. The rope dropped at 8:00 am and we were off!

One of our favorite rides is Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. So we went straight though Adventureland and cut through the bathrooms to Frontierland and straight to Big Thunder. We pretty much walked on the ride. When we finished our first ride, the line was still dead, so we went again and again and again. Four times in a row. If you follow through the rest of our posts on the trip at Walt Disney World, this is some foreshadowing.

We wound our way around Magic Kingdom. We rode the Magic Carpets, Pirates of the Carribean, Haunted Mansion before lunch. Before leaving the west side of the park we grabbed lunch at Pecos Bill’s and then rain started falling off and on.

Dodging the Rain and Packing it in

After lunch, we got to Tomorrowland and hit the Tomorrowland Speedway and a small detour to the Tea Cups. Then we hit Buzz Lightyear Ranger Spin as it started to sprinkle. Then we jumped into Carousel of Progress as the sky opened up. When we stepped out of the Carousel, it was pouring. We hunkered under some of the People Mover’s track until the rain passed. Our clothes were a little wet, but manageable at this point.

Once the rain let up we headed to the Astro Orbiter. The rain started just as we were climbing into the rockets. It poured on us as we went up and down. We got totally soaked. It was late afternoon and that was enough for us. We had walked about eight miles at that point and we were soaked to the bone.

As the boat coasted into the Magic Kingdom docks to pick us up, the rain let up. At least we weren’t going to get wet getting back to Maddie.

Back at the campsite we were totally pooped. Everyone showered up and we turned in early after dinner.

Day 5 (June 30, 2021) – Animal Kingdom and EPCOT, Walt Disney World

Our original plan was to stay in Animal Kingdom all day, but rain changed our plans.

Morning and Early Afternoon in Animal Kingdom

We got going around 7 am to make it to the 8 am Animal Kingdom opening. Kilimanjaro Safaris is one of our favorite rides and it was where we headed to first. It’s usually our first ride of the day to beat the crowds and to get out when the animals are active before the Florida heat. We lucked out as the rangers were out feeding when we drove through so we got some great looks at the animals.

After our safari we headed out to Rafiki’s Planet Watch and toured more of the animal exhibits in Africa. We grabbed lunch at Flame Tree BBQ. It was quite tasty.

As we were finishing up lunch, rain loomed again. Our oldest wanted to attempt Expedition Everest, but our youngest was just fine not doing that. Katelyn and Jack jumped in the Everest line and Erin and Will went off to Dinoland for some rides more Will’s speed. Katelyn did pretty well, but not sure she’s going on a mountain expedition again anytime soon.

When we pulled back into the Everest station, the sky opened up again. We huddled under an awning and checked the radar. The rain was settling in for a while. We decided to give up on our original plans and head back to Fort Wilderness, yet again.

Back at camp we pulled out our washing machine. We have a portable washer/dryer that we set up in the shower and do wash in. It was a nice break to ride out the storm. While we washed up some undies we had some little snacks so we could grab some food in the parks when we headed back out.

Late Afternoon and Evening in EPCOT

Once the rain cleared, we caught the bus for EPCOT. The park wasn’t too busy so we hit a lot of rides. Yet another storm brought some lightning into the area and closed all the outdoor rides. Thankfully, it wasn’t raining in EPCOT though. We took the opportunity to head back to the World Showcase to grab “second dinner.” After some snacks the line for Frozen Ever After was the shortest we’d seen, so we jumped in the line. We waited through the hour plus line and got THAT song stuck in our heads. When we got out of the ride, it was a few minutes to closing. So we strolled towards the exit.

EPCOT wasn’t in our plan, but it salvaged an otherwise wrecked day. It was a great evening.

Thanks for reading. Next time we’ll head back to Disney Springs, Hollywood Studios, more EPCOT, and more Magic Kingdom.