When you visit Walt Disney World in Florida, it’s tempting to fill every day with the great theme parks and water parks. But it’s a great idea to slow down and experience a day just exploring your resort hotel, too. I did this recently at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge, and found that they have a lot to offer for a peaceful day off!
We started with a walk around the lobby. We enjoyed the great fireplace with its interesting decorative touches (the hinges on the screen look like quivers of arrows!), the fountain and bridge, and the sets of dominoes that were set out to play. There were also displays of arrowheads, rocks, and other artifacts.
We then followed the stream that began in the lobby, and headed outside. The stream leads to the pool area. It was warm enough to swim, even in January, and the pool looked so refreshing! You could easily spend the whole afternoon here swimming and going down the water slide. There are hot tubs too, in case it’s chilly out.
Then we went for a leisurely walk around the wooden walkways. It’s so beautiful here.
There’s a geyser that erupts periodically. What fun!
The wooden walkway leads around to the lake. Here you can catch a boat to Fort Wilderness Resort, the Contemporary Resort, or Magic Kingdom. These are completely free to ride.
From here, we circled back past the pool to explore the beach area. There’s a white sandy beach, complete with lots of lounge chairs and a playground for the little ones. It’s not safe to swim here, but it’s a fun place to let the kids play in the sand. And when the weather is nice at night, they have a marshmallow roast in this area!
Adjacent to the beach area, there’s a little marina where you can rent an assortment of boats to enjoy on the lake. My personal favorite is the two-seater Sea Raycer boat, but they also have larger party-type boats for the whole family.
You can also rent bicycles at the marina. They have all different sizes, including small ones with training wheels, big ones with child carrier seats, family-sized surrey bikes, and many sizes in between. There’s a nice bike trail from Wilderness Lodge over to Fort Wilderness campground (and once you get to Fort Wilderness, you can even rent some gear and go fishing if you like!)
Instead of renting bikes, we chose to just go for a walk on the hiking trail that begins at the marina. It felt so secluded, you’d never know you’re still at Disney World. We even saw a real live deer!
When we returned from our walk, we found more FREE activities! If you ask, you can get a volley ball, or a ping-pong setup at no cost, and play to your heart’s content.
I’m Brenda Arnold-Richard, and if you’d like to stay here and check out all the leisure activities, or try one of Disney’s other resorts, please contact me at Brenda@travelwiththemagic.com for a free quote and travel planning services! Travel With The Magic can also help you with your Disneyland vacation in California, a Disney Cruise, or any of your other favorite locations. Check us out on the web at travelwiththemagic.com!
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