Wilderness Lodge Welcome, Magic Kingdom Mania, and Culinary Delights at Disney Springs
Day 2
It was another early morning for us on day two. The alarm went off at 6:30am to give us enough time to pack up and get our bags to the door for the bellman to arrive at 7:15am. Sure enough at 7:15am Darryl, the bellman, was there. He loaded up our bags and was even nice enough to drive us over to Wilderness Lodge, where we would be spending the rest of the trip. Darryl took care of our bags, and we were off to start our day.
We made our way down to the boat dock to catch the boat over to the Magic Kingdom. Once on the boat I asked the kids what they wanted to do to try and set up a game plan for the day. The consensus was Space Mountain, and with that in mind, my brain went to work on how to plan out our day.
We got through security just as people were let through the MagicBand touchpoints. The passholder line wasn’t that long and within a few minutes we were on Mainstreet USA. No matter how many times you see it, Cinderella Castle is still an amazing sight to behold. We got some photos and then made our way over to the Tomorrowland bridge to wait for rope drop at 8:30am.
The roped dropped exactly at 8:30am and the track meet started. People started running in all directions trying to be the first in line for their desired attraction. This process has always blown my mind. I can’t really believe that Disney allows it to happen. We calmly made our way over to Space Mountain and joined the queue. It was at most a ten-minute wait and we were ready for blast off.
The next task at hand was to walk clear across the park to Adventureland because the next ride was going to be Pirates of the Caribbean. I’ve never really understood why only half the park opens for the early morning entry, but it is what it is. Pirates is one of my all-time favorite rides, and a Disney classic. Pirates was a walk on, and we were on our way to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
By the time we got to Big Thunder, the line was stretching all the way out of the queue, but the posted wait time was only fifteen minutes. We joined the line and I set a timer on my watch to see how long the wait would be. This queue is one of the best themed on property there is so much to look at and do while in line. It can be miserable if you get stuck at the beginning of the queue out in the direct sunlight. At almost exactly fifteen minutes we were at the front of the line about to board the wildest ride in the wilderness.
The heat of the day was starting to get to us, so it was time for something cold. I place a mobile order at Sunshine Tree Terrace for an I Lava You Float, a root beer float, and four ice waters. It was only 9:55am and we all were feeling the heat. At 10am, when Sunshine Tree Terrace finally opened, we picked up our order and moved over to the seating area outside of Skipper Canteen. When the kids finished their treats, we were on the move over to Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room.
As crazy as this sounds, I did the Tiki Room for the first time last summer (Summer 2023). Now it’s a must do for me on every trip. It’s a Disney classic, its air conditioned, and it’s a place to sit down. This was the kids first time seeing it and they enjoyed it.
When the show was over, I checked wait times again and found that waits were up across the park. I decided that we would do Hall of Presidents because its been forever since we’ve seen it. The show was better than I remember, and it was another airconditioned place to sit down.
It was nearing lunch time, so we started to head back to Wilderness Lodge to get some lunch at Geyser Point. This is one of my favorite places on property. The food is always solid and the place itself is such a cool setting. Heidi and I split the bison burger and the kids each got the steak sandwich. The burger was as good as always and the steak sandwiches were good, but not as good as the bison burger. The worst thing we ordered was the chicken wings. They had a good flavor but were way over cooked.
In the middle of eating lunch, I got a text that our room was ready. It seems that whenever I stay at Wilderness Lodge that my room is always available right around noon. We got up to the room called down for our luggage and relaxed in the room until it was time to go to dinner.
Dinner on day 2 was Morimoto’s at Disney Springs. This is one of my all-time favorite restaurants anywhere. The ribs are one of the few meals that I dream about when I haven’t had it in some time. Heidi got the duck ramen and the kids got the orange chicken. The food at Morimoto’s always comes out quick and we were done with dinner in less than an hour.
The plan after dinner was to head to Hollywood Studios as it was open to 10pm that night. We went right to Tower of Terror. The wait was 45 minutes, but that didn’t mind me as the queue is fantastic. We escaped the twilight zone and made our way over to Galaxies Edge to do some bounty hunting. We ended the night with Toy Story Midway Mania, where I got one of my lowest scores ever. It was now after 10pm and we made our way back to Wilderness Lodge to call it a night.
Day 1 First Class to Campfire: A Magical First Day at Disney’s Fort Wilderness
