Where, oh, where to start! I guess at the beginning with our arrival at the land of magic at Fort Wilderness on January 4th, 2026 around 1:00 p.m. Being a Sunday we expected longer lines at the entrance station but it wasn’t too bad, just a few motorhomes/campers ahead of us. At check in, we were assigned to premium site #1306 on Tumbleweed Turn.

In 2023, our last visit to Disney, we waited for several weeks after we made our Fort Wilderness site reservation to make a reservation for a golf cart so unfortunately we couldn’t book one for our entire stay. That wasn’t going to happen again! As soon as we made our site reservation on August 23, 2025, we called to book a golf cart for the entire week. Success! So once we were settled into our site, we hopped in the car and headed back to the check in area to pick up our golf cart.

Visiting Disney World is always exhausting! The days when we had the energy to visit one (or more) of the parks which usually required walking at least 10-15 miles per park, standing in line for long periods of time waiting to go on one of the rides, jumping on and off the various modes of transportation, dealing with the heat and humidity, and fighting the crowds and zillions of kids are long gone. Instead we opted for a more leisurely pace suited to us seniors, visiting the hotels, circling the parks via the monorail, enjoying several boat cruises, soaring across the sky on the Skyliner aerial gondola and zooming around Fort Wilderness in our golf cart. Love all the Disney modes of transportation!

Here’s are the highlights of our week long stay!

January 4, 2026

Yes, we sure do enjoy visiting all of the Disney hotels but what we saw soon after our arrival shocked us!  After dropping off the car at our site, we headed down to the beach area in the golf cart. OMG, what is that gargantuan structure being built on Bay Lake right next to the Fort Wilderness beach area? Talk about ruining the beautiful, natural landscape bordering the lake!

Occupying the former site of the long-closed River Country water park, the Lakeshore Lodge, which is scheduled to open in 2027 will offer 967 guest accommodations including traditional hotel rooms, Disney Vacation Club villas, one and two bedroom villas, and premium waterfront “Lake Houses”. From the lush forests of “Bambi” to the colorful winds of “Pocahontas” and the majestic glacial peaks of “Brother Bear,” this resort will pay homage to the beloved Disney stories inspired by the great outdoors. It will also feature an outdoor recreation area known as The Wetlands as well as several dining options. Maybe once it’s finished, it will be less of an eyesore along the waterfront. We can only hope!

January 5, 2026

First order of business the next morning was breakfast. Not wanting to spend a lot of money at a resort restaurant, we headed over to the Trail’s End Restaurant in our golf cart where we both had an egg and cheese croissant served with potato barrels ($7.99). Nothing fancy but tasty! Following breakfast and after a little wait at the dock, we boarded the boat for a very pleasant ride to Magic Kingdom.

Disembarking from the boat, we walked through security, and took a left to another boat dock to catch the boat to the Grand Floridian Hotel.

Except for a few remaining reindeer in the garden areas, a band of elves had already replaced the zillions of holiday poinsettia plantings with white geraniums. Inside the hotel, the majestic 40 foot tall, beautifully decorated Christmas tree still stood as the centerpiece of the main room. But alas other decorations including the huge, life sized Christmas gingerbread house were missing. After hanging out in the hotel lobby for a bit, we hopped on the monorail and headed over to the Polynesian Village Resort.

The Polynesian Village Resort had undergone a major refurbishment in 2021 and then in December, 2024, the Island Tower which added another 268 Disney Vacation Club rooms was opened. We weren’t there for any of that, however, instead our main reason was to enjoy a visit to the Pineapple Lanai for a yummy Dole Whip Pineapple Cup which we ate resting at a table by the pool. Yummy and always so refreshing and delish!

January 6, 2026

On this day, the Wilderness Lodge was on our itinerary. During our last visit we found out that the direct boats from Fort Wilderness to the Lodge don’t begin until 3 p.m. which worked out perfectly for our plans for the evening. Christmas decorations were still very much on display with the towering Christmas tree centered in the lobby, brightly lit wreaths adorning the fireplace and doors and the garland draped over the balcony railings. So festive and pretty!

Our early dining plans that evening included a return visit to the Territory Lounge where we enjoyed Artisanal Cheese and Charcuterie board ($22) from their Shareable Bites menu. The meats included are Berkshire Prosciutto, Bresaola, Salami, and Capocollo along with Reypenaer, Burrata, Smokey Bleu, and Seahive cheese and grapes. Excellent but not quite as impressive as the board we had on our last visit in 2023 (see our post Skylinerin’, Soarin’ And More Hotelin’). To accompany our shareable, we both had an L & C (fittingly named for Lewis & Clark) Gin & Tonic ($18.50) which was made from Fords Gin, St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur and Elderflower Tonic. And yes, that is cucumber, not lime, which adds a unique flavor to the beverage. Delish!

Catching a return boat back to the Fort Wilderness beach area, we were able to grab a few chairs on the much smaller beach to watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks.

January 7, 2026

Today we would enjoy our favorite mode of transportation – the Skyliner aerial gondola which gives visitors an elevated view of the resorts and Disney property! There are five stations serving four resorts and two theme parks as indicated in the map below.

Our choice was to drive to Epcot, park the car, and walk to the Epcot Skyliner Station. From high in the sky, it was awesome taking in the views of Epcot, the new Riviera Resort and everything in between!

At the International Gateway, which not only provides access to the Disney Skyliner but boat transportation we well, we disembarked and walked over to the boat docks since we wanted to go to the Boardwalk Inn. At the Inn, we explored once again the main lobby which still had some of their holiday decorations on display.

By now we were hungry so after much deliberation, we headed for the Boardwalk Deli.

Here I enjoyed a warm Corned Beef Reuben ($15.19) while Rob had a chicken salad wrap ($10.99). We also split a bowl of tomato basil soup ($5.49) which was quite good.

Now that our tummies were full, we headed back to the boat dock so we could catch a ride to the  Skyliner Station at the International Gateway so we could make our way to our next destination, the Riviera Hotel, one of Walt Disney World’s newer Deluxe Villa resorts, which opened in 2019.

Instead of the usual heavily themed Disney hotels, it’s quite different from the heavily themed Disney hotels. It has a sophisticated French and Italian Riviera atmosphere with Disney touches incorporated into the décor rather than characters everywhere.

Designed around the new Skyliner transportation system, this hotel offers 489 villa style accommodations although you don’t have to be a Disney Vacation Club member to stay there. It has its usual assortment of restaurants from fine dining to quick service, two main pools – Riviera Pool is the family-oriented pool, with a waterslide and the S’il Vous Play interactive children’s water-play area; Beau Soleil Pool is the quieter leisure pool. After exploring the resort, we headed back to the Skyliner station and departed for our trip back to Epcot where we picked up our car and headed back to Fort Wilderness.

January 8, 2026

Since we wanted to have lunch at Wilderness Lodge and didn’t want to wait until 3:00 p.m. for the boat from Fort Wilderness to Wilderness Lodge, we opted to enjoy another boat ride to Magic Kingdom where we switched boats, then headed back to Wilderness Lodge to enjoy the beautiful outdoor setting of the Geyser Point Bar and Grill!

Neither of us wanted a huge meal so we both ordered from the Small Bites section of the menu. Crab Cakes ($14) served with spicy slaw, crispy onions and miso tartar sauce for me. Delish! Rob ordered the Chipotle Barbecue Bison Meat Balls ($18) with goat cheese polenta and onion straws. Good but somewhat disappointing because he didn’t enjoy the sauce that much.

Arriving back at Fort Wilderness, it was still early enough for us to squeeze in a visit to a hidden gem, the Tri-Circle-D Ranch. Essentially this is Disney World’s working horse ranch, located near the Trail’s End Restaurant. And the best part, unlike the theme parks, no park ticket required and it’s a very relaxing attraction! Woo hoo, just what Mickey ordered!

According to Disney, the ranch is home to more than 90 horses, including Clydesdales, Percherons, Belgians, Arabians, Appaloosas, Quarter Horses and Shetland ponies. Disney actually uses the enormous draft horses – Clydesdales, Percherons and Belgians to pull the trolley on Main Street, U.S.A. Each horse stall has a sign on the front with the horse’s name, what type of horse, a bit about that particular breed and what the horse is fed each day. Interesting! It was here that we learned this interesting fact: the horses are a major contributor to Disney’s horticulture program – their manure goes to Disney’s compost facility and is turned into compost which is used in the resort’s gardens.

The ranch is divided into two separate locations:

First is the main stable near Pioneer Hall/Settlement where visitors can visit the horses including Cinderella’s ponies between 10 a.m.– 5 p.m. daily. This is where the beautiful Dragon Calliope, an elaborate horse-drawn musical instrument that Walt Disney purchased in the 1950s for the Mickey Mouse Club Circus Parade at Disneyland, is also on display.

The second location, Trail Blaze Corral, is near the front entrance of Fort Wilderness. This is where you check in for horseback trail rides, pony rides, wagon and carriage rides.

January 9, 2026

No trip to Disney World would be complete without a trip to Disney Springs, formerly Downtown Disney, the shopping, dining and entertainment district. It is accessible by car but why do that when you can take a relaxing boat ride from Port Orleans – Riverside on the Sassagoula to Disney Springs. Because of a late start in the morning, it was practically lunch time by the time we disembarked from the boat at Disney Springs. And we were hungry!! Oh, no, with so many choices, where, oh, where should we eat? It took us awhile to make a decision. Not wanting a big meal, a quick sandwich from the Earl of Sandwich, a quick service restaurant, would fit the bill. The Original 1762 named after the sandwich supposedly invented in 1762 by John Montagu (Roasted Beef, Cheddar and Horseradish Sauce, $9.49) was my choice while a Tuna Melt ($9.49) was Rob’s choice. Both quite tasty!

While walking around for another hour or so, we stumbled upon Swirls On The Water. Oh yummy, Dole Whip! Couldn’t resist ordering two Dole Whip Flights which had three different Dole Whips – DOLE Whip® Pineapple with Coconut Soft-serve topped with a Fresh Pineapple Wedge, DOLE Whip® Strawberry with Cotton Candy Soft-serve topped with White Sprinkles and DOLE Whip® Orange with Vanilla Soft-serve topped with Chocolate Sauce. Oh my! Delish! Good thing it was a fairly long walk to the boat landing so we could work off a few of those calories!

January 10, 2026

This would be a quiet day for us, time for us to rest and relax in prep for our departure the next morning. Instead of dashing to any of the hotels, we hopped in our golf cart to take a grand tour of all the loops. Our hope was to make a list of the best ones and the most desirable campsites. That night we ordered barbequed ribs and fries from Trail’s End Restaurant.

January 11, 2026

Sigh, it was time for us to say good bye to Mickey once again. Such an enjoyable week long stay. Before hitting the road though we would need some nourishment! So off we went to Trail’s End Restaurant again where we enjoyed our last bacon, egg, and cheese croissant ($9.29) with potato barrels at Trail’s End.

After breakfast, we took one last spin around the campground. Finally it was time to return our golf cart to the check in area so I drove the Jeep, following Rob driving the golf cart to the designated drop off area near the check in area. Pretty easy drop off procedure – simply park it in the designated drop off area with the keys in it and that’s it!

It certainly was a fun, busy and not so exhausting week long stay. So long Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Chip and Dale and everyone else, until the next time!