Photo Album: The waterways of the Magic Kingdom & Epcot Resort Areas of Walt Disney World

Even under construction and on a cloudy day it's still the place where dreams come true.

We have only been visiting Walt Disney World since 2015, and  are just beginning to scratch the surface of all the amazing things to see and do there. Early promotional materials loved describing how the Disney property in Florida was "twice the size of Manhattan".When they layed out Walt Disney World they placed the Magic Kingdom theme park at the top of the property farthest from the entrance to the resort to act as a draw that would pull folks through the rest of the property. If you have only been to Disneyland in California it is probably hard to wrap your head around how enormous the Walt Disney World Resort is. It is made up of 4 theme parks, 2 water parks, several hotels, several golf courses, 2 miniature golf courses, a sports recreation area, and an expansive waterside shopping center.

"We'll put the theme park in the top corner...that way they have to go through the rest of it to get to it!"

Walt Disney World is organized around 5 "Resort Areas", these are the collections of hotels  grouped together around a major destination. So the farthest north resort area is the "Magic Kingdom Resort Area". Moving south through the property you will encounter the "EPCOT Resort Area" & the "Disney Springs Resort Area". The 2 southern most resort areas are the "Animal Kingdom Resort Area" and the "Wide World of Sports Resort Area". Lakes are such a big part of the charm of Walt Disney World and many of the resorts are built around bodies of water.  This essay will cover the Magic Kingdom & EPCOT Resort Areas.  

Magic Kingdom Resort Area 

Welcome to the Magic Kingdom

Magic Kingdom Theme Park on the shore of Seven Seas Lagoon

Arriving at the Magic Kingdom dock via ferry boat

At the heart of this resort area is the Seven Seas Lagoon and Bay Lake which are linked via a water bridge. The Magic Kingdom theme park is on the shore of Seven Seas Lagoon which is also flanked by the the Grand Floridian Resort, the Polynesian Village Resort and the Contemporary Resort.

The Victorian seaside splendor of Disney's Grand Floridian Resort

Escape to the mid-century tiki paradise of the Polynesian Village Resort

The future is always today at the Contemporary Resort where monorails pass through the Grand Canyon Concourse

Next to the Polynesian Village Resort is the Transportation & Ticket Center where you can board a ferry to the Magic Kingdom or take monorails to the Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, or the  hotels around the lagoon.  The main parking lot is at the Transportation & Ticket Center. Behind the Grand Floridian is Shades of Green Armed Services Resort and adjacent to that are some of the Walt Disney World Golf Courses.  The Contemporary Resort sits in between the Seven Seas Lagoon and the Bay Lake at the water bridge that connects them. Also on the shore of Bay Lake is the Wilderness Lodge Resort and the Fort Wilderness Campground.

Sometimes it gets really cold in Florida!

Catch a monorail from the Transportation & Ticket Center

Ferryboat dock of the Transportation & Ticket Center

Take a monorail from the Transportation & Ticket Center to the Polynesian Village & Grand Floridian Resorts beyond

Across the Seven Seas Lagoon from the Magic Kingdom you can see the Ferryboat dock of the Transportation & Ticket Center, the Polynesian Village & Grand Floridian Resorts

The Resort Areas are connected by roadway open to vehicles and by "Disney Transportation", a fleet of busses, boats, and monorails. All resorts have complimentary bus service, some resorts have boat and/or monorail service.

EPCOT Resort Area

Welcome to EPCOT

Monorails to and from EPCOT

EPCOT theme park is the center of this resort area. It is connected to the Magic Kingdom Resort Area by monorail service and to all other resort areas by roadway. Directly adjacent to EPCOT's second entrance is "Crescent Lake", a body of water that links EPCOT and Disney's Hollywood Studios Theme Park. 

Disney's Boardwalk Inn on Crescent Lake next to EPCOT

Disney's Boardwalk Inn

Dolphin Hotel beyond

Disney's Yacht & Beach Club across Crescent Lake from the Boardwalk Inn next to EPCOT

Disney's Beach Club Resort

The lake is flanked by several hotels: Disney's Yacht & Beach Club Resort, Disney's Boardwalk Inn Resort, and The Swan & Dolphin Hotels.  The Crescent Lake hotels have boat service between each other and to EPCOT & Hollywood Studios. Behind EPCOT and connected to the resort area by roadway is Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort. Caribbean Resort is contained in it's own area around it's own lake, soon an aerial tramway system will be connecting the Caribbean Beach Resort to EPCOT directly.

A twilight walk at Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort

Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort

Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort

Review: Caribbean Beach Resort Pool "Party" with Characters

Have you ever wanted to hang out poolside with Minnie, Goofy, or Donald?

Two resorts at Walt Disney World are currently under a lot of construction while they build two new high rise towers. To compensate for the inconvenience of staying in a resort under heavy construction there have been a few little "extras". Among these are complimentary trading pin sets, and poolside appearances by Disney Characters. 

While enjoying our time at the Caribbean Beach Resort Main Pool we were delighted to be visited first by Goofy, then Donald, & finally Minnie. Typically when you see a Disney World commercial you see this wonderful footage of the characters interacting with the guests on a one on one basis. It is the kind of interaction we've rarely had in real life. We love meet & greets and accept the price to pay is often a wait in a long line and the payoff is several photographs and an autograph. But the Caribbean Beach poolside appearance by the characters was like being in one of those commercials. 

Goofy played bowling with our children, he handed a ball directly to our Toddler Son. It was a sunny, windy, cool day and Toddler Son was wrapped in a towel after swimming in the heated pool. Minnie was so sweet to continually check on him and rub on his shoulders to check on him while they played musical chairs.  Teenage Son was the third to the last to be eliminated from musical chairs and Minnie comforted him with a hug for his enthusiasm and gracious exit from the game. We sat out the Donald led game, a relay race but we witnessed the other children play a very long game with the #1 Duck. Each character comes out for what seems like 15-20 minutes, then they are replaced by the next character. We were just thrilled by the whole thing, you won't get autographs, or posed pictures...but the kids get to play with them for a significant amount of time. It was such a charming experience.