If you are traveling to Disney with your floor children,  you will almost certainly want to find a good doggy day care because there is no way that you will probably spend less than six hours in a park…if you are lucky.  In addition you should make sure you plan this well in advance because the likelihood of being able to find a place to board your pet on the spur of the moment probably is not going to be successful.

Back in 2010 when we stayed at fort wilderness, there was a Pet Boarding Service right on the grounds of Fort Wilderness, Best Friends Pet Care.  We were pleasantly surprised just how eager our dogs were to go to the daycare each day we were there.  The folks that took care of the dogs seemed to have a personal connection to them when we would pick them up and would fill us in on how their day went.  I think this may have been the first time I was ever comfortable with leaving my dogs at a day care.   When we would take them back to the camper at the end of the day, they would collapse.  The next day they would drag us to the door of the day care, they loved it.

Back in 2010, Kaela and Hannah at Fort Wilderness

Best Friends pet care has moved since 2010 and now they are just 5 minutes from Fort Wilderness in a bigger facility, still under the same ownership, and still with great people who will take really good care of your pets.

After dropping off the girls for their day care, we headed to Epcot center.  I think maybe we had hoped that something had changed in the last 8 years.  If it did I sure didn’t notice.  So in retrospect it might have been better to just visit the Disney Park since it has been a lot longer since we have been there.  The lines were pretty long going into Epcot, but thanks to the Disney Wrist Bands we moved quickly through to the grounds.  The nice thing about the wrist bands is that you can link a credit card to them.  Once linked you can pay for your meals or snacks pretty much anywhere in the park.  Don’t worry if you lose your wrist band;  no one will be able to use it without the pin number that you will set up in advance.

I always have like walking around the world showcase.  When my son Jeff was 3 years old I carried him all the way around the world showcase on my shoulders;  now that’s a workout!.   Today was a beautiful day for that type of stroll.  With a high of 80 degrees and cloudy skies, it made for a really enjoyable walk.   Almost immediately we found a stand selling Bloody Mary’s, they were $12.00 and pretty small, but they tasted good.  Then we made our way around the bay taking some pictures and checking out different areas.

The lines heading into Epcot Center

A panoramic view of World Showcase – its bigger than it looks

You can easily spend a day walking around the World Showcase.  There are 11 countries to visit,  but chances are you will want to try some of the other attractions at Epcot especially if you  have children.  There are quite a few different rides at the park, Space Ship Earth and Mission Space;  just to name a few.  We visited a few attractions before we toured world showcase, and then it was time for lunch.  We chose to have a sit down lunch at the Nine Dragons Chinese Restaurant.  It was pricey but it was nice to just sit down and take a break.  The food was great and the our server was excellent.  For more on things to do at Epcot click here.

After lunch we wound our way back to the entrance and then headed back to pick up the girls at the Pet Resort.  Then it was back to the campsite at Fort Wilderness to enjoy the rest of the day.

From the picture below you may be able to see the greenway that is directly behind the trailer.  This greenway boarders the campsites separated by woods on one side and a river on the other.  There are warnings about keeping away from the river as there are alligators and snakes, but I never saw either.  The greenway provides a wonderful area to walk your dogs.  They even have some dog stations where you can get bags to pick up their poo (if you don’t carry your own – we always do).  Our Girls for the most part loved the greenway.  Hannah our white shepherd would stay out and walk all day.  Kendra our German Shepherd is excited to go for walks;  but after a while just wants to get back to her “mommy”.

The grounds in our loop also have a centrally located Laundry area.  It is, maybe not so surprisingly, expensive;  but who wants to leave the grounds to do laundry?  The Trash bins are always close to the campsites, and always emptied before they can become full or develop any bad odors.  It’s very quiet with the exception of the nightly fireworks that you can hear at Disney.  They are loud but only last a very short time.

Tomorrow we will be off to Universal Studios!

To continue on this trip click here.

Our Spot at Fort Wilderness