A popular Disney World hotel perk has finally RETURNED!
Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
Disney World hotels have lots of great perks that guests can take advantage of, like free transportation between the parks and hotels, Early Entry at all four theme parks every day, and fun activities like campfires and crafts. However, one perk has been MISSING for a while now. We’re happy to announce that it’s finally back!
We recently reminded y’all that boat service between Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campgrounds and Disney’s Wilderness Lodge is currently not available. That transportation perk has been missing for quite a while now, but it finally RETURNED on October 1st!
Boat
Starting on the 1st, the “blue route” now takes guests across Bay Lake between Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campgrounds, Disney’s Wilderness Lodge, and Disney’s Contemporary Resort. Note that this service does not begin until 3PM each day.
Disney’s Contemporary Resort
If you want to get between these resorts earlier in the day, you have a few options:
- The easiest option to get between Fort Wilderness and Wilderness Lodge is to take the bus instead. Yes, there is a bus that runs directly between these resorts (which is pretty unique for Disney World — other hotels aren’t connected to each other via bus). The Yellow Line bus runs between Fort Wilderness and Wilderness Lodge. It’ll take you between the front entrance of Wilderness Lodge and the Settlement at Fort Wilderness. (Disney has said that they anticipate this route will continue, although they can’t be sure it won’t change in the future — we’ll keep an eye out for more updates.)
- You can also take a boat from one resort to Magic Kingdom, disembark, and then board another boat to your destination (e.g., sail from Wilderness Lodge to Magic Kingdom, disembark, and board the Contemporary Resort boat). This could definitely take a while — likely at least an hour — so keep that in mind if you’re on a time crunch and need to be somewhere quickly, such as if you have restaurant reservations.
Take the boat!
A while back, there was one boat route that sailed between Wilderness Lodge, Fort Wilderness, and Magic Kingdom. However, those routes will continue to remain separate for now, with one boat between Wilderness Lodge and Magic Kingdom and a different route between Fort Wilderness and Magic Kingdom. The only route that connects the two will be the returning blue route.
Fort Wilderness
With the blue route, you can more easily get between the hotels. That means you can enjoy even more restaurants during your trip, like Steakhouse 71 at the Contemporary, Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue at Fort Wilderness, and Whispering Canyon Café at Wilderness Lodge, just to name a few.
Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue Dinner Show
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It’s about time it came back. It hasn’t been around since 2020. I always took the launch from Fort Wilderness to the Contemporary or Wilderness Lodge. What took so long for it to return?
This is great news! Thanks so much for the update. For two resorts sharing the same space, it was incredibly inconvenient trying to get from one to the other, with the best driving option shut down, the pedestrian walkway shut down, AND the direct boat service gone. Since you can’t park near Hoop de Doo, and there’s no full service restaurant at FW anymore, this returning perk is essential. Now we just need park to resort package delivery, and it will be… well, not like old times, but still better than it’s been 🙂
I was soooo hoping you were announcing that package delivery was returning! 😭😭😭
Great news that the blue line water transportation is returning. We have been asking for it to return for quite a while. We enjoy going to the Contemporary from the fort to eat at the Contemporary. Thanks for the update.
I was so hoping you were going to say they brought back the package delivery service. Bummer.
I wish they would return the resort boat serve to the old way. 2 boats exclusively on Bay lake that ran opposite to each other. One left the lodge for the campground and then on to the Contemporary and then returning to the lodge. The other rn from the lodge to the Contemporary with continuing service to the campground nd the. Ending up back at the lodge. The boats would sometimes pass each other on the way to their destination. A much better plan, faster, less wait time and provided “Great Guest Service” to all.
I’m with Lisa! When is the package return to resorts coming back?!?! I can’t believe how much money Disney is losing in merchandise sales because people don’t wanna schlep all their purchases back to their resort! Even pick up at the front of the park would be a help! Disney! You’re leaving money on the table!!!
Leslie not Lisa. Sorry Leslie!
Dana too! Come on Disney! Get on it!
Darn. With that intro paragraph, I thought you were gonna say the Extra Magic Hours were returning for All resort guests and not just the Filthy rich Deluxe guests.
Hmmm. No. Definitely not filthy rich. Not even rich. We have one car.
We campers always loved taking the boat from Ft. Wilderness to MK; it was our first official MK ride of the day.
At the end of the day that wonderful boat ride closed out our day in style. Plus!!! Sometimes we saw the water boat parade going by us.
What’s not to love!