Carriage Ride at Fort Wilderness

My husband and I took trip to Disney World to celebrate our 10th anniversary December 2014.  We did several "horsey" things and I am going to review them over the next several posts.

Check out the first post here.
This is the second post: Carriage Rides

We actually did the Holiday Sleigh Ride at 9 pm at Fort Wilderness.  We had dinner at the Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue at 6:15 pm.  There was about an 45 min gap between the time the show was over and the start of our sleigh ride, so we walked around the general area and visited the gift shop and just enjoyed the quiet of the evening.  Be aware that we went in December and it things were closing as we were waiting to walk around.  If I remember correctly I think we had to wait a little longer than we thought.  The ride was nice it was cool but there was a blanket in the sleigh so it was comfortable.  We had a ride that was timed to be during the fireworks so we were able to see some of the higher fireworks over the trees but was not a great view.

The campground was all decorated up for Christmas and it was surprising how many RVs had major holiday decorations set up.  Our driver said it gets even more festive the closer you get to Christmas. The ride was a nice quite trot around the campgrounds, it was odd to be passed by some of the large buses but the horse was comfortable and the driver well trained, so it felt very safe.  This was the end of a long day and quite a romantic ride so we really just enjoyed the ride.  I only have one picture that I have found and for some reason the driver did not realize we would like to have the horse in the picture too.

Holiday Sleigh Ride

The driver indicated that the horses are the same horses that pull the trolley down main street and they all just rotate around and have days off like other cast members.  Generally the "horsey" staff seem very broad in their job duties as our driver had just helped bathe and groom Cinderella's ponies for the parade earlier that day.  He indicated that they started getting them ready at about 3 pm for the evening parade.

On a side note this reservation is paid at the time it is booked so be aware that it will hit your credit card as soon as it is processed.  There is a sign on the sleigh that tipping is not permitted, however, I always tip my sleigh/carriage drive when I do this type of thing so I tipped him as I would anywhere else I take a carriage ride.