Disney's Fort Wilderness July 4th Golf Cart Extravaganza Parade

Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground held its annual July 4th Golf Cart Extravaganza yesterday. This fun parade included over a hundred golf carts decorated by resort guests. This was our first time visiting the resort for the Independence Day golf cart parade. So we filmed the first portion of the parade and took photos of the rest.

If you’re planning a trip to Walt Disney World on the 4th of July, you might enjoy visiting Fort Wilderness to see the parade. Many guests spend a great deal of time and money decorating their floats for the parade, which lasted approximately 30 minutes.

Below, we’ll discuss the details of experiencing the parade and how our day went. If you’re looking for a more laid-back way to experience the holiday, the golf cart extravaganza might be the perfect addition to your patriotic plans!

Our 4th of July started at Epcot, where we met characters in their colonial holiday outfits. During our visit, we enjoyed lunch at Regal Eagle Smokehouse and took in a performance of the Voices of Liberty. It was a day dedicated to celebrating America!

After a late lunch, it was time to start making our way to Fort Wilderness. Since we had never been to the golf cart parade, I was unsure how early we needed to arrive and wanted to get there about an hour ahead of time.

If you visit Magic Kingdom or stay nearby, you can take a boat from Magic Kingdom to Fort Wilderness. Since we were at Epcot, we took a bus to Fort Wilderness.

Generally, this idea works well when visiting a resort using Disney transportation. If you know what transportation options are available, you can visit the park closest to you and then take that park’s form of transportation to the resort. Likewise, you can visit the park closest to where you’re headed and then take that park’s transportation to the resort.

Since we know our way around Fort Wilderness reasonably well, an hour was more than enough time to get to the resort and secure a spot. But if you’re unsure how to get around the resort, I would allow an hour to get there and locate a place on the route.

Fort Wilderness’s Golf Cart Extravaganza begins at the hitch/un-hitch area near the Outpost. It then travels through the center of the resort, past the Meadow Trading Post, where judging is held. It ends near the Settlement.

Since the Epcot bus drops off at the Outpost, we decided to take an internal resort bus to the Meadow. You’ll want to wait at the Outpost for the orange bus and then take it to the Meadow. It’s a five-minute bus ride that makes two stops before the Meadow.

From my experience, the internal bus driver will ask where you’re headed and then let you know when it’s time to exit. An announcement plays over the intercom at each stop.

At the Meadow, you’ll have access to the Meadow Trading Post, which is one of two gift shops at the resort. You can pick up a snack or beverage to enjoy while you’re waiting on the parade. Additionally, restrooms are available.

After grabbing a soda, we were off to find a spot. Guests had already lined up their chairs in advance for the parade. But as you can see from the photo below, this is a long route, and plenty of places were available.

We had a thirty-minute wait left for the parade, and the heat was intense. So we walked to the corner and sat in the shade at the bus stop. Since the route is long, you won’t have any problem finding a spot in the shade. However, the bus stop was the only place to sit since we didn’t bring a chair.

While waiting, we saw some golf carts on their way to the staging area.

A few minutes after 4:00 p.m., we could see the parade coming in the distance from the Outpost. It was led by a few horses and riders from Tri-Circle-D Ranch.

Here is a partial video we took of the parade:

Here are a few photos of the parade.

A fire truck followed along at the end. It was approximately 4:32 p.m. when the parade ended.

Additionally, a few other golf carts came through afterward.

Overall, we had a fun time at the parade. It was impressive to see the work that had gone into the various golf carts. One golf cart in the video portion was a replica of the Liberty Belle Riverboat at Magic Kingdom!

Unfortunately, we didn’t stay long enough to see who won. But you are welcome to stay and inspect the winner’s circle and see the awards. After the parade, we walked to the Outpost and took a bus back to Epcot. For more details about the resort, our articles are listed in a resort guide:

Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground

Additionally, all the Walt Disney World Resorts have extra activities for the July 4th holiday. While making our rounds for resort recreation calendars on the first, we noticed that Old Key West and Saratoga Springs had Pargo parades listed for the morning of the holiday. We attended the annual Pargo parade for Mardi Gras at Port Orleans Riverside and French Quarter last year. If you’re visiting during that holiday, you might take the time to see it.