Hello and welcome to my runDisney Princess Half Marathon Weekend 2025 trip report! I’m returning to the blow-by-blow diary format for this trip. Today we explore Fort Wilderness and take in a showing of the Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue. Read all the posts in this report here. Onward!
If you read my 2024 Princess Half Marathon trip report, you know that race ended with a decidedly unmagical bus trip from the finish to Wilderness Lodge. Thanks to the course road closures and associated traffic, it took us a solid ninety minutes to make it back to our resort.
Fort Wilderness and Wilderness Lodge share a race bus. At the time we posited it might be a better call to take the monorail to the Magic Kingdom and the boat launch to Fort Wilderness from there. When we finished the 2025 Princess Half Marathon, we pondered testing out the theory. Ultimately we were too tired, however, and decided to take our chances on the bus again.
THE WILDEST RIDES IN FORT WILDERNESS
And matters had improved! We still braved a bit of traffic, but nothing like the operational standstill that plagued 2024. Not sure if that was due to circumstance or course changes, but it’s always nice when a gamble pays off. The bus also stops at Fort Wilderness before Wilderness Lodge, which helps.
As such I’d say we were back in our cabin within 45 minutes or so. Erika and I did a little rag dolll photo shoot; then it was off to showering and napping and basking in the post-race glow of accomplishment and bittersweet relief.
Having refreshed our spirits and our minds, we were ready for action again by mid-afternoon. Our first order of business? Lunch! Strawberry Shortcake the Loyal Golf Cart was once again called into action, and we motored over to the Settlement. Don’t worry, I didn’t do any more driving. 
SNACKS & SOUVENIRS IN THE SETTLEMENT
The Trail’s End quick service restaurant was of course available to us, but we had our eye on the bar, Crockett’s Tavern. We had arrived just a smidge too early, however, so we headed across the way and killed some time in the Settlement Trading Post.
This was just as well, as we had it on our collective to-do list to pick up Hoop Dee Doo t-shirts. There’s an adult version, which is essentially a playbill, and then a kids’ version, which is similar but includes cartoon depictions of the Pioneer Hall Players. Turns out that as the shirts are cut in a relaxed fit and I am average of chest, I was able to fit into the kids’ version! Yay! I talk more about/show off this acquisition in my unpacking video. (That link should go straight to the relevant timestamp, but if not, scrub to 11:50 or so.)
So we grabbed those shirts and wandered about until 3pm rolled around, at which point we took up a table in Crockett’s Tavern for some food and well-deserved post-race cocktails. I myself tend to be somewhat hardcore about not drinking before a race, so after the race I am 100% ready to party! Crockett’s Tavern review will be up next in the post rotation, so keep your eyes peeled.
DON’T PANIC, BUT THE WILDERNESS IS OUT OF TOWELS
After lunch we jumped back into the golf cart, making a pit stop on the way home in at the Meadow Trading Post. This is the second gift shop location at Fort Wilderness, and while the offerings are largely the same there are minute differences and naturally stock levels can vary. In this particular case Becky was after a pin that the Settlement was out of, but the Meadow Trading Post had it!
Also by the Meadow Trading Post is the main pool area, and we had come prepared with swimsuits. The Meadow Swimmin’ Pool has all the expected Disney resort amenities, and is complete with a water slide, pool bar, and most importantly – a hot tub!
What it did not have was a cache of towels. We spoke with a Cast Member who told us that while they had ordered more from housekeeping, they had no idea when they would arrive. Douglas Adams would be so mad. I guess many Fort Wilderness campers bring their own from their RVs and such. If you’re staying in the cabins, I counsel bringing a towel from your bathroom for safety.
Eh, so we’d have to drip dry; whatever. That didn’t stop us from enjoying a glorious half hour or so in the hot tub. If only Pop Century had one I’d never look elsewhere. Alas.
I HAVE A NAME, AND IT’S A REAL NAME, TOO
Once our core body temperatures were sufficiently raised, we headed on back to our cabin. Erika and Becky chilled on the porch while I enjoyed a lil’ lie-down in my bottom bunk hobbit hole. Call me crazy, but I just love a good bottom bunk hobbit hole.
It wasn’t long before it was time to scrape ourselves together and take our golf cart back to the Settlement for the Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue! We arrived a reasonably twenty minutes or so early and checked in at the host stand for our table assignment.
“Name?” said the Cast Member. “German,” I replied, which was met with a look of confusion. “No, I need your name,” he said, so I said “German” again, at which point he said “Oh” with both eyebrows raised on his face and in his voice. “There you are!” he said as he scrolled through the reservations. “That’s a new one!” I’ve had plenty of people ask me how to spell my name or pronounce it with a hard G for some reason, but I’ve never had anyone not believe it was real. There’s always something new to experience at Disney!
HOOP DEE DOO MUSICAL REVUE TIMES TWO
This was everyone’s second time seeing the Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue; indeed, I wrote up a full review of the show back when I first saw it. (Please do read that one as I am quite proud of it!)
Between the record of that post and my gift-and-curse excellent memory, I don’t see any reason to whip up a full second review, as in essence it was the exact same show. Sure, some individual bits were different, but the skeleton remains basically identical.
This is not a complaint, mind you! If I may be so bold as to quote myself, “It’s not so much what they say and do but how they say and do it, plus the inherent electricity of live performance.” The plot, such as it is, remains immaterial. The food and drink is also the same as in my original post.
I will say that this time around we sprung for tier one seating, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Being down on the first floor in the center of the action makes for a much more immersive, interactive experience. Indeed, our table was directly next to the stage, which is maybe not the best view but does make you privy to various unmic-ed asides from characters not currently in the spotlight. I love that kinda detail stuff.
FRIENDS THAT TOOT TOGETHER STAY TOGETHER
One element did spice up our Hoop Dee Doo affair: we put together Disneybounding outfits for the three main female characters of the show! I was Dolly Drew, Erika was Flora Long, and Becky was Claire De Lune. Now, Disneybounds are evocations, not costumes, but I think we did a pretty solid, recognizable job on our outfits.
You know who else agrees with me? The cast! The second Johnny Ringo jumped up on stage, he pointed at us and said something to the effect of “I see what you did there!” Flora and Claire grabbed pictures with us and told us we had won the day!
And Dolly Drew singled us out for a special tootin’ role. “I have seen these color schemes before somewhere,” she said just before the below video starts to roll.
Honestly, the only downside is: how do we top it next time?! Do we simply do it again or is there another gag we haven’t thought of yet? “I’d tell you to come back and see us again,” a server said as we were leaving, “but I have a feeling you will.” I have a feeling we will too. We carted home toot-tootin’ all the way.
OUR FINAL NIGHT IN FORT WILDERNESS
Alas, this was our final night in our Fort Wilderness cabin. We poured ourselves some room wine and busied ourselves with a little bit of packing as we discussed the events of the day. Let’s see: a successful Princess Half Marathon, excellent food and drinks, outfits on point, and dinner and a show. Darn near close to a perfect Disney day, don’t you think?
And there’s still one more to go – I had one more day in Epcot ahead of me. Toot toot!
Don’t forget, you can follow FRoA on Threads @fairestrunofall and on Instagram @fairestrunofall. If you have any questions or thoughts, leave a comment or email fairestrunofall@gmail.com. See ya real soon!