Since moving to Orlando, we have been branching out and looking to experience everything Walt Disney World has to offer outside of the parks. Recently, we gifted Andrew’s Dad a fishing excursion at Walt Disney World in Bay Lake and Seven Seas Lagoon. Read on for details on cost, our experience, and of course, to find out how many fish we caught.
Overview and Offerings
Walt Disney World offers multiple fishing excursions including dockside fishing at Port Orleans Riverside and Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground. Guests can also experience fishing off a boat on Bay Lake and Seven Seas Lagoon, Village Lake, Crescent Lake and World Showcase Lagoon. Fishing excursions are available at the following marinas:
Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground
Caribbean Beach Resort
Contemporary Resort
Grand Floridian
Old Key West
Port Orleans Resort - Riverside
Wilderness Lodge
Yacht Club Resort
What’s Included
Guided catch-and-release outings let you experience bass fishing at its finest—all year round! Whether you're a seasoned sportsman or an amateur angler, a guided fishing excursion is fun for Guests of all ages.
Choose from Guided Bass Fishing Excursions, which include a Sun Tracker Fishing Barge pontoon boat (accommodating up to 5 Guests) or tournament-style NITRO® bass fishing boats (accommodating up to 3 Guests).
Both 2-hour and 4-hour excursions are offered. An extra hour may be added in person at the Marina—subject to availability. Solo anglers may book an afternoon excursion at a reduced rate.
All Walt Disney World Resort guided fishing excursions include:
An experienced guide
Rod and reel
Tackle
Artificial and/or live bait (NITRO boats do not offer live bait)
Assorted Coca-Cola® beverages
All Guests may bring their own food or nonalcoholic beverages. Guests 21 years and older may bring alcoholic beverages.
Our fishing boat for the day.
Live bait.
Fully stocked cooler. There were sodas underneath.
Pricing
There is no set pricing on the website since it varies by time of year and which Resort guests choose to depart from. At the time of our excursion, it was more expensive to depart from one of the Magic Kingdom resorts. Our two hour excursion was $235. Had we chosen the four hour excursion, it would have been $455.
Guests have an opportunity to request an additional hour when arriving at the dock and meeting the guide. At that time, the guide will quote the price for an additional hour. We did not request additional time so we can’t speak to how much extra that costs.
Our Experience
We originally had a four hour excursion booked for a Sunday. However, due to the incoming weather, we moved our experience to Saturday. They only had a two hour time slot so we went with that…. and we are glad we did.
Early on, we requested to fish on Seven Seas Lagoon at some point during the excursion. The guide may have already planned on doing this anyway, it was just something we wanted to do so requested it.
The cooler of drinks Disney provided was plenty for the four of us. It included the usual sodas plus Powerades. Even if we went on the hottest summer day, we seriously doubt we would have drank all of the beverages provided. We decided to bring a few snacks with us, which was nice to have.
Julie, Andrew, his brother, and dad, met our fishing guide and pontoon boat at the Wilderness Lodge docks. We stepped aboard, our guide gave us a quick two minute safety briefing, and off we went. We used live bait only (shiners) that were readily available in two live wells up front. Andrew and his brother fished off the front of the boat, Julie hung out in the middle seats, and Dad fished off the back.
Within five minutes of the first cast, Dad caught the first, and second bass of the day. Chris and I followed close behind. At the first spot, we each reeled in a few fish before moving to the second spot. After we each landed a few more fish and keeping the largest ones in the live well, we set out for Seven Seas Lagoon. On our way, we stopped in front of the Magic Kingdom and got a great picture of the three of us holding up our largest catch to that point. We highly recommend getting this picture as ours turned out great.
Our next stop was next to an island in the Seven Seas Lagoon where the Magic Kingdom ferries pass by. Chris had just landed a large bass as one was passing by, followed closely behind by Dad landing a sizable fish. Both were met by great applause from the passengers on the ferry who had witnessed both catches. The guide let us know that they were both “Ferry Famous!” Our fourth and final spot netted us a few more bass before we headed back to the docks.
Dad becoming “Ferry Famous.”
Final Thoughts
We really enjoyed our time fishing the two lakes. The price is very reasonable, at least for the time of year we went. Also, if you can find a few friends to go with and split the cost, it comes out to be fairly cheap per person.
Chris and I grew up fishing with Dad as kids so we have plenty of experience but by no means are we pros. I hadn’t fished in a few years and it had been quite a while for Chris and Dad as well. You don’t need to have experience fishing to enjoy this. The guides will do a great job working with you to make sure you have a great time. We hooked our own bait but our guide was glad to do it if we wanted. He was also a great conversationalist, which was an awesome bonus.
And to finally answer the question everyone asks: how many fish did we catch? We caught so many we lost count and we weren't quite sure who caught the most. Our best guess is the three of us caught 30-35 fish in about 90-100 minutes of actual fishing time. Dad is already talking about doing this again next time he is in town, and we agree, it is an experience worth repeating!