We got some ice waters to go before we went to find the Tri-Circle-D Ranch. I was so excited! I really did try and prepare before we went as to where we needed to go. However, I totally failed at this.
So turns out, Ft. Wilderness is one big massive complex!! Holy Cannoli! I thought the Ranch would be next to where we ate lunch. NOPE. But, the good news is that we had plenty of time. The CMs at Trails told us which internal bus to take to get to the ranch. We did not have to wait too long for the bus, but the actual bus ride seemed to be fairly long. Again, this place is massive! We eventually got to our stop and could see (and smell) our destination.
Yeehaw!
Wellll...not quite yet. I was told when I made the reservation, to check in for the Trail Rides to the right of the check-in desk. Seriously, this was all I got. So we walked from the bus stop to the Ft. Wilderness Check in area. We were still early, so we sat for a while.
I watched a young girl be named Deputy for the dayand saw her take her oath! So cool! Little Disney touches!
Finally it is close enough to our check in time that I ask the front desk about where exactly we are to check in for the horses. I get Just head back to the ranch and wait next to where the old Kennel used to be. Um, okay. So we head to the ranch:
There are a couple other people waiting on a picnic table, so we join them. It is getting closer to our time and there are no instructions, no one to check us in. I realize after all that water at lunch I have to visit the ladies room, but am afraid to miss the check-in process...but then even more afraid of being miserable during the ride. So I race across the parking lot to again go to FtW check in. By then, I really am second guessing my wardrobe choices. I wore jeans since it seemed like the right thing to do, being a cowgirl for the day and all. But Oh My Good Gravy, I was roasting!!
By the time I made it back, it did not seem like I missed anything, but a woman and her daughter came running up thinking they were late, and another couple told them they needed to check in first. OPPS! I thought that is what we were waiting for! Why didnt anybody mention this to us?! So turns out there is different place to check in, to the right of the actual Ranch. We still made it in time, but it would have been nice if there were some signage to let you know where the heck you are supposed to be going!
By the time we got back from properly checking in, they had started to hand out smelly helmets and assign horses.
I got Ditto.
Apparently, he is really named Smokey, but since there are two Smokies at the ranch, he got to be Ditto!
Here comes Wills horse, Achilles! He was the biggest of the bunch!
I asked our Trail leader at the end about the history of our horses. The cool thing is that Ditto has carried Jasmine in Parades and Achilles would carry Aladdin. Awwwww.
I asked if he had ever been the Headless horseman, and he says he only did it once and would never do it again! He says it is reallyyyyy hard to see where you are going. I mean, having a detachable head would make it difficult I guess.
Anyway, back to our ride.
I had previous horse experience. I went to a two week horse camp when I was 12, Camp-Tik-a-Witha, in Mississippi. So, you
might say I am a professional.
Will was in front, right behind the trail leader, and I was after Will. Will did such an awesome job. He rode with his back straight and looked really good!
My horse kept trying to eat everything green. It took a lot of strength to try and veer him back on course. The trail guides would shout out orders and directions. Two younger girls seemed to struggle a lot. I think their horses sensed weakness and thought Mealtime!!.
After about 30 minutes, I was getting pretty hot and there was not much scenery at that point. It might have been the wrong time of day, but we did not see any wildlife (besides tadpoles in the puddles of water!).
I was actually kind of relieved to see that we were nearing the end! Our trail leader took a few pictures of us together at the end, which is funny because you can see Ditto start to walk off.
So then Will got a picture of just himself.
While I got to show off my master Horse skills. Ditto, Nomnomnom.
Ill sum up Wills perspective of the ride with his description: That was both disgusting and interesting. Also a gem: We are not going to have to do that again, are we?. Obviously he did not spend a lot of his childhood playing My Little Ponies and fantasizing about a horse of his very own!
I really liked the experience. I think it is the most dangerous thing I have ever done in WDW!! No lap-bar. A death waiver had to be signed! I think if we do ever do it again, it will be for the first ride of the day and when it is much cooler weather!
We handed back our now even smellier helmets and caught the bus back to WL.
We sat in silence in the cool bus. All I could think of was getting some water! We stopped off at Roaring Forks (BTW, I just mistyped that and had Roaring Dorks) to get some waters, and coke zeros. Soon after cooling off, we realized we were starving and bought these babies!
We are always saying Well just have a couple bites. No way we can finish this. Five minutes later the dessert...cupcakes...large pizza...you name it, is gone!
After our health conscious snack, we went up to our room to take cold showers and get ready for our second shot at
MNSSHP!
LOVE your trip reports! You're too funny and I can appreciate all the time you must spend putting each update together.
The food was really really really good. My favorite were these small sweet potato pancakes. They also had great fruit and yogurt selections! 
and I was kind of bummed that I didn't get to see what it was like. But now, thanks to you, I can! 
So thanks for the pics! 
