89: The Great Waters of Disney

Let's face it: there's a lot of water in Florida. And that's true at Disney World, too, where every one of them has a name. In this episode, we talk about where they are, what they're called, and some fun surprises along the way.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hey everybody, welcome to whistle while you work podcast.

(00:14):
This is episode 89.
The great waters of Disney, Disney, Disney.
I don't know.
It felt like it should be echoey.
Maybe if it was mountains.
I don't know how to make water noise, so you got mountain noise.
Yeah.
Uh, what would, what would happen there?
I guess if it was water surrounded by mountains.

(00:36):
Okay.
Yeah.
But you don't have that in Florida.
Not really.
No, I can think of one.
There is Mount Everest and there's water next to it.
So anyway, we are already off topic today.
So my name is Kayla.
This is my husband, Randy.
We are hosts of this fun, crazy podcast.
And you know, when you have your own podcast, you can talk about things that you care about

(01:00):
or you think are random or that you enjoy.
And one thing I love at Disney is the bodies of water.
They're pretty, they're nice to look at.
They're functional.
My most recent trip, I stayed at, um, port Orleans, um, and used the boat to transport

(01:20):
and go different places.
So anyway, we're going to talk about all the different types of water or names of the lakes
and lagoons at the park.
Well, I mean at the resorts too.
Anyway, that was a really long introduction.
Why don't you talk now?
I didn't know where you were going with any of that.

(01:40):
Uh, full disclosure, I don't really care a whole lot about the waters there unless they're
in an attraction.
But you love me.
So you're willing to talk a whole podcast about this.
Well, I've learned, I've learned about some of these things and I think that's very interesting.
Yes, dear.
I love you.
You're right.
Uh, yes.
So I've learned about some of these things and I thought that was really interesting
because, uh, there's, there are waters that I've heard of, but I wasn't quite sure.

(02:07):
You know, like when you were growing up and you took geography class and you had to learn
where all the states were and where all the countries were and you'd have to like put
them on a map.
Like I couldn't do that with the great waters of Disney.
Disney, Disney, Disney.
I couldn't do it because I've heard of them, but I'm not sure which one goes there or goes
where they're where.

(02:30):
And it starts off with these first two that we want to talk about.
Yeah.
And interestingly, we'll describe them a little bit as we go.
But some of them, you know, I think a lot of times people go to a theme park and you
think, Oh, this is all manmade.
Not true.
Some of these are natural, just lakes and lagoons, which, which makes a lot of sense
because Disney World was built on a swamp.

(02:51):
Right.
So clearly there's water there and there was already water there and I'm sure they found
ways to use that water for a purpose.
Yeah.
So the first one I, and I, I feel like I knew this, but I didn't.
So Bay Lake is the first one we're going to talk about.
And that is over by the contemporary wilderness lodge and Fort wilderness resort.

(03:16):
So now that I'm like DVC putting it all together, like that's the name of the contemporary resort
is is the contemporary at Bay Lake or the Bay Lake tower or whatever it's called.
Bay Lake tower.
That's right.
Here's the thing.
You want to know why I've always thought about Bay Lake, the weather app, right?
Yes, that's right.
The weather app.
When I want to know what the weather is going to be at Magic Kingdom, what do I look up?

(03:37):
I look up Bay Lake.
You don't look up Orlando.
Yeah, no, you don't care about Orlando weather when you're, it's not close.
Not the same.
It's not even close when you think about it.
Right.
And you don't really care about Kissimmee weather either.
That's not that close either.
They have, when you pull up just the weather app, you can pull up Bay Lake.
Yeah.
Now, my thing about Bay Lake was this.

(03:58):
So first of all, it's one of the natural bodies of water.
So Bay Lake is a real place exists.
That's why it's on the weather app, because it's a real place.
You wouldn't get on the weather app.
I'm a real lake.
You wouldn't, you wouldn't get on the weather app, a fake one.
Right.
It's a Pinocchio Lake and it lies.
It's not real.
So, so my thing is I have always confused Bay Lake with the seven seas lagoon.

(04:24):
Right.
Me too.
And I didn't know that they were two different things, honestly.
And the seven seas lagoon is not a natural lake.
That's a manmade one.
Right.
Yeah.
And so that one is the one that you like when you take the ferry boat from the transportation
and ticket center to the magic kingdom.
That is seven seas lagoon.
So you got the Grand Floridian, you got Polynesian, those resorts, even contemporary that side

(04:51):
of the resort.
That side of it.
Not Bay Lake tower, but the other one.
They all face seven seas lagoon.
And that's also where the electrical parade takes place is in the seven seas lagoon.
Yeah.
The monorail goes over the seven seas lagoon.
It also goes over part of Bay Lake.
Right.
And, and we have rented a boat twice from the Polynesian.

(05:13):
And I just, I didn't realize that we were going from two different things from the lagoon
to the lake.
And that's why I can't figure it out because I was just like, I thought it was one body
of water.
No, it's two bodies of water connected.
One is natural.
The other is manmade.
So yeah, if you're going from like the wilderness lodge to magic kingdom, you actually go under
the lake.
Is that what you were saying?

(05:34):
Yeah.
Yeah.
You go through the tunnel underneath it, which adds to the magic because it's a little bit
like, wait, how do we get here?
I thought you can only get here through water.
No, there's a, there's a, there's a, there's a, there's a, there's a, there's a, there's
a, there's a tunnel underneath.
Um, but yeah, so I guess any other commentary I would have about that is that's probably
the, some of the most famous lakes and waters of Disney worlds.

(05:56):
Um, either you're going to take the ferry or you're going to take the monorail to get
to magic kingdom, which is the most popular part.
No way to miss it.
Can't miss it.
Yeah.
Both of them.
Um, and you can take the ferry.
We've also taken the resort launch boats to several times.
Yeah.
Sometimes that's an easy way to get back and forth to your resort.

(06:17):
It's certainly depending on if you are really lucky, it can be much faster than riding the
monorail at the end of the day.
Right.
Yes.
Can be not always.
Yeah.
So, and then if you want a real good view of the seven seas lagoon, um, the monorail
has got a pretty, pretty good view, especially when you're going from like the, um, grand

(06:41):
Floridian to magic king, that little stretch, not little, it's pretty long stretch.
It's a very pretty, especially at certain times of day.
Um, and then if you go to the top of Bay Lake tower or the contemporary, you get a pretty
good view of all these bodies of water.
So all right.
Rivers of America.
Do you know where that one is?

(07:01):
I don't want to talk about it.
Oh gosh.
But we've been on this.
We've been on the Liberty, um, bell.
No, I don't want to talk about it.
So this is over by RIP, Tom Sawyer Island and all of that area.
Well, so the rivers of America, as I understand it, are no more.

(07:23):
They're empty.
And I've seen it emptied before when they've done maintenance.
Yep.
But now they've emptied it because they're going to fill it in.
It's gone.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So for me, that was, I think that that might've been why it was one of, so I like main street,
but I really like frontier land at magic kingdom.
And I think part of it is cause it has the water back.

(07:44):
Yeah, it's, it's beautiful.
Yep.
You can take amazing pictures with water and reflections and anyway, so that was sad rivers
of America.
It's sad.
Okay.
This one, the next one, I learned some stuff.
So it's the rivers of the world, world, world.

(08:04):
I can't do that.
You're not going to let me echo.
You did an echo earlier.
So tell us where that one is.
The rivers of the world is on the world famous jungle cruise.
Yes.
Did you read the whole thing?
So did you realize?
I know all about it.
Yeah.
I didn't know.
Like now that I'm looking at the map.
If you ride, if you ride jungle cruise, you'll notice that the water goes way beyond where

(08:28):
you actually take the attraction.
You're like, where's, I want to go to that part of the river.
So flowing below that often traits bridge that you've likely crossed directly in front
of Cinderella castle.
Um, also adventure land, Liberty square, tomorrowland fantasy, all these areas that you're going
over bridges is that rivers of the world water that's connected and part of the jungle cruise.

(08:52):
Um, I guess, I guess you'd consider that like the moat in front of Cinderella castle, right?
Yeah.
That's exactly where it's a part of the moat and circles around there.
And so pretty again, you get so many incredible pictures, um, with the bodies of water.
And I think, again, I think it's just calming to have, um, pretty water to look at.

(09:18):
Absolutely.
I mean, I mean, I know we're not going to go into your work life here too much, but
with areas like this, you need places for rain and water to go.
Right.
It's not just for aesthetics.
It's functional.
All right.
So now let's head over to Epcot.
Do you know what the name of the body of water at Epcot is?
Yes.

(09:38):
Now that you looked it up.
No, I knew this all along.
The world showcase.
I feel like I needed this podcast episode because I'm butchering names all the time.
I'm like, Oh, that's what it's called.
Yeah.
The world, the world showcase lagoon.
Yeah.
And my last trip, I really wanted to take the transports cause you can transport from

(09:59):
one side of the world showcase to another, not necessarily faster, but more comfortably
in those boats.
And I still haven't done it.
Have you ever done those?
No, I've never done the world showcase boats.
Um, obviously I've done the boats on the outside, the friendship boats that go beyond, but I've
never done that one before.
And so that actually leads to the next body of water here, which is actually called crescent

(10:24):
lake.
Right.
And we have done this one.
So this one is the, it's got marinas at the yacht club, beach club, boardwalk, and the
swan and dolphin.
Swalfin.
Um, that's all the crescent lake where the cake bake shop is located off of that.
Swalfin.
Our last episode, but yes, I do.

(10:46):
You want to say it again?
Swalfin.
You just think you're so cool over there.
That's like your version of Bosco, right?
That's going to be your, your passcode.
My ATM pin, Swalfin.
So the crescent lake, do you have any memories?
I have some memories of, of, oh yeah.

(11:07):
Oh, I've got some, I've got some great crescent lake memories, you know, running down there
as fast as Will and Jack and I on one of our trips and we're running and we're in our Crocs
and we're running down there so fast we can get on there because we needed to get to Hollywood
studios because I think we had an ADR and, or we had a, we had a lightning lane, a single

(11:33):
pass lightning lane.
Wait, you had a trip where you were frantically going from one thing to the next?
This was, this actually was not, this was, this was in our epic.
I know.
You remember the day that we did like 18 miles.
Every time you tell this story, there's more miles added to your story.
Four parks, four parks, 18 miles, multiple ADRs.

(11:53):
Okay, it was five parks, five parks, 22 miles, nine ADRs, four.
Anyways, it was, it was the perfect day for us.
You're like, that's the equivalent of like the fishing.
Like when people come back, they talk about how big their fish was and the story gets
bigger and bigger.
Yeah.
I have picks though, so it's okay.
Did you make the boat?

(12:13):
Did y'all run and make the boat?
We did.
We did.
And then it was so slow.
I'm like, I'm like, well, if we'd have just kept running, we could have run all the way
to Hollywood studios faster, right?
But we did it.
We made it.
It was okay.
Yeah.
I mean, it's definitely pretty and it's, it is a way to trans take some transportation

(12:34):
from these places.
I don't know, I'm sure that the skyliner from Epcot to Hollywood studios is faster,
I would think considerably than taking one of the boats, but.
Oh, well that's why we had, that's why we had to take a boat.
It was lightning outside.
Oh, so the, so the skyliner was down.
And did you have to walk and snow uphill both ways too or?

(12:57):
It was a blizzard.
It is called crescent.
Like I was going to look and see if the shape of it was actually a crescent.
Did you look?
Well, I've never looked, but I bet it is.
I don't think they would have just come up with that.
Oh, I don't know.
It doesn't look like a crescent to me.

(13:20):
Okay.
Moving on, let us talk about, and we kind of skipped over the fact that the world showcase
lagoon is where they do the nighttime spectacular fireworks.
Pretty pretty cool ambiance there.
Well let's go to Hollywood studios to echo lake where Gertie the dinosaur dwells.
Yeah, this one, this is a stretch for me.

(13:43):
That's fake.
I mean it's.
But did you know, did you read about how it's part of a giant hidden Mickey?
Yeah, that's, that's.
Did you look?
I have never in all of my time going to Disney world, I have never noticed that that is a
giant hidden Mickey in that the echo lake is his right ear.
Well, that's, that's, that's because we don't fly over that part.
I, but I mean all the times I've looked at the map and all the things I've ever read.

(14:06):
Yeah.
Did you look?
It's cool, but.
You need to gush more.
I mean, look, the, the, the part in front of the, the Chinese theater is, is his mouth
and the eyes are there and oh my goodness.
I like echo lake.
And I think it's, it's particularly amazing at Christmas.
They have giant ornaments that like floats and light up on the water, but you're saying

(14:33):
it's not big.
It's not very big.
So I just, I have a hard time calling it like a lake, like a real thing.
It's like a splash pad.
Okay.
Well, it's not deep.
It's like two feet deep or something.
It's not, you know, it's not, it's like, I don't know, maybe it's two and a half feet
deep.
It's not much.

(14:54):
I just don't, I don't know if I'd call it a lake, but I get it.
I understand the purpose of it really is that you are in Hollywood land and therefore we're
trying to recreate some things there and that's, you know, part of what they use.
So okay.
Are you looking up the hidden Mickey?
Yeah, I'm looking up the hidden Mickey.
Look, there's his eyes and this is the echo lake is his right ear.

(15:17):
He doesn't really have a left ear and that's cause that's where the brown Derby is.
So it's kind of loose that they call it a hidden Mickey because he doesn't really have
an ear, a left ear.
Anyway, let's move on to our glass lake.
I don't see it.
You don't see it.
You don't see his eyes and the ear.

(15:37):
Oh, there it is.
Oh, now I get it.
Yeah.
Oh, look at that.
That's a, that's a massive hidden Mickey.
What the heck?
Wow.
I know.
Now all of a sudden the pavement markings make sense to me.
I know.
I'm like, I've missed, I've missed Mickey.
I've just been walking all over him.

(15:58):
I'm not even know what to take.
I need to go back.
Wow.
Holy cow.
That's incredible.
Boy, I sure, I'm sure glad this podcast is a visual one and you guys can see what we're,
oh wait, sorry.
Sorry.
Just, just imagine with our words.
Imagine with us.
So hourglass lake is the next one here.

(16:19):
By the way, this is inside the magic.net that gave us the comprehensive list and hopefully
they have good information and we're not saying the wrong names, but you don't even know where
this is.
So I think you've forgotten, but we have actually taken the skyliner all the way to the end
to pop century and art of animation.
We just turned right back around.

(16:41):
But anyway, this is an hourglass shaped lake, ironically, between these two big resorts.
You can get on the skyliner here in the middle.
Yeah.
You don't have any commentary on this one.
You know, I mean, it's, it's a, it's a wobbly hourglass.

(17:03):
Like at best it almost kind of looks like, like a melting Olaf.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
Clearly, clearly that wasn't intentional cause Olaf wasn't around when they made it.
But you know, I guess, I guess you could call it an hourglass.
Okay.
Let's, let's talk about barefoot Bay again.

(17:24):
This one blew my mind because it actually does look like a barefoot.
Yeah.
Did you look at, so this is at the Caribbean beach, which is also connected to the Riviera.
But if you look, you can see a foot it's called barefoot Bay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's, it's a foot, maybe if you got a hammer toe, I guess, but whoever's got that foot,

(17:50):
they're not walking so good.
So I have stayed at Caribbean beach a few times.
It's one of those where, yeah, it's kind of nice to have a lake view, but it's your, you
walk to your hotel room door from the outside and so that window, uh, there's just not,

(18:10):
there's not privacy.
So I would say having a lake view from Caribbean beach is not as big of a deal, but if you
wanted to enjoy barefoot Bay from Riviera, that would be something different.
That would be a nice thing because you're looking at it from a window rather than your,
your exit door.
Yeah.

(18:31):
That makes sense.
Yeah.
Now the, the next one I think actually is kind of, it's kind of cool.
Okay.
Lago Dorado.
So this is at Coronado Springs.
Yep.
We've been there.
I've been there multiple times.
Right.
Yeah.
And, um, it's actually kind of the lake that's in the very center of the resort.

(18:53):
So the resort actually surrounds this particular lake and that's kind of cool, but I think the
cool feature of it is that there is a walking bridge that kind of comes together from three
different angles to the very center.
And in that center is where you find the three bridges bar.
Oh, I wonder how they came up with that name.
Yep.

(19:14):
Yep.
And so Dak and I, we stayed at Coronado Springs once we stayed at the grandestino tower.
Um, this is back in COVID times.
So there was a lot of stuff that was closed down.
Yeah.
Most of the restaurants hadn't fully opened back up.
And so I remember we got back to our till.
I don't remember if it was our first night or it was late, a different night or something.
We were hungry.
So we had to go and we picked up some food.
We mobile ordered, picked up food from the three bridges bar.

(19:37):
Was it any good?
Um, yeah, I don't remember, but I'm sure it was probably pretty good.
But, um, anyways, it's just kind of cool.
You don't get a lot of chances to like walk.
Like, it's just this long bridge walk over the actual body of water.
So that was kind of cool.
Yeah.
It's not a small body of water.

(19:58):
It's a very big resort.
I had no idea it was called Lago Dorado, but, uh, now you do.
I'm always going to say it that way from now on.
All right.
So discovery river is an animal kingdom park.
That's our next one.
It is called that because it surrounds discovery Island.
I don't know that I paid much attention to this river until COVID when they would do

(20:21):
those flotilla parades.
Yeah.
And they still do those.
Yeah, they still do.
Maybe they did them before, but I don't remember.
Yeah.
Um, I didn't go to that park a lot before.
Chippendales usually on one with Donald and maybe Donald's on a different one.
Goofy's on one, you know, they're, they're, they're, they're jamming out.
It's cool.

(20:41):
There's music.
That's, that's, that's great.
You know, unlike that thing that he did where they ruined, they ruined it with kite tails.
That's not what we're talking about.
Glad that show's gone, but yeah, it's a pretty, it's a pretty significant river
too, but it's not like one that, um, uh, guests can't get down there and go on that river.

(21:02):
So it's just cast members and, and it looks kind of, I mean, I guess they were trying
to make it look in Africa.
It looks like there's not a lot of water there, right?
I guess that's part of the point is that.
Yeah.
In Africa, it looks pretty low, but you know, still the boats go.
All right.
So this, now we finally come to one that I've done recently, which is the Sassagula river.

(21:23):
Is that how you would say that?
I keep thinking of Pascagoula, but Sassagoula.
So I, like I said, I stayed at port Orleans riverside, which is the very end of this river.
I think they put it in quotes.
It's probably a lake, but, um, a very straight ish looking.
So they call it a river, but it connects riverside, port Orleans, um, uh, French quarter.

(21:48):
I mean, and then it'll go all the way to Disney Springs.
It'll pass by Saratoga Springs.
It was very pretty to me.
There's a balance when I go, at least I like the balance of like the fun and the exciting
and the rides and all this stuff.
And then you get on like a nice calming river ride, not ride, but.

(22:08):
It looks like a big lazy river to me, you know, and I look at the map and I'm like,
Oh, I feel like I'm at a water park and it's a lazy river, except for the fact that it's
like miles long.
Right.
Super long.
Um, but it's not just something pretty.
It is functional.
You can take that water taxi.
Um, it doesn't take you to any of the parks, but it would take you to Disney Springs and.

(22:29):
But it does surround, it does surround, um, the pool there at the resort.
So the pool is kind of on an island and the river goes around the pool.
So you've got to walk over a bridge to the island with the pool to get there.
That's kind of cool.
I mean, I've never stayed at that resort, but, um, that's where the big pool is at.

(22:49):
They have multiple ones.
This is, that's the real big one.
Yeah.
Our, when I stayed there recently, we were really close to that whole area.
Um, super fun.
Uh, part of the experience I think of Porter lanes is, is experiencing that river and that
makes sense because there is so much water.
There's the Mississippi river in New Orleans.
So.

(23:09):
Yeah.
All right.
I think we got one, two, one more.
Oh, I see two Willow Lake.
Yeah.
Willow Lake is the next one.
And then there's last one.
So Willow Lake is I've only ever driven by Saratoga Springs, but if you stay at Saratoga
Springs, which is a DVC resort, um, it's kind of that horse theme, right?

(23:33):
So at the paddock, um, near the paddock, there is a lake and it, I guess the lake is in the
center of, of all the hotel buildings.
Looks pretty.
It's got a fountain.
Is this the one that looks like a piece of wrapped candy?
Oh, I don't know.
Now I gotta look it up.

(23:53):
I think that's what it is.
They should have called it candy or candy wrapper.
I don't know.
I guess maybe it's the bigger one that looks like a whale.
I'm going to call it whale Lake.
Okay.
That's probably what it is.
Regardless.

(24:14):
That's all right.
Oh, it does have a giant bridge that goes from one side to the other.
So I like it when they have bridges like that.
Yeah.
All right.
And last but not least village Lake.
Didn't know that that was the name of this one.
I didn't either.
People often refer to it as Lake Buena Vista.
Yep.
But it's not called because it's at Lake Buena Vista, unlike Bay Lake.

(24:38):
Okay.
But but that's so you're not going to find village Lake on your weather app.
You'll find Lake Buena Vista.
Okay.
Yeah.
So this is the one next to Disney Springs, right?
Yeah.
This is the Disney Springs one.
I didn't know about this thing that that there's tours on the vintage Anthocar.

(24:59):
Oh, you never seen those?
I've never seen those.
Henry wants to do it.
Probably because they don't do them at nighttime.
And that's the only time I go to Disney.
Oh, yeah.
I bet that's why.
Yeah.
I don't I can't remember going to Disney Springs in the daytime.
Yeah.
How would you do that?
I got to go to the park.
Yes, you do.
Get your action.
Get your thrills.

(25:20):
Yeah, that's OK.
It's a it's a very big lake.
Yeah, that's that's a big one.
You have to you have to maneuver around quite a bit at Disney Springs.
And that's partially because there is that giant lake there.
I think that actually it's probably as big if not a little bit bigger than the World
Showcase Lagoon, which which is pretty big if you're just kind of comparing it on the

(25:42):
side, so so that's big because remember, it's a couple of miles around the World Showcase
Lagoon, one point eight miles.
Right.
You found that out from something running it.
Oh, that's right.
Yes.
Yeah.
Well, this is fun.
I mean, I don't know that I have taken these all to memory and I don't know that once I

(26:05):
get there, I will remember the name of all these lakes.
But it's cool to recognize that there are so many and it adds to the experience, I think
of going to the parks.
Yeah.
A lot of fun.
See you at Horse Lake.
Oh, that wasn't what about Candy wrapper candy wrapper lake right next to right next to Willow

(26:28):
Lake.
What about Crescent Lake?
That's not the shape of a crescent.
Yeah, that's you know, I'm still looking at the map here and I'm like, I'm not I can't
get it.
I don't see it.
I don't see any in that.
Once upon a time before they built something.
I don't know.
Yeah, I mean, I just but Barefoot Bay looks like a foot.

(26:49):
I mean, it looks like a three toed foot, but still it looks like a foot.
So yeah, I mean, you know, there's amputation took place there.
But the cool one, hey, the hidden Mickey, that was cool.
I was excited.
It's still not a lake in my book, but it's cool.
All right, y'all, let us know what you think about the water and the lakes and all the

(27:11):
stuff at Disney World.
We're at whistle while you work podcast on Instagram.
We'll take care.