I Didn’t Expect the Best Bass Fishing of My Trip to Happen at Disney World

Most anglers don’t realize you can fish inside Walt Disney World—and it turned out to be one of the best bites of our entire trip.

Big bass, Disney backdrop—Seven Seas Lagoon delivered one of the best bites of our Florida trip. | Kurt Mazurek

I never would have guessed the best bass fishing of our Florida adventure would happen in the middle of Walt Disney World. But as the sun came up over Seven Seas Lagoon, Space Mountain and Cinderella’s Castle, another nice largemouth in the net made it difficult to argue otherwise.

Here is exactly what bass fishing in Disney looks like:

his wasn’t a kiddie attraction. It wasn’t an “as long as you’re here, you might as well” activity.
It was real bass fishing—diverse structure and environment, consistent action, solid fish, and photo opportunities unique to this one iconic destination.

And somehow, most anglers have no idea it exists.

Series Note

This article is part of a 30-day, 1,600-mile road trip exploring some of Florida’s most iconic fishing and outdoor destinations. Along the way, my wife and I lived full-time in a 24-foot, all-electric RV. We knew the trip sounded amazing, but we wondered what effect an electric vehicle might have on our adventure.

Start the series here: Is My Fishing Lifestyle Ready for an All-Electric RV?

Why This Stop Was Different

This is our incredibly cozy, secluded-feeling campsite at Fort Wilderness—a giant campground with thousands of fellow campers. We're not sure if the pine cone not-so-hidden Mickey is the work of staff or the previous campers. | Kurt Mazurek

To this point in our trip, most destinations were chosen for their amazing outdoor-focused lifestyle and fishing opportunities.

Orlando is pretty well known as the theme park capital of the world.

But within the borders of arguably the world’s most famous theme park is one of the most legendary campgrounds for hardcore RVers. Walt Disney World’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground invited us for three nights of camping and two days in the parks. This seemed like an obvious stop on our RV-life adventure.

But this was also likely to be the most structured, crowded, least natural stop on our list. At a glance, you might assume this would be the least fishing-focused destination.

Let’s take a closer look.

Bass Fishing Inside Disney World

It was pleasantly surprising to see how much of this incredibly developed lake was completely undeveloped and very natural. Also, surprising was the number of photo-worthy bass we caught. | Kurt Mazurek

For each of our two park days, I scheduled a 7 a.m. guided bass fishing excursion on the Seven Seas Lagoon, right in the middle of the Disney property.

It’s a bit surreal at first—sitting in a boat, backing away from the dock, within sight of a monorail and who knows how many “hidden Mickeys”—but once you set that hook, all the novelty of the park disappears.

That's Disney's Grand Floridian Resort in the background. | Kurt Mazurek

During our trip across Florida, we fished a wide range of water, from premier bass lakes to remote grass-choked canals that looked much more “fishy” on paper. Yet, this lake surrounded by thousands of fun-seeking families and glittering attractions was the one that delivered.

When I planned this adventure, that’s not something I expected to say.

A Guide Who Made It Work

My guide Will and I had a lot of fun fishing together. Here's a series where we started to get a bit competitive about who caught the bigger bass. For the record, he did. | Kurt Mazurek

In addition to a healthy, bass-rich lake, Disney provided a top-notch guide, Will Barber.

Quickly figuring out unfamiliar water is one thing. Successfully puzzling out a highly managed, mostly man-made fishery like this is another. Understanding the ways that bass optimize their movements and feeding schedules in this somewhat unusual environment is critical—like the fact that when one of the bigger paddle wheel boats leaves the dock, there will be a bit of a feeding frenzy in its wash, or how bass use the long underwater ridges of rubble left behind from a forgotten construction project back in the 1980s.

Will had it dialed.

He kept us around active fish the whole time. The first day we worked big schools of plentiful, but smaller fish. I’m sure this is the typical experience most families love—everybody catches fish. And thanks to Will’s friendly, easy-going personality and lots of opportunities to set the hook, I certainly enjoyed myself. But by the second day, I think he understood my fishing experience level and what I looked for in a day of fishing, and by adjusting our approach and locations, I landed several of the better fish of the entire month long trip.

A solid hook set on one of many bass we caught in front of the Grand Floridian resort. | Kurt Mazurek

I can’t decide if my favorite fish was one that snuck up on me out of deep, clear water next to the dock at the Grand Floridian resort and grabbed my bait just as I was about to lift it out of the water, or the big bass I caught in just a foot of water, pitching a craw along a row of dense reeds. My guide, Will called that bite!

A great guide makes the entire experience feel accessible, whether you’re a serious angler or someone who’s never picked up a rod.

The Part I Didn’t Expect to Revisit

The author and his wife on their first Disney bass fishing adventure back in 1994. | Kurt Mazurek

Full disclosure: I have fished here before.

In 1994, my wife and I came to Disney World for our honeymoon. At the time, I was already an enthusiastic angler, but when I agreed to our honeymoon destination, I had no idea fishing was even an option.

I remember sitting on the edge of the bed at Disney’s Polynesian Resort, flipping through a brochure while Julie was getting ready for dinner. Golf…horseback riding…and then…guided bass fishing excursion stopped me cold.

I grabbed for the phone as I called to Julie to confirm she wouldn’t mind. She’s always been incredibly kind and supportive of my obsession with fishing. I would say the fact that we’re still happily married 32 years later is thanks, at least in part, to that fact. I booked us for two trips that week.

Julie caught the biggest fish of the day when we fished here on our honeymoon in 1994. | Kurt Mazurek

Now we were back—fishing the same water, but arriving to the park in a completely different way—via all-electric RV. This time, Julie opted to sleep in. I understand.

Also this time, I wasn’t experiencing it as a young, excited, newlywed angler. I was documenting our trip from the perspective of an industry pro who’s spent a lifetime chasing bass across the country.

And to my delight, the experience held up.

Our Home Base: Fort Wilderness

Disney does an amazing job of planning out sight lines and views. Even though we are in the middle of one of the biggest campgrounds we've ever been to, our space felt very natural and secluded. | Kurt Mazurek

For our Orlando stop, Disney’s Fort Wilderness Campground became home base.

I knew it would be big, but this was on a scale I wasn’t prepared for. There are 800 campsites here plus over 400 rentable cabins spread across their 750 wooded acres. It’s bigger and more spread out than anything else we experienced on the trip.

But with that said, Disney manages to provide a real camping experience, where it genuinely feels secluded, serene and very much connected to nature. It’s truly amazing. But, since Disney has continuously proven they are the best in the world at managing space, traffic and environments, I’m not surprised how much we enjoyed our stay in this massive campground.

Plus, our site backed up to one of the campgrounds many very fishy-looking canals. I was definitely tempted, but figured I shouldn’t try to find the limit of my wife’s patience and support for my fishing.

Getting Around Fort Wilderness (Don’t Skip This)

Julie loved the opportunity to be our golf cart driver. | Kurt Mazurek

Pro Tip: Rent a golf cart.

Normally, I don’t mind walking. In fact, I prefer it. But, once we started getting an idea of the distance between our site and the restaurants, bus stops, and the dock where I met my guide each morning, it became apparent we needed a mode of transportation. The golf cart ended up being less of a luxury and more of a necessity. Plus, in our everyday life, I do 99.9% of the driving. But Julie has a good bit of electric golf cart driving experience from her time volunteering at a birds of prey rehab center, so she drove us around while we were here. We both really enjoyed it.

From the Water to the Parks

After beautiful mornings chasing bass, we spent the rest of our days in the Disney parks. | Kurt Mazurek

After fishing each morning, our focus shifted completely.

On our first day, we headed to EPCOT. The second was spent in Animal Kingdom. Both parks lived up to the high expectations Disney sets—impeccably clean, visually dazzling, and every park employee we met was the nicest person in the world.

As someone who studies business, marketing and user experience, I’m always amazed how well Disney does those things. I know that technically I’m surrounded by thousands of strangers at all times, but I find it so easy to get lost in the experience in these parks—rarely feeling crowded, never stressed, constantly admiring the millions of tiny, artistic details and craftsmanship.

Even though the contrast between working a topwater bait at sunrise and waiting in line for Guardians of the Galaxy is high, the combination provided some of the best, most relaxing days I’ve had in years.

How the RV Fit Into This Stop

Once again our Grounded all-electric RV proved to be a perfect home away from home. | Kurt Mazurek

I had a feeling the Orlando area would be no sweat for finding places to charge our all-electric Grounded RV. As expected, it was a non-issue. And once we arrived at Fort Wilderness, the RV remained parked until we left. Our electric golf cart got us around the campground, and Disney’s elaborate public transportation system shuttled us between the parks.

I will mention that while we saw many campers much larger than ours, I really liked the overall size of the Grounded G3. At just over 24-feet long, the Grounded Zevo 600 model was both big enough for two adults to live very comfortably for 30 days, and small enough that maneuvering around one of the biggest most populated campgrounds we’d ever seen, was fairly easy. We had a back-in spot rather than a pull-through, but our van’s fairly compact dimensions and sophisticated camera system made parking a breeze.

What This Stop Taught Us

It’s easy to assume that the best fishing happens in the most obvious, classic, legendary places. Florida is filled with bass lakes I had dreamed about my whole life.

But this stop challenged that.

I found some of the most consistent and surprising bass fishing of our whole trip in a place most anglers don’t even know they can fish. And it wasn’t just good fishing “for Disney.” It was good, period.

Looking Ahead

We were leaving Orlando, headed for Crystal River on the state’s Gulf Coast—classic, old school Florida. I anticipated much less development, natural scenic beauty and a shot at some great bass fishing.

And I had a bit of an ace up my sleeve, as I had made plans to fish those waters with an old friend, a native Floridian, and a veteran bass pro who had fished Crystal River for decades.

Disney had set the fishing bar pretty high. Could this next stop top it?