What to do with 3 1/2 extra days when DH doesn't want to do WDW

agavegirl1

agavegirl1

DIS Veteran
Joined
Feb 23, 2012
I am planning on what days to take off for vacation in 2018. I figured we'd do the same split between WDW, Sea World and US/IOA. Hubby has asked that we shorten the WDW portion, lengthen the US/IOA portion and do HHN more than once.

I know it is two years away. (Commando Club member 233 reporting for spread sheet duty). We usually do one two week vacation and a one week vacation. Because DH works Mon-Thu, this gives us an extra Friday on the front end. I have plugged our dates into my spreadsheet template and reducing WDW to six nights at a moderate resort and adding two days to Hard Rock Hotel, I am left with days at the end of the trip. Last time, we stayed off site in the middle of the trip to go to Sea World for three days. One day is enough which we will do while staying at Hard Rock.

1. Do you think by 2018 there will be enough "new" to do to convince DH to go for "One more Disney Day"?

2. Can you think of some off site options where I convince him to stay on WDW property a day or two longer but check out off site options and not use park tickets?

3. Is there somewhere else we should go and stay in the immediate area with a return to MCO that might interest my "new is better" DH? He prefers exciting activities or cool bar/restaurant venues. We would use a taxi or Uber as he does not want to rent a car. Our other vacation is usually a road trip.

Please don't judge my early pre-planning. DH just threw the "I want to spend less time at WDW and more time at Universal" thing at me and it doesn't fill up the two week time frame. I certainly don't want to just leave Orlando on a Wednesday and hang out at home for the rest of my vacation.
 
how much disney was on your trip that your removing 3 1/2 days to something else. I personally don't find disney and universal to be far apart and since your talking so far in advance If you need to firm up resort reservations why not compromise with a day or two of "floater days". Hold back park tickets and budget to upgrade, if needed while your there. It's not a huge deal to get to disney from universal resort or vice versa..

does your husband like golf by and chance? has he never done it any maybe would like some lessons and a day without you? some really nice courses around disney property (and nearby) for him to get a day without disney but you and the family can still go and do disney another day....

What about more resort days? maybe horse back riding at fort wilderness instead of a park. Combine that with renting a pontoon boat and doing a family afternoon boating around the 2 lakes by MK. Is it disney he wants less of, universal he wants more of or do you normally plan a lot of disney parks and never do anything else? Figure out what he is tired with and then you can figure out ways to let him be entertained while you do another disney day in the parks..

As far as fancy bars, places to eat and newer.. disney springs is loaded with that stuff and more coming by 2018.. if he wants newer bars, it's disney with them right now.

I think every family runs into this at some point and it's time to step back and see what you can change and compromise with less disney for them. He's still going to disney, he just wants a little more variety or there is somethign that interests him much more..

I would wait until novemeber when the destination d news starts to come out. It's a 2 day conference in orlando that is specific to disneyparks. They've already announced some speakers and mention pandora will be opening in 2017 but I suspect this conference we're going to hear a lot of news with more timelines on new lands, pandora and possibly the start of construction to get ready for the 50th anniversary of MK in 5 years. This will give you an idea of what is going to happen in what year and you'll get some of your answers... however, universal has a lot of stuff coming by 2018 also so that logic might backfire with your husband depending on what he knows :)
 


Accident said:
how much disney was on your trip that your removing 3 1/2 days to something else. I personally don't find disney and universal to be far apart and since your talking so far in advance If you need to firm up resort reservations why not compromise with a day or two of "floater days". Hold back park tickets and budget to upgrade, if needed while your there. It's not a huge deal to get to disney from universal resort or vice versa..

does your husband like golf by and chance? has he never done it any maybe would like some lessons and a day without you? some really nice courses around disney property (and nearby) for him to get a day without disney but you and the family can still go and do disney another day....

What about more resort days? maybe horse back riding at fort wilderness instead of a park. Combine that with renting a pontoon boat and doing a family afternoon boating around the 2 lakes by MK. Is it disney he wants less of, universal he wants more of or do you normally plan a lot of disney parks and never do anything else? Figure out what he is tired with and then you can figure out ways to let him be entertained while you do another disney day in the parks..

As far as fancy bars, places to eat and newer.. disney springs is loaded with that stuff and more coming by 2018.. if he wants newer bars, it's disney with them right now.

I think every family runs into this at some point and it's time to step back and see what you can change and compromise with less disney for them. He's still going to disney, he just wants a little more variety or there is somethign that interests him much more..

I would wait until novemeber when the destination d news starts to come out. It's a 2 day conference in orlando that is specific to disneyparks. They've already announced some speakers and mention pandora will be opening in 2017 but I suspect this conference we're going to hear a lot of news with more timelines on new lands, pandora and possibly the start of construction to get ready for the 50th anniversary of MK in 5 years. This will give you an idea of what is going to happen in what year and you'll get some of your answers... however, universal has a lot of stuff coming by 2018 also so that logic might backfire with your husband depending on what he knows :)
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Our previous trip included 9 WDW resort nights with 10 day hoppers. The new plan is six WDW nights. The previous trip was four US/IOA nights at Portofino. Now six nights at Hard Rock with a one day shuttle day over to Sea World. The previous trip included three nights off site of either resort at one of the Sea World affiliated hotels now eliminated. He enjoys a lively happy hour and good food and may want to watch his favorite Vikings play during the trip. He is a thrill ride person but enjoys elaborate theming. He would likely be happy with a week at Six Flags to be honest. We will be concentrating on AK and DS for the 2018 trip. He sees several restaurants and lounges there he would like to try and dinner will be DS most nights. That's covered. Our biggest issue is we have to fly and will be in Orlando so we may as well stay there and find newer things to do.

Before you suggest it, bowling at Splitsville will not work. DisneyQuest will likely close and there is not a lot of entertainment at DS we haven't seen. Hoping for new options.

He does like Universal better. Adding days is not a problem for me but I still ended up with days with no hotel and no plan. This is not acceptable for Commando Club member 233. I can go with flow if necessary but where do I stay and what rough plan do I go with?

I forgot, we don't play golf and have a lake home where he can fish whenever he wants so those are not options either.

You are right, if we want to keep going to WDW, I have to change it up. I have compromised by agreeing to only go for major changes (last time New Fantasyland) and chose to buy the lake house instead of investments and DVC. (I sold a vacation home I owned). DH really dislikes construction walls and doesn't understand you can't have new stuff without them.
 


agavegirl1 said:
Our biggest issue is we have to fly and will be in Orlando so we may as well stay there and find newer things to do.
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He needs to agree to getting a rental car, and then that opens things up.

How about Daytona? We quite liked staying there for a day or two, and could have stayed longer. Or perhaps the gulf side?


Maybe you don't have to take the whole 2 weeks for this vacation, leaving some days for the next vacation?
 
We cap off 10 days in the world with a DCL cruise and then hit the beach on our way home, it gives us the perfect relaxation after a long spell of go-go-go. I highly suggest a cruise if you don't want to rent a car, they do the transfers and it's easy to do.

If you don't want to do a cruise and your husband does not want to do WDW, have you considered losing another park day and doing 5 day park hoppers with the waterpark and more option added on? This allows you 5 days in the parks and 5 waterpark or other options. We like to do it this way and hit up the waterparks on off days and then explore our resort as well on those days. We change up our resorts constantly so that there is always exploring. Next month we are at the cabins at FW and AKL before our cruise!
 
Discovery cove? Busch gardens also does a HHN type thing. Check groupon for the area, even if you don't buy it so far out, it'll give you an idea of what you can do. What about a ghost and graves tour? You could do a hot air balloon ride, and 'escape room' type thing, go dolphin watching on a tour... what about medieval times?
 
A 3-day cruise the obvious solution. The fact that you have never done a cruise, yet go to the Caribbean frequently, intrigues me. You may get so spoiled by a cruise that you will spend a whole week on one the following year.
 
eyehartdisney said:
Discovery cove? Busch gardens also does a HHN type thing. Check groupon for the area, even if you don't buy it so far out, it'll give you an idea of what you can do. What about a ghost and graves tour? You could do a hot air balloon ride, and 'escape room' type thing, go dolphin watching on a tour... what about medieval times?
Click to expand...


On our last trip, we did Busch Gardens on their Halloween event night. The park closed early but were were done with our touring plan way before then. Now special tours might be the answer to adding to WDW...I'll check out the cruises but they are soooo... expensive but the tours at WDW he would likely love. Discovery Cove for a day sounds really good.

Waterparks for one day would be attractive to him only if we rented a cabana. He doesn't even like to have to try to save a seat at a resort pool. Now, where to add hotel days. One more Disney day can happen with a special tour. One more Universal day could happen with Discovery Cove. Hmmm....
 
agavegirl1 said:
On our last trip, we did Busch Gardens on their Halloween event night. The park closed early but were were done with our touring plan way before then. Now special tours might be the answer to adding to WDW...I'll check out the cruises but they are soooo... expensive but the tours at WDW he would likely love. Discovery Cove for a day sounds really good.

Waterparks for one day would be attractive to him only if we rented a cabana. He doesn't even like to have to try to save a seat at a resort pool. Now, where to add hotel days. One more Disney day can happen with a special tour. One more Universal day could happen with Discovery Cove. Hmmm....
Click to expand...

If you really had your heart set on a cruise, there are definitely some affordable ones out of florida- in the sub 300/pp range.
 
eyehartdisney said:
If you really had your heart set on a cruise, there are definitely some affordable ones out of florida- in the sub 300/pp range.
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I have never actually had "my heart set on a cruise" but I have done a lot of Caribbean vacations. Not sure that would work for DH but he did serve our country on the Marine Detachment on a number of ships including the New Jersey so I know he doesn't get seasick. Perhaps the ocean itself will have an effect...a short cruise I could manage.
 
agavegirl1 said:
On our last trip, we did Busch Gardens on their Halloween event night. The park closed early but were were done with our touring plan way before then. Now special tours might be the answer to adding to WDW...I'll check out the cruises but they are soooo... expensive but the tours at WDW he would likely love. Discovery Cove for a day sounds really good.

Waterparks for one day would be attractive to him only if we rented a cabana. He doesn't even like to have to try to save a seat at a resort pool. Now, where to add hotel days. One more Disney day can happen with a special tour. One more Universal day could happen with Discovery Cove. Hmmm....
Click to expand...

If you do a water park they offer umbrella rentals now. They come with 2 loungers, 2 beach chairs, and towels. We did this in May. It was around 40 bucks I believe. Much cheaper than a Cabana and no fight for chairs. It was just me with 2 teenagers, so it was worth every penny to me!
We have also done the Keys to the Kingdom tour and loved it! If you like behind the scenes information about the parks, I highly recommend it!
 
Glad to know I'm not the only one planning for 2018 and trying to accommodate her husband's preferences...lol. For 12 days we are planning 2 days at Universal, 1 at SeaWorld, 6 at WDW and 3 "down" days that will include at least one Disney Water Park. My husband needs recovery time or he gets grumpy!

Anyway, not a lot of help from me, just wanted to say I feel your pain (and also have my spreadsheet going).
 
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