Two days without tickets. What to do?

[blackacex2]

You could make a whole vacation at disney without going to a single park. Visit the boardwalk, animal kingdom lodge to see animals, have dinner at the poly and hang out at the beach to watch wishes, see la nouba at downtown disney, horseback riding at fort wilderness or wilderness lodge, go to a spa, have afternoon tea at the grand floridian, let your kids play at one of the arcades located at the various resorts like pop century, play putt putt golf, go to disney quest, explore port Orleans riverside, go on a hot air balloon ride, ride the monorail for fun, go to splits-ville to bowl, see a movie at the AMC, spend time at the pool, go to beaches and cream at the beach club, I could go on forever!

[AshleeH]

Personally, I would switch to a Universal hotel for the first two days - get the benefits of staying onsite and going to US and IoA and then start the Disney vacation as planned.

[scrapperjill]

I'd look into adding the waterparks.... We did that one year n had a blast. If that's not a possibility..... Two extra days to sight see other resorts and areas of wdw..... That's what is do .

[thisismyusername]

Thank you for the continued good ideas! As of right now, I am banking--hoping--that we can pick up the tickets early and head to a park for the second day. The first day, however, I think we'll do some of these ideas and just relax a little. I know we're going to be fairly exhausted: Our flight got bumped to first-thing-in-the-morning time, and we're going to be getting up in the middle of the night to get to the airport.

[lovesdumbo]

How about the new Splitsville bowling at DTD?

My kids want to try the Archery Experience at Ft Wilderness.

[stargazertechie]

Originally Posted by thisismyusername

Thank you for the continued good ideas! As of right now, I am banking--hoping--that we can pick up the tickets early and head to a park for the second day. The first day, however, I think we'll do some of these ideas and just relax a little. I know we're going to be fairly exhausted: Our flight got bumped to first-thing-in-the-morning time, and we're going to be getting up in the middle of the night to get to the airport.

Any option for a hotel stay the night before? I had always done the "get up in the middle of the night" routine until my last trip.

It makes it SO much better when you just have to be awake 2.5 hours before your flight instead of 3-6 to get up and drive

[teentoddlermom]

How much more would it be to just add the days to the tickets? Isn't it only a couple of dollars per ticket?

[kimmar067]

....I love to spend the day at DTD - that's certainly free, but if you don't mind, perhaps playing a round of mini-golf at one of the mini-colf courses? Or, try out the new bowling alleys at DTD that are near Cirque....

[thisismyusername]

Originally Posted by teentoddlermom

How much more would it be to just add the days to the tickets? Isn't it only a couple of dollars per ticket?

Adding another day onto the ticket really isn't an issue as it's only $48 for all of us--it's whether we'll be allowed to pick up our tickets early. Our tickets are tied to our hotel stay/dining plan which begins 2 days after our plane arrives. Right now, we'd be allowed to pick up the tickets early at guest relations at DTD, but when the magic bands are implemented presumably later this spring, Disney may change the policy and not allow us to pick up the tickets early. (While we could just add these two days onto our existing hotel/dining package, we don't really want to--it would add another $1250 onto our trip...)

I had no idea about the archery experience--the kids just watched Brave last night, and I think they would really dig that. Thanks!

Does anyone know with the bike rentals if they have any with training wheels?

And is it possible to check out some DVC rooms? I know there's sometimes sample rooms open (like the one on Boardwalk) and the ones they have available at the sales center over in SSR, but we'd be really interested in checking out both 1-bedroom and 2-bedroom rooms at OKW, BLT, BCV and THV as we're considering a resale contract. If we weren't planning to do resale, I'd contact the sales agent that helped us last year when we went through the presentation and tour, but since I don't think we'll be buying through Disney, I'm not sure how helpful they'll be.

[thisismyusername]

Originally Posted by stargazertechie

Any option for a hotel stay the night before? I had always done the "get up in the middle of the night" routine until my last trip.

It makes it SO much better when you just have to be awake 2.5 hours before your flight instead of 3-6 to get up and drive

We might do that. We're only an hour from the airport--tops--and the day before is my daughter's birthday. She may not want to leave the house on her birthday night and celebrate at a cheap hotel. I think we'll probably wind up just sucking up the extra hour and leaving early. At least it's to go to Disney--doing the same to come home would be a heckuva lot harder!

[DizDaD7]

1st off I definitely wouldn't stay offsite for the 1st 2 days like a pp stated...1 of the perks about staying onsite in Magical Express... Worry free about getting to and from is Awesome...If she stayed in US/IOA hotels this would negate this plus she would have to rent a cab or car to get to WDW from there.

If you can add them on add them.
If not try taking the DVC tour. It's about an hour or 2 but you'll get to see the mock up rooms they'll take care of the kids ( if you have them) playing video games and arts n crafts n stuff. plus you'll get some yummy ice cream for free, & what we got was instant fass pases for the rest of our trip....Nice bonus.. You can resort hop , which is always fun..Especially the ones around the monorail then hop over to the BW resorts and check out what they have to offer.

Try DTD for a bit & take the boatride over to SSR & heasd up the river to POFQ & POR.

[roomthreeseventeen]

We like taking boats out at the Yacht Club. We're also considering for our next trip going to do some parasailing on Bay Lake, horseback riding at Ft. Wilderness, stuff like that.

[Karlzmom]

Non-Park days = mini-golf for us! We will even do one course before lunch and then the other after. Seems like there might even be a small discount for more than one round in a day?

We have also gone on "adventures" to various resorts with a particular goal in mind...the magic cookie bar at POR, or Zebra domes at AKL. Maybe do some research into the "unique" offerings at the different resorts and then plan a quest to get them? My DS always asks what the new "quest" is! Its really kind of silly, but it is all in the presentation....

[DisneyRunner2009]

Port Orleans is my family's favorite resort. You will be able to use the pool and other amenities at POFQ. I believe POR offers these pirate cruises, also. I don't know how much they cost or your childrens ages, it's just an idea.
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/ev...nture-cruises/
There are activities by the main pool, a campfire and movies daily. These activities are free. Here is an example of the information you will receive at checkin.
http://portorleans.org/recreation-ac...s-schedule.php
My family has also taken the boat from MK to Fort Wilderness just to look at the horse stable, free. The stable is just a short walk from the boat launch. The pony rides are also, located here. We like to go to Poly and eat at Captain Cook's. At 9pm the electric water pagent starts. It can be watched from the beach or dock. Watching animals at AK is something we do. Mara, the counter service restaurant, is a must do for us. As mentioned, the zebra domes are a must have for me.

[thisismyusername]

This afternoon, I was invited to stay with friends at Disney later this year, so now I'm planning to change my ticket (just mine--not my whole family's) to an AP and getting the TIW card. Perhaps it just makes sense at this point to ditch the dining plan (I already did the math--the savings would be higher with the TIW card vs. the dining plan) and add the tickets onto the first two days of the reservation at POR and convert the original reservation to a room-only... Do you think that makes the most sense rather than get possibly stuck without tickets for 2 days?