Off the beaten path?

[Figaro77]

I was hoping that some of you might be able to offer some ideas for my upcoming family vacation. My husband and I, and our two year old son are leaving for a week at WDW next week. We have "done Disney" quite a lot - we are passholders, and in the latter part of 2007 were even able to take each set of grandparents for a short trip. Our AP's are about to expire, and we don't plan on renewing them for the upcoming year, so we thought we'd get one last "bang for our buck." It will be just the three of us on this trip. I would like to breathe some new life into a trip to a very familiar (but beloved) place, and would love to hear about some of the more "off the beaten path" things those of you with young children do on your vacations. Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[fitzdisney]

Have you ever played their miniture golf courses? Your AP gets you 50% off the price.

 

[Nanu57v]

Where will you be staying? We did Beach Club this time and it had so much stuff to do I didn't really need to go to the parks!

 

[Figaro77]

We'll be staying at Saratoga Springs - our first time at this resort. We have stayed at YC, GF, WL, and AKL, but this time the extra room, and the AP discount was very appealing. Great idea about the mini golf - those courses always look like a lot of fun!

 

[Disneylush]

We went to the campground to have dinner at Trails End ... we ended up walking around for a while and letting the kids 1 and 3 play at the playground.

 

[Disneylush]

Oh and one thing we thought about going back to the campground and doing but never did was the sing along and smores with chip and dale.

 

[ajcolorado]

I know that there is a Disney secrets thread in the theme park stategies forum but I can't find it - maybe someone else can give the link.

Here's some good information about overlooked attractions:
http://www.allearsnet.com/tp/ola.htm

You can get an article with free things at WDW: http://www.buildabettermousetrip.com/15FreeThings.html

 

[FSUDisneyGirl]

I was there with my friend's family (kids 2 and 4) and we did lots of swimming and character meals and chip and dale campfire.

 

[FFXDSNADDICT]

While I don't have any kids I know the campground is an awesome place to take kids. If you child likes boats take the boat from MK to Fort Wilderness. While there I would recomend the Circle D farm. They have pony rides and a petting area for kids. They also have a bike renting area so your whole family can ride around the fort. Its a great place, and I really enjoyed staying there!

 

[Figaro77]

Thank you all so much for the ideas - the campground is a great one, and would be right up my rough-and-tumble little boy's alley. I didn't even think of that, even though I knew somewhere in my head that there were pony rides somewhere - it just didn't connect

 

[lovepurple]

Fort Wildneress is great. Pony rides are a good value, but you must pay cash. It is only about $5 but it is cash only. Also, there is a great electic water pageant on the water at the beach at night after the MK fireworks.