One Day, No Parks

[RosiePA]

DH and I are going to be in Tampa for a long weekend (his choice... Mine was a 3 Nt Disney Cruise). Anyway, as a compromise, we are spending a day at WDW.

We decided to not buy a one day ticket because we thought $180 (we'd pick Epcot) just for tickets was too much in addition to food costs. Anyway, I'm hoping someone can give me lunch, dinner, and activity ideas.

I have a couple ADRs booked for dinner (Narcoosees and CA Grill), not sold on either as neither is at a prime time for Wishes. Any sleeper restaurants we should try? Looking for casual lunch and date night type dinner.

Outside of DTD or the Boardwalk, I have no idea about what to do for the day, so any suggestions are welcome!

Thanks!!!!

 

[MyKidzMick]

Sanaa at AKL is a nice place for lunch. You can stroll around the resort and view the animals and then check out the Jambo House main lobby of AKL - it is beautiful!

Kona at the Polynesian would be a good, late dinner spot and then watch Wishes from the Poly beach.

Another option is lunch in Celebration and stroll around the shops. Seito Sushi is a great place for Japanese food.

 

[Quin]

Casual lunch: Beaches & Cream

Afternoon activities - play a game of mini-golf at Fantasia Gardens, then take the bus to Blizzard Beach and play again at Winterland/Summerland. Go to one of the Deluxe resorts for drinks at the bar. ALK always looks inviting and you can explore the resort. Or do a monorail crawl - one drink each at Poly, GF, & Contemporary. Ride the Epcot loop too, just for fun, if you have time. Or rent a boat for an hour out on the lake.

Dinner: Signatures are going to have nicer food & service. If Wishes is a consideration you can try for Ohana although I found that the view this year was worse than before - trees have grown up too much. Quiet intimate dining? Not really available to WDW. Dinner at any of the monorail resorts would tie in nicely with the monorail pub crawl first, though.

Or what about Port Orleans? Carriage ride before or after dinner? You can even bring some wine. Dinner at Boatwrights is OK, and if you feel silly you can always stop in and catch some of Bob Jackson's show in the lounge next to Boatwrights.

 

[TipsyTraveler]

If you're still going strong after the fireworks you can head over to Jellyrolls on the Boardwalk for drinks and dueling pianos.

 

[katt789]

Anything over at Animal Kingdom Lodge makes for a great trip!
It's a gorgeous resort, with lots to look at and explore during the day, savannah viewing and all. I really like Boma's dinner buffet, amazing food with lots of different varieties of food!

If you're around the BW area Beaches & Cream is a fantastic place to hit up for lunch!

If you haven't seen Art of Animation yet, the food court there is honestly super good! They've got a ton of "different" choices on the menu influenced by different places around the world, and the resort is full of cute things to look at, and you can explore it, and Pop Century in one trip!

Not sure on the price, but there's always the mini golf areas for something to do during the day!

 

[Barbydoll8]

Check out FT Wilderness and take a wagon ride (only like $12 bucks) at night. Trails End is a fantastic buffet at a great price for dinner there.

After dinner they do have campfire & a movie with smores if you are inclined.

If not, they do have horse back riding in the day, archery and canoeing (another really inexpensive thing to do while at the world). Walk the trail over to the Lodge and sit by the fire in the main lobby for some people watching. Go see "Old Faithful" blow in the back of the resort. You could literally spend all day between these two locations.

Walk the grounds at Port Orleans (just wonderfully beautiful here) and then take a boat ride from the resort to DTD.

I believe the Art of Animation resort has animation classes during the day. Call them to verify and I've heard that it is a cool resort with a great food court.

Go to the Poly just before sun set and watch the tiki ceremony. Get a dole whip from their quick service place. Watch the night boat parade from their beach.

Do a hidden Mickey search at any hotel (really good one at AKL).
Go to AKL. So much to do there I can't list it all. Also AKL has some of the best places to eat on property IMO.

Have fun!

 

[jwfla422]

DH and I are going to be in Tampa for a long weekend (his choice... Mine was a 3 Nt Disney Cruise). Anyway, as a compromise, we are spending a day at WDW.

We decided to not buy a one day ticket because we thought $180 (we'd pick Epcot) just for tickets was too much in addition to food costs. Anyway, I'm hoping someone can give me lunch, dinner, and activity ideas.

I have a couple ADRs booked for dinner (Narcoosees and CA Grill), not sold on either as neither is at a prime time for Wishes. Any sleeper restaurants we should try? Looking for casual lunch and date night type dinner.

Outside of DTD or the Boardwalk, I have no idea about what to do for the day, so any suggestions are welcome!

Thanks!!!!

So many great ideas have been mentioned...

We are big "resort hoppers"...as a matter a fact we just did this a few weeks back while the Xmas decorations were still up. (we stayed away from the over-crowded parks). We do this all times of the year though...

We had breakfast at 1900 PK Fare (a really fun character breakfast btw-Mad Hatter is a riot!) and then we did the monorail ride to each resort and checked out decorations, stores, etc.

We also like walking around the BW area. We like to have dinner at the Swan's Il Mulino (excellent!!) and then a dessert at the Boardwalk Bakery. Then you can watch some of the BW entertainment.

This is all easy to do if you are staying on property otherwise it can get a little costly but the Swan will validate your parking if you dine at Il Mulino.

If you totally want something different to do, I agree with the previous poster regarding the campfire with Chip n Dale. It's a fun time! You can eat at Trails End or if you want a really good (sleeper restaurant) for dinner that's nearby, go to The Wave at the CR. You can park at FW and take the bus to the campfire and after hop back on the bus to the Settlement post and boat over the CR or you can just go back and pick up your car and drive over. (you can do the campfire before or after dinner) ...Lots of choices.

I do have reviews on all of the restaurants I mentioned above on my dining website. If you'd like to check them out (there are lots of photos too), my link is below. Enjoy whatever you choose!!

 

[RosiePA]

Wow! Thank you all so much! I was worried about having enough to do, now I'm thinking I could use more than one day!

 

[The Hendies]

You've had some good suggestions, and when you consider that any boat ride, monorail ride or bus ride is free, there are many options. If it was me, however, rather than spend $40 for lunch and maybe upwards of $100 for dinner, I would blow the $180 for a one day park ticket and eat peanut butter sandwiches!!!!

By the way, RosiePA, you have a wonderful mexican restaurant less than a mile from the interstate that we stop at every time we are in the area!

 

[joanchris]

What a timely post. I was here looking for similar ideas. We'll be there for 2 or 3 days, we will be in town for another reason, and will need some time each day for that, but couldn't fathom being so close to Disney without being AT Disney. We're planning dinner one night at Kona, with fireworks from the beach afterwards, but were not sure what else to concentrate on. We've never seen AKL, so maybe breakfast there one morning (quick service), and some savannah watching afterwards.
I had heard about, but forgotten, the campfire at Ft Wilderness, so thanks for the great reminder!