12 days to go - Helped a newbie

[DVC_Dreamer]

My DW gave me such a funny look when I told her a coworker was going to Disney for 2 days and needed advice. I could read her mind, "Two Days?" Like what can you do with two days only. My coworker was back at work yesterday and we had that fun talk you have after the trip. She thanked me for all the park management advice. They also did a day at Islands of Adventure/Universal and SeaWorld.
We have 8 days coming up for our first BLT stay and it's looking like we won't leave WDW property. Funny how different people are. Maybe we'll venture out more as the DVC years rack up.
Do you venture off property much?

 

[Cee]

I can't remember the last time I left the property, although I would like to see the Harry Potter place eventually. I agree 2 days seems like nothing, but that's better than nothing! Enjoy your vacation!

 

[Sandisw]

We just had this talk yesterday with my cousin and aunt, who are coming this year with me.

I have never gone off Disney and quite frankly, have no desire to do so, but did say that now that I will be going to Disney twice a year, it may come in to play.

I know my kids want to visit Universal so maybe next summer we will try that on the day we switch resorts for the trip.

My countdown is a little beyond you, we arrive in 15 days to BWV and then change to BLT 2 days later!!!

You will love BLT!!

 

[cvjw]

We go to all of the Orlando theme parks, but spend the majority of our time at Disney. My boys are huge coaster fans, so in order for them to get to ride the big coasters, we have to go to Universal or Sea World. On our last trip in May/June, we spent a couple of days at Universal to see the new Harry Potter world (it was fantastic!). Last year, we worked a day at Sea World in. It is nice to have some variety. Since we bought Universal season passes, we will be able to visit Universal for free on our next 2 trips, in January and June.

 

[moredisneyplease]

i'm a purist. after 16 stays in the past 10 years (just home a few days ago from a trip to BWV) i've never left WDW proprty

 

[Granny]

Every trip for 8 years, we went to Sea World and Busch Gardens. Also visited Universal several times.

We mostly drive to WDW, so that makes it much easier. And a lot of our trips were 10 days or more so carving out a few days for off-site activities was not that big of a deal.

More and more, we are using the car to eat off-site. Hate to do it really, but the DDP has mostly ruined dining at WDW restaurants for us.

 

[photobob]

Normally we do not leave property, a few years ago we went one day to Sea World. I have had 14 or so trips and have never been to Universal. Once we got on property we are planted! We always have a car and rarely move it, we just take the Disney transportation.

 

[DizGirl20]

My daughter is a HUGE Harry Potter fan, so this past Spring we spent about 6 hours at WWOHP. We enjoyed that particular part of the park as well as the Cat in the Hat ride... and that was about it. I could not get out of there fast enough! I am sure at some point she will want to go back to WWOHP again, but it is so expensive to go for 1 day and I hate to be away from the magic at Disney.

 

[cemeb4dk]

agree with the price of UNiversal for a day. My DD5 wants to go see Harry Potter World, and I would like to ride the ride and a few others at Island of Adventure, but the costs for a day are just crazy for what we would be doing. So we are skipping it this next trip. We do usually spend a day at Sea World every trip, this year we are split between AKL and Vero, and on the way back from Vero to the airport ( we have a late flight) we will stop at and spend that day at Kennedy Space Center.

 

[BirdsOfPreyDave]

We mostly stay on property during our vacations. Occassionaly, we'll head out to a non-Disney park.

We live near Williamsburg, Virginia, so we have Busch Gardens passes that get us into Sea World, Aquatica, and Busch Gardens Tampa. We don't do them every trip, though.

This year, we'll be trying Discovery Cove for the very first time. I'm excited about that.

I'm also hoping to try Aquatica for the first time. We were going to go last year, but got rained out that day.

 

[dianeschlicht]

We used to go to other Orlando attractions, but not so much anymore. We DO, however, go off site to eat. Like Granny, we find that WDW restaurants have definitely taken a downturn in both quality and variety since the emergence of the DDP.

 

[emlutz23]

We don't go off property at all! I remember as a teenager, my DD and DB would take a day to do Universal, but my DM and I would stay behind and hang by the pool.

I have a feeling in a year or two, we'll venture off to check out Legoland since we are all Lego-fanatics and we don't get out to CA very often to visit that one. But I'll send my DH and two DS off to Universal while I hit one of Disney's awesome spas!

Only 19 more days until our first BLT trip, hope you have a blast OP!!

 

[maburke]

We have friends that have come with us twice before. We invited them again for next sprin (we're planning 10 days), and they seemed eager, but then they told us that they only wanted to join for two days. ??! I didn't expect them to stay the whole time, but two days wouldn't be worth the travel to me. And they don't do commando either...

Also, with the way Disney prices passes now, it seems like all the days after the fourth one (up to 10 anyway) are practically free. So we've been doing fewer, longer trips than we used to.

 

[Dziactor]

We haven't left Disney property yet. However we are considering it for our May 2012 trip. DW and I would love to see Harry Potter, but with the Additional Costs we may not do it. I dont think DS is old enough for that park (he will be 5 then).

 

[susan730]

haven't left the property in years!!! just the way I like it.

 

[gray52]

Can't remember the last time we went off property... at least 8 years ago. No plans to anytime soon... until the kiddos DS7 and DD4 get into their teens and want the Harry Potter thing... however, if they knew SpongeBob was nearby, they might want to do that. We'll keep that secret between us.