7 days with 5 day hoppers- non park day ideas?

[mistyinca]

We finally got our flights booked, so we are officially going to be at WDW for 1 full week, but only 5 park hoppers. We weren't originally going to be there for so long, but I got worried about how pooped we would be walking so much for 5 days of parks that I thought it would be good to have 2 non-park days sandwiched in between to see the resorts, Disney Springs, and eat at some fun places, and take it a little easy with some pool time. (Staying at Wyndham bonnet creek).

Anyway while this will not be mine and my husband's first trip (though I saw so little on my first and only trip last year that it will be like a first time visit for me) it will by my adult sons' first trip. I would like to get some ideas for how you use your non-park days...ideas for things to do at the resorts, etc.

Thanks!

 

[Klayfish]

Well, honestly, my first inclination would be to upgrade to a 7 day park hopper, the cost difference isn't really that much. You don't need to do commando touring on those other couple of days. Maybe just do a few hours (you can get a lot done, even at a relaxed pace) and then spend the rest of the day relaxing. But if you're not going to go into the parks, and I assume you have a car if you're staying at Bonnet, my thoughts would be:

Disney Springs
WDW Water parks - the upgrade cost isn't much, and it's FUN
Gift shops along Rt. 192. Tons of them, including WDW outlets
Daytona or Cocoa Beach, they're only an hour drive away
Relax at Bonnet, take a nap, go out to dinner
Helicopter tour (haven't done this one yet, but it's on the "to do" list for this trip)

 

[GoofyLovingFamily]

We have looked at resorts on nonpark days.

 

[thelittlemermaid2]

I would plan on "big" meal that day, maybe at a different time than you would think (10 am for a brunch or 3 or 4 pm for a combined late lunch/early dinner), and relax around it! Also Disney Springs is great, for an adult son I would suggest checking out Splitsville!

 

[Klayfish]

We have looked at resorts on nonpark days.

Yes, forgot about that one. Great idea. Spend time checking out the different resorts.

 

[Beer Me]

Well, honestly, my first inclination would be to upgrade to a 7 day park hopper, the cost difference isn't really that much. You don't need to do commando touring on those other couple of days. Maybe just do a few hours (you can get a lot done, even at a relaxed pace) and then spend the rest of the day relaxing. But if you're not going to go into the parks, and I assume you have a car if you're staying at Bonnet, my thoughts would be:

Disney Springs
WDW Water parks - the upgrade cost isn't much, and it's FUN
Gift shops along Rt. 192. Tons of them, including WDW outlets
Daytona or Cocoa Beach, they're only an hour drive away
Relax at Bonnet, take a nap, go out to dinner
Helicopter tour (haven't done this one yet, but it's on the "to do" list for this trip)

7 day tix are a good thought. I was planning something similar to OP but then found a special on UT - 7 day hoppers for the price of 4. Even without a special deal the cost beyond 5 days is pretty negligible. Now we have the flexibility to spend a day at the pool and hit a park in the evening for dinner and fireworks or whatever.

 

[rwdavis2]

Well, honestly, my first inclination would be to upgrade to a 7 day park hopper, the cost difference isn't really that much. You don't need to do commando touring on those other couple of days. Maybe just do a few hours (you can get a lot done, even at a relaxed pace) and then spend the rest of the day relaxing. But if you're not going to go into the parks, and I assume you have a car if you're staying at Bonnet, my thoughts would be:

I was going to recommend exactly this since the cost difference is so small. On the "off" days sleep in, go to Disney Springs and hit some parks early in the evening. With FP+ there's not much disadvantage to sleeping in and going to a park later in the day.

 

[bumbershoot]

If the point of the rest days is to rest because you're tired, the last thing you want to do is do more walking and activity. To me that means resort-exploring is out and swimming is questionable (swimming just knocks out my family).

I'd just add the days back in, personally.

 

[anniemae]

sleep in, mini golf. Lots of folks like going over to ft. wilderness and wilderness lodge. I heard the restaurants are good, trails end buffet, Wispering Canyon. I think you can check out the horses too. Many also like Hoop Dee Doo.

Also, many like to go to AKL. Restaurants are supposed to be excellent, you can also view the animals.

These are all on my to do list!

 

[melanielll]

I agree with the adding two days to the tickets. Then you can hit one or two specific things. For example - a Fast Pass on something late - like ROL. I wouldn't waste a day of fast pass on something late, but if it was a day that I was planning on doing other things first - I would run over to the park at night and do some stuff. That also gets you into the parks in case you want to eat somewhere.

 

[Klayfish]

If the point of the rest days is to rest because you're tired, the last thing you want to do is do more walking and activity. To me that means resort-exploring is out and swimming is questionable (swimming just knocks out my family).

I'd just add the days back in, personally.

That's all about personal style and what they consider a "rest" day. For us, a rest day doesn't mean staying at our resort and not really doing much, not even swimming. But for some, that's exactly what they want. Both are right answers. For us, a "rest" day at WDW means something like going to a park from maybe 9am to 1pm, then heading back to our condo. Maybe take a nap, a relaxing swim (i.e. just sit in the water or float around), a peaceful dinner and take the kids out for dessert or to the gift shops. Believe me, we don't do commando touring either, we learned that the hard way. But a normal non-rest day for us may be from 9am to 4pm or 2pm to 11pm. So a rest day would just cut that time in half and spend the rest of the day doing something very slow paced.

Just a personality thing. I could never do a beach vacation where there's nothing to do but hang on the beach. Sure, I like the beach, but only for a day or so. Then I'd be looking for something to do.

 

[Day-Day]

My understanding is the price to add two more days can be significant if the tickets are "older" tickets issued before the last price increase. From the ticket upgrade post on all about tickets sticky:

Cost to Upgrade:

"Price bridging" for Upgrading Tickets has changed in some cases.
As it stands now, tickets purchased from stock issued before the
price increase of Feb. 12, 2017 (this is NOT necessarily related to the date that YOU purchased your tickets)
will be bridged only to the pre-increase price that Disney sold these tickets to the public.

Looks like if using the older tickets, the guest will end up paying for the price increase and also paying for the additional days.

 

[tlmadden73]

Something where you can set your own pace ..

Disney Springs
Resort Exploring

There are a lot of great restaurants to try out there not inside the theme parks.

 

[lynzi2004]

We were there for 7 days the first of April. We had the buy 4 get 3 days free deal from last summer. We are commando people and although we planned to only go into the park on an afternoon and morning one or two of the days, it just didn't work out that way for us. It was like the tickets were burning holes in our pockets and if we didn't get the majority of the day out of them, then we were wasting it. Silly, I know, but it is just how we looked at it! lol That left us kind of worn out and cranky by the end of the week. Next time we will probably only do a 5 day ticket for a 7 day stay and add days if needed.

So my advice would be to figure out what kind of touring you like to do. Do you need to make yourself have a mandatory day off or can you go with the flow and maybe only do the 3 FP and then leave?

 

[JenBush]

Disney Springs-so many shops and restaurants to explore
Resort Hop- The deluxe resorts especially have beautiful lobbies, shops, and grounds to walk around.
Pool Day- Spend a day relaxing by the pool
Sleep- 7 days at disney(even if only 5 of those days are park days) is exhausting. A nap day will be very beneficial.
Explore Orlando and beyond- Just hop in your car and just drive around orlando, maybe check out The Orlando Eye, go to the outlets, you could even drive to the beach. If you don't have a car this obviously won't work, but you could still get a taxi or uber to the orlando eye, or the mall, or outlets just for a change.
Mini Golf- Fantasia Gardens mini golf or Winter Summerland mini golf.

 

[elaine amj]

I PLAN the break day in...and always end up sneaking off to the parks if I can! That said, I have had full break days simply because I didn't want to pay extra for tix. We love Disney Springs and exploring the various resorts. One trip, we went over to POR and rented a surrey bike (my DD REALLY wanted to do it!) and then did the cane pole fishing for $4 with my son (he LOVED it). Lots of fun!

 

[glassslippergirl]

Dinner at the California Grill or some other restaurant from which you can watch the MK fireworks.
We absolutely loved the Polite Pig at Disney Springs-- great place for lunch
Rent a boat from the Marina at the Contemporary-- it's a unique way to explore part of WDW, and you get a different perspective
HDDR
Highway in the Sky Dine Around-- it will cost you way more than just upgrading your park tickets, but it's something I would love to do if I had the time and my child was grown and could appreciate it
I don't know how much you're in to Disney, but there's two Disney parks outlets in Orlando. They are worth the visit if you enjoy shopping for Disney merchandise, though the selection can be hit or miss. If you do plan to go, call them as part of your planning and ask what days they get new merchandise and plan to visit on one of those days if possible.

 

[Lynzer4]

I would do 7 days and just take it easy... you don't have to spend the whole day at the park but that way you can do a few sleep in days, chill by the pool but then head out in the evening to a park for dinner/night entertainment.
I have experienced and I often hear people say that they planned for off days but after taking the morning off they were bored and wanted to hit a park. Use UT and get the 7 for 4 day ticket and if you don't use one day it hasn't impacted your cost.

 

[FelisLachesis]

I like having days where there's no pressure, not even to go back into a park for a couple of hours.

My first trip, we had a hotel for 7 days, and had 7 day tickets. On day 4, we were just so tired that we decided to just watch TV that entire day. It really helped recharge us for the last three days.

My second trip, I failed to bank in any rest days, and it showed. Day 4 was miserable. We actually ended up leaving early because of the friction being caused by the crankiness from being so tired (sorry for all the prepositional phrases)

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I would change my tickets to 7 day tickets. On those two days I would schedule FP+ for late in the evening. That way you can sleep in, have a leisurely swim and just relax. With FP+ it's much more worth it to stop in the parks later.

You guys are all adults and can pace yourselves pretty well. If you had little kids I would say leave it at 5 since some kids can't take the constant stimulation.

Also, I'm not a fan of Disney Springs. It's just a big giant shopping mall to me and I hate shopping. We haven't been in over 8 years (when it was DTD) and I have no desire to go back. On our rest days we sleep in, have pool time and hit a nice dinner.