9 nights at OKW; 0 days at Disney theme parks

[Werner Weiss]

As the topic name says, we recently spent 9 consecutive nights in a 2BR at OKW. But we didn't visit any of the four major Disney theme parks during our stay.

We spent:

• 3 days at the two Universal Orlando parks
• 1 day at Discovery Cove
• 2 days at Sea World
• 1 day at Typhoon Lagoon
• 2 days at Blizzard Beach
• several evening visits to Pleasure Island

We weren't purposely avoiding or boycotting the big four Disney parks. It's just that we wanted fresh things to do on vacation, and we wanted to make good use of our ticket meda:

• Universal had an Internet special with up to 5 consecutive days at the Universal parks for under $100 per person.
• The expensive Discovery Cove admission includes up to 7 consecutive days at Sea World.
• I had 4 completely unused 5-day WDW World Hopper passes, which I bought in 1993 before we bought DVC. Those passes provided unlimited use of the Disney water parks and Pleasure Island for 7 days beginning with first use.

Disney needs to relalize that returning DVC owners have plenty of off-site options — and that DVC members who go to off-site attractions are also likely to shop and dine at off-site locations.

Please, Disney, give us more reasons to spend our money on-site at WDW. Please give us a frequent diner program to encourage us to dine in Disney restaurants. Please make sure the parks have fresh shows and attractions every year. Please offer DVC members ticket media that encourage us to visit the Disney parks throughout our stay.

By the way... We did spend a day at Epcot while staying at Marriott's Imperial Palms Villas for 2 nights after our OKW stay. And I just have to add that we had never been to the Disney water parks before, and they were both even better than I had expected.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

I am so glad to see the "several evening visits to Pleasure Island" part of your post.

Of course, that is my favorite part of WDW, and I would get the shakes if I didn't visit PI...

 

[magicmouse2]

You know I may just try that sometime. I might come home feeling like I have had a vacation

 

[Dreamfinder2]

Werner, that was downright eloquent, and sort of goes to the heart of something I've been pondering for some time. I did a flying trip last week to Orlando and Pompano Beach on business, and tacked on a couple of studio nights at VWL. I did spend one day in Epcot (just to check out Mission:Space, which I thought was pretty wonderful), BUT also spent a day at Sea World, which I hadn't visited in probably 14 years. I was frankly astonished at the freshness and quality of the park (sounds like I'm talking about a loaf of bread).

Anyway, we've been to IOA a couple of times in the last year, too, and had a great time. Sure makes it tempting to venture out, doesn't it?

BUT - AAA had a Florida resident deal that was a 4 park/4 day pass with hopper features for $109 for adults. My Lord - that's cheaper than our local Six Flags!

I can assure our friends at Disney that with that kind of deal ... or some dining incentives ... that I, who've PROVED my loyalty by making a significant DVC purchase, would be much more likely to spend vacation $$ with my "first love!"

I know it's not really "fair" to our Fla. resident members, and this has been discussed to death, but if we could just receive the same perks as residents, then all would be forgiven.

But, hey, I'm a sucker, and I'll keep coming back. Just sorta makes me yearn for a little bone to gnaw, tho.

 

[ncligs]

Werner I agree with your post 100% and we have done the same while staying at OKW and not step foot in Epcot,MGM,MK,etc.
We enjoy just staying at OKW and going to DD,Blizzard Beach,Universal, IOA,off site restraunts,etc.
It does seems kind of ridiculous to have to buy an admission ticket to Epcot, just to have dinner there.

 

[BigTigger]

We just spent 15 days in Orlando from August 8th to 23rd. The first seven were at the new Residence Inn at SeaWorld using Marriott Reward points for a two bedroom. This was a very nice facility and a very extensive buffet breakfast was free with the room. The last eight were at the Boardwalk (a first for us OKW owners). This was our ninth annual trip, but our first in August as the past trips were during October and November.

I agree about SeaWorld. We bought four park Orlando flex tickets and went to SeaWorld on three different occasions. We also did CityWalk one night after SeaWorld as you only have to pay one parking fee per day with the flex ticket, so you just show your SeaWorld stub and can park for free at Universal. The food at the Motown Cafe was great. It was a relaxing end to a very hot August day. SeaWorld itself was great. Anheiser Busch really knows how to keep the park relevant and family friendly. The new Seafire Inn restaurant in the Waterfront area had a great free stage show with audience participation and sing alongs. The dolphin show was revamped with the new arrivals from Busch Gardens. Old favorites Clyde and Seymour put on a great sea lion show. The night time SHamu Rocks America show was different than the day show and really fast paced. The Pets Ahoy show was a lot of fun too. SeaWorld is more about shows than thrill rides, but Kraken and Atlantis are great diversions for some thrills. We return to SeaWorld again and again on our annual visits.

Univeral/IOA/Wet n' Wild is another story. Yes the passes are cheap, but if you want a Fast Pass type experience to beat the lines, it will cost you $30 more PER DAY. The end result is much more than the $45-50 a day you pay at SeaWorld and Disney. And if you don't get the Universal Express passes, you'll spend all day in long lines and watching the pass holders get the best seats at shows. This left a bad taste in my mouth. The extended down time of the Hulk coaster and MIB ride during our visit also frosted me. Universal will not being seeing anymore of our money anytime soon. Let's talk Wet N' Wild too. It's owned by Universal. It is not even close to BB or TL quality. They have a family raft ride called the Bubba Tub. Supposedly very tame, family mentioned multiple times in all literature. At the end of the ride the raft hits the outflow pool like a drop onto concrete. Two adults in our group suffered bruises and whiplash injuries. WNW says the ride was operating correctly. Video shows that the rafts are mostly under inflated and that the outflow area can be underfilled which leads to the hard landing. 0% satisfaction from WNW about the ride problem. Sand Lake Hospital was great at treating the injuries. Looks like a personal injury lawyer will "fix" WNW before management will. A word of warning to all - stick with Disney water parks.

We did visit PI and the four Disney Parks during our Boardwalk stay. We had four days left on last years 7 day PH's. Mission Space was only a hit with 50% of our group. MK was fun as always. It was our first visit to Epcot in years where the Food and Wine festival wasn't happening. That made Epcot dining much easier to take advantage of. We had a great dinner at the 50's Prime Time Cafe at MGM too. Cousin Chris was a great server. He made one of the adults in our group finish her vegetables. He did the "train" to get her to open up and had a train whistle commemorating the groundbreaking for WLV to add sound effects. We never laughed so much as we did during that dinner. We caught AK during early opening which made for a great safari ride. The lines were only long for the raft ride and Primeval Whirl. We got to do all of the other attractions before early afternoon showers shut down a few attractions for safety. Even after nine years, we always find some new stuff to do at Disney Parks. And like past years, I can't wait to return.

 

[Laurabearz]

What wonderful timing! We are just weeks away from the first of many NO PARK trips. We are mearing going to enjoy the resorts.

Although our no park trip is not due to the ticket media, I understand where you are coming from. We are holding off the whole Sea World, IOA/US thing for a couple of years, until the youngest gets a bit older!

We are looking forward to this trip very much. A relaxing WDW vacation!

 

[natt]

I'm sure that will be us someday! How did you find the commute back and forth? Not being from the area, that whole I-4 thing seems a bit of a stress out to do every day!

On a side note of the park admission - our park hoppers state that plus visits include admission to River Country and the sports complex (which will NEVER be an option in our family!) I think it's time that these options be revised - either to include Disney Quest or admission to the movie theater; something to replace an option that no longer even exists!

 

[Disney Doll]

We have in the past enjoyed doing the SeaWorld thing, and I feel that they do almost as good of a job as WDW with regard to the total image of their park. I am no a fan of Universal, never have been. Haven't been in a while, but truly have no desire to go. I am a Disney snob, I guess!!!!

I do agree that since we own what is essentially termed property in Florida, that DVC owners should get the same perks as Florida residents. That's always been a thing that got under my skin.

 

[ScottOKW2K]

For us our last three trips were "no-park" trips. Two trips to Disney for their water parks (we had some time left on our w/p annual passes) and one trip doing Discovery Cove and Seaworld.
We were off-site for all three trips, two at Summerfield Suites outside downtown disney and one at Marriott's Cypress Harbour.

Some Observations :

For a non-theme park trip, off-site was good enough for us. From having stayed on-site numerous times I can say that if you're going to a water-park, downtown disney, mini-golf or other activities like that it is somewhat easier and more convenient to drive than take disney transportation.

Discovery cove is as good as Disney - my wife says better then disney. It's not cheap, but all three of us thought it was well worth the cost. Of course, it didn't hurt that for our 4 night, 2 bedroom Marriott stay that 2 D/C tickets were included as part of the promotion !

Seaworld is not as good as Disney. Parts of it were quite fun - the dolphins, Clyde and Seymour, Shamu Rocks, Pets Ahoy were all a blast. However, some other things we were less enthusiastic about. We found the food to be overpriced ( and we are used to Disney prices !) , the layout of the park confusing, and were quite put-off by the carnival type rides/games in the central area. To think that after someone may have paid $50+ to get into the park, to expect to have to either say NO (which is what we did) or pay $3 for the "water-pistol-race" game or $15 for the "bungy-jumping-trampoline thingy" added insult to injury. Plus, while we were in the queue line for Atlantis the ride broke down for about 30~45 minutes. This I can understand and accept - what frustrated most people in line is that they never told us it was delayed !

Lastly - Marriott. I will have to say that Cypress Harbour where we stayed, and Grand Vista which we visited we both as good as any DVC resorts that we have stayed at. In addition, during their sales presentation we were treated with kindness and respect the entire time and we under no pressure to purchase. In the end we were as straight with them as they were with us - that were not ready at this time to commit to any purchase of this size, Marriott or DVC, but that if we had the were to consider it in the future that Marriott would be included in a very short list.

B.T.W. - If we ever go to Universal, I will stay on-site. Why ? FOTL, so that I too can avoud all those long lines.

 

[Jacksmom99]

Natt
We stayed off site for most of our visit this past trip (8/15-8/23) due to Uncle's FREE offer of his Orlando house. I did not find the I-4 commute bad at all. In fact, DH and I were commenting to each other that it is soooooo easy for one to find their way around the Orlando area and that Orange County must really be catering to all the tourist $$$ to make it that easy. Or, maybe it seemed so easy because we're from the Boston area and there are very few road signs and the ones we have usually send you in the wrong direction

This trip we did SeaWorld for the first time in many years. I found it very clean, but pretty boring. DS (4) did not like anything except the Skyride and sitting in the 2nd row of the Shamu show. I also felt the layout of the park was very confusing and it was next to impossible to follow the map. One other complaint I had (or maybe I'm too used to Disney) is that there weren't enough small concession stands placed around the park to sell drinks. It was HOT the day we went and I had finished all the water I had with me and could only find a counter service place to buy more water. The problem was I was on the verge of passing out and had to wait in a slow line behind people buying food and beer. I'm sure I could've explained that I needed water NOW, but I was too embarassed to make a scene. Anyway, just my observations. DH loved SeaWorld, especially the Hospitality House with the free beer!

 

[Dreamfinder2]

Y'know what I realized from reading the other posts? I like everything.

You can't count on me to be objective. I do agree, though, that the Disney offerings really eclipse everyone else's ... and the last time I went to Wet 'n Wild, I had a church youth group with me, and there were some young South American ladies sunbathing topless by one of the pools.

Needless to say, my guys were kinda excited about that, and the lifeguard I questioned ("Uh... does this sort of thing happen frequently?") just shrugged.

I guess it was just a cultural thing. Whew.

 

[DVC-Don]

Hey Werner, do you have two children? My son and daughter met another boy & girl at the OKW main pool one evening. I remember my daughter telling us the other kids were only doing offsite trips, no WDW parks. We just got back last night.

 

[pharmlivin]

...we when without our teenagers...just us two and did Epcot one day...no other parks. Had a great time enjoying VWL, the hot tubs outside the jacuzzi inside, the bike ride to Fort Wilderness. We visited the other DVC resorts...kicked around, enjoyed every stress-free minute. If there was some incentive to visit more parks (DVC discount, restaurant incentive etc) I'm sure we would have taken the bait...I think Disney is missing out on a key revenue stream by not encouraging frequent visitors(i.e. DVC members) to hit the parks...they might believe that hitting all parks commando style is a given for DVC members but...not necessarily...as members get older and travel without the kids (Which by the way, I thought would be very sad but to my surpise very romantic and fun!) our habits are bound to change.

 

[smvdelv]

Originally posted by Werner Weiss
Please, Disney, give us more reasons to spend our money on-site at WDW. Please give us a frequent diner program to encourage us to dine in Disney restaurants. Please make sure the parks have fresh shows and attractions every year. Please offer DVC members ticket media that encourage us to visit the Disney parks throughout our stay.

Perfectly said! DVC people are basically "sure bets" for return resort stays, so why not capitalize on this and give discounts (decent discounts!) on park passes??? If I were getting a hefty discount on an AP or hopper pass, I would be much more likely to eat in a Disney park or shop more in the parks. It just doesn't make sense to me. Once you get us in the door (at a discount), look out! I know that my family would be more apt to buy more, eat more, etc, rather than going to Seaworld or Universal.
Isn't this what they were trying to do with the FT package this summer? Pay for 4, but get 7 nights. I bet MOST people opted to stay right inside property, thus spending more INSIDE property.
DVCers are Disney's "regulars". They should be going out of their way to keep us "loyal".

 

[KNWVIKING]

In June we stayed on I-Drive with our two grown sons -college grad celebration for oldest- and basically did all things not Disney. DW and I have Disney AP's, but we bought the boys the Orlando Flex pass and we wound up buying AP's to US/IOA and SW for ourselves. DW & I return in Oct -BCV- which will be the last trip our AP's are good for. For our Dec trip -VWL- we have our MVMCP passes, but the majority of the trip will be US/IOA and SW. Same will probalby apply to our May OKW trip. We do have two 6 day PHP passes we received as a GMC perk so we may spend a day or two in the parks, but for the most part our money will be spent elsewhere. There are a lot of great Off-property discounts out there that will save us big $$$$s.

 

[DeeP]

I agree there are many non Disney things out there to do that are much cheaper than buying Disney park passes--whether they are as good as Disney is another subject-- but there are also many very nice resorts and timeshares much closer to these non disney things than any of the DVC resorts are. I am in this area (Universal/SeaWorld/Discovery Cove) for business quite often and can't stand the drive to this area especially during rush hour but since this is where my business meetings are held I have no choice. I would never do this commute on a voluntary basis especially during a vacation from a WDW resort! No thanks, I will continue to buy my AP that I get mega days use per year from and stay right at WDW. I bought a timeshare at Disney because I want to be AT WDW, if I was not going to spend the majority of my vacation at WDW, I would sell my DVC membership and buy another timeshare for a lot less money and lower dues than DVC, with equally nice resorts, off site.
Another example of what makes DVC so great--something for everyone!

 

[KNWVIKING]

As long as we avoid I-4 we've never had any problem going up and down I-Drive, Sea Harbor, Universal Blvd, Sand Lake and all the other interconnecting roads. I-192 can get a bite frustrating, but since the major highway overhaul was completed,it's not nearly as bad as it used to be.

 

[DVCPAT]

Originally posted by Werner Weiss
Please, Disney, give us more reasons to spend our money on-site at WDW. Please give us a frequent diner program to encourage us to dine in Disney restaurants. Please make sure the parks have fresh shows and attractions every year. Please offer DVC members ticket media that encourage us to visit the Disney parks throughout our stay.

By the way... We did spend a day at Epcot while staying at Marriott's Imperial Palms Villas for 2 nights after our OKW stay. And I just have to add that we had never been to the Disney water parks before, and they were both even better than I had expected.

I agree, as DVC membership begins to age, it would be good business to offer us "golden handcuffs" as Rich would put it.

 

[Werner Weiss]

Originally posted by natt
How did you find the commute back and forth? Not being from the area, that whole I-4 thing seems a bit of a stress out to do every day!

I-4 wasn't bad at all. We weren't traveling at prime commute times, so traffic flowed at freeway speed. We could be at Discovery Cove and Sea World in about the same time that it can take to get to the Magic Kingdom. The "commute" to the Universal Florida parks was longer because of the long walks from the parking structure to the park entrances, not because of the drive on I-4.

Originally posted by Disney Doll
I do agree that since we own what is essentially termed property in Florida, that DVC owners should get the same perks as Florida residents. That's always been a thing that got under my skin.

Owning property does not make someone a resident. Even if I owned the Empire State Building outright, it wouldn't make be a resident of New York. But if I lived in a rooming house in Florida, I'd be a Florida resident — even if I owned no property at all.

That said, Disney can extend Florida Resident benefits to anyone they wish. They would just have to add an asterisk and a footnote that says, "and Disney Vacation Club owners."

Originally posted by DVC-Don
Hey Werner, do you have two children? My son and daughter met another boy & girl at the OKW main pool one evening. I remember my daughter telling us the other kids were only doing offsite trips, no WDW parks.

Two girls. We used the Turtle Pond pool, but not the main pool — so that wasn't us.

Originally posted by smvdelv
Perfectly said! DVC people are basically "sure bets" for return resort stays, so why not capitalize on this and give discounts (decent discounts!) on park passes??? If I were getting a hefty discount on an AP or hopper pass, I would be much more likely to eat in a Disney park or shop more in the parks.

Yep. We're "sure bets" to return to WDW DVC resorts regularly, but we're not "sure bets" to spend our money on-site once we get there.

The best thing for Disney would be if we all had Deluxe Annual Passes or Unlimited Magic Passes. Such passes are likely to substantially limit visits to off-site attractions. Some DVC members who spend many days on-site already have Annual Passes. For the rest of us, Disney needs to encourage us to buy such passes, and the easiest way to offer such encouragement is with better discounts.