About to go for the 10th time and looking for something "different."

[OB1]

Lots of great ideas already. We have been about 40 times and still find new things to do.

Consider thoroughly checking out a few of the resorts - especially monorail resorts.

Do a detailed investigation of a few of the EPCOT countries. We always kinda checked them out, but really go deep

Catch entertainment that you may miss at either EPCOT or DHS. Check the times guides or the Steve Soares site for entertainment while you are there http://wdwent.com/

Get photos with characters that you have not done before

WE have done 2 tours and really enjoyed them. Backstage Safari and Behind the Seeds.

Lunch with an animal specialist or Imagineer

Do 4 parks in 1 day if you have a hopper. Just a fun thing to try

 

[loves to dive]

Lots of great ideas already. We have been about 40 times and still find new things to do.

Consider thoroughly checking out a few of the resorts - especially monorail resorts.

Do a detailed investigation of a few of the EPCOT countries. We always kinda checked them out, but really go deep

Catch entertainment that you may miss at either EPCOT or DHS. Check the times guides or the Steve Soares site for entertainment while you are there http://wdwent.com/

Get photos with characters that you have not done before

WE have done 2 tours and really enjoyed them. Backstage Safari and Behind the Seeds.

Lunch with an animal specialist or Imagineer

Do 4 parks in 1 day if you have a hopper. Just a fun thing to try

I agree with all of these, I have been going for over 30 years, must have over 40 visits under my belt and every trip is different. Sometimes we pay for something extra sometimes I just make it a point to do something I either haven't done yet or haven't done in a long time. There are loads of rides I haven't ridden yet, shows I haven't seen and places I haven't eaten. I spend a lot of time now just enjoying the place,slowing down and looking at the details, spending more time exploring the resort I'm staying in or visiting other resorts.

 

[disneyvoice]

Let's see . . . there are all kind of fun and interesting tours, you can resort hop and have a drink in the bars of the various resorts, is Cirque de Soleil still at Disney Springs? We did that once and it was a fun change of pace. Hoop de Doo is really fun if you haven't tried that. Last time my DH and I did a couple only trip we rented one of the umbrella spots at Typhoon Lagoon and it was so, so nice! I actually brought an adult coloring book and colored pencils and sat in the shade under the umbrella and colored - so relaxing!

 

[disneyvoice]

Oh, I completely forgot! One year I got my hair trimmed and styled (and an amazing conditioning treatment) at the Grand Floridian (not sure if there still have a hair salon there?). I desperately needed a trim and it occurred to me that it would be fun to get it done while we were at WDW. I also got a facial and message at the spa at Saratoga Springs when we stayed there once.

 

[floridadream]

About to head for our Spring Break trip in March and have built in more flex time to find something we haven't tried yet.

1. We are driving, so it doesn't have to be WDW, but we are Disney nuts.
2. Staying 5 nights.
3. Have stayed at POP, AofA (little mermaid), Boardwalk, Swan, PO Riverside, OKW (this year.)

We have read various blogs and so forth but you guys have way better recommendations so any advice would be appreciated.

GO!

We try to do something new each time. Here are some that we've done or is on our list:

HDDR
Splitsville in Disney Springs
Cirque du Soleil
Cabana rental at Typhoon Lagoon
Mini Golf and regular golf
Fort wilderness
Fireworks cruise
Wine trail in Epcot
Boat rental on seven seas lagoon
Various tours

Hope this helps- have fun!!

 

[SillyFamily]

Since your staying at OKW.. I would take the boat to DS. Do an earlier or late evening hot air balloon ride. Stay for the new light show there and any new entertainment going on there when your down. Since your son is 7, I would recommend T-Rex for the experience the food is so so. They also have a dino build a bear and a dig site there.An amphibian boat ride might be a nice treat as well.

We enjoyed doing a scavenger hunt and cupcake crawls. You could do every type of transportation on disney property in one day monorail, buses, boats, trams, carriages etc. Progressive meals are also a ton of fun apps at one resort, entree at another, dessert at another, and end your night at POR listening to some live music or watching fireworks on the beach. You could try watching fireworks from a different beach each night of your trip.

Legoland would be an excellent choice for your son as well.

If you're open to a drive, bush gardens makes for a really nice day of animals, rides and shows.

 

[saxman]

You could try watching fireworks from a different beach each night of your trip.

We have thought about watching fireworks from a resort location - like, say the beach at POLY. What recommendations do you guys have about locations to view fireworks from resorts?

 

[saxman]

Oh - and what about pontoon rentals. What experiences have you guys had with that?

 

[Imagineer5]

Keeping in mind your DD7, I would say tours are out (although for future reference, the Segway tours and Keys to the Kingdom were my favorites)

Mini golf, renting a boat at one of the resorts, or a water park day are always fun.

Some of my favorite recent additions that have garnered some of my favorite memories with my 5 yo DD are Tiana's Riverboat Party and MK's Early Morning Magic. We did the EMM back in May and it was one of my favorite mornings ever - DD has talked about riding 7DMT over and over again many times since! And Tiana's has already gone on request for our next trip. Also something small, but memorable - ice cream for lunch! LOL. I try to plan a day where we do ice cream for lunch at the MK. I generally sandwich that in between a character breakfast and nice dinner.

I would also take a look at which restaurants you haven't yet been to and give one (or more!) a try - I am down to maybe 4 or 5 that I haven't yet visited and that makes things kinda fun (although I still have my must-do-every-trip places too).

 

[klmall]

Your children are getting old enough to really enjoy Universal and even if not Harry Potter fans exploring both HP parks is amazing. It will be more expensive to do a park-to-park ticket there but you could easily spend a 12 hour day just doing Universal. I can't recommend Universal strongly enough especially if you want something to compare Disney to! We now visit both Disney and US on every trip!

 

[k5thbeatle]

About to head for our Spring Break trip in March and have built in more flex time to find something we haven't tried yet.

1. We are driving, so it doesn't have to be WDW, but we are Disney nuts.
2. Staying 5 nights.
3. Have stayed at POP, AofA (little mermaid), Boardwalk, Swan, PO Riverside, OKW (this year.)

We have read various blogs and so forth but you guys have way better recommendations so any advice would be appreciated.

GO!

Have you eaten at Victoria and Alberts yet? I would splurge and treat yourself to some fine dining if it works for you.

 

[bookgirl]

By about my 6th or 7th trip I was in the same boat of wanting to try new things. I went on my first tour (Keys to the Kingdom) and I was hooked. Now whenever I go I pick at least one tour/dining experience to try. I being a trivia fan just love the behind the scenes glimpses of backstage and I love the stories and little known facts that the guides will impart.

Since you have younger kids there is a Marceline to Magic tour which is family friendly. There is also the mini golf challenge to do all four courses in one day.

 

[vicb]

I would second (third?) La Nouba with a 7 year old the show would be great. All seats had good views, I think we were in the second row of the second tier.

Also I would suggest having the 7 yo spend an evening in one of the deluxe resort kidcare centers while the adults dine out. My kids used to really enjoy going there (we used Beach Club a couple of times and dined in Epcot but there are a lot of great restaurants in Epcot area resorts). My kids always enjoyed a night off their feet playing video games, watching movies, playing with other kids.

I also agree that Lego land is great for kids that age. We did the one in California when our kids were in that age group.

 

[KC Mouse]

About to head for our Spring Break trip in March and have built in more flex time to find something we haven't tried yet.

1. We are driving, so it doesn't have to be WDW, but we are Disney nuts.
2. Staying 5 nights.
3. Have stayed at POP, AofA (little mermaid), Boardwalk, Swan, PO Riverside, OKW (this year.)

We have read various blogs and so forth but you guys have way better recommendations so any advice would be appreciated.

GO!

We are in the same boat... I guess one aspect that we rely on is trying new resorts and anything that might be located there. For example we are staying at POR this May/June for the 20th anniversary DIS meet. We plan on eating at the resort often, spending a day at the pool, and taking a ride on one of those bicycles you can rent. We will make sure to ride the ferry boat down to Disney Springs and back, we will most likely spend a night watching a movie under the starts, you get the picture. For us the resorts make the trip. Fair warning, a Disney resort can almost ruin your vacation as well. We stayed at the All Star Sports resort back in 2007 and had a terrible time. I know that our experience was somewhat different than many others but with all things considered we will never go back to an All Star resort.

 

[mindeola]

A favorite of ours is going to Ft Wilderness to the Chip and Dale Sing A Long, roasting smores and watch classic movies.

Try a form of transportation you've never tried before- boats are always fun.

Take a paid tour in the parks or a free tour at one of the hotels. AKL and WL offer them.

Do a monorail resort tour. We do this arrival day every trip, no matter where we are staying. We have dinner at one of the resort restaurants- 1900 Park Fare and Ohana are favorites for arrival night for us.

Do a waterpark.

Cirque show. I hear you can see some of their practice for free!

Eat a meal at a resort that you have never been to before. This is a great way to scope out the places you might stay in the future.

 

[McKelly]

With a 7 year old, a water park, Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, Agent P or the Family Magic Tour.

 

[KyGirl]

Some different things we did on our trip two weeks ago with our four year old DD, me and DH, and my parents.

An evening at Celebration. We always go to Celebration to go to mass and have dinner on our first night. It is so interesting to see how the imagineers made a real town, where people just live and work. It's great for strolling and getting a nice dinner for significantly more reasonable prices than on resort. Granted, DD isn't thrilled to leave Disney World to go to church! But she is more than happy to walk around and see the little town and is always happy to eat! My parents are retirement age and they particularly love going here and imagining that they'll be snowbirds some day.

A fishing excursion. This was so awesome. I booked it six months before we went and it was a surprise for my husband's birthday. We left from the Contemporary Resort. The weather wasn't exactly perfect for fishing but we still caught so many big fish. The guide has all the equipment and everything set up and he helps you as much as you need. He was so nice and interesting to chat with. DD even caught several fish that were too big for her to reel in by herself. We were catching fish on poles that were just leaning on the edge. I can't say enough about how cool this experience was. It was a splurge for us but there's a 20% off coupon in the Birnbaum book that helps.

Pirates League for DD. They make this a really cool experience for kiddos. She was mesmerized. She picked this over BBB, which surprised me, but I'm glad she did. She was planning to do the mermaid experience but when she caught sight of the empress dress there was no going back. The only downfall was that wanted to take all the stuff off like half an hour after getting it so that investment turned out to not pay off for long. But the experience itself was really special.

Evenings at Fort Wilderness-I second all the above posters on this one. We spent three of seven evenings there. We ate at Trails End twice, visited the horse stables, played and played and played on the playground, and did the Chip and Dale campfire sing a long. I was a little ambivalent about doing that but it was really fun. We just bought our smores stuff from the little stand there and it included more than enough for five of us. The little sing a long show is cute and it seemed like all the kids were having a great time. My husband is now convinced that we are going to drag our camper down to Disney on our next visit. We'll see.

 

[vinotinto]

We're also going into our 10th visit and also wanting to try something new, so I'll be paying attention to the suggestions here.

My suggestion is the same as a previous DISer - book one of the Kids Clubs for your child and head to a Signature meal with your spouse. The kids have a great time in the clubs. I think we tried all of them - Poly, BC, and AKL stand out in my mind.

 

[saxman]

Looks like Rivers of Light will be one "different" activity this year!