Anyone ever stay at a WDW resort for just ONE night (our ambitious anniversary plan)

[Antonia]

We are driving to Florida in June for our 20th anniversary and our first night we plan to stay at WL for just one night. We'll lounge around the hotel for the afternoon and evening.Then the next morning we are going to hit MK - just can't go to Florida without dropping in to see the mouse.
Night #2: When we leave the MK that evening, we are driving to the gulf coast - about 1 1/2 hour drive. We'll spend our second night in Venice Beach. We plan to enjoy the beach there the next day and hunt sharks teeth.
Nights #3, #4, #5, will be in Naples at a beach front resort. Once we check out, we'll drive acrosss the Tamiami Trail and spend night #6 in Miami. Night #7 somewhere along the Atlantic coast. We'll be home by Day #8 I think. LOL
We think we can accomplish this and have fun since we'll have no kids with us.
Any suggestions on this plan?

 

[tink2dw]

WoW! Only 1 day and 4 parks!!

 

[jamsmom]

We did when we were on a business trip and were driving. We stayed at Contempoary and went to EPCOT for 1/2 day.

 

[Mitla96]

Boy, I think it would be better with two nights-you'll have to check out of the hotel by 11 am the day you are in the park. With two nights, you could enjoy the ambience of the hotel the first night, and stay in the park the second evening, enjoy the fireworks, and then go back to the hotel. You need at least one FULL day to enjoy the benefits and the theming. We stayed at POR our first on site Disney stay, and the nicest part of being on site was being able to easily go back to the room after the fireworks. Plus, why pay for the Venice Beach room late that night? Better to get up, have a nice breakfast at your WDW hotel, then drive the 1 1/2 hrs to Venice-then maybe you can stash your bags at your hotel there until your room opens up while you explore the beach.

Also, I would try to reserve one of the resorts with a MK view and restaurants that are special occasion ones-like maybe WL, Poly or Contemporary so you can have a meal at the California Grille?

 

[Antonia]

We are debating doing two nights at WL just so we can get the full night at the park. We have stayed at WL several times so we will already know our way around. The first night I do want to just hang around and see the EWP at the WL beach, etc.

What about dinner at Cinderella's castle on our park night? Is that a good place to eat for adults for dinner? In all our WDW trips we have never eaten in the castle. Our son thought it was girly.

 

[yecats]

Plenty of people just spend one night at Disney as they are on their way someplace else. As you won't be able to park hop, buy the ticket for the park that you want to visit the most. I would suggest one option for you. Stay at a WDW hotel that is away from the park you are visiting. It sounds like you want to visit MK. I would suggest that you rent a room at BC, BW, Swan or Dolphin. In off season, MK will close early. If staying at one of Epcots resorts you can enjoy the Boardwalk area at night and probably see fireworks from Illuminations around 9:00 p.m. My other suggestion would be to stay at AKL as you can watch the animals on the savannahs at night after touring the park all day. This way you get the best of two worlds. P.S. if you would decide to stay at Swan or Dolphin, check out a site called biddingfortravel as both hotels have been popping up more frequently on Priceline at very nice rates.

 

[Tuffcookie]

Antonio, I won a "1 Day trip to WDW" Feb. 10th. I had to be able to fly down on Thursday and return on Friday (same week!) They put us up in AKL. You would not believe the ground we covered in the time we were there!!!

TC

 

[CamColt]

We did and it was awesome. We didnt even hit any parks.
DH and I went on a 3 day cruise without our kids last year and started it with a day at the Polynesian. We arrived around 11:00, checked in and had a light lunch outside on the patio area. We spent the day on the beach and in the pool, sipping tropical drinks. Dinner was at the Kona Cafe(my favorite) and then we strolled along the path to the GF and back. We then headed to the BW where we had "dessert"(more drinks) at ESPN and then Jellyrolls. It was a blast!

 

[Bojo]

Over the Chirstmas holiday my wife and I stayed in Naples for a week and drove back through WDW. We stayed one night @ OKW and didn't even get to a park - just enjoyed resort hopping & DTD.

 

[corndog]

Got engaged on a one day trip. Went to MK all day, had dinner at the GF, watched MK fireworks, got engaged, saw Illuminations, spent the night. Pretty good trip!

 

[Antonia]

I love these one day trip stories. Thanks and I feel a lot better about our plans.

 

[susy]

Antonia,

What a coincidence!!! We just got back today! Spent last night (just one night) at Coronado Springs for our anniversary. We had a blast!!!!!!!

We drove up from south FL at about 6am yesterday. Got to CSR at 9:30 am. Room wasn't ready, so we drove to Downtown disney and had so much fun!!! we actually got to see stuff! Our son is so cute, but he's 5....so nuff said.

Went back around 12:30 and our room in Cabanas was ready.
Changed and went to the pool. We walked around the resort, hung out in the hammocks, went in the hot tub, quiet pool and then got ready for our PS at Ohana's.. this morning we had breakfast at the maya Grill, went back in the hot tub and left for home. We had a great time and I would do it again!

 

[safetymom]

I did that in Feb. I had one day and managed to see 3 parks and had a PS for dinner in Epcot. It is a great thing to do because you can get a Disney fix. Would do it again if I had the chance.

 

[Kreid001]

We'll be staying one pre-cruise relaxation day at AKL before our DCL cruise. No parks. In fact the plan is to not leave the resort at all. We'll get there around 3pm and leave the next morning at 9am.