Anyone stay at a Disney Resort and not go to the parks?

[abbysmom]

Just curious if anyone does this, and which resort is best for swimming, restaurants, activities etc?

Thanks for any info.

 

[lindamg]

My fiancee and I do this frequently. We like to be at Disney for certain holidays, (New Year's Eve, July 4th, Easter) but we prefer to avoid the crowds in the parks. If we do go to a park, it's just for dinner. This is our favorite part of being Florida residents!

When we do this we stay at one of the Boardwalk resorts. You're close to Epcot and MGM, and can also find things to do without going into a park. Frankly, we usually stay at the Swan or Dolphin, because I can get a teachers rate there, which is much cheaper than holiday rates at Disney hotels!

 

[A Mickeyfan]

We also do this. We usually stay at a deluxe mid summer when the rates are cheaper & use all the amenities at the resort (this way we feel like we got our money's worth out of the resort LOL). We have done this with CR, Poly, BC, BW, & FW Cabins. It is a great way to relax at Disney.....no fast past parks!

 

[peachgirl]

Go to WDW and not go to the parks? NEVER!

I would imagine if you live close enough (or you're wealthy enough ) to make several trips during the year it would be nice to just enjoy the resort and skip the parks. But, when you live 1200 miles away and Disney is a once a year trip (although thanks to buying those AP's we're going twice in one year!) you just have to do everthing!

 

[TMcG88]

We stayed at the AKL the night before our cruise. We always wanted to stay there, but felt it was too far from the parks. It was soooo relaxing. We thoroughly enjoyed the hotel and the restaurants without feeling the pressure to get to the parks. What a great way to start a vacation!!!

 

[PRaffen]

As part of our last trip, we took a couple "pool/resort" days which was very relaxing. We did this at the Poly and GF - two of my favorite resorts. I can't imagine, though, being that close and not going to one of the parks at some point - have to get my Mickey fix

 

[currycook]

We do this. Sometimes meet friends and stay at a resort and never go into the parks because they dont have tickets. Sometimes we go to the BC just to enjoy the pool and the boardwark.

 

[ncligs]

As DVC members we do this quite a bit(no parks), usually on a 6-7 day stay we go to the parks maybe 1-2 days.We know we will be back at least 1-2 times a year.We don't have to go "Commando style".
I would say the pool at the Beach Club(SAB)

is the best on WDW property. Also the Boardwalk has a lot of activities going on in the evening.

 

[KaterBell]

We've done this too- spent the day at the resort, invited friends to come over, eat, hang by the pool, etc. It's good to have a day off from the parks!

 

[A Mickeyfan]

If I didn't live so close, I wouldn't do it....but I only live just less than 3 hrs away & for us it is a nice relaxing break. I have to agree with peachgirl...if I lived far, I would cram everything I could in on my trip!

 

[>>^..^<<]

Hi there...

We break it down like this.

The trip to us is 1/3 parks... 1/3 EATING & shows 1/3 pools and relaxation.

We always have at least 2 or 3 days where we do not leave the resort.. and enjoy it immensly...

Then even on the park days we either spend the morning at the pool and leave for the parks about 11am... or go to the parks early and come back for 3pm-ish. for a swim.

We really enjoyed our stay at Animal Kingdo Lodge and this year we are trying the BC..

Have fun planning

>>^..^<<

 

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

DH and I did this for a getaway from the kids last fall ! He had a business meeting in Orlando, then we moved into a Disney resort to enjoy the restaurants, shopping and the Boardwalk. Also went to Wide World of Sports. Did things we had never done before also. Really enjoyed the pool at the resort and walked around and took it all in. Very peaceful. Ate at Kona Cafe and took a ride around the monorail on our last morning. But we do live close enough that we don't have to do it all at once.

 

[hmp2z]

Hi! We did this in April 2002, when we were at WDW for the planning trip for our August 2002 wedding. Our main purpose was to meet with our coordinator, and it was Spring Break week, so the parks were PACKED. We were also on a budget, so didn't want to spend the extra $$ getting into parks.
We had a BLAST, and were definitely not bored. We stayed at Coronado Springs, and enjoyed walking around that resort and checking it out. We had dinner at Boma one evening, so got to see the animals there before dinner. Then we spent most of our time at the GF. I love just being there, sitting in that beautiful lobby, listening to the music, watching the castle from the dock. It really was a lovely time. We don't even like swimming at the pools, so we didn't do that once, even though CSR has a pretty nice pool, but we just enjoyed being there and wandering around the resorts. And of course we spent some time looking at the wedding pavilion, where we'd be getting married just a few months later. Sigh...
Cheers!
Heather W

 

[ducklite]

We usually go three times a year. Our trips usually range from 5 nights to 11 nights, with 8 being the average. We always stay either DVC or deluxe, so there are a lot of amenities at the resorts. On an average 8 day trip we usually have at least two, sometimes even three days that we never go into a park, and then often an additional day that we go in for dinner and maybe a parade or a single attraction.

To us WDW is a resort that happens to have theme parks attached, and we treat it taht way.

Anne

 

[cindy_k]

We haven't done this yet...
but we are planning a week trip in February to the Villas at Wilderness Lodge where we are going to do this exactly.

Because we bought AP's this past year, they expire in Oct, we have been and are going to Disney World 4 times this year.
So February will be a nice change of pace.

We are all looking forward to a relaxing stay at VWL. We stayed at the resort once for 3 days once before and wished we had had more time to spend at the resort.

Have fun!
Cindy in NY

 

[mom23guys2]

We did this last Easter. We went for 7 days and never went into a Disney park, although we did go to Sea World one day. We had tickets left fromour previous trips but never used them. We stayed at the Swan and AKL. We shopped, visited other resorts, Downtown Disney, took some boat rides, and just relaxed. This was the first time we ever avoided the parks but we had a fabulous time. Of course, when we stay at AKL we never want to leave. It's like living in the AK so why hurry to go somewhere else. This year we're doing Universal and we'll probably do 2 park days at Disney, but who knows, maybe I'll just relax again and come home with a few unused tickets again.