Best Resort to Stay at with no park visits

[candielips]

I am thinking of taking myself, DD9 and DS7 to Disney in the summer for 6 nights and I am considering not doing any parks. This is definitely not my children's first visit and they are perfectly okay with this as we will spend lots of time at the resort, pools, and other Orlando attractions. But this is our first trip where we will not be doing any parks.

Can someone recommend the best resort to stay at with the most activities for my children?

I am leaning towards AKV Kidani, AKV Jambo, OKW or SSR. We have stayed at AKV Kidani before and loved it! My only thoughts with OKW and SSR are to keep points down but I want to make sure the kids do not get bored.

If any other members who have done a stay with no park visit with children could provide any feedback, it would be greatly appreciated!

Side note: We will have a vehicle with us so getting around will not be an issue!

 

[DisneyRegulars]

Hands down I would choose SSR. Here's why:
SSR - 2 feature pools both with great water slides, AKV - has 2 feature pools, but only Kidani has a good slide, the Jambo house slide is mediocre
SSR - Shuffle board, basketball, tennis, shuffle puck, corn hole, pool, bumper pool, ping pong, fuseball,surrey bike and regular bike rentals AKV - has ping pong and tennis (maybe basketball?)
SSR - within walking distance or a nice boat ride to a bazillion food options at Disney Springs, AKV - 3 restaurants + Mara counter Service
SSR - Within walking distance of disney springs for shopping and entertainment, AKV - must drive/bus to DS

We love all the activities SSR has to offer. Some of our favorite days at Disney ever have been hanging out at SSR. There's so much to do, especially if you like to play games.

We recently did a no-parks stay at Wilderness Lodge and enjoyed riding the boats and monorails around the magic kingdom resort area, and visiting the other resorts for meals. We made a day of pool hopping to the Grand Floridian and the Contemporary one day. We also were able to use the community center at BLT and played bocce there, so maybe that could be another option?

 

[alldiz]

My vote is for SSR. Great pool area and close to Downtown Disney. I enjoyed my stay at AKV but there is not much property. After looking at animals and pool, not much else. Would not want to stay for a non park stay. At SSR they have beautiful walkways to DTD and OKW. LOve the walk over to Olivias at OKW
I choose SSR over OKW because of the proximity to DTD with all of the various dining entertainment options.
Happy planning
Kerri

 

[rg35]

AKV is my home resort, but I have stayed at OKW several times, but never at SSR.

All three resorts have community halls, so there should be no shortage of activities for the kids while you are at the resort.

I think it's just a matter of location. If you think you'll want to spend a lot of time at disney springs dining and shopping, SSR is convenient because you can walk, although old key west is a short boat ride away. If you have a car, with all the new parking garages it's easy enough to drive now too.

I might pick OKW if you plan on spending a lot of in-room time because they are bright and larger than the rooms at other resorts.

You know your kids best though too - if they'd be happy sitting all day and watching animals on the savannah, then AKV might be a good choice for another stay. As far as most amenities go, you're going to get similar at all of them really.

 

[Geomom]

I would pick AKV- Kidani--they have animals, the community hall AND extra cultural activities that take place at both Jambo and Kidani--things like drum lessons, tour of the African art work, lectures by 'cultural representatives' about where they're from, etc. We last stayed at Kidani in 2009--and made good use of all the indoor things due to a very rainy trip. We also enjoyed the room service as it was from Sanaa--so Indian food, which is so much more interesting than your normal burger/fries room service. We enjoyed the water play area by the Kidani pool as well.

Edited to add this:
Here's a link to the January recreation calendar for Kidani: http://www.themouseforless.com/tripplanning/resorts/wdw/pdf/AKLCalendar.pdf

They also have free cookie and cake decorating!

 

[a742246]

Another vote for SSR, nice pools, walking distance to DS, easy parking,

 

[DVC Doctor]

I love the idea of a no-park vacation.

I would also say SSR or OKW to save points and enjoy a relaxed week. AKV value or standard rooms are also a bargain.

 

[Jennasis]

We are doing this exact type of trip in September and booking SSR. We like being close to DS and the ease of resort parking. Our time will be spent at seaworld, discovery cove, bush gardens and maybe the member event at AK.

 

[candielips]

Thank you everyone for your input. SSR it is. This will be my first time staying my home resort!

 

[DVC Doctor]

Thank you everyone for your input. SSR it is. This will be my first time staying my home resort!

I would suggest the preferred view for SSR

 

[Disn3yVision]

we did a resort only trip to Poly and loved it because we could easily visit all the monorail resorts, as well as wilderness lodge and between those 4 options there was so much to do! Oh, and O'hana, lol.

 

[Canadian Disney Mom]

Another vote for SSR. With the new Disney Springs, in my opinion it is the best option if you are avoiding the parks for all of the reasons noted above.

 

[kristenrice]

I need to save this thread.

With the huge price increase for tickets, I see many more no-park trips in our future. Right now, I have 3 trips planned through 2019 and fortunately, I purchased the tickets already. After that, I will probably use the $2000 savings (which is what 5-day tickets will cost my family of 4 by 2020) and do stuff we don't normally do....rent a car, explore outside the bubble, hit a water park, go mini-golfing, take a boat ride, visit FW and ride the horses, hang out at the pools, resort hop....I'm getting tired just thinking about all we could do without the parks.

 

[DaisyNY]

Absolutely SSR...we did a no park vacation last May. Loved the pools, the easy walk over to Disney Springs and all the activities offered there!

 

[Murron]

Another SSR vote!

 

[Mr. Baloo]

We own at BCV but have to agree with SSR.... Disney springs changed everything to us with this resort.

 

[Shellyred8]

Have you thought about doing a split stay? A few days at AKV and a few days at SSR? Then the kids would get the benefit of experiencing both resorts and hopefully keep them from getting bored. Also, Disney Springs has the movie theaters and bowling, so that might be more entertainment for y'all.

Have you tried out the mini-golf courses on Disney property? We always enjoy doing those. And perhaps take in some time at the Boardwalk? Two amazing choices for ice cream now!

Have a fantastic trip!!

 

[candielips]

Thanks for all of the great tips!

So we ended up moving the reservation to Kidani and picked up tickets with the Canadian resident offer thinking my DD9 and DS7 would be super excited that we would be going to the parks. Ummm apparently not! They wanted SSR and wanted to just relax for the week. Looks like I need to look at rebooking!

 

[bigtony777]

I think AKV is the most relaxing resort of all resorts. You can hang out on the decks overlooking the savanna. You can truly forget that you are at Disney while being there. Unless, I am reading wrong, the standard view at AKV is less points than the same room type at SSR and only a couple points higher than OKW.

 

[alisonslp]

Thanks for all of the great tips!

So we ended up moving the reservation to Kidani and picked up tickets with the Canadian resident offer thinking my DD9 and DS7 would be super excited that we would be going to the parks. Ummm apparently not! They wanted SSR and wanted to just relax for the week. Looks like I need to look at rebooking!

I have teens so it's a little different but they pick Kidani over the other resorts when we are just relaxing. Second best for them is SSR because there is so much to do and they can walk/jog. My son can play golf. Obviously DS is a plus too.

I have to be honest - it is nice to not go to the parks during a vacation. so much more relaxing!