Budget Friendly Non-Park Ideas

[Forevryoung]

DBF and I are spending 6 days in Sarasota for a budget vacation (my parents have an empty apartment there). I convinced DBF that it would be worth it to drive the 2 hours to hang out at Disney for an afternoon/evening. I need to find the magic without going into the parks!

I want to spend the evening at Jellyrolls so I'm snagging a cheap hotel room ($40 days inn), while the apartment is free, I don't want to drive 2 hours after midnight.

So now I need budget friendly ideas for our afternoon/evening and ending up at Jellyrolls.

Things I thought of:
Watching Wishes from the Poly Beach
Taking the Monorail/Boat around property
Walking around AKL to see Animals

Anything else? Best meal ideas? (I need an ADR because it's free dining)

 

[flipflopmom]

Well, you posted what I was thinking, Poly beach for Wishes. Dinner at Ohana? AKL for the animals would be cool, as well as the monorail trip. You could even take the boat over to the Poly, it's a pretty trip. DTD would just urge you to shop!! The boardwalk area is cool, but you'll be there for Jellyrolls... If you're really in the Mickey mode you could eat at Chef Mickey's. Horse and buggy ride at Fort Wilderness? You can see the fireworks from there, too, I think.. Carriage ride at SSR?

 

[VAN]

Those sound like good suggestions.

Not a Disney attraction, but in March we visited the Gatorland in Kissimmee ... hadn't been since the kids were little. Wow! It was a great 4+ hr attraction. They have kept a lot of the traditional "old Florida" attraction feel, but have also added some really wonderful, one-of-a-kind shows and areas to the park.

For anyone at a loose end for a non-Disney idea, this is close, not too expensive and is worth a visit!

 

[blaze1599]

We are probably in the minority here but I know that my wife and I always enjoy walking around Downtown Disney. We usually start our vacation at night here or spend the last morning walking around taking in the atmosphere. Not quite Disney but enough for us.