Couple, Second Trip, What Have We Missed?

[sscott87]

Hi, first post here. I've been lurking around the past few days checking out various boards on here for info but figured it was time to sign up and ask a few questions. We're a couple making our second trip to Disney World May 26-31. It came about rather quickly last week but we've been wanting to take a significant vacation, Disney had previously come up, and we suddenly found ourselves with the time to do it. Our first trip was nearly 6 years ago, on a fairly small budget that time, 3 day tickets, stayed at Wilderness Lodge, did the cheesy proposal thing while watching the fireworks in MK, really enjoyed everything about the visit and decided to do it again but bigger and better.

This time, Memorial Day weekend, May 27-30 will be spent in the parks (4-day park hopper). Staying at the Contemporary, bay view tower room. Quick service dining (fits us well as far as plans and ease of use). We do have 8:30 reservations one night at Tokyo Dining in Epcot.

I've already made initial FP+ reservations for afternoons at each park. We're rope drop type people, enjoy starting the days early and fast, do as much as possible, then back to the resort to enjoy the pools or nap a bit before starting again in the afternoon.

I enjoy MK most of all, while she loves Epcot and touring the "countries" around the park. RnR at Hollywood Studios is really our only absolute MUST do (multiple times) ride.

I'm considering tours (particularly Keys to the Kingdom, unDISCOVERed Future World, or DestiNations Discovered) but uncertain as to how much they're worth the time.

Our first trip was rapid fire, felt like we saw everything we wanted to see (or knew to see). This time, we have an extra day in the parks, have seen much of it before, have an idea of what we must do and see versus what isn't a big deal to us, and money isn't much a concern.

What am I missing? What MUST we experience that we may not be thinking of? This may (possibly) be our last trip as a young couple w/o kids, assuming we don't come for another 5+ years, so we've already thrown most thought of a budget out the window (within reason, anyway) and just want to enjoy ourselves.

 

[PaintsWindColors]

Hello! I found myself in this same situation a few years ago - made our first trip to WDW in 2011 on our honeymoon and only spent two days parkhopping. I never really knew how much we had missed until we made our next trip back and spent a full day in each park. Tours are definitely a great way to experience new things. Do you drink? The first thought that comes to mind is the Drinking Around the World challenge as that's not something you would probably want to do with children in the future. Also, you're staying at a monorail resort so the Monorail Bar Crawl is another option. If you don't drink then you can certainly amend these items to be eating or snacking. The biggest perk to being adults-only is that you're mobile - no strollers to lug around or kids to keep an eye on - so consider covering as much of the map as you can, including visiting other resorts for meals and/or sightseeing. I hope you have a wonderful trip!

 

[pa. dad]

If the Mrs. likes the shopping in WS, she may like disney springs also.
And some people might enjoy some time at a waterpark moreso than a tour?
And if it's 6 years. i'd think most rides will be fairly fresh as it's been a while for you.

When you go with children, it will be totally different so enjoy all the thrill rides and adult foods while you can.

 

[sscott87]

Thanks for the input. We definitely rook advantage last tune and will again of our ability to be mobile and cover a lot. I do hope/expect that a good deal of the rides will be fairly new or different from our first tine (July 2010).

Wife is looking forward to being able to drink at Epcot this time. We aren't big drinkers but she was underage last time (lol) so we'll enjoy Epcot with more pod and drink on this trip.

Considered the water parks and curious as to how they are but more about the "magic" of the regular parks. We'll surely chek out Disney Springs and seems it has changed a lot from Downtown Disney, but not entirely certain why people go to Disney to do "normal" shopping!

I'll have to look a bit more into checking out others resorts. Hadn't thought much of it but convenience to everything along the MK area was a priority for us and an added convenience being the other lake resorts. Hate the pool hopping policy!

Kids aren't on the short-term "to-do" list but realizing our next trip very well may be WITH kids did push us to splurge a bit more on accommodations while know we can do so, and definitely know it's a different experience we get without kids.

 

[com_op_2000]

There are lots to do outside the parks and it depends on what you are into:
sports: golf, mini-golf, fishing, marathon, bowling, ESPN Club, WWS/ESPN Zone, etc
shopping: DS (old DTD), area outlet malls, large scale malls
drinking: Jellyrolls, Raglan Road, monorail tour of resorts, walking tour of resorts in the Boardwalk area, EPCOT around the world
movies: DTD 24 screen theater some with meals served by waiters
night clubbing: Jellyrolls, Atlantic Dance, Raglan Road, Citywalk
resort tours: monorail tour of resorts, Boardwalk around the lake tour of resorts, horse drawn tour of FWC, AKL/AKV
offsite: Gaylord Palms Resort, Citywalk, swamp tour
eating: Formal GF 5* Chef's Table @ V&As

 

[pa. dad]

Thanks for the input. We definitely rook advantage last tune and will again of our ability to be mobile and cover a lot. I do hope/expect that a good deal of the rides will be fairly new or different from our first tine (July 2010).

Wife is looking forward to being able to drink at Epcot this time. We aren't big drinkers but she was underage last time (lol) so we'll enjoy Epcot with more pod and drink on this trip.

Considered the water parks and curious as to how they are but more about the "magic" of the regular parks. We'll surely chek out Disney Springs and seems it has changed a lot from Downtown Disney, but not entirely certain why people go to Disney to do "normal" shopping!

I'll have to look a bit more into checking out others resorts. Hadn't thought much of it but convenience to everything along the MK area was a priority for us and an added convenience being the other lake resorts. Hate the pool hopping policy!

Kids aren't on the short-term "to-do" list but realizing our next trip very well may be WITH kids did push us to splurge a bit more on accommodations while know we can do so, and definitely know it's a different experience we get without kids.

I understand the pool policy though. Some resorts simply have better pools than others and everybody would go the better pools if they allowed people to go to other hotel's pools.
In addition to shopping, Disney springs has a lot of eating meals options, eating dessert places and drinking places. As well as entertainment things. As far as shopping, they try to go after more unique tenants that you can't find at every shopping mall or shopping center also.
Now when you go past a 2 hour line to meet a character, just think that;ll be you next time.