Ideas for a no park trip

[quandrea]

We are spending a week at animal kingdom lodge soon. It's a no park trip as our Aps have expired and we are holding off renewal until October.

We are a family if five. Myself, dh, dd,9 and twins 4.

I'm starting to regret not having park passes. What non park fun can you all suggest. We are open to most things. Am I crazy to think we can fill a week at disney without setting foot in a theme park?

 

[DVC Dreamer]

We actually have gone to Disney a few time without visiting the parks. There are a ton of things to do.

Pool, mini golf, water parks, mini boats, downtown Disney, characters in Flight, sleep in, eat a lots of different restaurants, go on nice walks, rent the bikes, walk around the BWV and BCV lake, play tennis, go the the outdoor movies, go to teh outdoor campfires, watch the fireworks from TOTWL in Bay Lake Tower, go to the spa, relax, Richard Petty Driving Program, go the Sammy Duvalls for an innertube ride, go parasailing, visit all the lobbys of the nicer hotels, ride the monorail loops for WDW and Epcot, go to some of the gamerooms, etc.

 

[quandrea]

We actually have gone to Disney a few time without visiting the parks. There are a ton of things to do.

Pool, mini golf, water parks, mini boats, downtown Disney, characters in Flight, sleep in, eat a lots of different restaurants, go on nice walks, rent the bikes, walk around the BWV and BCV lake, play tennis, go the the outdoor movies, go to teh outdoor campfires, watch the fireworks from TOTWL in Bay Lake Tower, go to the spa, relax, Richard Petty Driving Program, go the Sammy Duvalls for an innertube ride, go parasailing, visit all the lobbys of the nicer hotels, ride the monorail loops for WDW and Epcot, go to some of the gamerooms, etc.

Thanks! We were planning the monorail loops, visiting some resorts, dessert at whispering canyon cafe, lunch at beaches and cream, bowling, the Lego store. Hadn't thought of mini golf or bike rentals. Good idea. You reminded me about the campfires and roasting marshmallows. We will do that.

I think I'm just having a pre trip panic attack.

 

[staceyrhood]

An afternoon / evening at Fort Wilderness, ponies, horses, s'mores and a sing a long with Chip and Dale.

 

[quandrea]

An afternoon / evening at Fort Wilderness, ponies, horses, s'mores and a sing a long with Chip and Dale.

Do the children ride the ponies/horses? Do you need a reservation? What time is the chip n dale sing a long? We love the fort.

 

[tlh0726]

I will tell you it is HARD!!!!!

we did a quick waterpark only trip stayed offsite and still every night we were sad not to be able to go into a park and do our favorite rides.

Good luck with the kiddos.

 

[speniner]

We did a 4 night, no big park trip last year. We did go to Typhoon Lagoon one day, as we had some left over passes from previous years. If you will have a car, I suggest a day trip over to Tampa/Clearwater. The main attraction to us in Clearwater was the aquarium that houses Winter (from Dolphin Tale). The aquarium is a good half day excursion, and we found a little time for the beach as well. Avoid rush hour both ways and the drive is reasonable.

 

[MSSANDRA]

Be careful that you are not spending more doing "other things" than you would to go ahead and do a park ticket. We did DTD one non-park day and I think we spent as much as park tickets!

If the object is not money, tons of stuff to do. Disney Quest, water parks, miniature golf, restaurants,shopping, water activities on the lakes. You can also check out tons of off sites things like Universal, Sea World etc.

Still plenty of fun cheap things to do as long as everyone understand it will be a different type trip.

 

[ajwolfe]

Are your kids okay with not going in the parks? I think it would drive my kids (and us) crazy being that close but not being able to go in!!

 

[FlightlessDuck]

If it were me, I wouldn't do it. I mean, you are right there! And not going to a park? Man, that stinks.

Maybe go to Universal? Time at Downtown Disney or one of the water parks?

 

[snoopy5386]

AKL has a ton of activities every day, they are on the resort activities sheet when you check in. Lots to do!

 

[Chelley00]

AKL has a ton of activities every day, they are on the resort activities sheet when you check in. Lots to do!

This! DD and I stayed there and we were bummed that we didn't take more time off from the parks to spend time at AKL doing the resort activities. You can easily fill a couple of days just with AKL activities and pool time.

 

[ontheuptick]

Here was my list that I made up. This was for our plan of staying at AKV or Caribbean Beach.... Obviously we have kids, so the plan was to get our disney fix via resorts and Character Meals! I think you can make a great trip doing this.

• Swim at resort hotel pool and waterslide, splash pad area, multiple playgrounds
• All the resorts have free Movie night under the stars, by the pool.
• Visit Animal Kingdom Lodge, view Animals, take part in Kids activities in lobby, take part in savanna guided discussion from lobby, eat at AKL restaurant. Do a Hidden Mickey Safari at AKL, brochure from front desk
• Disney Fantasia Gardens or Winter Summerland Miniature Golf
• Go to Wilderness Lodge Resort, eat at Whispering Canyon or Roaring Fork, play at their playground, go to 8pm campfire with Chip and Dale @ Fort Wilderness
• Fishing at Fort Wilderness
• Go to Polynesian for Character Breakfast at 'Ohana
• Go to Polynesian for Dole Whip at Captain Cooks, and watch the fireworks from the beach
• Go to Downtown Disney to eat, disney store, and lego store. Possibly bowling or hot air balloon thing.
• Go to Beach Club Resort for Character Meal breakfast buffet and see Beach Club Resort
• Go to Boardwalk Resort area and rent a Surrey Bike
• Go to Grand Floridian 1900 Park Fare for Cinderella Character Dinner

 

[Hannathy]

I would stay some where cheaper and go to the parks. Being that close is going to drive the kids nuts. and some of the suggested activities will cost as much as going to the parks. I can't imagine taking them on the monorail thru Epcpt and saying see where we aren't going.

I could see a day or 2 but I think a whole week right there at Disney will be hard.

Why don't you go to the beach or something for a week if you want to be in Florida but not do Disney, wouldn't be so torturous for the kids.

Going to Kennedy space center is great but costs money to, so is Gatorland.

So not sure what the goal is of this trip.

 

[quandrea]

We were just there six weeks ago. We don't really feel like putting out the tw thousand plus in Aps yet. We go again in October and that seems to make more sense. Don't feel a huge push for the parks but we do want to be busy. Planning a day at seaworld. We leave in a half hour. I'll keep you posted.

 

[Disneyaddictz]

We are spending a week at animal kingdom lodge soon. It's a no park trip as our Aps have expired and we are holding off renewal until October. We are a family if five. Myself, dh, dd,9 and twins 4. I'm starting to regret not having park passes. What non park fun can you all suggest. We are open to most things. Am I crazy to think we can fill a week at disney without setting foot in a theme park?

I could spend whole week at fort wilderness! In fact I miss those trips the most. Between the horseback, carriage ride, mickeys backyard BBQ,daily pool time parties and activities, fireworks, nightly chip and dale singalong and movie time and I didn't even list half the stuff...you could be busy! To be honest my kids didn't say a word either about the parks they always loved it and we all felt that disney magic. I look forward to the day we move back to Florida to actually do this, living so far compels us to only do slammed pAcked park trips.

 

[anniemck]

Are your kids okay with not going in the parks? I think it would drive my kids (and us) crazy being that close but not being able to go in!!

I agree with this, especially if taking the monorail loop and going right up to the Magic Kingdom, "yes kids, here is the fun park but we are not going"... yeah just couldn't do that.

 

[LindaBabe]

there's plenty to do without parks. kids lOVE poolt ime. Playgrou nds at the value and mod resorts are fun too.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

There are lots of things to do without going to a park and the PP have given some good idea's.

We like to rent bikes at Wilderness Lodge and ride on the dedicated bike path which is no where near any traffic and is very safe to travel on over to Fort Wilderness to see the animals in the barns. We always see a few deer along the path. Ride around and look at how the campers have dressed up there campsites. There are a lot of folks that go all out.

You can rent searacers and go out on Bay Lake.

Just spending some down time at the pools is great. Especially if you have any laundry to do. If we are spending a few hours at the pool I also do laundry since the laundry rooms are right by the pools. It usually takes me one hour and 30 minutes to do a few loads of laundry since most laundry rooms have multiple washers and driers. Allows me to pack lightly for our trip. Our last night before coming home we also allow time to relax in the hot tub and pool and I do laundry again so when I go home I have all clean clothes. I have to fold them to put them in the suitcase they may as well be clean. Which is nice because at home I only have one washer so I have to do one load at a time but at Disney with access to 3 or 4 washers I can do multiple loads in the same amt of time it would take me to do one load at home.

While at the Lodge ask at the front desk for a fact sheet. There are some amazing facts about the lodge that you can read and look for. For example the totem poles in the lobby are bad luck. Having two totem poles facing one another is bad luck so Disney every year has a priest come in to bless the lodge to ward of the bad spirits. THat is just one of the many things you will learn. There is also a daily tour of the lodge and its free.

There is a free food tour everyday at 4p.m. at Boma's at AKL the suggest you arrive at 3:45p.m.. They will take you into Boma's and Jirko before they open for dinner and tell you about the different artifacts in the restaurant. Then you can to sample a few of the foods they offer and tell you about the food on the buffet and at the restaurant in Jirko. It's FREE!

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

You've gotten a ton of great suggestions of things to do outside the park. But I think they're more for days off from the park, not a whole trip! I can't imagine being that close for a whole week and never setting foot in a park. I just wouldn't even go there. Why did you decide to stay at Disney instead of somewhere completely different? Especially if you were just there! Aren't the kids going to be like, "Oh, remember this? Oh, we had so much fun there. Can we do this ride again?" And I think you'll end up spending a small fortune on non-park activities---Disney Quest, mini-golf, balloon ride, shopping, character meals---it's all going to add up...and fast!