Is this allowed or is it "frowned upon?"

[Eli's 1st trip]

We are planning a trip with our 3 boys in July we are going to Legoland there are currently no plans to have any Disney park days. Since our resort is pretty close to DTD, we have plans to spend time there and we were wondering if we could check out some of the resorts on the monorail for our next trip? Is that allowed since we don't have park tickets? We've only been to Disney twice and I do not consider myself an expert on anything Disney - wanted to ask before we did anything illegal or frowned upon! Thanks everyone

 

[rachel09985]

It is definitely not frowned upon. Would you drive to the resort or take a bus to the resorts? I am not sure if you would want to pick at DTD and then take the bus but I think it would be easier to drive directly to a monorail resort.

 

[skywaywaver]

Go! Explore! You can go anywhere except the parks. Resort hopping is a lot of fun

 

[mom2mickeyfan]

You are allowed to visit any of the Disney resorts. You can get a 3 hour parking pass. We have done it many times even though we stay off-site. We also rode the monorail on days when we didn't visit the parks. You will have no problems.

 

[Disney-&-Baseball]

Yes it is allowed. My husbands favorite thing during the Christmas holidays is to drive to the Poly and have breakfast at Kona and check out the decorations there and then get on the monorail to check out the other resorts. At Chrismas, the giant gingerbread house at the Grand Floridian is amazing. You don't have to actually drive to the resorts yourself. You can get a bus to one and go from there.

 

[Disneylover99]

Enjoy. I love checking out new resorts while I'm at Disney.

 

[aristocatz]

The only thing that is frowned upon is using the resort pools. Otherwise, you should feel free to explore the resorts, their shops and restaurants, even hang out on their beaches and/or rent a boat.

 

[Eldon_Brasche]

Yes it is allowed. My husbands favorite thing during the Christmas holidays is to drive to the Poly and have breakfast at Kona and check out the decorations there and then get on the monorail to check out the other resorts. At Chrismas, the giant gingerbread house at the Grand Floridian is amazing. You don't have to actually drive to the resorts yourself. You can get a bus to one and go from there.

Those days may be gone forever. We tried parking at Poly for breakfast in March and were refused entry since we were not resort guests. We were directed to the Magic Kingdom parking and had to walk over to Poly.

 

[JoeA]

Those days may be gone forever. We tried parking at Poly for breakfast in March and were refused entry since we were not resort guests. We were directed to the Magic Kingdom parking and had to walk over to Poly.

That may have been due to construction??

 

[vikster1]

Park at DTD. Take a bus to Poly, CR or GF. You can hop on the monorail and explore. You can also take the boat from DTD to OKW, POR, or SS. Some many options.

 

[siskaren]

I'm assuming you're talking about riding the monorail rather than visiting the resorts, but since the resort monorail doesn't enter the MK, you don't need a park ticket to ride it.

 

[ollynholly]

We just did this 2 weeks ago! We stayed at CBR for 4 nights, no parks. We went to DTD a few times, checked out all the monorail resorts, ate at 1900 Park Fare, did mini golf at Blizzard Beach, ate at Sanaa and had a nice pool day. We wanted to watch wishes from Poly or GF but our baby was pretty tuckered out. It was a wonderful vacation!!

 

[MeggyK]

As long as you are not trying to use a pool, you can go anywhere you want! Take a monorail, take a boat, take a bus. Check out the resorts. Grab a snack in the quick service restaurants or book a sit down meal at a resort. Go to Fort Wilderness and watch a movie with Chip and Dale. Take a horse and carriage ride around Port Orleans. Book a pirate fireworks cruise. Check out the animals at Animal Kingdom Lodge. So many options! There is far more to WDW than the parks!
Have a great trip.

 

[Winnowill]

It's no different from going to Las Vegas, staying at the Las Vegas Club, and exploring the ritzy resorts on the Strip. They'll ALWAYS take your money and your interest!

 

[Disney Frenhines]

Sounds like a fabulous idea. I love to resort hop, lots of photo ops too. Depending on the time you plan to start I would park at DTD (am I right in thinking it is free) if you want to do the monorail resorts get a bus to Contemporary have a look around then hop back on the monorail and get off at the Poly then why not take the gorgeous walk to the Grand Floridian via The Wedding Pavilion (great photo op at the wedding arch) then back to DTD via the transportation from GF There are plenty of choices to eat, my favourite QS is Captain Cook's. If you get a drink in a paper cup you can still have a couple of refills. I love resort hopping and Disney don't mind at all.

 

[Cyrano]

Our trips always include visits to the resorts whether we are staying on-site or off-site

As others have said this is absolutely not frowned upon as Disney wants you to enjoyed WDW in its entirety.

I bet your 3 boys would love a visit to Kidani Village or Animal Kingdom Lodge.
AKL has a stunning lobby. While both have great viewing areas of the savannah where you will see a variety of animals

 

[Disney_Princess83]

Those days may be gone forever. We tried parking at Poly for breakfast in March and were refused entry since we were not resort guests. We were directed to the Magic Kingdom parking and had to walk over to Poly.

This is due to the construction going on at the Poly. Once it's completed, you can park at the resorts again.

 

[disnut8]

Another idea for a resort trip and mini golf. Drive to Fantasia mini golf, enjoy a round, then walk around Crescent Lake and see the Swan, Dolphin, Yacht Club, Beach Club, and Boardwalk.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

Another idea for a resort trip and mini golf. Drive to Fantasia mini golf, enjoy a round, then walk around Crescent Lake and see the Swan, Dolphin, Yacht Club, Beach Club, and Boardwalk.

Excellent idea! There is often entertainment on the Boardwalk in the evening.

Don't park at the S&D, they charge for parking. BW and BC/YC I don't think allow parking unless you have reservations. Too many were parking there for free and walking to Epcot and DHS.

My suggestion is to park at DTD if the construction is done there and take a bus. Just be sure there isn't a problem with parking I know the dis unplugged podcasts were complaining about it.

What you can do is get off the monorail at the Magic Kingdom when you are done with the monorail resorts and walk down the ramp and take a bus to one of the Epcot resorts walk around Crescent Lake which is beautiful, tour the resorts, enjoy the boardwalk (maybe the rocking chairs will be open at the BW), rent a multi-person bike and at the end of the day take a bus back to DTD.

 

[Retro Magic]

One of the best aspects of WDW are the resorts!!!!
I love resort hopping. It's great to stop in for a snack or a light lunch too.