Looking to change up our visit

[Jellybass]

My wife (and I to a degree) is tired of the "rush to this line, rush to that line" approach of the parks. We are looking to change it up on our next trip. I looked through the boards and saw some great ideas but I was hoping to get some thoughts from people here. What other things, both in and out of the parks, can we do? I am thinking of things like visiting resorts, keys to the kingdom, taking the water taxi from Epcot to HS as a break, visit forgotten or missed things in the parks, stuff like that.

 

[carrie1626]

My suggestion involves spending more $$

I took my dad on the STEAM TRAINS Tour for his B-day a few years ago.
I loved getting a behind the scenes view of the real life working life of the park that no one ever sees.

I'll definitely do another tour someday.

 

[LadyLuck24]

The Keys to the Kingdom tour was great---worth the $$ (plus you get lunch). We also love touring around the different resorts, especially the monorail resorts (which is free so it offsets the cost of the tour. Sitting at your hotel pool is also a great relaxing activity! We obviously love the parks but we make sure to take a break like this so we can continue to enjoy the park time.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Only speaking for myself, but I never feel like I spend enough time in World Showcase. There are so many street shows I still haven't seen, food I haven't tried, etc. I think it's the ultimate slow-down-and-smell-the-roses place

 

[FiggieFan]

Only speaking for myself, but I never feel like I spend enough time in World Showcase. There are so many street shows I still haven't seen, food I haven't tried, etc. I think it's the ultimate slow-down-and-smell-the-roses place

I agree with this! We never spend enough time checking out World Showcase entertainment. We did a little last year and got a taste of all the music - loved Mo Rockin! We were going to do a second day but it rained. This is one of our goals for next trip.

Also, we really enjoy mini-golf at Disney. We will also do some resort hopping which we haven't done - especially the monorails resorts and walking from Fort Wilderness to Wilderness Lodge. I got the Hidden Mickey book and we will probably do a few Hidden Mickey hunts this time.

We didn't really enjoy Keys to the Kingdom, but a lot of people do. The tour seemed to drag on FOREVER! We LOVED Wild Africa Trek in AK. It is pricey but it was the highlight of our trip and I am so happy we did it, we will do it again next trip. You get a light meal and a photo CD mailed to you after - they take all the pictures of the trek for you!

 

[OKW Lover]

Instead of the "rush to the next attraction" approach, take the "lets wander around here" approach. Spend some time looking around you as you travel through the parks, preferably without a destination in mind. This is especially rewarding in AK where there is always something to see if you just take the time to look to the side (or back) of where everybody else is heading.

 

[Jellybass]

Great ideas, thanks. Will the monorail resorts get "upset" if you come in and use their resort if you are at another resort? I'd love to check out all of those along with the Wilderness lodge but don't know how that sits with the other resorts.

 

[jake&samsmom]

Go bowling at Splitsville Even if you're not the bowling types, this was fun! And after 10pm on Fri, Sat, Sun, the second floor is for the 21 and up crowd exclusively.

Mini golf was fun even for us adults (obviously the kids had a blast).

We also spent an evening at the Boardwalk, watching the street entertainers then had dinner at Spoodles (now replaced by Kouzzina).

 

[Jellybass]

Ah, the kids love bowling, forgot about that. That kind of seals the idea of spending a full day at DTD, seems like we would have plenty to do there.

Spending more time in the countries is another great idea. We always just zip through those and never really go into the buildings

 

[OKW Lover]

Great ideas, thanks. Will the monorail resorts get "upset" if you come in and use their resort if you are at another resort? I'd love to check out all of those along with the Wilderness lodge but don't know how that sits with the other resorts.

No, not a problem. You won't be able to use their pools but you are welcome to wander around and enjoy the resort.

 

[RedHeadedFairy]

Behind the Seeds at Epcot is a great, short tour of the greenhouses that all 3 of us loved.

I totally agree on exploring more of the countries, we made it a point last time to eat in new places while there last time.

One thing that we REALLY enjoyed (but maybe not everyone would) is learning about the inside secrets & history to a lot of things in the parks and going and seeing it again with fresh eyes. There is a massive thread on this forum called something like 'your best insider secrets' and the info that people shared was amazing. We reviewed the whole thread & copied/edited the facts that most interested us and then went looking for all that stuff when we were there. The history of Dinoland in AK, there is SO much we didn't know about HM's history & design, all the historical details in Liberty square, etc..... really cool stuff. Even little things like .... BTMRR is DD's favorite ride but none of us ever knew about the hidden Tink in the rocks. We had to have a CM help us locate it &.a few other things during our scavenger hunt, and that led to a lot of great CM interaction & conversation too.

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

My two favorite things this summer were horseback riding and the Chip and Dale marshmallow roast/sing a long at Fort Wilderness.

 

[Jellybass]

Excellent, insiders secrets is exactly the stuff we are looking for, thanks.

 

[2Pirates2Princesses]

These are some great ideas. We have considered a day with only resort time and Downtown Disney, visiting Splitsville for some bowling sounds fun along with maybe a couple hours at Disney Quest. Some other ideas we have is just a waterpark day, going to one of the Disney mini golf places, or renting sea racers at the Polynesian or Contemporary.

 

[JellyB]

It's always fun to try something new!

Some ideas that we have used:
1. Visiting all the monorail resorts and strolling through them, maybe stopping for a drink or a treat.
2. Fantasia mini-golf
3. Doing a little shopping at DTD and then stopping into AMC theatres to relax in the A/C and catch a movie! (we ALWAYS stop at Candy Cauldron first though to get a treat for the show! - am sure it is "not allowed" to bring in our own food, but, honestly - don't care)
4. As PP's have said - try Splitsville (we haven't done this yet but have read great things about it and might try it this coming week)
5. Taking a boat ride
6. People watching around WS - always fun!!
7. Take a couple of turns around on the train at MK - just stay on it and relax for a bit !! - we did this before and stayed on for over an hour because we were just relaxing and chatting to each other but didn't feel like walking around at the time)
8. Try a wine-tasting somewhere on WS (there are places that have this even when it is not Food and Wine Festival like Italy and France)

Have fun on your trip!!!!

 

[indianalynn]

I,too, have that "run to every attraction" approach!! When we go next year, I really have to tone it down. In my head, I want to stop and relax and explore, but the vacation commando in me wants to get my money's worth. I have to keep reminding myself that I'm here to have fun and relax == not exhaust myself further!!!

I'm a fan of resort exploring....and people watching....and monorail riding...we also like watching the candy lady in the Japan pavillion and stopping in each country's store. We like to buy candy from each country that we've never had and try them all after dinner.

 

[webcreatrix]

Only speaking for myself, but I never feel like I spend enough time in World Showcase. There are so many street shows I still haven't seen, food I haven't tried, etc. I think it's the ultimate slow-down-and-smell-the-roses place

I agree with this!

We alternate travel between June and August and it's usually just too hot to make the march around the World Showcase. We lucked out with a HUGE, long downpour on our last trip in June which made crowds and the temperature bareable. It was the first time we had made it around the World Showcase. VERY enjoyable!

 

[Jellybass]

Excellent ideas, keep them coming.

 

[Ametista]

Over the years we have just really quit over-planning and over-booking everything. For example, on our upcoming trip one of our days is: 10 am breakfast at Cape May, then resort pool, then MNSSHP at 5pm or so. Another day is Typhoon Lagoon until 3pm or so, then DTD, and thats IT for our whole day. We would have thought that was boring a few years ago but now it means we get to stop and smell the roses and there are a lot fewer tears from our dd! And thats what its all about, right?

We just all got tired of being up at 6am to getting ready for ropedrop, so now we only do that every 3rd day or so. We are enjoying trying out character meals and actually watching shows at the parks instead of running to get in the next line.

 

[mrsclark]

I second the suggestions for mini golf and Wild Africa Trek! I prefer the theme of Winter Summerland (plus it is more shaded if you are planning to go during the day), but Fantasia has more challenging courses and is a lot of fun! DH and I made a spontaneous decision while at AK last weekend to see if there were any open spots on an afternoon Wild Africa Trek. We got in on a 1:15 tour (btw afternoon tours in the summer are discounted $50 off) and absolutely loved it!!! We had two very knowledgable guides, got in some great animal viewing and overall just had a wonderful afternoon.

Another day we took the monorail to GF and walked the path between GF and Poly with a stop in between at the Wedding Pavillion - the two events at the pavilion that day wherein the evening and we were there around noon, so we got to walk around the Pavillion and look at the displays in the wedding planning building - very much fun for me since I one day hope to have a vow renewal there and this was the first times saw the Pavillion up close!

Also having a goal can help slow you down (even though that sounds backwards). I wanted to try a variety of cupcakes while we were on vacation and that helped me "find" the little bakery tucked into Africa right before Kilimanjaro Safari. I had never noticed it before in my laser-like focus to get on the safari. We tried a White Elephant cupcake and a Zebra cupcake (Zebra was our Winner). Then for MNSSHP I saw on the special park map there was a ghost cupcake being offered at Gastons only for the party, so we stopped there to take a break and the place was completely empty. We sat by the fire and admired all the detail.

Which is your favorite park? Another good tour that DH and I enjoyed (we went in 2011 I believe) was the Backstage Safari Tour at AK - really really great information about animal care and animal programs at AK. If you like FW at Epcot I would recommend the UnDISCOVERed Future World tour. Epcot is DH's favorite park and I have great childhood memories of Horizons and the World of Motion, so we both really enjoyed the tour and couldn't believe all the detail we saw in the tour that we missed when rushing from one attraction to the next.