Yes we stayed at Congress Park at SSR and it was great. We walked over to Downtown Disney. We ate at some of the other resort restaurants and lounged by the pool all day. It was very relaxing and surprisingly quiet by the pool. We love the parks but it was relaxing to just go slow for a change.
Yes we spent our first DVC vacation (9 days) just exploring the other resorts. It was great to have a slow relaxing vacation with no plans to keep to. The end result though was an add-on at AKV.
Not completely non-park, but our park time is very minimal these days. We prefer swimming, shopping, maybe a couple of tours, a movie, mini-golf, then a nice dinner each evening at a Signature restaurant.
Every other WDW trip is a non-park trip. We love those more than the park trips. It's so relaxing and there is so much to do and discover outside of the parks. Enjoy!
We went in October with only 1 park day - MNSSHP. We stayed at AKL Jambo and it was wonderful. Between the pool and the animals, we didn't miss the parks. We will do AKL without parks again without hesitation.