Non resort guests viewing the resorts

[bears]

We are going to WDW in May for the 1st time with ds 4 yo and dd 21mths. We will not be staying onsite this time because we preferred to get a suite hotel so the kids could have a separate room to nap quietly in the afternoon. My question is, we'd like to walk through the resorts and see them. I'm just wondering what is "allowed"? Can we walk through all the amenities at each hotel as long as we don't use them? What about the kids playgrounds etc? Don't want to be somewhere we're not suppose to be but I'd like to see which hotels we'd like to stay at in the future.

Thanks, Tina

 

[newmousecateer]

Hi! As far as I am concerned, I think you should be able to walk anywhere you want, both inside and out so you can see exactly what the hotel is like. Have fun hotel browsing!!

 

[skfulkers]

You'll probably get all sorts of different answers on this one, but the bottom line is this. If you want to browse through the resorts, simply pull up to the guard shack outside each resort (you can't miss it--in fact, you can't even pull into the parking lot without going through it) and tell them what you want to do. My guess is that they'll have no problem letting you through to visit the resort. They may give you a three hour parking pass which you would need to place on your dashboard, but they generally don't even do that.
As far as using the amenities, I know that the pools are technically off-limits to non-resort guests, but I don't think they'd have a problem with you checking out the rest of the place. In fact, Disney usually encourages this (how else would people fall in love with a particular resort?).
Although we usually stay on-site, we frequently visit other resorts on every trip--it's a great way to spend a day away from the parks.
Have a great vacation!

 

[Grumpy92]

You are not going to have a problem doing this, many guest do. You might want to visit FW as they have wonderful cabins and might be something for your next visit.

As long as it is not busy most FD will be glad to even show you a room. We had many guest come to the FD who were planning their next trip and wanted to consider the resort.

Another suggestion is you might want to have a meal at one of the resorts then tour it and the surrounding ones at the same time.