Orlando - But no DISNEY?!?

[Purseval]

Would it be sacrilegious to go to Disney resorts and restaurants and not the parks?!?! I can't believe I'm even thinking of it.

We have friends who have been going to WDW since the 1980's and have never once set foot in a park. They go there to stay at the resorts and play golf.

 

[kathy884]

I have a sort of related curiosity. If you are not staying on Disney property can you still dine at the resorts (not the theme parks)? Are there other things at the resorts, like Fort Wilderness, that you can take part in without staying on Disney property?

You bet as one other poster said:

Drive to the resort and tell them you are doing shopping or make a lunch or dinner reservation at one of the hotels. They will give you a parking pass for three or four hours. I don't remember.

Here are some of the things we've done when not staying there:

-- We like to eat at the BOMA buffet at Animal Kingdom Lodge. We get their early and look around the grounds and see the animals. We go into the gift shops. One evening we even sat out by the fire and listened to the storyteller after dinner too.
-- They Polynesian is another one we like to schedule a meal at. We really like their grounds, hotel lobby, and food.
-- At Christmas time, especially we like to take the monerail around and look at all the Christmas decorations at the monerail resorts.
-- We have gone to the Polynesian and Contemporary when not staying on property and rented the little mini speed boats just for fun.
-- You have to pay for tennis courts, but if we have stayed at a resort offsite that doesn't have tennis for a treat we have rented an hour and a half of court time on the clay tennis courts at the Grand Floridian.
-- We have also taken the little boat from the Contemporary to the Wilderness Lodge, looked at their grounds, etc. and returned. Did this when we had a little one who really enjoyed boat rides. We were on that trip, though, staying at the Contemporary.

We haven't done this, but some people go over to the Fort Wilderness campground at night for the movies and Chip and Dale sing-a-long, even when they are not staying there.

 

[bbwhos]

You bet as one other poster said:

Drive to the resort and tell them you are doing shopping or make a lunch or dinner reservation at one of the hotels. They will give you a parking pass for three or four hours. I don't remember.

Here are some of the things we've done when not staying there:

-- We like to eat at the BOMA buffet at Animal Kingdom Lodge. We get their early and look around the grounds and see the animals. We go into the gift shops. One evening we even sat out by the fire and listened to the storyteller after dinner too.
-- They Polynesian is another one we like to schedule a meal at. We really like their grounds, hotel lobby, and food.
-- At Christmas time, especially we like to take the monerail around and look at all the Christmas decorations at the monerail resorts.
-- We have gone to the Polynesian and Contemporary when not staying on property and rented the little mini speed boats just for fun.
-- You have to pay for tennis courts, but if we have stayed at a resort offsite that doesn't have tennis for a treat we have rented an hour and a half of court time on the clay tennis courts at the Grand Floridian.
-- We have also taken the little boat from the Contemporary to the Wilderness Lodge, looked at their grounds, etc. and returned. Did this when we had a little one who really enjoyed boat rides. We were on that trip, though, staying at the Contemporary.

We haven't done this, but some people go over to the Fort Wilderness campground at night for the movies and Chip and Dale sing-a-long, even when they are not staying there.

That's awesome! I wasn't sure even on the boats if we could use them. Thanks for the great info!!

 

[CamdenScott4]

We have a similar approach for our vacation plans this coming April. We are doing MK and IOA but that was all the amusement parks we could afford. I laughed when DW told my MiL that we were going to spend the rest of our days at "3rd string attractions". But DD is obsessed with Titanic and it is very cool place. Wonderworks is another place we will visit. And we have Day Passes to CoCo Key Resort Water Park.

 

[jeff968]

We just got back from 9 days in orlando. The weather was fantastic. I was disappointed by the lack of any new development at the Disney parks (I was planning on a Magic Kingdom day, it had been 5 years since we were there but nothing has changed other then space mountain reformat and the closing of toon town) so we skipped it. We did US IOA to see Harry Potter, a day at aquatica, and we did visit DTD for dinner but our trip was pretty much Disney free. We hung at the resort and enjoyed that great Florida sun.

 

[Princess Disney Mom]

Go to DTD. Buy the kids a Disney toy and you can get some really cute pictures. There will be music playing and you will get the Disney feel. Watch the fireworks from the TTC. Ride the monorail. Visit a resort and get a Mickey bar or other Mickey treat.

 

[Organic Cleaner]

everytime I go to Orlando we go to Disney

 

[toandjo]

We are staying offsite for 14 days and thought we might like to go check out the resorts. Can we park in the parking lots? Is there a charge for parking like at the parks? Are we allowed to just park and walk around?TIA

 

[Upatnoon]

We are staying offsite for 14 days and thought we might like to go check out the resorts. Can we park in the parking lots? Is there a charge for parking like at the parks? Are we allowed to just park and walk around?TIA

You can park at the resorts for free, but they may limit you to 3 hours or so.

 

[kathy884]

We have a similar approach for our vacation plans this coming April. We are doing MK and IOA but that was all the amusement parks we could afford. I laughed when DW told my MiL that we were going to spend the rest of our days at "3rd string attractions". But DD is obsessed with Titanic and it is very cool place. Wonderworks is another place we will visit. And we have Day Passes to CoCo Key Resort Water Park.

We often do a six day trip with two days at SeaWorld (we have season passes), one other major theme park for one day, and time at our resort and smaller attractions. We love the Titanic attraction too // think it's really well done. DS is a big Titanic enthusiast. I think what you are doing is actually a really fun way to go, and more relaxing than a major theme park every day. I bet you'll love seeing the new WWHP and what fun to go to the classic MK too.

 

[happymommy]

We're going this week (gotta pack!) and not doing Disney either. I'm actually burned out. We got passes for the Anhueser Busch parks (super grover pass) so doing those and Discovery Cove (yeah - 80's all week!).

We plan on one evening parking at the Boardwalk and eating there, then walking around and watching the entertainment. If we have time!

 

[kathy884]

We're going this week (gotta pack!) and not doing Disney either. I'm actually burned out. We got passes for the Anhueser Busch parks (super grover pass) so doing those and Discovery Cove (yeah - 80's all week!).

We plan on one evening parking at the Boardwalk and eating there, then walking around and watching the entertainment. If we have time!

Happymommy -- That sounds awesome. We love all the Busch parks / activities. // We leave on Sunday too. And I'm so excited. We are, though, this time doing Disney on two of our six days. // thrilled with the weather forecast too. It looks perfect! // For us it will be Day 1 SeaWorld, Day 2 MK, Day 3 Kennedy, Day 4 DHS, and Day 5 SeaWorld (our favorite again). Day 6 resort time (tennis and swimming before an evening flight) -- I think I'm even more excited than DS -- feel like a little kid when I get to go to Orlando.

 

[SanFranciscan]

I have a sort of related curiosity. If you are not staying on Disney property can you still dine at the resorts (not the theme parks)? Are there other things at the resorts, like Fort Wilderness, that you can take part in without staying on Disney property?

Oh, sure. I have been to Orlando only twice, but I think that we spent as much money, probably more, during our off-Disney-property stay in 2007 as we did last September while sleeping on Disney property. Maybe it was because 2007 was our first trip so everything was so new to us.