Resort Hopping During Christmas Season?

[Disney8704]

If DH and I go to Disney next yr, I would like to plan a whole day to just resort hop. I wanna visit ALL the resorts to look at all the decorations and take pics galore! Has anyone done this before? Im adding a whole day to our trip just to do this, so it wont be cutting into our park time at all. If you have done this before how did you do it to make it easy. We will be staying at AKL. The morning we do this, we will be going to GF to eat breakfast at GFCafe. So we will tech. be leaving from GF.

 

[disneyfreak71]

We are doing the same thing this year. Waiting....

 

[Disney8704]

You'll have to let me no how you did it and how long it took you when you return. have fun!

We are doing the same thing this year. Waiting....

 

[kldmom2000]

DH and I used to do it all the time pre-kid.... we stayed at the YC/BC and loved their decor, but the GF and Wilderness Lodge were not to be missed!

 

[disnut8]

Well, since you are staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge, you've got that one all covered.

From the Grand Floridian, it's easy to get the monorail resorts. You'll have the Grand Floridian so take the monorail from there to the Contemporary. Then reboard after your tour and take the monorail either over to the TTC and then walk to the Polynesian or take the monorail directly to the Polynesian. From the Polynesian, you can walk back over to the Grand Floridian. I like doing this because you get a chance to see the Wedding Pavilion. Then board the monorail and go to the Magic Kingdom. If you chose not to walk to the Grand Floridian, just take the monorail from the Polynesian to the Magic Kingdom.

From the Magic Kingdom you can take a side trip to the Wilderness Lodge and then back to the Magic Kingdom.

To get the Epcot resorts, from the Magic Kingdom, take the Swan/Dolphin bus and get off at the Swan. From there, you will be able to see the Swan, the Dolphin, the Yacht Club, the Beach Club and the Boardwalk.

Then either take the boat from the Swan to MGM or take the walkway from the Boardwalk to MGM. Once at MGM, take the Port Orleans French Quarter and/or Riverside bus over there and get those two resorts.

Saratoga Springs and Old Key West are best visited by taking transportation from Downtown Disney. Not quite sure the best way from there - walking, bus or boat. I think you can take the boat from Port Orleans down to Downtown Disney but someone else can help you with that.

The resorts you will have missed are Caribbean Beach, Coronado Springs, Pop Century, and All Stars. You would have to take a bus from either Downtown Disney or a park to access those.

You might also want to think about going to the campfire program at Fort Wilderness and seeing the lights that the campers put out on their sites.

Of course, if you have a car, you can drive to each resort that you missed on the bus portion part of the tour.

 

[GuardMusic]

We've done this. We bought magnets & postcards at each resort as souveniers. In fact, I have the magnets on my mom's fridge layed out as a map of the property!

However, we didn't have a car. So using Disney transport it took 1.5 days. We used a plan similar to disnut8. However, Pop & AKL hadn't been built yet. Also, we skipped Swan/Dolphin, as I do not consider them "pure" Disney resorts. The most difficult transition was to/from Ft. Wilderness by bus; we should have used the boat instead.

Also, if you're there at the holidays, yes, definitely go to Ft. Wilderness at night.

 

[Disney8704]

Thanks everyone. To make things easier on us, we are gonna do it throughout 5 of the days we are there. We will be there for 13 days. It will take a little bit of park time away, but it wont be that bad. Here's how I have it planned:

MK DAY
Bus from AKL to MK
Monorail from MK to PR
Eat Breakfast at PR (Ohana)
Walk from PR to SoG
Walk from SoG to PR
Monorail from PR to MK

MGM DAY
Bus from AKL to MGM
Bus from MGM to CBR
Bus from CBR to MGM

DTD DAY
Bus from AKL to DTD
Walk from DTD to SSR
Walk from SSR to DTD
Boat from DTD to POR
Boat from POR to DTD

AK & MGM DAY (Finishing parks)
Bus from AKL to AK
Finish Park - AK
Bus from AK to POP
Bus from POP to MGM

And finally a day where we wont do any parks except maybe go to Epcot afterwards to catch a couple rides and watch IllumiNations.
Bus from AK to MK
Monorail from MK to GF
Eat Breakfast at GF (GF Cafe)
Monorail from GF to CR
Monorail from CR to MK
Boat from MK to WL
Boat from WL to MK
Bus from MK to OKW
Bus from OKW to AK
Bus from AK to ASSP
Walk from ASSP to ASMU
Walk from ASMU to ASMO
Bus from ASMO to AK
Bus from AK to CSR
Bus from CSR to MGM
Boat or Walk from MGM to Boardwalk, Yacht & Beach Club and Swan & Dolphin

As for Fort Wilderness, we plan on going to HoopDeeDoo for dinner 1 night, so we can see the stuff there then.

 

[Disney8704]

Thats such a cute idea! I to was plan on getting 1 thing from each resort. Maybe I will do the magnet thing. You can never have to many magnets! If not magnets, something small, like a trading pin from each resort. I dont ever trade, I only collect, so I wont have to worry about loosing those pins.

We've done this. We bought magnets & postcards at each resort as souveniers. In fact, I have the magnets on my mom's fridge layed out as a map of the property!

However, we didn't have a car. So using Disney transport it took 1.5 days. We used a plan similar to disnut8. However, Pop & AKL hadn't been built yet. Also, we skipped Swan/Dolphin, as I do not consider them "pure" Disney resorts. The most difficult transition was to/from Ft. Wilderness by bus; we should have used the boat instead.

Also, if you're there at the holidays, yes, definitely go to Ft. Wilderness at night.