Resort Hopping??? Need more info. please!

[justmeinflorida]

I've come across this mentioned a few times on here. I'm very interested in this and have a few questions.

1. Do you have to be staying on WDW property to do this?

2. What kind of activities do they have and at what resorts?

3. Is there a charge for these activities?

4. What about parking, do have to pay if you're not on WDW property?

5. Do you have to registers at the front desk, concierge or call ahead?

6. Is there anything else I'm missing???

Adding: We are trying to fill our not going to Disney days.

 

[WDWFanForLife]

You do not have to be staying at a WDW resort to do this, but I do think it is easier to use Disney transportation to do it.

For example, if you are spending the day at EPCOT, maybe exit the park through the International Gateway to explore the BC and BW resorts. Maybe even have lunch/dinner at one of the restaurants.

Or if you are at MK, maybe take the resort monorail to CR, PR, and GF. Or maybe take a boat ride to WL or FWC.

When at DTD, you could take a boat ride to SSR, OKW, POR, or POFQ.

Just some ideas. Have fun hopping!

 

[Airship Ariadne]

I've come across this mentioned a few times on here. I'm very interested in this and have a few questions.

1. Do you have to be staying on WDW property to do this?

2. What kind of activities do they have and at what resorts?

3. Is there a charge for these activities?

4. What about parking, do have to pay if you're not on WDW property?

5. Do you have to registers at the front desk, concierge or call ahead?

6. Is there anything else I'm missing???

Guess it depends on what you want to do. We always stay on property, but like to tour the resorts, especially at Christmas, to see all we can. But we don't do the "guest activities" at any resort that isn't ours. There is nothing that says you can't go and look around...in fact one trip we took a bus to Old Key West mostly to catch the boat to DTD , but the CMs in the lobby were happy to let us look around, and even pointed out things we might like to see (same this last trip at Yacht Club, they were very friendly even though we said we were staying at CBR but just wanted to see their decor).

When it comes to parking, they tend to only let people with reservations for a room or dinner park at the resort, not sure they will let you park just to look around...THIS would be one time parking at DTD and taking a bus wouldn't be cheating the system in my mind...as long as you weren't going to a park, and trying to get around the parking fee for the parks.

 

[justmeinflorida]

Thank you for the replies...

I added to my OP that we are interested in trying to fill up our non in park days.

We're going 2/20/15-2/27/15 but only going to the parks 3 days out of 7 and looking for fun things to do when not at the parks.

ohhh and I love this idea:

THIS would be one time parking at DTD and taking a bus wouldn't be cheating the system in my mind...as long as you weren't going to a park, and trying to get around the parking fee for the parks.

 

[Sue M]

Resort activities are for people staying at that resort or on property. I've been at a resort who's resort activity was unusually crowded, and they did start checking resort ID, telling people the activity was for resort guests. People are paying to stay there because of ammenities. Play where you stay.

You can of course tour any resort and enjoy a meal, shop, walk around public areas.
Other non park things could be downtown Disney, and there are 2 mini golf courses, stroll around a Boardwalk area, they have street entertainers, mimes, jugglers, etc. And there's a ton of other attractions in Orlando to see & do.

Edit to add: DTD is undergoing huge construction and parking is very limited at the moment. Apparently it's a huge mess.

 

[Original Amber]

5 months and 6 days AoA
We're staying on property, like we did last time and unlike the first three times I went. Although we will be there for seven nights, we are only getting park tickets for four days. We're adding the Park Hopper and the Water Parks and More! so we definitely have plenty to do without going to a park every day. I like staying in a resort because that means I don't have to drive once we get there. We only had a problem with the buses once last time and because of this website I now know how to avoid the crowd at closing.
Don't forget to add in the extra magic hours at the different parks that staying in a resort allows you. Besides, where else are you going to get your towels made into Disney characters?

 

[disnut8]

A couple of ideas.

Get to the Magic Kingdom (you don't enter the park). Take the boats around to the Contemporary, the Polynesian and the Grand Floridian. Or, use the monorail. Then take the boat to Wilderness Lodge and Fort Wilderness. At Fort Wilderness, you can walk around or rent a golf cart and tour the entire place. Except for the golf cart, all is free unless you need to pay to park to get to the Magic Kingdom.

Get to the Boardwalk and park in their overflow parking lot. Then walk around Crescent Lake and see the Boardwalk, the Swan, the Dolphin, the Yacht Club and the Beach Club. You can even walk across the street from the Swan and play a round at Fantasia miniature golf.

Get to either the French Quarter or the Riverwalk and walk along the canal to the next one.

Get to the the All Star Sports, explore and then walk to the Music and explore and then walk to the Movies and explore and then walk back to the Sports.

Participate in whatever you can but you cannot use any of the resorts' pools since you aren't staying there.

Visiting the other resorts is quite fun and a great way to spend a day.

 

[tobikaye]

At Fort Wilderness, you can walk around or rent a golf cart and tour the entire place. Except for the golf cart, all is free unless you need to pay to park to get to the Magic Kingdom.

Some things to do at FW that are not free, but might be fun:
Rent bicycles instead of a golf cart.
Pony rides for little ones.
Kayak or Canoe rentals.
Archery.

 

[grimley1968]

If it were me, I'd just pay the daily parking fee (you only have to pay it once per day no matter how many lots you use), and park at certain centrally located parks to get to some of the resorts.

As has been mentioned above, MK is the best place to be to get to the monorail resorts, WL and FW. You'll need to park at the TTC (and pay if that's your first parking lot of the day), from which you can go ahead and visit Poly by walking there or by getting on the resort monorail. From Poly you can walk or monorail over to GF. From GF you can boat or monorail to MK. At MK you can walk or monorail to CR, boat (or bus) to WL or boat to FW. If it were me, from MK I would go ahead and boat over to WL (it's a very nice ride). From WL I'd boat over to FW. From FW I'd boat over to CR. From CR ride the monorail back to the TTC.

Once you get your car at the TTC, drive over to DHS and park there. You've already paid to park so it's free the rest of the day. From there you can boat or walk to all the EPCOT area resorts (BC/YC, Boardwalk, Swan/Dolphin). Return to DHS and get your car.

Drive over to one of the Port Orleans resorts and park there. These lots aren't going to be filled so they should let you park there. I wouldn't drive to DtD right now, as I think they're still doing construction for a while there. From one of the Port Orleans resorts you can walk or boat over to the other one and you can boat over to DtD (long boat ride but much less hassle than driving to DtD).

Keep in mind this will take a long time, since you'll be waiting for boats, monorail trains, etc. I'd expect to spend as much time doing all this as I would spend in a park, especially if you spend much time in DtD.

 

[justmeinflorida]

thank you everyone for the great and oh so helpful advise. We really appreciate it

 

[justmeinflorida]

If it were me, I'd just pay the daily parking fee (you only have to pay it once per day no matter how many lots you use), and park at certain centrally located parks to get to some of the resorts.

As has been mentioned above, MK is the best place to be to get to the monorail resorts, WL and FW. You'll need to park at the TTC (and pay if that's your first parking lot of the day), from which you can go ahead and visit Poly by walking there or by getting on the resort monorail. From Poly you can walk or monorail over to GF. From GF you can boat or monorail to MK. At MK you can walk or monorail to CR, boat (or bus) to WL or boat to FW. If it were me, from MK I would go ahead and boat over to WL (it's a very nice ride). From WL I'd boat over to FW. From FW I'd boat over to CR. From CR ride the monorail back to the TTC.

Once you get your car at the TTC, drive over to DHS and park there. You've already paid to park so it's free the rest of the day. From there you can boat or walk to all the EPCOT area resorts (BC/YC, Boardwalk, Swan/Dolphin). Return to DHS and get your car.

Drive over to one of the Port Orleans resorts and park there. These lots aren't going to be filled so they should let you park there. I wouldn't drive to DtD right now, as I think they're still doing construction for a while there. From one of the Port Orleans resorts you can walk or boat over to the other one and you can boat over to DtD (long boat ride but much less hassle than driving to DtD).

Keep in mind this will take a long time, since you'll be waiting for boats, monorail trains, etc. I'd expect to spend as much time doing all this as I would spend in a park, especially if you spend much time in DtD.

I am printing this...your recommendations are awesome Do you think I could get this all accomplished from say 11:00am-7/8pm without spending anytime in DtD? I already have DtD planned another day.

 

[grimley1968]

I am printing this...your recommendations are awesome Do you think I could get this all accomplished from say 11:00am-7/8pm without spending anytime in DtD? I already have DtD planned another day.

If you don't do the DtD part of it, then yes, I think you could do it pretty easily. Even easier if you save the POR/POFQ visit (if you're wanting to see those resorts) for the day you go to DtD.

 

[justmeinflorida]

If you don't do the DtD part of it, then yes, I think you could do it pretty easily. Even easier if you save the POR/POFQ visit (if you're wanting to see those resorts) for the day you go to DtD.

thank you so much and thanks for the other great suggestion (I'll add to my DtD schedule)