I still can't believe I'm fortunate to be going on my first trip as a DVC owner! I also can't believe that I'm 21 and staying at the grand floridian!!!!!! I'm over the top excited and can't believe I'll be in Disney world for Halloween fun in just two days!!!! I'm really excited to try my home resort, SSR, of course! Any tips on things to do, see, etc while at the resort?
First off CONGRATS! If I had the chance to visit Disney regularly at 21 I would have been overjoyed.
I still pinch myself now and again though I'm several years older and have visited for several years now. October is my favorite time to go too. It's my birthday (today by the way); I get to wear a Halloween costume and go trick-or-treating like I was a kid again; I can go over to EPCOT and sample exotic foods with F&W; and at SSR I can (st)roll over to DTD for some shopping and nightlife (if only I hung out with 21 yr olds who liked clubbing, after 30 adults get very boring).
Tips at SSR?
1) One morning get up with the birds. Stroll over to Artist's Palette wth your refillable mug and fill up with coffee or hot chocolate. (The mornings can get a bit nippy.) It doesn't matter how dressed up you are. Just take that cuppa and go for a stroll around the resort. (There's the Congress Park loop where you can see the lake at it's calmest before everyone hits DTD. The Paddocks loop where you get to see the biggest inner resort waterways. Lots of ducks, swans and critters are up and about then. The Carousel/Grandstand loop is where you can walk through the golf course fields, looking like horse paddocks there, and make your way back around by the GS pool.)
Whatever loop you do, head back to Artist's Pallette at the end. Grab some hot breakfast, a cool drink (by 8-9 it starts getting warm), and go eat by the pool or on your room balcony. Watch the resort come alive as people head to the busses.
Best done between 7-10am.
2) If you're a shopper, walk over to DTD for a hot breakfast sandwich at Earl of Sandwich and crowdless shopping in Marketplace. Best done before 11am. By 11am (when the ferries start running), Marketplace crowds form. Hop on the ferry for a ride back to the Carriage House.
3) If you feel like strutting your 21 y.o. wild side, plan an evening at West Side and Pleasure Island. Ferry over to DTD for an early dinner (before 8pm most restaurants are walk-ins, after 9pm they have live bands). Enjoy a specialty drink (now that you're 21 you can legally do this) with your meal. Then walk around Pleasure Island. Use your Plus ticket for entry to all the clubs. There's dancing, comedy and at the Adventurer's Club there's a bit of surrealistic fantasy as you become a guest of a 1930's speakeasy. Stay out as late as you want. The ferries stop running at 11:30pm-midnight, but you can walk home via Congress Park (just make sure you have a friend with you for extra safety sake). Oh and beware the pathways can look different after dark so have a resort map handy in case you get disoriented. The lights of DTD look spectacular glittering on the lake at night.
4) When you find yourself in the park and it gets hot and/or crowded around noontime, hop a bus back to SSR. Go for a few turns down High Rock Springs waterslide and relax with all your fellow owners. No matter what, they tend to find their way over by 3-4pm.
If you're looking for more private time at the pool, pick the Grandstand or Paddocks' pools. Mid-day they are near dead. (Carry your bathing suit in your day backpack and you can just hop off the bus by the nearest pool and change in the bathroom.)
5) For the day you visit Magic Kingdom for the Halloween party, if you have an AP go in early (around the time of the afternoon parade) in your costume. Go get a personal pumpkin pie at the Main Street Bakery, a drink and sit just outside to see the parade pass you by. People will be having a hard time deciding which is the more interesting sight: the parade floats or the costumed adult munching away in the corner. (My dad and I had the best time doing this our first year, both of us dressed as pirates. I think folks worried we might be pillaging early.)
6) There are a lot of other tips for daily use of SSR. Just read through this thread and you'll find them. One thing I'd absolutely do is ask for an extra resort map at check-in. It'll take a few trips around the resort by foot before you know where you are going.
SOLO!! OMG...no kids or DH what will I do?????
. Our hearts belong to VWL (we're groupies, what can I say???) but I love that there are such great choices with DVC.
