Two days without tickets. What to do?

[stargazertechie]

Thank you for the continued good ideas! As of right now, I am banking--hoping--that we can pick up the tickets early and head to a park for the second day. The first day, however, I think we'll do some of these ideas and just relax a little. I know we're going to be fairly exhausted: Our flight got bumped to first-thing-in-the-morning time, and we're going to be getting up in the middle of the night to get to the airport.

Any option for a hotel stay the night before? I had always done the "get up in the middle of the night" routine until my last trip.

It makes it SO much better when you just have to be awake 2.5 hours before your flight instead of 3-6 to get up and drive

 

[teentoddlermom]

How much more would it be to just add the days to the tickets? Isn't it only a couple of dollars per ticket?

 

[kimmar067]

....I love to spend the day at DTD - that's certainly free, but if you don't mind, perhaps playing a round of mini-golf at one of the mini-colf courses? Or, try out the new bowling alleys at DTD that are near Cirque....

 

[thisismyusername]

How much more would it be to just add the days to the tickets? Isn't it only a couple of dollars per ticket?

Adding another day onto the ticket really isn't an issue as it's only $48 for all of us--it's whether we'll be allowed to pick up our tickets early. Our tickets are tied to our hotel stay/dining plan which begins 2 days after our plane arrives. Right now, we'd be allowed to pick up the tickets early at guest relations at DTD, but when the magic bands are implemented presumably later this spring, Disney may change the policy and not allow us to pick up the tickets early. (While we could just add these two days onto our existing hotel/dining package, we don't really want to--it would add another $1250 onto our trip...)

I had no idea about the archery experience--the kids just watched Brave last night, and I think they would really dig that. Thanks!

Does anyone know with the bike rentals if they have any with training wheels?

And is it possible to check out some DVC rooms? I know there's sometimes sample rooms open (like the one on Boardwalk) and the ones they have available at the sales center over in SSR, but we'd be really interested in checking out both 1-bedroom and 2-bedroom rooms at OKW, BLT, BCV and THV as we're considering a resale contract. If we weren't planning to do resale, I'd contact the sales agent that helped us last year when we went through the presentation and tour, but since I don't think we'll be buying through Disney, I'm not sure how helpful they'll be.

 

[thisismyusername]

Any option for a hotel stay the night before? I had always done the "get up in the middle of the night" routine until my last trip.

It makes it SO much better when you just have to be awake 2.5 hours before your flight instead of 3-6 to get up and drive

We might do that. We're only an hour from the airport--tops--and the day before is my daughter's birthday. She may not want to leave the house on her birthday night and celebrate at a cheap hotel. I think we'll probably wind up just sucking up the extra hour and leaving early. At least it's to go to Disney--doing the same to come home would be a heckuva lot harder!

 

[DizDaD7]

1st off I definitely wouldn't stay offsite for the 1st 2 days like a pp stated...1 of the perks about staying onsite in Magical Express... Worry free about getting to and from is Awesome...If she stayed in US/IOA hotels this would negate this plus she would have to rent a cab or car to get to WDW from there.

If you can add them on add them.
If not try taking the DVC tour. It's about an hour or 2 but you'll get to see the mock up rooms they'll take care of the kids ( if you have them) playing video games and arts n crafts n stuff. plus you'll get some yummy ice cream for free, & what we got was instant fass pases for the rest of our trip....Nice bonus.. You can resort hop , which is always fun..Especially the ones around the monorail then hop over to the BW resorts and check out what they have to offer.

Try DTD for a bit & take the boatride over to SSR & heasd up the river to POFQ & POR.

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

We like taking boats out at the Yacht Club. We're also considering for our next trip going to do some parasailing on Bay Lake, horseback riding at Ft. Wilderness, stuff like that.

 

[Karlzmom]

Non-Park days = mini-golf for us! We will even do one course before lunch and then the other after. Seems like there might even be a small discount for more than one round in a day?

We have also gone on "adventures" to various resorts with a particular goal in mind...the magic cookie bar at POR, or Zebra domes at AKL. Maybe do some research into the "unique" offerings at the different resorts and then plan a quest to get them? My DS always asks what the new "quest" is! Its really kind of silly, but it is all in the presentation....

 

[DisneyRunner2009]

Port Orleans is my family's favorite resort. You will be able to use the pool and other amenities at POFQ. I believe POR offers these pirate cruises, also. I don't know how much they cost or your childrens ages, it's just an idea.
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/events-tours/pirate-adventure-cruises/
There are activities by the main pool, a campfire and movies daily. These activities are free. Here is an example of the information you will receive at checkin.
http://portorleans.org/recreation-activites-schedule.php
My family has also taken the boat from MK to Fort Wilderness just to look at the horse stable, free. The stable is just a short walk from the boat launch. The pony rides are also, located here. We like to go to Poly and eat at Captain Cook's. At 9pm the electric water pagent starts. It can be watched from the beach or dock. Watching animals at AK is something we do. Mara, the counter service restaurant, is a must do for us. As mentioned, the zebra domes are a must have for me.

 

[thisismyusername]

This afternoon, I was invited to stay with friends at Disney later this year, so now I'm planning to change my ticket (just mine--not my whole family's) to an AP and getting the TIW card. Perhaps it just makes sense at this point to ditch the dining plan (I already did the math--the savings would be higher with the TIW card vs. the dining plan) and add the tickets onto the first two days of the reservation at POR and convert the original reservation to a room-only... Do you think that makes the most sense rather than get possibly stuck without tickets for 2 days?

 

[DizDaD7]

This afternoon, I was invited to stay with friends at Disney later this year, so now I'm planning to change my ticket (just mine--not my whole family's) to an AP and getting the TIW card. Perhaps it just makes sense at this point to ditch the dining plan (I already did the math--the savings would be higher with the TIW card vs. the dining plan) and add the tickets onto the first two days of the reservation at POR and convert the original reservation to a room-only... Do you think that makes the most sense rather than get possibly stuck without tickets for 2 days?

Good move....We did the same thing this past August & I was skeptical, but it just makes sense...

Eat or drink what u want when u want...BOOM 20% off.
I was down there for 11 nights though plus I'm returning this april so it really made sense in my case...Not sure how long you're going for though?

 

[thisismyusername]

Good move....We did the same thing this past August & I was skeptical, but it just makes sense...

Eat or drink what u want when u want...BOOM 20% off.
I was down there for 11 nights though plus I'm returning this april so it really made sense in my case...Not sure how long you're going for though?

11 days/10 nights for us and a return for four days later this year. The AP makes sense. I just hope my TA doesn't strangle me.

 

[lovesdumbo]

This afternoon, I was invited to stay with friends at Disney later this year, so now I'm planning to change my ticket (just mine--not my whole family's) to an AP and getting the TIW card. Perhaps it just makes sense at this point to ditch the dining plan (I already did the math--the savings would be higher with the TIW card vs. the dining plan) and add the tickets onto the first two days of the reservation at POR and convert the original reservation to a room-only... Do you think that makes the most sense rather than get possibly stuck without tickets for 2 days?

I much prefer using TiW card vs DDP. I like ordering exactly what I want rather than what DDP covers. I think you'll be able to use TiW card at POR food court. It is good at POFQ because they don't have a TS but folks have often reported being able to use it at POR too.

Will you buy a premium AP so you can go to water parks?

 

[mmmears]

You can pick up your tickets up to 3 days in advance of the package start date- so you *could* add two park days and do parks.

Likewise you could pick up your tickets early and do the waterparks and DisneyQuest

We've done this before and it worked great. Adding a couple of days onto tickets generally doesn't cost too much. Although the waterpark idea is great, too!

 

[Shaden]

11 days/10 nights for us and a return for four days later this year. The AP makes sense. I just hope my TA doesn't strangle me.

Love the user name And we are thinking of doing the same, have a 13 day already booked for may, with 10 day hoppers, which means 3 no park days, thinking maybe just switch to APs, and book a BB while we are there.

We were going to wait to do a Chrismas trip 2014 ... obv at Rack rate like Dec 27 - Jan 7 or something ... ugh this is tough. If we do the BB on APs we wont go again in Dec ...

 

[I Love Pluto]

Switch to AP's. You will thank yourself over & over again.

Then you'll get hooked on AP's & want one every year.

Then you'll realize the savings you will get in the resort room price because you have an AP.

Then you will be able to go twice a year!

 

[Shaden]

Switch to AP's. You will thank yourself over & over again.

Then you'll get hooked on AP's & want one every year.

Then you'll realize the savings you will get in the resort room price because you have an AP.

Then you will be able to go twice a year!

Buahahaha love it ....

 

[thisismyusername]

Will you buy a premium AP so you can go to water parks?

Ugh. That's the question, right? It's a $125 upgrade to PAP; admission for one adult to the water park is $52, so I'd have to go to the water park 2.5 times for it to pay for itself.... Right now, I'm thinking it might be prudent to just pay for my admission separately and if the kids decide they like the water parks a lot and want to go back to them a lot, upgrade the AP to a PAP? Is that possible? Or, is it possible *before I leave the water park* to apply that day's admission to a water park AP (which is actually cheaper than a PAP)?

 

[thisismyusername]

Switch to AP's. You will thank yourself over & over again.

Then you'll get hooked on AP's & want one every year.

Then you'll realize the savings you will get in the resort room price because you have an AP.

Then you will be able to go twice a year!

Ha! I don't need to be tempted to go twice a year!

 

[DizDaD7]

Hahaha AP's = More n More trips..LoL

If I wasn't trying to go to Disneyland next year I would've bought PAP's before Dec. 31 last yr. but knowing that I'm going to be there in 7 weeks and not having to pay for park passes is a plus....I'll just have to do it all over again in Nov. 2014 and return again in 2015 to keep making it worth it.. Hopefully they run a similar type deal for DVC owners like the one they just ran..