Villa but no theme parks

[rhax07]

I am looking to see if anyone has every stayed at a DVC villa but didnt go to ANY theme park in orlando. My family and I are thinking about going but instead of doing the parks we would enjoy other stuff that WDW has to offer. Anyone every do this? or am I crazy.
If so what all did you do?
Thanks!!

 

[bwvBound]

My list from a prior brainstorming session on similar question:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2143638

 

[a742246]

http://www.mousesavers.com/free-and-cheap-stuff-to-do-at-walt-disney-world/

Check this site out!

 

[luckyman_apd]

I am looking to see if anyone has every stayed at a DVC villa but didnt go to ANY theme park in orlando. My family and I are thinking about going but instead of doing the parks we would enjoy other stuff that WDW has to offer. Anyone every do this? or am I crazy.
If so what all did you do?
Thanks!!

Me, wife, and two kids 3 & 7 are going Thursday and Friday night Easter weekend. We are cruising out of Miami for the week and decided to go down early and spend two nights. It was a last minute decision. We originally planned just Friday night, as the only open studio we could find (after stalking the website) was OKW. It turned into two nights a studio at jambo opened up for Thursday. So we plan to eat at DTD, hang by the pool, and I'm going to rent a boat on the seven seas lagoon with my daughter.

We always look for a relaxing disney vacation but we always over do it. No park tickets this time as we won't be there more than 36 hours before driving down to Miami.

 

[pharmlivin]

must preface by saying we are older, no small children with us when we did it. Stayed a few nights at OKW once, also a couple of nights at both Kidani and VWL-enjoyed the resorts, pools, restaurants, did DTD and took some boat rides around the World. Had a fun, relaxing time - again, no young ones with us so not sure how it would go over-but we loved all the resort and pool time.

 

[hopare]

We stayed 2 nights at OKW with our children when they were 10, 7, and 5. We swam in the pool, did chef Mickeys and rode the monorail. They said it was " torture" not being able to go into the parks. They got over it quickly when we pulled up to the Terminal and boarded the Disney Dream

 

[Greatfalls]

My wife and I are going down in a couple of weeks for some Spring Training baseball and a nice dinner. The whole family (2 tweens) is going for 2 nights pre-cruise in August, and we aren't planning to do any parks. Just the pool (SAB) and maybe a day at Blizzard Beach.

 

[amym2]

We didn't quite do a no parks trip, but we didn't do any of the 4 theme parks. We did spend a day at Legoland and a day at Typhoon Lagoon, but the other 4 days we just enjoyed the DVC amenities, since this was our first trip as DVC owners.

We stayed two nights at OKW. The day we arrived we walked around a bit, roasted marshmallows at the nightly campfire, then had dinner at Olivia's. The next day we spent the day at the pool. We never take time for that and it was SO much fun! We did a trivia game, the "ice cream drop," and the treasure hunt by the pool. We won the treasure hunt and won all sorts of things, from a stuffed lion, to arcade cards, to a lanyard with pins. So we spent some time in the arcade, which was another thing we never take time to do.

The next day we moved over to the THV, so we had breakfast at Olivia's and then went to Winter Summerland mini-golf. We played the winter course and had so much fun. We were at THV four days and one of the days we spent some time at DTD. Another day we swam at both the High Rocks Springs and Paddock pools.

We love to look at the resorts, so throughout our trip, we'd take time to visit resorts we hadn't been to before. We rode surrey bikes at POR. We hung out in the community hall at the Boardwalk. We walked through CBR and reminisced and showed the kids where we stayed for our honeymoon 15 years ago. We checked out BLT and had drinks at the Top of the World lounge before dinner at the Cali Grill. We ate lunch at Beaches and Cream at BC. We enjoyed hanging out at our THV.

Our kids (10 and 8 at the time) weren't sad not to be going into the parks. But then we had just done all the parks the year before. We even took the bus to DHS and then the boat to the BC, and no one (well maybe I did) even felt a tug to go into DHS. I was surprised!

One suggestion would be that if you are going to do it, have a car. We couldn't have done half the stuff we did if we hadn't had one. We also went to Celebration for dinner one night. And we ate off-property a couple of times.

It was a fabulous vacation! Of course now we have our sights set on the parks in 2014 (we're using our points to go to Aulani this year) and by then we will all be itching to have our typical WDW go, go, go vacation!

 

[Brian Noble]

We did a week one summer with a water park + disneyquest annual pass. It's about $125 per person, and that gave us plenty of time to explore all three plus visit several resorts for a nice meal and exploration

 

[Barbydoll8]

YES! My DH and I have done this several times. Granted, we are local (about an hour away) and go for weekend trips often. Last year we stayed at FWL and stayed away from the parks. We walked the trails, went into the camp ground and walked around, rented a canoe, went on a wagon ride at night.

Previously to that we stayed just for 2 days at the BCV. We swam in the quiet pool, got in the hot tub. Hung out on the board walk, walked over to the S&D at night to check them out and watched Epcot's fireworks from the bridge near ESPN.

We just were there 3 weeks ago for 1 night at SSR. We walked to DTD and hung out there. Viewed Aulani at the DVC center (and got some coffee and free cookies!) and we also went to the community center.

Lots to do w/o parks. Have fun.

 

[6disneykids]

In June 2011, or family spent 9 nights staying at a 2 BR villa @ SSR, we only had ONE park day. We went swimming, took the boat to DTD, ate at a lot of resorts, played at 3 different Community Halls, slept in many days. It was very relaxing. One day we took the bus to the Magic Kingdom, got on the monorail and rode it around 3 times.

My kids, (I have 6) had a great time, no complaints about not going into the parks. In fact my older 2 sons (then 13 & 11), said they had the most fun on this vacation than on the ones that were more "park centered"

One of the many joys to DVC membership is being able to enjoy the resorts and the many amenities they offer.

 

[okw2012]

In order to be able to afford going back sooner than later to OKW, our kids actually came to us with this idea of staying at the resort and eating all the time at the villa, and only do the water parks and DisneyQuest!

 

[palhockeymomof2]

My husband and I are doing this for the first time in April staying 2 nights at AKV prior to our cruise

 

[BEASLYBOO]

Being Floridians we've done Disney, 60+ times since 1971 so we frequently go for a few days just to enjoy the resort and the Orlando area & skip the parks altogether!

1. If you have a car, a shopping excursion to the Florida Mall and/or outlet Malls.
2. If you like movies, taking in a movie and lunch/dinner at the Dine In Theater in DTD. We like to end a waterpark day with dinner and a movie!
3. From OKW we head to DTD by boat for dinner and or dessert at Gihrardelli's.
4. From OKW, you can rent paddle boats, pontoon boats, or speed racers and navigate the waters to DTD!
5. Golf, tennis, shuffleboard, basketball!
6. Spa, get a massage, mani/pedi!
7. Take a bus to the BW & walk around or rent bicycles, then have lunch or dinner at: Yachtsmen, Bluezoo, Il Mulino, etc.
8. Explore some of Orlando's restaurants!
9. Go for a drink and fireworks at the BLT Top of the World lounge, we did it in Nov!
10. Reserve an Illumination Cruise, they give you snack and water or you can order dessert, dinner, champagne as part of it! Our family loved it!

 

[islandtimect]

Being Floridians we've done Disney, 60+ times since 1971 so we frequently go for a few days just to enjoy the resort and the Orlando area & skip the parks altogether!

1. If you have a car, a shopping excursion to the Florida Mall and/or outlet Malls.
2. If you like movies, taking in a movie and lunch/dinner at the Dine In Theater in DTD. We like to end a waterpark day with dinner and a movie!

We've never done the dine in theater and that sounds cool. Do waiters come and go throughout the movie? I wouldn't want them being a distraction.

OP - yes, we've done a few no theme park trips and had a wonderful time. But they've only been 2 or 3 night stays.

 

[TosaTrio]

We took a 5 night no park trip two years ago. It was great! We stayed at AKV and loved it. We swam everyday and pool hopped. We used community hall and really took advantage of the resort. We went shopping off site, played mini golf and just overall relaxed. By day 5 we were sort of itching for Epcot but managed to forgo.

 

[Tink-n-Belle]

Last year we went for 9 days and only did Epcot. But we have been going for years and we just wanted to take a break from the parks.



We rented the sea racer boats one day from the BLT which was a blast. I loved cruising around Bay Lake in front of the MK, It was cool viewing it from the water. We also rented bikes at the BW and rode along the boardwalk and up to the entrance of DHS. Also you can now go to the BLT's TOp of the world lounge and watch the fireworks at MK or watch the fireworks from the bridge at The BW. The BW also has a community hall that has video games, ping pong, air hockey and crafts. THe BLT does too.

There is so much to see that you won't get bored. And if you do go to the waterparks and Disneyquest".......Have a few really nice dinners,... go shopping at DTD or the outlet mall.....go pool hopping and check out the other resorts....play mini golf .....or go to the other parks. We just did SW for the first time and loved it.

 

[sandieb]

My husband and I went for 7 nights last year - I did need to spend a couple hours one afternoon at a conference, but otherwise we had a pretty fun non-park stay. First of all we decided to try out some of the resorts we had never stayed at - 3 nights Saratoga Springs, 2 nights Bay Lake, and 2 nights Boardwalk Villas. While I don't think I will resort hop again, it wasn't too awful, and we loved seeing the other resorts inside out. (We did rent a car to make it easier).

We lounged quite a bit, but also did some other fun things:
* We to Kennedy Space Center for a day (AWESOME - we were there the day before the Discovery was flown to DC)
* Toured the Harry P Leu Gardens
* Went to the movies
* Did a little shopping - went to a bookstore
* Did the Gospel Brunch at the House of Blues
* Went to church on Sunday
* Rode the boats from Saratoga Springs to Downtown Disney and FW to MK and back
* Went out to lunch at Fort Wilderness - Trails End and walked around a couple loops of the campground enjoying the sights
* Had ice cream at Downtown Disney
* Went out to dinner at Olivia's at Old Key West twice - loved this meal

Enjoy your stay! Be creative!

 

[GOOFY26]

My sister does this all the time she enjoys the resort and visit other hotels and goes to Downtown Disney she never goes into the parks.

 

[dwelty]

We have done a 5 day trip with a visit to 1 park only. We could have easily skipped that day and done no parks. We have 3 kids 22,9, and 6. If you plan on doing this Without a car I would strongly recommend staying at SSR or OKW. The proximity of all of the entertainment options at Downtown Disney by boat make these resorts ideal for no park trips.