Visiting Disney Resorts

[buzz242]

We have been to Florida many times but have never been to any of the Disney Hotels except the Yacht and Beach Club which we walked to from Epcot when we went for a Kitchen Sink at Beaches and Cream. Is it possible to walk around the resorts if you don't have a dining reservation and if so is it best to drive there or use the monorail/buses and boats.Which ones are the best to see,any advice would be great as I'm trying to convince DH that we need to stay onsite when we go next July so would be great to have a look at a few next month.

 

[tinks86]

We have been to Florida many times but have never been to any of the Disney Hotels except the Yacht and Beach Club which we walked to from Epcot when we went for a Kitchen Sink at Beaches and Cream. Is it possible to walk around the resorts if you don't have a dining reservation and if so is it best to drive there or use the monorail/buses and boats.Which ones are the best to see,any advice would be great as I'm trying to convince DH that we need to stay onsite when we go next July so would be great to have a look at a few next month.

Yes its easy to visit any of the disney resorts, you can park for free if you are visiting the resort which is normally the easiest way of getting to them! The Boardwalk area hotels are lovely to walk around, but we also loved Polynesian, Grand Floridian and Animal Kingdom Lodge all well worth a visit! There are a few bars etc in all the hotels so you can just sit and have a drink for a bit and have a look around the different shops

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

We have driven to resorts to take alook round - but if you plan on doing say the GF, Polnesian and CR in one go it might be worthwhile to park at MK & then take the monorail round those holtels - you could even add on the WL from there by taking the boat across (it also then goes on to FW if you have the time)

 

[wayneg]

As said free to visit any of the resorts, we do it more and more every trip. GF is worst by car IMO, its a long walk to the visitors car park. better parking elsewhere and getting the monorail. Boardwalk have street entertainment on weekend evenings. You can look around the shops, eat drink anywhere only thing you can't do is use the pools.

 

[Linda67]

We had a wonderful time visiting the resorts on our last trip

We took the boat from DTD to Port Orleans which was a nice way to visit and with the rest of the resorts we drove in and parked.

The security guard on the gate will stop you when you arrive but we always just told him/her that we were visiting from England and wanted to pop in for a drink and have a look round (we never had a problem)

They are obviously not happy for people to park there all day in order to avoid paying the parking charges at the parks but we were always visiting in the evenings so it was never an issue

Have fun

 

[Dimplenose]

We had a wonderful time visiting the resorts on our last trip

We took the boat from DTD to Port Orleans which was a nice way to visit and with the rest of the resorts we drove in and parked.

The security guard on the gate will stop you when you arrive but we always just told him/her that we were visiting from England and wanted to pop in for a drink and have a look round (we never had a problem)

I agree the boat trip to PO was one of the highlights of our trip last year.

We've also taken the boat from MK to Fort Wilderness.

Monorail from MK to Polynesian and then walked to our car at the TTC afterwards.

If you are driving then remember to take some photo ID with you. Even though we were staying at ASMu and had a Disney parking pass on show we were asked for ID when entering a different resort.

 

[buzz242]

Thanks so much everyone for your help, I can't wait to go now