What do you do away from the parks?

[topiney]

We went orange picking when we were there last November. We are from PA, so this was exciting for our grandkids. They filled up 5 bags of oranges in no time and we had to tell them to stop so we had room to get the oranges home. The place we went to was Showcase of Citrus and they also had 4 x 4 rides (for a charge), a petting zoo, and few playground items for the kids to stretch their legs. It isn't Disney but for us it was a nice change of pace. We also went to a zoo on day over in the Melbourne area. This zoo had some additionally purchased adventures, such as a short kayak trip, lemur adventures, giraffe feedings etc. We spent the day and really enjoyed our time here. They also had a zipline type adventure which looked kind of cool but outside my comfort zone!

 

[Disney Khaleesi]

I'm a big space nerd so Kennedy is a favorite spot of mine, besides Universal.

I've heard good things about Discovery Cove, though it can be pricey.

Also there's a Medieval Times not terribly far.

 

[YawningDodo]

Do you recall the price or could direct us to the link with pricing info?
Thank you for the poly ideas! I forgot traders Sam. Do they require reservations?

Trader Sam's doesn't take reservations, but it's very small -- capacity is something like 50 people and I don't know how they'd fit even that many. When we went on a weekday evening off-peak we were able to go right in, though we shared a table with strangers. If it's full up, they'll put you on a waitlist and give you a beeper to tell you when to come back, and my understanding is that there's another bar in the same building where you can wait.

As for the boats, I really don't have specifics -- the only time I rented a boat was back in 2006, and I just showed up at the Poly's dock, read the prices off the board, and went from there. You could try the webpages for the monorail resorts (possibly also FW?) to see if it's listed under activities; I'd pull one up for you but WDW's site bogs down my laptop something fierce.

 

[TeamSy]

We stay off property a lot after our trip to relax. We pick a hotel with great service, pool, spa, etc, and do nothing. The parks can be exhausting so this is crutial for us in order for it to still feel like a vacation!