What does Your family do on Non Park days?

[ocalla]

We will be there for Thanksgiving week, and will spend the Saturday before thru Thanksgiving day in the parks, then plan on doing other things on the Friday after and Saturday.

Thought about just resort "hopping", maybe Downtown Disney, but what other fun things does your family do?

It will be myself, DH, DD15 and DD10.

Thanks for your help.

 

[mousescrapper]

my diz kids are younger but your DD 10 could participate in one of the kid adventures at the GF, there are 3 options cooking, tea, or pirate adventure. If you don't mind splitting up and allowing your kids to have some of their own Disney magic. they last about 1 to 2 hours and include a light lunch. We did the tea for my DD then 6 and plan on doing the cooking and pirate adventure (for DS) next June. (she'll be 9)

Mini golf is always a good option if it's open that week. Or since your kids are older they make like Disney Quest or splurge and go see Cirque de Solie (sorry on spelling)

I usually do laundry on the rest day.

If you go resort hopping go to ones that have fun extras like horse drawn carriage rides at the POR or take the boat from there to Downtown Disney.

Keep in mind unless you have a car, to resort hop you have to go to a theme park first then take another bus.

Have FUN!

 

[Beth E. (NJ)]

We've gone swimming at our resort. We've played mini golf at Winter/summerland. We've gone off site and gone shopping. We've resort hopped to visit the other resorts and see what they look like.

 

[las3888]

We like to go shopping at DTD plus we often make it to the Character Warehouse (I'm not sure if that's the official name). It is a discount Disney store in one of the nearby malls.

 

[Amirah95]

My DD11 is a pool nut so we hang out at the pool during the morning and early afternoon. Then later on we head to DTD to shop and eat (sometimes TS and sometimes not). That's about it. Resort hopping is cool too though we have yet to do that.

 

[t-beri]

We have dinner at the Kona Cafe (Poly) then watch the electric light parade and fireworks on the beach.
Or go to the campground, check out the petting zoo rent bikes and ride around then go to the campfire.

...t.

 

[minniebeth]

There is so much to do, you could be as busy as you are in the parks.
We usually need a day just to chill and relax by the pool if the weather is nice.
We've also done the water mice at both the Boardwalk area and in Bay Lake from where the Wilderness Lodge is. As my kids got older, they LOVED this.
You can do the surry bikes too at these areas. You can hang out at the Boardwalk, it really comes alive at night and you can see a lot of EPCOT's fireworks from there.
We resort hop and ususally do a meal at one of them, like 'Ohana at the Polynesian or Boma at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. You can do a dinner show like the Luau at the Poly or The Hoop De Doo Revue.
Character meals are always fun, even our older family members like them.
Of course we love to shop at DTD. We've done Blizzard Beach and had fun, even in Jan. when the weather wasn't as warm. The water was a little cool, but we had no lines. I'd take that trade any day.
We look forward to doing Disney Quest sometime in the future and would love to do Cirque du Soleil sometime (pricey, yikes).
Mini golf at WinterSummerland was a lot of fun too.
We have family in the area as well, so we visit with them too. We've been to Celebration with them for dinner. That is a quaint little get away!
I'm sure there is so much more that people will post as well.
Have fun!

 

[lgncd]

we are doing Chef Mickey's breakfast one day then going to downtown and rent a pontoon boat at the marina and spend the afternoon shopping around. another day we are spending at clearwater beach. between Magic Kingdom, Typhoon Lagoon, SeaWorld, the beach and my sil wedding we have a pretty full schedule which is good so hopefully I wont miss going to the other parks Oh the idea of bikes on boardwalk is fun too!

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

We like to rent the sea raycers (water mice) at CBR. Its pretty cheap and we have a lot of fun. We also resort hop, shop and do mini golf.

 

[all4fun]

This site also might have some more ideas for you

"Beyond the parks"
http://www.allearsnet.com/btp/beyond.htm

hth

 

[isla bonita]

Swim, swim and more swim.

 

[debbiet1]

shopping? off resort.. *perk* lol can someone tell me how to get to the malls off disney

 

[ocalla]

Boy you guys really have some great ideas!!! Being from the south, I am not sure if it will be warm enough for us to swim, if it does turn out to be hot while there I am sure my kids will choose to do this part of the day.

Are you talking about the light parade on the Lake? Oh my gosh, I forgot that they used to do that!!! We always said we would try and see it on one of our trips.

I know DD15 would love the Water Mice, but again I worry about being a little too cool for our "thin skin". (heck 70 is cold for me)

Can you see any of the animals from the lobby at Animal Kingdom? and what about the two restaurants they have, which one is the most family friendly (I know all Disney restaurants are family friendly, but.....)

We will have a car, but I wasn't sure if they would let us drive around and park at the resorts?

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

Can you see any of the animals from the lobby at Animal Kingdom? and what about the two restaurants they have, which one is the most family friendly (I know all Disney restaurants are family friendly, but.....)

Not really. You can walk out the back of the lodge past the pool though and try to see some. As far as Boma vs. Jiko, I would pick Boma for being the most family friendly (although just about every Disney resort restaurant is). We have a ritual of eating at Boma our last day in Disney-because the kids would never let us live it down if we didn't. Awesome buffet...something for everyone, so nobody goes away hungry or unhappy. Great atmostphere and very friendly servers.

We will have a car, but I wasn't sure if they would let us drive around and park at the resorts?

We do this all the time. Yes, they will allow you to park at the resorts. Just tell them that you are there to look around (or have a meal if that is the case). We spend at least one day resort hopping on our vacations and never encountered an issue yet. Having a car at your disposal makes it all so easy-not sure how we managed before!

Have fun!

 

[Doc CW]

We head over to DTD and spend the day shopping and doing other stuff, then we go back to the resort and go swimming.

 

[t-beri]

Boy you guys really have some great ideas!!! Being from the south, I am not sure if it will be warm enough for us to swim, if it does turn out to be hot while there I am sure my kids will choose to do this part of the day.

Are you talking about the light parade on the Lake? Oh my gosh, I forgot that they used to do that!!! We always said we would try and see it on one of our trips.

I know DD15 would love the Water Mice, but again I worry about being a little too cool for our "thin skin". (heck 70 is cold for me)

We will have a car, but I wasn't sure if they would let us drive around and park at the resorts?

1. yes the light parade on the lake. It's free and cool and from the poly beach you have a great view of MK's fireworks shortly after.
2. I live in west central FL. and we eat Thanksgiving dinner on the back porch most years. Take some hoodies, it' not tanktop weather but you'll live- this from a girl who prefers her A/C set to 80 degrees.
3. The campfire is ALSO free. roast smores, chip-n-dale sing along and a movie- it's win win win. of course it's also outside Plus the campers there usually go all out for holidays so you're likely to see some cool giant turkeys blown up by thecampers and decked out golf carts-it's fun!

another thing we like to do is take a bus to-oh say the magic kingdom and (this is our family's favorite route, others are possible) take the boat to the poly for lunch (we LOVE the Kona Cafe-we eat there at least once every trip and sometimes shuttle over there just on a whim from home!!!) then take the monorail getting out at the GF and Contemporary to *gasp* pin trade (a family addiction) you could just check out the gardens or gift shops, whatever floats your family's boat....anywho at the cont. we go depart the monorail (only place left is Epcot and back to the poly) go downstairs out the back to the BOAT to the wilderness lodge (you could just as easily go to the camp ground and check out the petting zoo or horseback riding etc..) where we trade even more pins (DS9 thinks the WL lobby pin cart has the BEST trading board) then we get back on the boat to MK this time and catch a bus home. It's mostly free (ya gotta eat, right) except that DH and DS will inevitably have used all their traiding pins and mine (if I let them) and I will probably have to buy a few along the way when they spot something on a lanyard they can't live without. They're kinda dramatic

...t.

 

[debbiet1]

lol I can see it now.. we'll be in the pool in December and everyone will point and say.. they MUST be from Canada

 

[ocalla]

I have done that!!!! We visited close to Christmas one year, and were bundled up from foot to nose, and what do we see...............a family exiting the lobby in bathing suits with towels over their shoulders heading for a swim!!!

My jaw dropped, they just smiled and kept going. I don't know how they did it.

Love the idea about the campfire, and have been reading so much about Kona, I think we will have to give it a try. Of course who could get tired of cruising around on the monorail, GREAT VIEWS.......

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

lol I can see it now.. we'll be in the pool in December and everyone will point and say.. they MUST be from Canada

We've gone swimming in December when visiting Disney. I guess our blood is just much thicker up north!

I only wish I had that thin southern blood...we look at people in the parks when its 90 out and they are not sweating...we know they are southerners.

 

[ocalla]

It doesn't take long to get it either!!! My dad is from Illinois, and now he is worse than I am about the cold.

My sister just moved to North Carolina, and I am anxious to see how she likes the winter this year.