What else to do to beyond the parks?

[disneyfan2kids]

Thinking of planning a trip for next year, but would like to not buy park tickets. (We've already been several times this year, and would like to "force" ourselves to see other things beyond parks....and delay purchasing AP until following year)

Questions:

1. What are some good "non-park" things I'm missing beyond: HDDR, FW campfire, Minigolf, BW performers, Sea World (not interested in Universal at this point), Luau @ Poly, DTD, DisneyQuest. I will have a 6yo and a 3yo so keep that in mind.

2. Any chance of a PPP at MK during June of next year? (Hoping we could purchase tix and at least see MK this way.)

3. HOW ON EARTH do you tell your little ones that your not going to parks and get them to agree. I foresee alot of "pllllleeeease can't we go to MK/Ep/MGM/AK?????"

All help is appreciated!

 

[PEANUT1]

I give you for trying....but seriously. If you are going to stay onsite, it is going to be really hard to stop your kids (especially a 6 yr old), from whining about not going to see MK and the rides. I can't even imagine trying this. Do yo have a timeshare and you want to use the points? if not, why not try something else or maybe do the disney cruise. Good luck to you.

 

[dianeschlicht]

I'm with the kids!! I would have a VERY difficult time not doing parks on a DVC/WDW trip. If you are trying to cut costs, why not get a shorter number of days on an expiring ticket? Then buy your AP later as you planned. Maybe all of you would be happy with just a couple days of park time if you intersperse it with the other activities. Just remember that Sea World, Universal etc. all cost entry money too, so we usually figure our park passes are a good value. We always get APs.

 

[ChelleinNC]

I am gathering from your post that it is not simply a money issue regarding tickets as much as a desire for something else to try. I understand this completely. We have been making regular trips for several years, and gotten into the habit of making "park" trips and "resort" trips. IMHO, WDW is a premier vacation resort even without the parks.

Among things to do (forgive me if I repeat things you have already mentioned):
1. Anyone play golf? (good for the grown ups)
2. MiniGolf
3. Hang at the pool. Let the kids swim and have drinks with little umbrellas
4. Send the kids to one of the kids clubs for the night and have a nice dinner out without children
5. Water sports- rent a water mouse (or whatever they are called these days). Do this at one of the MK resorts, the seven seas lagoon and Bay Lake are the best spot.
6. Playgrounds at the resort
7. Community Hall at the resort. Check the newsletter at the resort for what is going on that week.
8. Horseback riding at FW
9. Petting zoo at FW
10. If in the spring, go see a spring training baseball game at Wide World of Sports.
11. Ride the monorail. Ride the boats.
12. Rent a surrey bike
13. Hidden Mickey hunts at the resorts. I know WL has a list, I don't know about the others. When we stayed at WL a few years back, my then 9yo and 4yo stayed occupied on and off with this for days.

Also, explore off site a little. Take a look at some of the silly stuff to do on I-Drive.

My kids are older (13 and 10), so we tend to open up a little more on the sports activities side (tennis, golf, etc). Admittedly though, we usually have our APs, so we don't generally go the entire trip without going to the park. That said, I draw a pretty hard line on taking some trips in which we don't go all out at the parks. We slow down and relax and try to enjoy the resort as a whole.

As for the kids whining, you will probably get some. The trick is to have substitutes for them. Make a game out of doing all the stuff they have not done before (better for the 6yo than the 3yo). You can make a list of things and have your kids try to "accomplish" and let the kids mark them off.

Just some thoughts....