what would you do with 10 days?

[abmitch01]

My DD 15 yrs old and I are going 8/9 for 10 days. She says she doesn't want to do the parks all 10 days. She wants to rent a car and go to the outlets. We are not doing this, it's not in the budget, 10 days staying on property for the first time was a huge stretch for us. And we have similar outlets not far from home. We got passes for mini golf and Disney Quest in our package. We'll surely spend some time at the pool. What other budget minded things would you suggest? We will visit DTD but we aren't big souvenir spenders. We're staying at POR. From the dining suggestions we got, maybe we'll visit some other resorts. Is there anything cheap but fun that we're missing?

 

[WILDERNESS FAN 55]

Ft Wilderness gives you a wonderful area to walk thru, bike at, swim, paddle and canoe thru their canals. I don't know if horseback riding is reasonably priced or not. My family makes sure we visit the area every trip. It's very relaxing. At night there is a campfire and singalong with Chip and Dale followed by a Disney movie . Pretty much no cost unless you buy their smores kit.
I know if it were me staying 10 days I would be splitting 5/5 at two different hotels just because ..........but that's me.
Enjoy your trip

 

[abmitch01]

I didn't even think to do two different hotels!

We went horseback riding in the Adirondacks for my first time a few years ago. I was fine until I actually got on the horse and then i was so scared. My kids were cracking up. I finally relaxed as we went up the mountain. I said, "hey kids, listen to that waterfall." They responded, "mom, that's your horse peeing."

in my defense, he peed a really long time

 

[PlainJane]

I have a few suggestions........

1. Are you going to the Water Parks? That would use up two days.

2. Visit the Boardwalk on the day you want to do mini golf at Fantasia Gardens. Stroll around the Boardwalk, walk around the resorts, look at the shops, possibly enjoy a carnival game or street performer. If you want a budget minded meal, go to Beaches and Cream. It's a cute soda shop, and now you can make reservations which is awesome.

3. I couldn't tell if you would have a car or not. If you do, Celebration FL is a nice town to stroll around.

4. Sleep In! Really, unless you guys are just early birds, take at least one day where you do not set an alarm clock. Make that a bum around the resort day, visiting the pool, walk over to POFQ, etc. Your resort used to rent bikes, I don't know if that is the case anymore, but definitely worth looking into.

5. DtD, is fun even when you don't spend money (or it's possible that I'm just odd). I like looking at the Lego displays and statues, going into the themed stores, Ghirardelli is amazing (the line is so worth it), Disney Quest can use up a lot of time too. Since you're staying at POR you'll have the added benefit of the relaxing boat ride.

6. Visit the Grand Floridian one night for dinner and watch the fireworks from outside Gasparilla Grill. It's so nice to enjoy the fireworks without thinking about the exodus that you're about to face. We also like strolling over to the Poly and walking the path by the beach.

 

[abmitch01]

that's great advice. I never thought of the boardwalk, we will definitely do that. And the fireworks.

I don't know about the water parks. I have a detached retina and can't see a thing without glasses, can't wear contacts yet, PITA, so a water park ticket would be a waste on me and Claire would be doing everything by herself.

 

[kymom99]

Since you are staying at POR, you can use the pool at FQ as well as the one at yours. I thought the quiet pools at POR looked so nice and relaxing too.

In 4 trips I have never made it to WL or Ft. Wilderness. I would want to visit there if I had so many days.

Also, at the boardwalk, we rented one of those surrey bikes. During the day the boardwalk tends to be pretty empty. It was a nice time riding around the lake.

 

[wulfgeat]

We have always enjoyed taking a day and going to wander around other resorts. We love looking around WL and AKL but it is not in the budget to stay there. Same for Poly and GF. Even riding the monorail and the boat from Magic Kingdom is different in the middle of the day when you have them almost to yourself.

 

[usnuzuloose]

I always ask the locals what there is around the area that may fun and free to do. You might find places to take pictures of. We went on first cruise in O6 after WDW and we stopped at this cheap mall, not an outlet or anything. But this lady had a bird that talked and we were in there for about 45 minutes talking to the bird.

 

[mom2t]

My DD 15 yrs old and I are going 8/9 for 10 days. She says she doesn't want to do the parks all 10 days. She wants to rent a car and go to the outlets. We are not doing this, it's not in the budget, 10 days staying on property for the first time was a huge stretch for us. And we have similar outlets not far from home. We got passes for mini golf and Disney Quest in our package. We'll surely spend some time at the pool. What other budget minded things would you suggest? We will visit DTD but we aren't big souvenir spenders. We're staying at POR. From the dining suggestions we got, maybe we'll visit some other resorts. Is there anything cheap but fun that we're missing?

The outlets were insanely crowded when we were there in mid-June. We only went because I wanted to go the Vera Bradley store and my son announced his shoes were too tight in the car. We had Coke Rewards gift cards for the Nike store. We ended up paying $10 to valet park because there were no parking spaces empty anywhere and people were circling the lot waiting for someone to leave to take the parking space. I cannot shop in crowds like that. We only went to those 2 stores and left promptly.

 

[mom2t]

We did Blue Springs State Park in Orange City between DW and Daytona. We wanted to do an airboat ride but it was so expensive for a short time. The pontoon boat ride was 2 hours and much cheaper.

 

[Perditamarie]

In my experience, trying to find budget ideas for entertainment at WDW besides the parks ends up costing more money!! It usually involves another ticket/entertainment expense, plus transportation, etc.

I would take time in the parks to smell the roses...we love leisurely days at Epcot - snack around the world (try a different candy, drink, etc), take pictures in all of the crazy hats in the gift stores (makes an awesome photo spread when you get home too!), look at all the special details that are everywhere!

Also, the Perry missions are fun... a lot of detail in those too. DHS has a lot of shows that will make you just about crazy trying to catch them all in just one day...Animal Kingdom can be tricky too. If you can spread the park visits out over more days, you can really maximize your park touring w/out additional entertainment expense....extra days on your tix is the most budget friendly option!!

We love to visit the parks in the morning, have a pool break, then head out again in the evening just for a special snack, parade, fireworks etc....no pressure to get to all of the shows on time or maximize ride time.

Happy planning.

 

[abmitch01]

what are Perry Missions?

 

[PlainJane]

that's great advice. I never thought of the boardwalk, we will definitely do that. And the fireworks.

I don't know about the water parks. I have a detached retina and can't see a thing without glasses, can't wear contacts yet, PITA, so a water park ticket would be a waste on me and Claire would be doing everything by herself.

Happy to help. I will say my mom always wears prescription sunglasses in the water parks with one of those straps attached to it. She always wore her backup pair just in case, but they've never been lost or damaged. She never does body slides though, just tube ones.

 

[leebee]

All of this is "free;" you don't even need a car!

> Do a DVC tour early in your stay. Although i was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to talk DH into it (he wasn't with us on this trip, so no chance of me saying "yes" and not being able to get out of it), it was worth it. The information about how DVC works is interesting, it's fun to go look at the mock up villas, there's free ice cream, and when we were there they gave us each 5 "Ultimate" FPs, good any time, in any park, for up to 5 days. Sometimes they are giving $100 Disney gift cards as the incentive. Anyhow, it was enjoyable, they chauffeur you around, and we got the FPs (and no, I couldn't talk DH into it!)

> Tour resorts. Take a bus to AKL and wander the trails, look at the animals, be awe-struck at the Lodge itself. Go in the evening and sit around the fire circle, or listen to the native storytellers (if they still do this). Take the bus to MK and the boat to Wilderness Lodge. Take the monorail over to the Grand Floridian and be amazed… you might even see a wedding in progress! YOu don't even have to do the Deluxe resorts; go check out POP, then walk across the bridge over Hourglass Lake and visit AoA. (if you are at POP, have a slice of tie-dye cheesecake. It's great, and one slice is enough for 2 people!)

> Do a Disney Transportation Tour. Take a bus from your hotel to Epcot. Get on the monorail to MK. Take a boat to WL and back. Then take the ferry over to the TTC. Ride the tram out into the parking lot and back. Walk over to the Poly or take the monorail to a MK resort and catch a bus to DHS. Ride the boat from DHS to the Boardwalk. Investigate the boardwalk, then take the boat back to DHS. Take a bus to OKW and then the boat to Downtown Disney… then the bus back to your resort (do you have to go to a park to get a resort bus? Maybe… but you can see the variety of transportation options here. BEcause you are hitting different resorts, there's also time to stop for a snack, lunch, etc. YOu can make a day of this if you desire!)

> In the evening, go to the Contemporary and catch the Electrical Water Pageant. Then go to the 4th floor observation deck and watch Wishes.

> I second visiting the Boardwalk. From your hotel take the bus to MK, then the bus to one of the Epcot resorts (BWI, YC, or BC) OR take a bus from your hotel to DHS and then take the boat over to the boardwalk.

> We find Downtown Disney "meh" but many people love it. It IS interesting to wander through some of the stores, even if you aren't buying. DD and I sometimes make a "game" out of souvenir shopping; Who can find the cheapest but truly most useful souvenir?

> If you can splurge a little, spend the morning at the pool, then have lunch at the Afternoon Tea at the GF. It's not cheap, but there's enough food for a meal. In fact, we went once to a rather late seating, and it was enough for us to call it dinner!

> There's always hanging out at the pool at your hotel, and don't forget to use the discount coupons for mini golf, DQ, etc.

> If you have the money for a BIG splurge, go see Cirque du Soliel some evening. Get the 'cheap' seats, though; most of the show is up in the air and you don't WANT to be in the expensive seats, on the floor close to the stage!

 

[Perditamarie]

The Perry the Platypus missions are at World Showcase in Epcot and you help Agent P save the world....from Phineas and Ferb Disney cartoon. They are cute, and really for kids, but are self-guided and have clever details that you may not have otherwise noticed.

 

[robinb]

I would recommend that you rent a car and go to Clearwater for the day. What girl doesn't love the beach? The beach is wonderful and you can get completely away from Disney. It's about a 2 hour drive. The Clearwater Aquarium (home of Winter the dolphin with the prosthetic tail) is right off the bridge to the beach. I managed to grab 2-4-1 tickets on Groupon a couple years ago.

 

[TwoMisfits]

Being limited to WD transport and the overall resort area is hard, but a few cheap(er) ideas you might explore...

- A movie day at Downtown Disney - movies are fun and relaxing. Following the show, talk about it at Ghiradellis over a split ice cream sundae (or two if it's dinner - I've done that.
- A mother-daughter tea at the Grand Floridian with a walk around the grounds afterward. You can order whatever you like on the menu (keeping the cost down) and it is a special place and a special time.

And if her only request is the outlets, even if you have outlets at home, I might give in for a lunch and afternoon (although we still wouldn't be there for shopping - more window shopping). She might just love the experience of shopping with you (without needing a purchase). As for how to get there, there are lots of transport options in Orlando and for just 2 people, they can be pretty reasonable.

 

[monorailsilver]

We went for 10 days last August.

I only got a 5 day hopper which is what I normally get. On our arrival and departure days we hung out at the pool. Arrival day we did chef mickeys for dinner.

We did a water park. One day til about 2, hung out at the poly pool and then went to DtD for dinner and to walk.

The other 2 non park days, I was up early and was able to have my laundry done by 8 and I had my spot at the poly pool so I could see the castle. Ahhh.... My dh was just getting up when I was finishing laundry and the kids slept til 9 ish which they needed.

Basically we didn't do much. Our kids swam for the day, got dole whips, swam, got dole whips, played pool games, s'mores, fireworks.

 

[itutorfortravel]

I didn't read all the replies, but I wanted to add that there is an electric boat parade every evening that I know passes by the Contemporary (and I think Wilderness Lodge too).

The waterparks are a lot of fun! I noticed when we were there a few weeks ago that you can buy annual passes to the water parks for $140. So if you think you'd want to do this 3 or more days (or even just some 1/2 days), that might be a good investment.

We really enjoyed walking around the resorts last time we were there. We have just become DVC members and wanted to see as many different resorts as we could. The Boardwalk has a fun area to walk around at night. There are carnival games and street performers and they also have surrey bikes that you can rent to ride around the loop between Boardwalkl and Beach Club.

At Beach Club, we at at a place called Beaches and Cream. It was a 50's style soda shop and that was really fun. Even if you don't want to do dinner there, they have really great ice cream desserts. There is one called the Kitchen Sink which is HUMONGOUS! DD wanted us to get it but there was no way we could have eaten it all But it was a lot of fun to see all the hoopla whenever a table did order it.

Hope those ideas are helpful. Our visit in June was our first ever onsite visit also and I cannot tell you how much we enjoyed it. I was unlike any other Disney trip we have ever taken (and we've taken quite a few!). We did venture offsite one time to go to the outlets because I wanted to go to the Vera Bradley outlet to use a gift card and also go to the Disney Outlet (which, BTW is a great place to get souvenirs)...but other than that, we didn't leave the property at all for our 7 night trip, and we were still sad to leave at the end because there was so much we didn't get to do!

Have fun!

 

[McKelly]

I would do some resort touring. You could purchase her the Hidden Mickey book and look for them at the resorts. You could watch the animals at AKL at the different lookouts. Are you on the dining plan? My DD15 wants to do a "cupcake" crawl at all the different deluxe resorts. You could use snack credits for that. When we go in summer, the heat really zaps the energy from us. A couple, nice slow days hanging out at the resort pool is actually kind of nice. My kids never complained.