Who else plans trips around resorts and eating?

[susy]

Background: Dh and I were both raised in FL and been to WDW numerous times. Floridians are split when it comes to WDW. Some love it, most remember it as hot, crowded (before FP) and staying offsite somewhere. This meant you spent the morning driving there, all day in in park and then leaving dead tired. Oh yes, and most people here think of Disney World as the MK.

FF to present: When we first took our DS to WDW ( in 2001 at age 3) we planned around the parks-designing elaborate minute by minute touring plans, trying to maximize our investment-and had to build in breaks while we were there.
Now that we've been there -done that, we find ourselves planning around what resort we'd like to try next and what restaurants we haven't tried. We never spend all day in the park, as we like to enjoy our hotel and relax by the pool and in our room.

The parks have simply become "something to do" while we are at our resort. Anyone else feel this way?

 

[DisMN]

I do I do!

We don't make reservations for where we're going to eat but we have a list of places we'd like to go to if we're in that neighborhood. We live in the boonies so the different foods and restaurants available are a big part of all our vacations.

 

[Leota]

Yep - As time goes on & we have more & more trips under our belts, we base more of our trips around the resorts & the restaurants. For example, our upcoming April trip, we have no schedule for the Parks, although we will be in them daily. We do, however, have plans for PS's every day, at least once, if not twice a day. We have a couple tours scheduled & are looking forward to lounging at our resorts (split stay for maximum resort enjoyment)
Last trip, even tho it was a Commando weekend for just DS & I, we wound up grabbing takeout in Epcot & lounging in our Heavenly Beds at the Swan to watch a movie.

 

[chimera]

We're all FL natives, too, so we've been more times than anyone can count. Your first paragraph describes our lives growing up
Now, I can't say that we plan our trips around which resort to stay in...we have favorites, so we usually stick to those. We're thinking about taking the DVC plunge since we love Wilderness Lodge and Beach Club.
We definitely plan our EPCOT visits around the food. We call it, "eating our way around the world"!

 

[Chicago526]

I don't plan it around the resort, but I do plan our trips with at least one "resort day", in other words, we don't go to ANY park and just hang out at the resort. I do, however, plan my park days around what restaurants we want to eat at! Epcot especially, but we have our favs in the other parks and DTD too! The only reason we plan "what park on what day" ahead of time is so we can make our park restaurant PS's. I'm a big beleiver in PS's, my last trip we saw many people either turned away or told it was an hour, hour and 1/2, or even a 2 hour wait for a table, while BF and I just sailed right past them to get the best seat in the house! And this was during the 1st week of December, the slowest time of the year, I can't imagine what it's like during high season.

 

[LindaR]

Oh, yes!

For DD16 and I, planning places to eat is just as important as the rest of our vacation! We eat meals at the resorts so that we can walk around and check them out. Having been to the parks 5 times in the past 7 years, we no longer feel the "rush to see/do everything" and spend much more time going at a leisurely pace (me also having had 2 spinal surgeries helps slow things down!). We plan a long break in the middle of the day (for my back). For our next trip (26 Mar - 1 Apr) which will be a short one, DD wanted to stay at CBR, which we have never done before. Last summer we drove around the resort (reminded us of POR, which we like alot). We plan everything! BUT, we are very flexible.........for us just BEING at WDW is great!

 

[MagEpcDisAni Voyager]

A lot of my trips to disney are planneed around Dinner reservations. We don't know what parks to go to until we find out where we are eating.

 

[ziggystardust]

We just returned from our best trip ever. It was our trip of trying new things. Which meant restaurants we've never been to and touring the resorts that we've never stayed at. Those were really the highlights of our trip. Basically our whole trip was planned around eating.

And honestly it was the first time I ever teared up when we were leaving. We had an amazing stress free, full belly trip!

 

[MickeyMonstersMom]

Interestingly, even kids sometimes feel that way. DD's and DS's (then 8 and 4) 1st WDW trip in 2002 was a completely park-focused trip, down to minute-by-minute touring plans and dining choices centered on the park of the day. We went back for a short, unplanned vacation last June, visiting only one park but upgrading to a Moderate and mixing previous favorite eateries with new choices. Amazingly, both children have since remarked that they prefer the latter, trading the "rides" for a better pool and finer dining. Now I'm planning DS's birthday trip in 2006, and so far the huge majority of his input has been regarding the resort and restaurant options!

 

[eeyore0062]

Yes, I am guilty of the same thing! We determine the parks we go to what days by where we want to eat. If we stay in a Monorail resort, we usually only do parks that are connected by monorail. If we ever stayed in an Epcot resort, we would probably do Epcot and MGM. I guess, if I ever stayed at AKL, it would be Animal Kingdom and BB. However, when staying in a moderate or value, any park is fair game!

Gee, and I thought I was the only one!

 

[Jamie77]

Aw, shucks! Count me in; guilty as charged!

Jamie

 

[lynda_oz]

Count me in too. We bought annual passes because we were going on one 10 day trip and it was more cost effective. Well, we are now going on our third trip with one more planned before the AP expires in August. The first trip we spent almost every minute at the parks since we were staying off grounds. The other trips we stayed at Poly and AKL thanks to discounts and I fell in love with the beautiful theming and really felt as if I was somewhere other than the USA. We are going to try out WL in Feb. but I have already planned a few meals back at AKL's Mara, love the african stew and tusker beer. Now I want to spend more time at the resorts and just unwind and enjoy the surroundings. A huge part of our vacation centers around dining since we do not go out to eat very often when we are at home. I just love all the choices available and the interesting variety of foods at Disney. Lynda

 

[Harambe]

We still do the parks, but I find myself planning more non-park days, to enjoy the resort and a good restaurant. I try to plan these after two or three heavy park days, and everyone enjoys the break.

 

[Simba's Mom]

DH thinks of WDW as going to OKW. If he can't stay at OKW, we have to change our dates. As someone once said, he's of the "You mean there are parks there, too?" mentallity. And although there are particular resturaunts he hopes to visit, there are so many, fortunately he's flexible there. But not in the resort we stay at.

 

[donmil723]

Absolutely! Since becoming DVC members in 2002, our trips revolve around our resort. In fact, our next trip in March with just DD, age 20, and I, we plan to relax at Y&B's Stormalong Bay every day but one when we'll do our favorites in the parks.

Donna

 

[ufgator]

My DH and I are FL natives too and have been a lot. Sometimes we'll say we're not going to park, but we always go at least one day because we love Epcot and have to go at least once (and then we'll throw in other parks). We just stayed at Poly this month and we went to MK twice because I said we should take advantage of where we're staying. I also wanted to try new restaurants, which we did. When you've been a lot, I think you're not so rushed and you try to do things you haven't done before - I don't mind if we just hang out and not do something every minute.

My DH still calls MK Disney because that's what it was when he was little.

 

[crisi]

That's why they call it WDW Resort.

We still do the parks every day. We don't go that often and our children are the age where the parks hold a lot of allure. But there is so much more to do - hotels and restaurants, but planning days around golf works too!

 

[sters]

Guilty as charged! I plan the parks I visit around the restaurnts I want to try.