Our 1st "resort only" trip - any thoughts or suggestions?

[Seabean]

My last post about a month or so ago was lamenting that WDW had become too expensive in a slow boil kind of way. So we thought about it, (we almost bailed) and decided that cutting out the cost of Park tickets would be a good idea. It's gotten to the point where the rides are getting boring and repetitive for us, so we did away with them for this year. Instead we want to spend the time at a more relaxed pace and enjoy the resort and pools more. We're doing a split stay at WL and then BWI, both deluxe club level (fmaily of 6) in late July. We also chopped our original plan from 6 nights to 5 to keep the price down.

I know there are already threads on this, but I'll ask: anyone else here do a resorts only stay?

Anyone doing it because you think Park tickets aren't worth it right now?

And does anyone have any suggestions for new things to do during the day? (we can finally spend some serious time walking around Disney Springs now)

 

[loves to dive]

We always go to the parks every day, it might just be for a hour or two in the morning and a hour or two at night but I can't see paying the price for a Disney resort and not go to the parks. I would think it would be less to pay for something off site and get a better room for less.

 

[Magical2017]

If I owned DVC I would absolutely do a resort only stay!

For us, there are too many 4 and 5 star resorts at other destinations to choose from. We are on the east coast so traveling to an island would be my first pick. I only go to Orlando to visit the parks. The Disney hotels are nice and I love the theming, but I'd probably travel to a new destination for a resort stay.

 

[Seabean]

I also wanted to refer to this post from last year which reflects some of our thinking:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/resort-only-trips-what-say-you.3605191/

We do resort only trips most of the time. The parks have become somewhat old. The rides don't really change much year over year. Also, having kids, the times of year when we go are usually packed. For a family of 4, I would rather take the $2000 of park costs and do other things. The magic for us is being in Disney World. We spend our time swimming, eating at great restaurants, community hall, playing tennis, working out, relaxing, reading, watching movies, going to Disney Springs for shopping, mini golfing and people watching. Somehow, doing those things seem better than big crowds, hot sun and standing in long lines.

 

[Disneylover99]

When we stay at the Poly, we have no desire to go to the parks, so we don’t. We love to watch the Electrical Water Pagent and fireworks from the Beach. I’m happy to visit the monorail resorts and content just to see the MK from the outside as we go by. During the day we hang by the pool and relax.

I still love the parks, but our trips are long, so after spending 3 nights at the Poly we’ll go to Pop for 2 weeks with 10 day tickets.

 

[Order66]

I've never done (or considered) a trip with no parks. However, we just returned from a 10 night trip with the military salute 5 days hopper plus tickets. So we did have 4 full days, plus arrival and departure day to fill with other things. We of course did do the water parks. We went to both parks on different days, and the kids returned for a 2nd day at Typhoon Lagoon. I did some shopping at DS, enjoyed a quiet lunch and talked on the phone to some family at home. I was a nice break away from them! We did go to DS several times. Mainly to eat and shop around. We also did the VR Star Wars one evening and went to AMC to see the Incredibles 2 on opening night. We did one afternoon of a mini-monorail tour to show a first timer the "fancy places we can't afford" LOL and get a Dole Whip. We played minigolf at Fantasia gardens. We tried on another day to do WinterSummerland but lightening had them closed at the time. We never did make it back out there. We also had pool time at our resort. Sometimes in the a.m. before heading out to do things. Sometimes in the evening before turning in for bed. We tried some different things like walking from POR to FQ for a different meal and one night because the kids thought FQ had better ice cream. We planned on doing the surry bikes, but the couple times we were going to fit it in, it rained or there was lightening. In short, we didn't really run out of things to do, that were not the main parks, to fill up 1/2 of our trip. Every family is different. I looked into a whole lot of ways to add park days but it wasn't cost effective. On other trips I was able to give us another day reasonably by doing a party ticket....but buying 1 or 2 day tickets times 4 people was not worth it. So I don't know if I could be at WDW and not do the parks...I know my kids couldn't LOL, but there is a lot to do there without them.

regards

 

[dismoose23]

DW and I did a resort only stay last Christmas at PORS. I was one of those people that thought there was no way I could go to WDW and not go to the parks. I have to say after the last non-park trip, I look forward to the next. There is so much to do outside of the parks. We resort hopped and did some of the resort activities (i.e. Safari and Jiko package at AKL), spent more time around DS, and enjoyed just relaxing by the pool. There was never a day where we didn't have something going on. I highly recommend a non-park stay to anyone considering it.

 

[Sue M]

If I wasn’t going to the parks I would stay somewhere else, maybe the Gulf Coast or The Keys, Ft. Lauderdale, for what it’s costing you to stay Deluxe CL in WDW, you could stay at some amazing 4 and 5 star resorts in a beachfront Resort. And you wouldn’t have to cut out vacation days to afford it.

 

[yesdnil]

We're planning something similar to @Order66 for our next trip - 10 days total with 5 day tickets, plus one night of MVMCP (but no water parks). On the off days, we plan to resort hop, enjoy the restaurants, pool time, maybe even Disney springs. And there are so many awesome amenities and recreation options I would love to do that we still won't have time for, like parasailing, mini golf, etc

I actually think a resort-only stay is a great idea!

 

[trouttigger]

Sounds like fun to me. I would suggest eating a TS meal at a different resort each day and exploring the resort while there. Also, one or two water park days would be fun (if it's not winter). Enjoying the fireworks from the beach of Poly.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

As others have said, you are paying premium resort costs to be near the parks. If you aren’t going to the parks, you would get a bigger resort bang for your buck elsewhere. However, if you are set on doing it, while at WL, I would boat over to Ft. W and enjoy the activities over there - the stables, campfire sing a long- with the money saved, perhaps consider doing HDDR. Boat to CR and create your own monorail tour. We like to start at Trader Sams at Poly and end with dinner at Cali Grill where you can see fireworks from three parks.

While at BWI, enjoy the entertainment and games at night. Stroll the boardwalk, rent a surrey bike, watch the fireworks from the bridge or CL lounge. Have a nice dinner at one of the EP resorts. Mini golf at Fantasia

At DS, there’s bowling and movies. Consider doing the Void Star Wars VR experience- it’s amazing.

 

[mom2rtk]

People will suggest various TS meals at the resorts, but by the time you do that, you could make a pretty big down payment on tickets. I would rather eat cheaply and go to the parks at least a couple of days. But then the problem with that is that by the time you buy a couple days of tickets, you're closer to the cheaper days on tickets, so might as well get them for all your days.

 

[caribbeandream]

It's gotten to the point where the rides are getting boring and repetitive for us, so we did away with them for this year . . . And does anyone have any suggestions for new things to do during the day? (we can finally spend some serious time walking around Disney Springs now)

I will speak as someone who will not be doing any rides on her next trip. I too, seriously considered skipping the parks and just doing MVMCP. I would be just fine if I never did another ride at DW again. However, I love the streetsmosphere, the parades and the night shows so I'm sticking to that on my next trip. More and more my bucket list consists of non-park things - Jellyrolls, Chip & Dale's Campfire Sing-a-long, horse back riding at Ft. Wilderness, watching the fireworks from California Grill, Typhoon Lagoon, Fantasia Gardens mini golf, etc.

If you are trying to save money, then I would say stick to breakfast and dinner at the resort and only eat out for lunch. Definitely slow down and enjoy the offerings at Club Level. Eat as many Mickey waffles as you please for breakfast. Linger over cocktails at night. Let your kids spend every day at the pool! I say, it's your vacation, do as you please. Heck, you just gave me another idea for my own bucket list!

 

[SA mom]

Every time we return from a trip, I say to the family, "I wished we had spent more time at the resorts." I could totally do a resort only trip. I would love to stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge or Fort Wilderness for 4 or 5 days.

 

[caribbeandream]

Since you did ask for ideas, here are a few from my own non-resort bucket list -

Wilderness Lodge / Ft. Wilderness
all day - mini geyser (Old Faithful) eruption
am - Wonders of the Wilderness tour (more info at http://www.wildernesslodgesite.com/content/secrets-and-history-wilderness-lodge)

all recreation - https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/resorts/wilderness-lodge-resort/recreation/

Ft. Wilderness recreation - https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/resorts/cabins-at-fort-wilderness-resort/recreation/

GRAND FLORIDIAN
piano music in lobby
Princess Promenade
Grand Floridian Society Orchestra
Electrical Water Pageant

EPCOT / Boardwalk area
Beaches & Cream
Rent a surrey
Fantasia Mini Golf Course
BWI recreation - https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/resorts/boardwalk-inn/recreation/

Disney Springs
shop 'til you drop
Characters in Flight / amphicar
AMC Movie Theater
Star Wars VR experience

 

[caribbeandream]

Every time we return from a trip, I say to the family, "I wished we had spent more time at the resorts." I could totally do a resort only trip. I would love to stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge or Fort Wilderness for 4 or 5 days.

THIS! I too would love to stay 4-5 days at AKL and explore the hotel and all of its offerings to my heart's content.

 

[Babsy]

WE went last Jan with a single non park day at the end of the trip. It was nice enough and we managed to fill the resort only day, but I missed going into the parks more than I thought that i would. I decided that I won't do that again. Oddly enough, I have spent some days on previous trips without going into the parks even though I had tickets to do so. I guess that I don't like being next to the parks, but without tickets to go in if desired. Just not worth it for us. YMMV.

Personally, in future I will only book expensive WDW resorts when travelling to visit WDW theme parks - even if it is only for an hour or two each day. Otherwise, I will go to Europe or book a cruise for fewer $$$$ and enjoy something completely different. There are a lot of truly nice resorts in the world that can be enjoyed for the same price or even less than the overpriced WDW resorts.

As a matter of fact, we have deliberately NOT booked a WDW vacation next year for the first time in decades. There is a lot of construction going on right now plus the rides have become somewhat boring after so many visits. We haven't been to South America yet, so I am booking Chile and Brazil for next winter....with a return to Spain or Italy in the spring.

We will likely go back, but not for at least a year or two......at least that is the plan for now.

 

[pd1138]

I’m in the minority here....we DID do a resorts only trip Nov 2015with Kids and LOVED it! Kids were ok not going to the parks since we were there the year before. We stayed at YC and enjoyed the nice pool! Walked over to the boardwalk and saw the magic show we had never seen before. We could see fireworks from the bridge near Epcot and outside of HS along the pathway, we did chip and dale singalong and a movie after eating a pretty yummy dinner at trails end buffet. We did a few character breakfasts with no rush to get to a park! For us as a family of six that breakfast was MUCH cheaper then tickets to a park for a week. We saw the MK fireworks by chance while taking the boat from FW to MK to get our bus back to YC. Kids were little enough that riding the monorail, buses, and boats were entertainment enough! We did DS a few times seeing Santa and did BBB for my daughter.....again something I wouldn’t take the time to do during a parks trip. I’m not a beach person and after getting a good discount from Disney for the room it pretty much lined up for what we would pay at another hotel somewhere. We like going to Disney and this trip gave us a slower pace to enjoy all the little stuff we love. Made a lot of family memories and the kids still talk about how much fun they had at the afternoon pool games, the evening movies on the lawn and the dole whips at Polynesian! This August we will be doing 8 Days so back to the parks we go!!

 

[mrslur]

We are doing exactly this in September. We rented points and are staying at AKL Jambo with a savannah view. It's been on our bucket list to stay here. We will enjoy relaxing, shopping and visiting other resorts. We did book one splurge - Highway in the Sky Dine Around. Maybe after Star Wars has been open for a year we will bite the bullet for tickets again but the additional $800 just to see Pandora is not worth it to us.

 

[amyy]

What a great vacation you have planned!! We have done a few days at a resort without going to a park and I would certainly do a week if my husband would agree. I have no interest to go to a beach resort so staying at Disney with all the non-park options is an ideal vacation. We usually spend a substantial amount of time at our resort. Not sure if someone mentioned but we love Yehaa Bob at Port Orleans. There is a free tour of the WL which we found interesting but it would depend on the ages of your kids. The tour guide had such a wealth of knowledge and there were teenagers on our tour. Definitely go to AKL for an evening and use the night vision googles and see what the cultural presentation is and we have attended kid friendly ones.