Non-Park Day Ideas Wanted!

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Kristen K.'s picture
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Non-Park Day Ideas Wanted!

If you were going to have three full days at Walt Disney World and you were only going to a Theme Park on one day, what would your schedule look like? What would you do to fill the other two days for you and your family?

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I would love to go to a gun range, I love shooting.

There is also the spiritual town not far from Orlando, read about in lonely planet, that sounds like a cool place to visit.

I also have rough future plans for visiting places used in TV shows, so In Florida it would be Miami (Dexter and vice), Daytona (I spent many hours on a video game as a kid) and other places I have seen on TV or movies.

My uncle spends over a month in the keys each year, he is a TV/ radio fisherman and he loves it out there.

But you guys have been loads and I've only read about it..... Maybe they are rubbish in reality but that would be my non disney bucket list.

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Having read your post properly and realise you mean stuff to do WITHIN Disney but not in the actual theme parks....

I would definitely recommend hiring a boat on bay lake, we really loved doing that! Or what about a culinary tour of AKL? We are spending a non park day hiring a golf cart at FW and exploring the resort, I can't wait to see all the RVs all dressed up for Halloween Laughing out loud or what about a horse and carriage or wagon ride?

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Kristen K.'s picture
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I was more looking to see what people's thoughts were to do on property, but not in the parks.
I don't do "off property" well wink

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Kristen K. wrote:
I was more looking to see what people's thoughts were to do on property, but not in the parks.
I don't do "off property" well wink

Oops sorry eek

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RobynPrincess wrote:
you mean stuff to do WITHIN Disney but not in the actual theme parks....

I would definitely recommend hiring a boat on bay lake, we really loved doing that!

I was thinking about doing that! I would prefer to be able to rent from DTD, but that Marina is closed right now, and they closed the one over at POR. I think if we rent a boat we may have to head over to the Poly or the Contemporary to do so.

We're going to Fort Wilderness for dinner one night, maybe we could do a carriage ride or something before the Hoop-Dee Doo that would be fun! I'll have to look up times and prices for the stables.

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I'm planning on the wagon ride before our hoop de doo meal! Great minds think alike Wink

We hired our boat from the contemporary, we are gonna hire one again the day we renew our vows, thought it would be a nice thing to do for an hour or 2 Laughing out loud

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Our Very Merry 24 nighter Nov/Dec 15
Watson's go West May 15
The one with all the birthdays Oct 14 4 Big Birthdays and a Vow Renewal thrown in
The OMG trip June 14 30th Birthday present from the hubs
Girly trip March 14 A last min cheapy week
September 13 our first all DVC stay
TR May 2013 the last min bargain trip offsite
Oct 2012 TR with a cruise!big family trip featuring the beach club, AKL, the dream and a villa offsite
TR on a budget May - June 2011offsite condo
TR Sept - Oct 2010 big family trip in an offsite villa

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Well we are going to hire the Sun Tracker from WL one day.. yay

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Exploring a few of the resorts since I won't be staying in the fancy ones any time soon wink

A Monorail Crawl. There are several drinks I want to try at each of the resorts on the loop.

Spend an afternoon at the Boardwalk people watching and snacking on treats

The culinary tour at AKL would be on my list too!

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Kristen K.'s picture
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JMed wrote:

A Monorail Crawl. There are several drinks I want to try at each of the resorts on the loop.

I love doing the monorail crawl and try to make that my first night. However we won't be arriving at our Resort until about 9:30 at night this trip. We're staying at Saratoga Springs though so I'm toying with the idea of heading over to one of the bars at Downtown Disney when we first arrive.

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Have you ever visited DisneyQuest? IMO it's worth visiting at least once - actually IMO it's worth visiting more than once. And when you've done as much as you want to do, you're at Downtown Disney with all sorts of other things to occupy your time.

If you do visit DisneyQuest, be sure to do the Pirates of the Caribbean VR attraction. I love that thing.

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Any of our non park days (assuming there are any laugh ) we always go to DTD or the Boardwalk. We're not boat or water people so renting a boat is out. Mini golf is always fun or as CCP said, Disneyquest is worth at least one visit!

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crazycatperson wrote:
Have you ever visited DisneyQuest? IMO it's worth visiting at least once - actually IMO it's worth visiting more than once. And when you've done as much as you want to do, you're at Downtown Disney with all sorts of other things to occupy your time.

If you do visit DisneyQuest, be sure to do the Pirates of the Caribbean VR attraction. I love that thing.

We have considered that.

We're hoping to do one day at Typhoon Lagoon, and DisneyQuest is our back-up destination for cold or rain (it will be February after all). Two of my kids are big gamers so I think they'd really enjoy it. I'm not sure that we'll have the extra money for five of us to do Disney Quest AND Typhoon Lagoon. Hrmmm... maybe I could just give those two money for Disney Quest tickets and I could go get beignets at POFQ.

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I love to go resort hopping, and I love to hit up DTD for EoS and Ghirardellis. Oh, and the Christmas Shoppe and WoD. Right behind that is touring the Boardwalk. If I pace myself, I can get a cupcake at the bakery, and finish just in time to get some ice cream at Beaches and Cream. Rinse and repeat if Joe makes me share the first time around.....

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We love Characters in Flight, but it's tough to do because the winds shut down the attraction frequently. I'm also a fan of Typhoon Lagoon, Blizzard Beach, and Fantasia Gardens.

We're planning to take a trip at some point in the future where our park tickets are for *gasp* Universal and we just do peripheral non-park things at Disney and one of the things that I am most looking forward to is the Backstage Magic Tour. It's expensive, but you are not required to purchase separate park admission. I would also like to do the restaurant tours at AKL at some point.

Of course, I could entertain myself riding the boats and the monorail around or resort hopping, especially during the holidays to see all of the decorations. Oh! or walk around the Boardwalk area!

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Kristen K. wrote:
. Hrmmm... maybe I could just give those two money for Disney Quest tickets and I could go get beignets at POFQ.

Wash that down with a Chocolate Martini at Scat Cat's Club!

If $ permits, I'd consider a Segway tour at Fort Wilderness.. and I think I'd make time for the Chipmunks at the campfire that night.

(all BEFORE that Chocolate Martini, of course) wink

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Magic Mirror wrote:
Kristen K. wrote:
. Hrmmm... maybe I could just give those two money for Disney Quest tickets and I could go get beignets at POFQ.

Wash that down with a Chocolate Martini at Scat Cat's Club!

That sounds like fun. Any idea how the Jazz is there now that Elliot left?

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alicemouse wrote:
We're planning to take a trip at some point in the future where our park tickets are for *gasp* Universal and we just do peripheral non-park things at Disney....

We did that last year in April. Three days in the Universal parks plus a day at Blizzard Beach, an afternoon at Downtown Disney, an evening at DisneyQuest, and three ADRs at resort restaurants. And since I want to see Diagon Alley someday, we'll probably do it again. It's not the same as a real WDW vacation, but I didn't feel horribly deprived by not visiting any of the major parks. I rank the Universal parks as roughly equivalent to Animal Kingdom or Hollywood Studios, but not as awesome as Magic Kingdom or Epcot.

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crazycatperson wrote:
alicemouse wrote:
We're planning to take a trip at some point in the future where our park tickets are for *gasp* Universal and we just do peripheral non-park things at Disney....

We did that last year in April. Three days in the Universal parks plus a day at Blizzard Beach, an afternoon at Downtown Disney, an evening at DisneyQuest, and three ADRs at resort restaurants. And since I want to see Diagon Alley someday, we'll probably do it again. It's not the same as a real WDW vacation, but I didn't feel horribly deprived by not visiting any of the major parks. I rank the Universal parks as roughly equivalent to Animal Kingdom or Hollywood Studios, but not as awesome as Magic Kingdom or Epcot.

Good to know! Thanks, Jan. I haven't been to Universal since I was 10 and I hated it then (of course, I also hated Hollywood Studios when I was 10). They were just to scary for chicken-kid me. I'm anxious to see it again, but I do worry about neither of us really being roller coaster people.

Kristen--the carriage rides at Port Orleans and Fort Wilderness are an option, too. $45 for the carriage, but I forget what the maximum number of people is. The adult price for the wagon rides was $8 when we were down last week. That was nice, but the driver didn't talk to us. When I've done these sorts of things other places, the driver always gives us some sort of story about the things that we see along the way.

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alicemouse wrote:

Kristen--the carriage rides at Port Orleans and Fort Wilderness are an option, too. $45 for the carriage, but I forget what the maximum number of people is. The adult price for the wagon rides was $8 when we were down last week. That was nice, but the driver didn't talk to us. When I've done these sorts of things other places, the driver always gives us some sort of story about the things that we see along the way.

Our ADR is for the 6:15 Hoop-dee-doo, so I'm thinking that perhaps we could get on the 8:30-8:50 Wagon ride and then maybe make it to Wilderness Lodge for the water pageant at 9:30? I had been thinking that we could go to Top of the World after the dinner show, but If the fireworks are a 9 I don't think we could make it there if we do a wagon ride.

Where all did the wagon ride go? I checked the carriage rides and they only sit 4, so that wont work for us.

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alicemouse wrote:
crazycatperson wrote:
alicemouse wrote:
We're planning to take a trip at some point in the future where our park tickets are for *gasp* Universal and we just do peripheral non-park things at Disney....

We did that last year in April. Three days in the Universal parks plus a day at Blizzard Beach, an afternoon at Downtown Disney, an evening at DisneyQuest, and three ADRs at resort restaurants. And since I want to see Diagon Alley someday, we'll probably do it again. It's not the same as a real WDW vacation, but I didn't feel horribly deprived by not visiting any of the major parks. I rank the Universal parks as roughly equivalent to Animal Kingdom or Hollywood Studios, but not as awesome as Magic Kingdom or Epcot.

Good to know! Thanks, Jan. I haven't been to Universal since I was 10 and I hated it then (of course, I also hated Hollywood Studios when I was 10). They were just to scary for chicken-kid me. I'm anxious to see it again, but I do worry about neither of us really being roller coaster people.

I'm also not a roller coaster person, and I won't pretend that I didn't spend a fair amount of time standing around while my travelling companions rode roller coasters and intense virtual reality rides, or splitting off from them and doing stuff on my own. But since both of you are not roller coaster people, you won't have that problem. There are several attractions that you would enjoy. IMO Universal Studios park has more attractions than Islands of Adventure that are good for people with motion sickness or fear issues, but both parks are worth visiting.

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I'd be at the pool one day (w/Margarita in hand), Downtown Disney another (again w/Margarita in hand), and scouting out all the resorts on another (No Margarita this time biggrin )... Not that I'd ever miss three days at the park while there. laugh biggrin

LouisianaMike

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LouisianaMike wrote:
I'd be at the pool one day (w/Margarita in hand), Downtown Disney another (again w/Margarita in hand), and scouting out all the resorts on another (No Margarita this time biggrin )... Not that I'd ever miss three days at the park while there. laugh biggrin

LouisianaMike

I like the sound of that, and in Paris we do a drink around the lake (that's where the 7 hotels are) so why not at wdw?

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Kristen K. wrote:

Our ADR is for the 6:15 Hoop-dee-doo,

Hey, Kristen what day is your Hoop-dee-doo reservations for in Feb. We also have 6:15 ressies for Wed the 25th??? maybe we can wave at you from our table wherever that may be,somewhere on the main floor.

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Vettelover wrote:
Kristen K. wrote:

Our ADR is for the 6:15 Hoop-dee-doo,

Hey, Kristen what day is your Hoop-dee-doo reservations for in Feb. We also have 6:15 ressies for Wed the 25th??? maybe we can wave at you from our table wherever that may be,somewhere on the main floor.

Friday the 20th for us. By Wednesday I'll be sipping Konk Coolers on Castaway Cay awesome

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Kristen K. wrote:
Magic Mirror wrote:
Kristen K. wrote:
. Hrmmm... maybe I could just give those two money for Disney Quest tickets and I could go get beignets at POFQ.

Wash that down with a Chocolate Martini at Scat Cat's Club!

That sounds like fun. Any idea how the Jazz is there now that Elliot left?

I haven't heard too much buzz about Elliot's replacement, Tom Casey. I heard he used to fill in for Elliot on his vacation days....and instead of playing straight up jazz standards..he is incorporating some piano with rock/soft pop and customer requests. I'm not sure it's a good thing that no one is saying anything either way... confused

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Magic Mirror wrote:
Kristen K. wrote:
Magic Mirror wrote:
Kristen K. wrote:
. Hrmmm... maybe I could just give those two money for Disney Quest tickets and I could go get beignets at POFQ.

Wash that down with a Chocolate Martini at Scat Cat's Club!

That sounds like fun. Any idea how the Jazz is there now that Elliot left?

I haven't heard too much buzz about Elliot's replacement, Tom Casey. I heard he used to fill in for Elliot on his vacation days....and instead of playing straight up jazz standards..he is incorporating some piano with rock/soft pop and customer requests. I'm not sure it's a good thing that no one is saying anything either way... confused

Sounds like an excellent reason for me to go check it out if I get a chance Smile

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Konk Coolers ROCK! I wish I could have one now. Its kind of dreary here in NE PA today.

A friend of mine gave Splitsville a try with her family on her last trip. She said they had a blast.

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Another vote for the monorail crawl. I just heard about the FREE tour over at the Boardwalk and am already planning to add that to my next trip.

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On a rainy evening I once did drinks around Crescent Lake. You wouldn't believe how many places there are to drink around Crescent Lake. It was epic.

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You could do the Saratoga Springs version of the monorail crawl, the "bus creep", where you ride the buses around SSR and stop at each development to buy something at the vending machines. The Paddock, the Carousel, the Carriage House, the Springs, Congress Park and the Stables. Cap off the evening with a final stop at the Tree House Villas where you can look for signs of life.

Inspired by historic Saratoga Springs"a late-1800s' New York retreat famous for its spas and horse racing"this charming, Victorian-style Resort hotel is nestled between rolling golf course greens and the shimmering Village Lake. Delight in stately Studios and multi-bedroom Villas, dazzling pools and a spa. You can also explore the fun activities and exciting dining options of the Downtown Disney-West Side- Pleasure Island- Disney Springs- Hyperion Wharf area, just a boat ride away.

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