Old Key West in a week! Looking for suggestions for no-park trip.

[Dawn68PA]

Hello all! We trek from PA to Old Key West every September. Usually we go for 2 weeks. Unfortunately this year we are only going for one. So, no park trip. We’ve done them before and we’re cool with it. We are looking forward to the pool and Disney Springs, both my husband loves more than the parks anyway.

Is there anything you have done recently you would suggest? Something we may not have thought of because it’s off the beaten path? I’d love to hear your no-park ideas - even though we may have done them - maybe we forgot about it! What are evenings like in DS now? We haven’t hung out there for a whole evening outside of a restaurant in quite some time.

Hopefully this is a fun and educational thread for many!

 

[🍀TwinsMom]

We ran out of time last trip/stay at OKW, but I really hear great things about the sushi at the bowling in Disney Springs! Who knew? Splitsville, that's the name.

The nighttime AK safari at Kidani is a bucket list thing for us, too.

And just tossing it out there, depending on how many are going and if you're meeting up with friends, the VIP tour of rides may be a decent value compared to weekly tickets, if you wanted a super awesome park fix for one day. No lines in the heat. One blockbuster day of parks/rides and the rest of the week for R&R.

 

[Brian Noble]

Is there anything you have done recently you would suggest?

I caught a show at House of Blues that was great fun.

 

[mort1331]

If you golf,,then great course right out your back door of OKW, DVC discounts as well. The new Cirque show, Hoop Dee Do. Carriage rides at Port Orleans. Take a tour of the properties on the skyliner and have a drink at each one.
I can vouch for the sushi at Splitsville, had at both WDW and Disney,,,and both very good.

 

[cedricandsophie]

We go to OKW every March for at least 10 days sbd never go to parks. We enjoy the pool, tennis, shuffleboard. We take the boat to Disney springs. We find a spring baseball game that is not too far we visit other resorts. We go to the top of bay lake for fireworks.

 

[Mirabell Rose]

Riding the skyliner in the evening. Totally different than in the day with all the lights to look at. Head to the Poly right about fireworks time for Dole Whip and sit and eat it watching the high fireworks. Go to AKL and check out the store and sit in the rockers off the lobby and watch the animals in the savanas. Head to the boardwalk after riding the skyliner either by boat or walking the trail from Hollywood Studios after getting off the skyliner. Take the boat over from the gates of Magic Kingdom to the Fort Wilderness Campground and enjoy the quick service and the scenery. We do a lot of non park weeks now that the kids are grown. Love just enjoying all the wonderful things you can do outside the parks and some for free.

 

[Cybertruck]

Well, Howdy! old neighbor. We moved from PA 3 years ago. We have a family resort stay at Christmas. If you are the adventurous type I recommend the All Star Scavenger Hunt. It covers Sports, Music and Movies. You can pick up a map at gift shop.

Since you will have a car Kennedy Space Museum is another good day out. Especially if there is a Space X launch. But you can see these almost anywhere at Disney. One our favorite memories of this was a night launch right before we saw Yehaa Bob.

Jellyrolls Dueling Piano Bar is another family favorite for resort stays if you are looking to stay inside the bubble. But we enjoy trips outside the bubble.

A great place off property is downtown Winter Garden especially when the Farmers Market is open. But it is nothing like the Farmers Markets in PA. We really miss the Lancaster and Allentown Farmers Market Greek and Amish stands. Very walkable downtown park the car and explore.

Finally, Winter Park is another great downtown outside the bubble where you can park the car and explore.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Boy, some great ideas here! Our idea of excitement is to set up a jigsaw puzzle on the round dining table and try putting that together while we also watch the golfers going by.

 

[jekjones1558]

My husband used to love the boats. You can take a boat to DS and switch to a boat that goes to French Quarter and Riverside. Have lunch or a drink there.

 

[GSDGlitter]

A lot of our family's favorite non-park activities have already been suggested, but I'll add:

"Legend of Conch Flats" at OKW if you haven't already done that (free) walking tour.
Check about scavenger hunts at OKW and other resorts, they used to offer several!
Hidden Mickey hunt in the resorts
Visit Tri Circle D over in Fort Wilderness - there's an interesting museum section in the new barn.

Off property if you feel like making the drive:
Ditto on the Winter Park suggestion - there are also several lovely parks walkable from the downtown area and the Morse Museum is very nice.
If the weather is nice and you would enjoy a walk, Lake Eola Park is lovely and we love looking at the art in the Grand Bohemian hotel.
The UCF Arboretum and Harry Leu Gardens are gorgeous!

 

[izzy]

If you have a car, Mount Dora is a very cute town with shops and restaurants. It’s north of WDW. You can even do a lake cruise. I also second the Winter Park suggestion. Another place to do a nice lake cruise. If you like Tiffany stained glass the Morse Museum is a must do. And if you like great barbecue and delicious baked goods, Winter Park has a Four Rivers Smokehouse. A must do for me!

I also went to the Showcase of Citrus in Clermont and did their monster truck tour. I thought that was a lot of fun.

 

[BLLB]

Since you have a car, a trip to the original Gideons is fun!

 

[Dawn68PA]

Thank you all so much - lots of things here I didn’t know about, especially the off-site ones! We had such a blast with Yee-haa Bob - I have to jot that down. I’m so glad I asked you all!

 

[artesian]

Great thread. Almost feel like this is something we should sticky and add to it. Love having ideas to do on non park days!

 

[Shellyred8]

We love riding the DS boats to and from all the resorts around that area. Mini Golf is also a big thing that we like to do. There are the Disney mini golf courses and then there are lots of other ones around that area. I'll second the trip to Gideon's at the East End Market. The most efficient way to get there is to take I-4, so if you plan to take that route, you will want to plan around heavy traffic times. I found going up on a Sunday morning had ok traffic.
We did the Cirque show the last time we were there. We enjoyed that. If you do that, I would recommend getting the "cheaper" seats that are further up. They really are the better view.

 

[londonderrydisneyfan]

Our trip in April only included one park day so we rented a pontoon at the Contemporary Lodge and spent at least an hour exploring Bay Lake from there to the Contemporary and all the way to MK, Grand Floridian and the Poly. It was a lot of fun and then we ended up eating at Steakhouse 71 which was very nice too.

 

[tom1944]

Our trip in April only included one park day so we rented a pontoon at the Contemporary Lodge and spent at least an hour exploring Bay Lake from there to the Contemporary and all the way to MK, Grand Floridian and the Poly. It was a lot of fun and then we ended up eating at Steakhouse 71 which was very nice too.

Are the pontoon boats easy for a non-boat owner to use?

 

[londonderrydisneyfan]

Are the pontoon boats easy for a non-boat owner to use?

Yes, we don't own a boat and had no issues. They spend about 10 minutes explaining how everything works and that's really all the time you need.
Anyone who wants to drive needs to bring their driver's license though. They check and if you don't have one you get a different colored band so they can easily tell who can and who can't drive.

 

[Halle]

I agree with PP regarding Winter Park. We did a boat tour there that was very interesting and a lot of fun. It was several years ago. We also enjoy going to Celebration.

 

[mikeuno]

Might want to check out Wekiwa Springs State Park.