What can a family with children do on "non-park" day???days

[busy mom]

Our family of 5 is planning to visit WDW next January. We plan to stay a couple extra days to just take in the sites. We would love any suggestions to fill these days. We will not have park passes, therefore will need activities that do not require park admission. Any ideas??? Our children will be 11, 7 & 5.

 

[marley]

When we went in May with our 2 year old and 5 year old, we spent our off days exploring the other Disney resorts and Downtown Disney. Those days actually ended up being some of our best memories. And most things were free!!

Fort Wilderness - free petting zoo and pony rides for a small cost.

Boardwalk - You can rent the surrey bikes which was a lot of fun

Animal Kingdom and Wilderness Lodge - Amazing to visit and free tours and you can roam the grounds and it feels like you aren't in FL anymore but are transported to the wilderness

Downtown Disney - Rainforest Cafe and Lego Land were a big hit.

We also enjoyed riding the free ferry from the Wilderness Lodge around the lake in front of MK. We also planned a character breakfast that day for the last slot and pretty much had the Pooh characters to ourselves which we loved.

Have Fun!

 

[busy mom]

Marley: Thanks for the response...those are all great suggestions.! But...where was the character meal you went to? Did it require park admission? I thought all of the character meals were offered only inside the parks?

 

[dvcsully]

How about going to the Wlilderness Lodge, see the sights, have lunch, and then rent bikes for a ride over to Fort Wilderness. There you can visit the petting farm, swim, ride horses, rent a water mouse, or just play on the swings. If you don't have lunch ay the WL you can also eat at Crocketts at FW. This is a great family buffet that the kids will love.

 

[Magic2000]

On our "non park" days - we...
. walk the Boardwalk, which would include doing some shopping, eating at one of the restaurants, and playing some of the games they have out there. This past summer, we also rented one of those bikes that you can ride around the Boardwalk (and yes, that was us pushing it up that little "hill"!!) It was really a lot of fun.
. ride around off the grounds and visit "Celebration", the Disney town.
. just lounge around by your pool and swim - if its warm enough in January.
. visit Downtown Disney - there's even a movie theater there!
. visit all the monorail hotels and have lunch at one of them (Kona Cafe at the Polynesian is one of our favorites, as well as the Grand Floridian Cafe!)
. visit Disney's campground and see the petting zoo (I believe you can also rent horses for horseback riding).
. check out the water things to do (my DD loved the paddle boats at the Coronado Springs Hotel
There's really a lot of things to do - its just finding the time to do them all!!
Enjoy your trip!

 

[colleen mcmaster]

Definitely Downtown Disney and take bathing suits so kids can play in the fountains. Some character meals are at the hotels so you can go on an off day. Also, if you got to Fort Wilderness area you can go to the Hoop-de-doo dinner show. A bit pricey but our kids always like it. (It's an interactive, western themed dinner show)

 

[Claudine]

there are several character meals not in the parks. Most are located in the different disney resorts. if you go the the DIS home page under disney dining lists character meals, which characters you should see and their locations .

 

[DancingBear]

First of all, you'll probably want to work these days off into the middle of your stay, rather than just at the end. Some suggestions:

Character meals at Chef Mickeys (Contemporary Resort), 1900 Park Faire (Grand Floridian), Cape May Cafe (Beach Club), Olivias (Key West), Ohana (Polynesian), as well as restaurants in the Swan and Dolphin. For more info:

http://wdwig.com/cb.htm

Miniature golf at Fantasia Gardens (near Swan and Dolphin) or at Winter/Summerland (near Blizzard Beach)

Free boat rides: Around the monorail resorts and Wilderness Lodge; Around Boardwalk, MGM, Epcot, Swan & Dolphin and Yacht and Beach Clubs

Boat rentals: many resorts

Strolling the Boardwalk, etc. in the evening.

Downtown Disney Legoland.

Electric Water Pageant at the monorail resorts and Wilderness Lodge (free!)

Savannah viewing areas at Animal Kingdom Lodge (free!)

Storytelling at Animal Kingdom Lodge (free!)

Resort tours at Animal Kingdom Lodge or Wilderness Lodge (free!)

Magic Kingdom fireworks from outside the park---from California Grill (Contemporary Resort), from observation deck outside CA Grill (free!), from Polynesian Beach, from a well-timed boat ride, etc.

 

[BrerMom]

In addition, you could choose to watch Cirque du Soleil in Downtown Disney. It is an awesome show. If you think your five-year-old can sit for an hour and a half, I'd go. Our kids LOVED it and still act act scenes from the show.

 

[marley]

Busy Mom,

I can see everyone answered the question you asked me about character meals not in the park, but also remember, regardless of whether you are going to a character meal or to just visit a WDW hotel, just tell the parking attendants you are just visiting the hotel and you won't have to pay for parking. Staying off-site I was afraid I would have to pay for parking to reach the hotels, especially those closest to MK, but they take your word for it and you just go on to the hotel.

I also have read there is a ferry boat that takes you from Downtown Disney to OKW that is free so that might be something fun to do. You can also watch the fireworks from the Poly beach for free and the electric water parade from there and go to the Fort Wilderness campfire for free with Chip and Dale.

Marley

 

[darlingmom]

Thank you for all the great info. about things to do w/ kids outside of the parks. It looks like a family staying off property can take advantage of most of these things.

 

[pajamommy]

Great suggestions from everyone!! On our off day, we slept late, ate a big breakfast at Whispering Canyon Cafe (we were staying at WL), and then we let the kids play at the playground and then went swimming for the afternoon. We had dinner at 'Ohana at the Poly, and then went out to the beach there and watched the fireworks from across the lagoon. We laid in their very comfy hammocks, it was really nice!

 

[babslittleones]

We will usually schedule an off day about every two days for a break and rest from the parks. We have done many things. We love to go to Downtown Disney. We also love the Disney Outlet shops and the Beltz Outlet Mall. We usually just take an afternoon and drive all over the place which means we usually get lost a few times also but that is the fun of it. We drive the whole stretch of road of that goes thru Kissimmee into St. Cloud. Celebration is always wonderful to drive around. We also drive the whole stretch of Orange Blossom Trail and drive around downtown. Lake Eola is downtown and has a wonderful park surrounding it. It is only a 45 minute drive to Cape Canaveral which has a great beach and the space center. It is about a 1 1/2 drive to Daytona Beach. There is a ton of stuff to do outside of Disney. Some of the things are free or almost free and some are more expensive. Take your pick.

 

[Deb & Bill]

The boat that goes from OKW to Downtown Disney is a smaller boat, not a ferry boat. This is supposed to be for the guests at OKW. There used to be a larger boat that went from Port Orleans to DTD, but I'm not sure they are running any more. The boat from OKW only holds about 12 passengers. You can ride the Friendship boats from Disney Studios to Swan/Dolphin, Beach/Yacht, Boardwalk and Epcot (and back). You can also rent boats at the YC/BC Marina.

No character meal at Olivia's at OKW anymore. 1900 Park Faire at GF has both a character breakfast and dinner (buffet that is excellent).

Plan some time at your resort to go swimming. Even the water parks might be a possibility, you just need a water park pass to do them.

If you aren't staying on the Disney property, you may have a harder time getting into the resort parking lots.

 

[busy mom]

Thanks to all who posted!!! My "trip notes" are growing longer and longer! But I plan to make the most of our vacation, and these tips will help tremendously! My DH has this crazy idea that WDW is a one-time thing, so this may be it for us (unless we win the lottery)!


Thanks again!!!

 

[On Wisconsin]

I am quoting my husband, who thought he was way too cool (& I thought was way too cheap) for Disney and who also thought our trip in 2000 would be our last:

Day two -- "We are never doing this again, you better enjoy it".

Day four -- "IF we ever come again we'll do . . . this differently (he had a few of these comments).

Day six -- "WHEN we come again we're going to . . ."

Day seven -- "THE NEXT TIME WE COME WE ARE STAYING TWICE AS LONG!"

So don't lose hope, he'll probably come around! Even as time goes by and he sometimes forgets he said these things it does sneak up on him now and then, I even caught him looking (rather longingly I think) at pictures from our trip. He's has given the go ahead for trip #2 later this year!

 

[BigJohnG]

I didn't catch it, but if you stay offsite, how many of the 'free' activities at the WDW Resorts are available...i.e. viewing animals at the AKL?

Thanks,

BigJohnG