ResortTV1

you decide to make a day at Disney but not enter the parks what do you do?

Probably pretty standard. On arrival day, we hit one or both of the Character Warehouses for souvenirs and Target for supplies. On a non-park day, we resort hop typically from the Contemporary to the Poly to the Grand Floridian. At the Poly, we get some Dole Whip at the Pineapple Lanai and some food at Captain Cooks. Then we look around for the room John Lennon stayed in. Afterward, we head to Disney Springs. Sometimes, we go to the Boardwalk and check out the stuff in that area. Once we went to Kennedy Space Center.

jbletheby wrote: ↑Mon Feb 15, 2021 6:46 pm you decide to make a day at Disney but not enter the parks what do you do?

I always like my first day to be a travel day. Meaning get to the hotel in the afternoon, have a good sit down meal at a resort, relax at the pool, and then get ready to get up and hit the park the next day. That's how I start my planning then the closer we get to departure day-I end up changing my mind and we do a 1/2 day at Epcot and eat there.

I have yet to successfully have a non-park day when I'm there.

CH-GenX wrote: ↑Tue Feb 16, 2021 4:26 am

jbletheby wrote: ↑Mon Feb 15, 2021 6:46 pm you decide to make a day at Disney but not enter the parks what do you do?

I always like my first day to be a travel day. Meaning get to the hotel in the afternoon, have a good sit down meal at a resort, relax at the pool, and then get ready to get up and hit the park the next day. That's how I start my planning then the closer we get to departure day-I end up changing my mind and we do a 1/2 day at Epcot and eat there.

I have yet to successfully have a non-park day when I'm there.

i do that too, but starting to realize that a middle of the trip day, being a lot more relaxed. like resort hopping, and end the day at disney springs is such a good re-energizer

There are a lot of fun things to do outside of the parks - your resort often has a lot of activities. Of course you can enjoy the pool - but some of the other resorts are pretty cool - like Art of Animation has some cool things to see and there are a lot of different places to try eating snacks or food.

You can go to Animal Kingdom Lodge (both Kidani and Jambo) and there are some nice views of the Savannah with seating so you can just sit and watch and enjoy the animals.

Or just ride the Monorail around in circles or the Skyliner around in circles!

Depending on when you go, if things re-open the Boardwalk also have a lot of activities to do.

Yeah a fully non-park day for my wife and I would be on our arrival day and possibly on our last day if it's a longer 5 or 6 night trip.

On arrival day, we try to get the earliest flight possible to get in our room no later than 12pm - we've been lucky the 4 times we got flights into MCO landing around 9 or 10am and getting to our resort with the room ready shortly after around noon. That way, we can get settled in, my wife likes to take a nap, and we don't have to rush anything at all. We'll enjoy our time at the resort pools, pool bars, etc. We'll also get our Amazon Prime delivery with small snacks, sun screen (we don't check bags so can't pack the larger tubes), water, etc later in the afternoon on this day. Each time we do arrive in this fashion we will have our "date night" dinner planned at one of our favorite places - the past couple trips it's been either a full dinner at California Grill with fireworks at the top or dinner at Jiko and a later reservation at California Grill for dessert and fireworks at the top. This day is perfect for us and TOTALLY gets us in the magic and ready for our trip!

For the longer stays we've recently done, 5 or 6 nights we've had no park passes for the last full day we are there. We've come to like this because by then, we are tired and soar lol. We have booked spa sessions at the Grand in the past for the late morning and then hit Disney Springs for a lunch and a movie if something good is playing. Then for dinner we'll hit something we haven't done yet at Disney Springs, or some other resort. Regardless where we eat, we end the evening at Poly on the beach in the Adirondack chairs with some dolewhip (and rum) soaking up what a great week we just had and also this amazing resort. We'll of course watch the fireworks from the beach - hot take, this beach provides the best non-MK park views over Contemporary or Grand.

On arrival day we like to head to MK and visit the monorail resorts.

On a mid trip day we like to mini golf in the morning, pool in the afternoon, Disney springs in the evening.

jbletheby wrote: ↑Mon Feb 15, 2021 6:46 pm you decide to make a day at Disney but not enter the parks what do you do?

Resort hop and take pics or Disney Springs.

We like to hang out the resort and get some pool time. We also like to explore other resorts. Last trip we drove to the DHS parking lot and explored the skyliner resorts.

Disney Springs or a day at the pool, depending on the time of year.

We are planning 2 resort days for our next trip. The plan right now is to have those days our arrival and departure days. Since we don't have a flight reservation yet, we are going in September and waiting for the airlines to schedule flights, we are hoping to resort hop to Animal kingdom lodge on arrival day. We do want to go there at some point to see the savannah, also want a trip to Disney Springs and of course relax in the pool.

Resort hopping and riding the skyliner.

Hang by the pool and have a few cocktails....

resort hop, Disney springs (pre-pandemic would have caught a movie & dinner), pool time/do some of the daily resort activities

I would probably go to the pool at my hotel in the morning and go to Disney Springs at night.

Jack Peterson wrote: ↑Thu Feb 25, 2021 6:25 am I would probably go to the pool at my hotel in the morning and go to Disney Springs at night.

nothing beats pool day except maybe hanging at the springs