Subsonic Radio

So it's pretty much official now that my husband and I will be going to Disney World this October! I'm happily shocked, since I was thinking we probably wouldn't be back until 2013 (yes, I'm a pessimist/worrier ). It won't be a long trip (probably 4 nights), but I'm just so thankful to get to go. Right now a lot of trip details are still up in the air because of some uncertainties concerning my job/health. One possibility is that we may only get 1 or 2 day tickets and only visit the Magic Kingdom this trip, meaning we would end up with a day or two where we won't be visiting a park. We're usually "commando" about visiting the parks and love the thrill rides, so this may be a very different type of trip for us. So that leads me to this...

What are some of the best things you can do at Walt Disney World without theme park admission?

I tried searching the board, assuming this topic has been done before, but I couldn't find anything recent (unless I missed it), so I hope it will be an interesting and informative topic. While free things are always great , we wouldn't mind paying to do some nice things.

And some other information that might be helpful: We'd love to do activities or explore special areas of the different hotels, but simply going to see what a hotel looks like isn't really thrilling enough since we've already done that. We've also visited the water parks and Disney Quest multiple times and don't really have an interest in them this trip (would rather spend that money towards extra days/hoppers).

How exciting that a trip is in the works for you! I will have to look for particulars, but I copied down a blurb from a website about how to go outside on the balcony of the Contemporary for some amazing views and photo opportunities. I hope to do that the next time we are there! Maybe you would also find that an interesting side-trip?

Depending on which resort you are staying out, I love lounging out at the pool or beach areas of the Disney Resorts, particularly any deluxe resort has a decent to outstanding pool/beach area. Also, if you are into checking out different resorts, I'd highly recommend doing a tour of several different resorts just to see their themes and offerings.

Have you tried the miniature gold courses on property? They are amazing! When we found out our tickets ran out a day earlier than we planned on leaving we decided to spend the day exploring DTD in more detail and a round of mini golf! In October, it may still be hot, but not even close to how bad it is now.

yodiwan1 wrote:In October, it may still be hot, but not even close to how bad it is now.

Amen!


I know I might get booed for suggesting this - what about Universal Studio? Sea World?

Lounge by the pool and sip melon coladas......

Visiting the resorts! My family loves to do this. We took the monorail around last vacation and went to all three of those.

Of course there's always Downtown Disney...

Isn't Downtown Disney seem a little less than it used to be? Pleasure Island is gone, Virgin Megastore is gone - it seems like its getting smaller...

mindflipper wrote:Isn't Downtown Disney seem a little less than it used to be? Pleasure Island is gone, Virgin Megastore is gone - it seems like its getting smaller...

That's ok, you can easily spend 3 or 4 hours in the World of Disney without breakin' a sweat

Of course there's always downtown Disney ... But you probably already knew that

mindflipper wrote:Isn't Downtown Disney seem a little less than it used to be? Pleasure Island is gone, Virgin Megastore is gone - it seems like its getting smaller...

Yes ... But there's still the cigar shop!!

jderoche5 wrote:Lounge by the pool and sip melon coladas......

Ditto!!
Add a cigar for me but you can't smoke one at the pool...

Go to Downtown Disney and take the boat to Port Orleans relaxing little trip past Old Key West and French Quarter.

yodiwan1 wrote:Have you tried the miniature gold courses on property? They are amazing! When we found out our tickets ran out a day earlier than we planned on leaving we decided to spend the day exploring DTD in more detail and a round of mini golf! In October, it may still be hot, but not even close to how bad it is now.

I love the minigolf too. My fav is Winter Summerland. Also, we love walking around the Boardwalk area - at night they have street performers and at the Beach Club there are movies on the beach.

So here's the plans so far from my research/your suggestions:
Dining - we're going to stack our table service dining on those days and just eat counter service at the park(s)
Miniature Golf
Tea at Grand Floridian
Torch lighting ceremony/Electrical Water Pageant/Wishes from Polynesian
Animal viewing at AKL
Swimming
DTD

Are there any other specific resort activities? I know when we stayed at the Polynesian we got a calendar with things like the torch lighting ceremony and hula dance lessons. Do you think they'll give me a calendar if I just ask? Do any of the other resorts do anything interesting like that?

Amy wrote:I copied down a blurb from a website about how to go outside on the balcony of the Contemporary for some amazing views and photo opportunities. I hope to do that the next time we are there! Maybe you would also find that an interesting side-trip?

That would be great!

ctrain2281 wrote:Depending on which resort you are staying out

We'll probably be at POFQ or CSR - love both of them for different reasons and haven't decided yet!

yodiwan1 wrote:Have you tried the miniature gold courses on property? They are amazing!

My husband has never been, but I went a time or two as a child.

mindflipper wrote:I know I might get booed for suggesting this - what about Universal Studio? Sea World?

No booing and they're not terrible suggestions, but they won't be good for us this trip. I haven't been to either one in years and my husband has never been, so we definitely want to do them. But of course those tickets aren't cheap and we'd rather put that towards Disney tickets if we're going to spend it. Plus on a short trip, I also hate to "lose" the Disney time. And I mentioned my health in the original post, but I guess I wasn't too specific that it's iffy about whether or not I'll have my doctor's clearance to ride roller coasters by then, so I'd rather wait so I can ride everything.