I rented a boat last summer with my family. I haven't played Tennis in Disney, but that is usually because it is too hot when my family has been there to go. Now that I am there more often it is a possibility if I have someone to play with of course. I also do take advantage of a number of other recreational options, as well as some of the other resort amenities that the DVC resorts offer. You got really defensive here, but I am not sure why. I never said that a lot of people aren't park commandos, but I don't think that they all are either. I think that part of the issue with some of the activities (like boat rentals) are their cost. If people already dropped a few hundred bucks for their family to get into the park that day, then their extra recreation is probably going to be of the free variety (pools and related activities). I haven't sat and surveyed my fellow guests at the resorts to see how many take days off while they are staying, but I am usually back at the resort in the middle of the afternoon and do see people sitting on the beaches and at the pools. They might not be paying extra for something but at least some of the people are taking some time to relax and not just going open to close.
I'm not defensive - I'm asking for additional clarification. The golf being busy after several parks are closed for the night (and non-park hoppers have no where to go) is vastly different than people hitting the courses INSTEAD of the parks.. which was the vein of the discussion. The idea that WDW hand/is becoming 'parks, parks, parks' until we drop.
So you rented a boat last year.. and how often have you been at the park since then? The thing is these things are dropping off in popularity and usage.. and the mentality of the visitors is changing from a 'resort' to 'a theme park where we eat and sleep too'. This is a progression, not a on/off thing.
WDW in the eighties was not about being in the parks 12-18hrs a day. People relaxed, they did alt activities, they explored the various things the parks offered.
Just read various people's posts - you see the obsession with not missing any time in the parks - at the expense of all other activities and the idea of relaxing too.
Pay attention to how WDW is marketed.. in both print and TV. Check out the 'things to do' categories on the wdw website.. and then go back and look at how often you see those things listed in trip reports here, or people talking about them, etc.
Disney has fed it by building more theme parks.. society in large is trying to move faster and faster.. technology focus has made people more and more interested in that rather than simple pleasures.. etc. I'm not saying it's purely on Disney... but the way we as a society vacations is changing and Disney's model seems to exaggerate that. The WDW model of the 80s seems to be waning in favor of more and more theme park time.
Keep that in mind and read through people's TRs... and make your own call on what you see them doing.
