Have you ever gone to WDW and NOT gone to a park?

[disneygirl76]

Hi all!

So after 10 days of magic and memories and even giving myself a "pep" talk before we went, I still did something that I wanted to avoid. I wanted to avoid the feeling of anxiety to just get in the parks and spend time in the parks and we ended up missing out a lot on the resort activities and just enjoying non park time. I do this every trip and i'm a bit annoyed at myself that I did it again.

Out of curiosity, has anyone just gone to WDW and NOT gone into a park? My parents live about 4 1/2 hours from the World and the DH and I go to HHI each year to see them, usually in the mid winter/early spring. So I was going to look into the DH and I just getting away for a night and spending the night at a Deluxe resort. Thinking the Boardwalk? It will be hard not to be tempted to go in but I think it might be fun for a quick get away.

Has anyone done this?

Thanks!

 

[Master Yoda]

Yep. We do it all the time. We have seasonal passes so there are a few months out of the year were we can't get into the parks. During those months we will go to dinner, play mini-golf, watch fireworks from the beach at the Polys, etc.

 

[Susan Savia]

We we're at WDW last week to attend our first Halloween Party on Tuesday night. Getting back to our room at nearly 1:00am we opted to sleep in (usually never do that when at Disney) and got up late, had some breakfast in the room and then went to Downtown Disney for the afternoon. Shopped for a while and enjoyed sitting by the water at a table with an umbrella. Being as it was only a week long trip this time, we knew we''d be coming back in January for two weeks, so we just slowed down and enjoyed some non park time that day.

 

[wiigirl]

nope.

 

[DisneyDebNJ]

We usually do a *down day*, do either room service for breakfast (if up early) or pick up something at Captain Cooks, do the pools for a bit, then do the searaycers and relax pool side afterwards or head to the lounge for a bit, watch Wishes on the beach and turn in early, and recharge for the next day.

 

[ExtinctJenn]

I suppose it depends really on the definition of "going to WDW." My grandmother lived off Apopka Vineland road for years and on a few occasions I drove down to visit her and hit DtD and other non-park Disney things. She was literally around the corner from the "back" entrance to DtD (over by the Double Tree with the pineapples all over it that is now called something else I believe).

 

[minniemickeyfan]

We always plan a day or two (if we spend 2 weeks) and just swim at the resort, play mini golf, eat dinner at a resort, maybe talk a walk especially if we are staying at POR or FQ or take an evening boat ride to DD. We love staying at one of these resorts since you can swim at the other too. But I love being in the parks so its hard to get away sometimes.

 

[Lucky]

I went to conventions in the Orlando area twice without going to WDW (or Uni or SW). That was before I had kids.

 

[Poofiesdream]

we always plan on no park days to rest up between the park days. They are a must for us. I think I would have to go to at least one park while there though. If I was only coming for a week end though I probally wouldn't need to go to a park. We go a lot though so the parks have nothing we just have to do that trip. We only live 3 hours away. Thought about taking a ride just to go to DTD to Christmas shop. May sometime.

 

[disneygirl76]

We planned those too - but got so excited to go back in the parks we did and we got rained out a lot. Also, we didn't plan on the buses to take so long so we didn't come back and forth to the resort as much as we had hoped. I tried. hee hee

 

[rsoxguy]

NEVER!!!!

 

[Avenger117]

Yes, we did that this summer. We were visiting relatives in Fl and stopped by Disney for a day. We took some tours of the resorts and then grabbed dinner at Downtown Disney. It was a lot of fun!

 

[Britt]

We always plan to PLAN a down day....lol Last year, that just didn't happen.

This time, we went for 8 days and took 1 day for the beach and 1 day for Universal/WWoHP. We weren't staying onsite though.

Next time, I want a "slow day" where we get up whenever, meander around and then go to DTD!

 

[MKCP 1985]

I have gone down for a Disney Marathon and not gone to the parks except while running through them. I'm always racing around down there - never book a long enough trip to just lounge. It must be nice!

 

[pixiesteno]

We have done this and it is great! We have a RV now and stay at FWC so it is a little easier giving yourself permission to stay put as we don't have mousekeeping knocking on the door wanted to do the room. We went down last June for our DS graduation from Full Sail U and I only did one day at the parks with all of the graduation activities. DH & DS did an extra park day at HS for the SWW activities. I hung out with my DB & DSIL at the pool and was perfectly happy. We watched the fireworks from the beach. Took a boat ride to the MK then on to the Poly to hang out, went to DTD several times. I actually wasn't feeling well with an inner ear thing so there was one day that I just sat in my recliner under the awning and read a book (took a nap) -- okay a couple of naps. We have gotten to the point that we can feel like we have had a wonderful WDW vacation without being in the parks for every minute of it.

 

[stlbobby]

Hi all!

So after 10 days of magic and memories and even giving myself a "pep" talk before we went, I still did something that I wanted to avoid. I wanted to avoid the feeling of anxiety to just get in the parks and spend time in the parks and we ended up missing out a lot on the resort activities and just enjoying non park time. I do this every trip and i'm a bit annoyed at myself that I did it again.

Out of curiosity, has anyone just gone to WDW and NOT gone into a park? My parents live about 4 1/2 hours from the World and the DH and I go to HHI each year to see them, usually in the mid winter/early spring. So I was going to look into the DH and I just getting away for a night and spending the night at a Deluxe resort. Thinking the Boardwalk? It will be hard not to be tempted to go in but I think it might be fun for a quick get away.

Has anyone done this?

Thanks!

When I deployed to Iraq my wife and I decided to let our AP's lapse since I was going to be busy for essentially 18+ months. We banked our DVC points and planned a long vacation for my return. We planned on meeting in Europe for my leave, but she got a new job and moved cities while I was away. I decided to come back to the States because I'd never seen our new condo, she had a list of projects for me, and I missed my dog.

During my two weeks home my wife booked a surprise four days at SSR. We went down with a list of things we never get to do outside the parks. We only got through about half of the list there was so much. We didn't even bother with park tickets. It was actually one of my favorite trips.

We always schedule a down day in the middle of our trips just to recover.

 

[ExtinctJenn]

Maybe it's just me I don't really put "down days" into the same category that the OP was talking about here. I thought the idea was a trip to WDW property without actually going into the parks any day there. I'm so out of it, maybe I missed it so my earlier response now makes no sense. LOL!!!

 

[steviej]

we stayed at universal once and drove into wdw property for some breakfasts at Boma and Chef Mickeys, even though we took a ride on the monorail if you wanna count that

 

[real mad hatter]

Whit! No way ever.After flying 3000 miles and spending $7500 its 14 days & night of pure magic.

 

[DizneyPryncess]

Matt's family has a time share at Orange Lake, so we've been there a few times where we didn't go into any parks. His family doesn't really like theme parks....so it's odd that they have a time share there to begin with. But when we go with them, they either only do 1 park day, or none at all. We usually go to DTD, or to dinner at the Polynesian and to watch Wishes from the beach. It is not the same thing you're talking about, since we're not actually staying a Disney resort. It's difficult for me though, to drive all the way there & not go into the parks!

I wouldn't mind visiting for a few days, staying at a Disney resort, and not doing the parks. The resorts are beautiful & have so many activities too. You can get a Disney fix that way.