WDW: On-Property ENTIRE Time or Broken Up?

[SAV]

Normally we do 7 days at WDW and then to the beach for 3 days. This past June we changed it up a bit and did a resort day, a beach day and another resort day in the middle to break up the park days a bit since we ended up with a great deal at an offsite resort for part of the stay.

 

[ctxak98]

well, lately we've been staying off property! and I LOVE IT! There really is some nice stuff to do in Florida and it doesn't ruin the magic at all IMO. We usually take a trip to UNI and also visit our relatives out in Tampa and do the beach. Also a trip to Premium Outlets is always a treat! lots of fun stuff to do, But Disney is always the best part!

 

[Sparklepanda]

When I travel I'm travelling from the UK so although I would quite like to see the magic and stay just in Disney. The fact I'm travelling so far means that I want to do Uni (huge HP fan) and go to the florida malls etc. Also there are so many good restaurants on I-drive that we don't have that I love to go to e.g. Bahamma Breeze.

 

[Mista C]

part of the draw of these vacations is the escape. i take full advantage of the bus/boat system, i stay on property and i want nothing to do with the outside world while at Disney. i don't want to drive, i don't want to watch the news or any tv shows i normally would at home, and i don't want to go anywhere else in Florida including universal.

This is EXACTLY how I feel. Once the car is parked, it sits in the lot until the day that we have to pack it to leave. I don't care if I can get to the Magic Kingdom quicker with my car than taking a bus, I'm taking a bus. I don't care if I can get to Downtown Disney quicker with my car, I'm taking the boat (from POFQ of course). And the ONLY, and I mean ONLY tv channel that is ever put on in the room is the Disney Parks channel. The second we walk into the room upon check-in that channel gets put on. The second we get back from the parks at night that channel gets put on. And the second we wake up, and while we are getting ready, that channel gets put on. After the second loop, my wife is ready to lose her mind. My daughter and I can watch it forever, over and over. I would be horrified if the news or a regular tv show that I watch at home were to ever grace the screen of our room tv. I am in a complete bubble while I am there.

 

[BoarderPhreak]

Once in The Bubble, always in The Bubble.

 

[Disney4family]

Stay. Stay. Stay. I've visited 42 states and over 15 countries. This is where I choose to spend my time, my money and my vacation. We have no interest in leaving The Bubble. People will scoff at us for it and offer suggestions about different experiences and "better" rides. We tried it once one day at Sea World. Never again.

What they don't understand is that it's not about "the rides". It's about the total experience. And the memories. And the CM service. And the fun. And not having to worry about renting a car, driving around, finding other places, seeing reality with billboards, hotels, etc that we can see in the real world.

There is always something new to do or eat or see - even if it's a new "Dave" bench to sit on and people-watch. I want hidden Mickeys all around, Stacy on the tv and the relaxation and excitement of enjoying every second of being there.

I'm glad people have had wonderful experiences not staying, but it's just not for us. We need this time to relax and know "we're back".

 

[Goofyernmost]

This is pretty much exactly how I feel. We ventured off property and went to Uni for a day a couple years ago, but that was only because HP had just opened AND because we were down there for a conference and had a rental car.

Universal isn't my type of park (too many things induce motion sickness), so I'm perfectly content staying in the bubble the whole time. The TV in the room NEVER leaves the "Stacey" channel - no news, no shows, nothing.

I can spend two full days at Uni and never once go on a motion sickness type ride. Things, even the older ones, like Terminator and E.T. are very good attractions and the newer ones are creative and well done, like Shrek and Despicable me. But that's me, everyone has different tastes.

On my very first trip to WDW, in 1983, it never even occurred to me to spend my entire time at WDW. Epcot had just opened the preceding October and talk about an unorganized mess. That was EPCOT Ctr. Too many people and too little to see for the novice Guest. We went to Epcot and left within an hour when we hadn't gotten a chance to see anything except the back of heads in the queue. We got in the car and drove to the Kennedy Space Center. More then worth the effort even back then and it was nothing back then like it is now.

Anyway, my personality doesn't work well with just one place. I want to see whatever is available in the area and have proceeded over the last 32 years to do just that. I would never confine myself to one piece of property, even if the only other thing I was seeing was a local flea market.

 

[THEMEPARKPIONEER]

I always start the trip in St Augusting which to me is just as great as talking around in one of the parks, and it doesn't drain your wallet, then it's off to Orange Lake resort where I will spend every other day there or disney and sometimes sneak off to Universal. Technically my trips are never a Disney trip it just happens to be a part of it. Next time I want to visit this huge cars and guitar place that's an hour away from the resort.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

I applied to UCF, so my Junior and Senior year of high school, we left property to go over there. Other than that, we usually don't have car, so we usually don't leave. We have premium APs, so we try to make the most of them.

We talked about doing Uni, but between the cost of renting a car, the extra tickets, and the hotel costs over there, it just hasn't been economical to do it. Over at WDW, we have our APs and we're DVC members, so it's much less costly. My friend and I talked about doing Unj when we went down last year just us, but for one, it would have been pricey, and our parents would have wanted us to stay over there since it was our first trip without anyone older than us, but Uni's hotel policy is that you have to be 21 to stay there. We were only 18. I know there aren't too many 18 year olds who can do a trip like that, but it still seems silly. Disney's minimum age is 18, so we stayed there the entire time. Uni lost our business.

One of these days, we'll get around to doing Uni.

 

[Chef Mickey]

Entire trip at Disney World, never venturing outside the bubble.

A huge part of the experience for me is completely isolation from the outside world. I practically see nothing that reminds me of the outside world, and that's the way I like it.