What can you do at Disney without spending anything at all.

[contrariwise]

I will say one more thing because I feel bad that OP's thread about free stuff to do has taken this turn. I have both stayed in WDW resorts and visited them while not being a registered resort guest. I have never once been made to feel unwelcome by either other hotel guests or the staff. We are greeted warmly and treated well. I just don't want people who have not done this to get the idea that they will be leered at or frowned upon. That has just not been my experience.

And I always encourage people visiting the AKL for a meal to check out the amenities - lobby, savannas and gift shop in particular. I love that place.

 

[RustySpork]

I will say one more thing because I feel bad that OP's thread about free stuff to do has taken this turn. I have both stayed in WDW resorts and visited them while not being a registered resort guest. I have never once been made to feel unwelcome by either other hotel guests or the staff. We are greeted warmly and treated well. I just don't want people who have not done this to get the idea that they will be leered at or frowned upon. That has just not been my experience.

And I always encourage people visiting the AKL for a meal to check out the amenities - lobby, savannas and gift shop in particular. I love that place.

Why don't we move it to the Chit Chat board? I'd hate to see another fun thread die.

 

[GoofGoof]

I will say one more thing because I feel bad that OP's thread about free stuff to do has taken this turn. I have both stayed in WDW resorts and visited them while not being a registered resort guest. I have never once been made to feel unwelcome by either other hotel guests or the staff. We are greeted warmly and treated well. I just don't want people who have not done this to get the idea that they will be leered at or frowned upon. That has just not been my experience.

And I always encourage people visiting the AKL for a meal to check out the amenities - lobby, savannas and gift shop in particular. I love that place.

Agreed. Spending a non-park day visiting various resorts is one of my favorite things to do. I usually end up incorporating a meal or drink or 2 as well. For someone who has never been to some or all of the resorts I would say it's definitely worth checking out. I also agree that you won't be harassed or made to feel unwelcome. The CM at the hotel are always pleasant to me and Disney wants you to go and spend money in restaurants, shops and bars.

 

[21stamps]

I'm preparing to get flamed for saying this, but I find this to be extremely tacky. I stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge most often so I deal with this as much as anyone outside of the monorail loop, but it's very off-putting when I'm staying at a resort and swarms of people descend just to sight-see. Most people here seem to agree that pool hopping is in poor taste, but for some reason the same people think resort hopping is perfectly fine. They're fundamentally no different. You're showing up at a resort at which you're not staying in order to use the amenities for which you're not paying.

Obviously it's different if you have dining reservations, but even then people need to learn to behave themselves. Boma diners flopped out with their shoes on the furniture in the AKL lobby is a nightly occurrence.

Agreed, but sometimes people can do too much at Disney hotels. I'm all for going to eat at other hotels and maybe doing a quick tour of the lobby, but I feel like loitering around the premises and of course using the pool would obviously be overboard.

I stay at AKL and I know several people during my stay were talking with the cast members at the animal observatory and just taking up space in general. They were staying at Pop because they mentioned going back there to grab their cups.

Just for the record, I don't think these posts, or mine, said anything at all about people or cast members being rude to someone who is not a paying guest. Not quite sure why people are jumping to that conclusion, but I agree that No, people will most likely not be rude to you. I have never had it happen while I was visiting another resort to dine. Never heard of it happening to anyone else either.

Anyway, to add to the "free topic" Ft Wilderness had a really neat stable and trails. We were extremely impressed with the property. I haven't done the horseback riding or archery, but I checked a few months ago and they are relatively reasonably priced. I think there is fishing available as well.

 

[Angel Ariel]

Oh, and the resort launches at park closing time- drives me nuts when non resort guests use them. There is absolutely no reason to do so.

I've used the resort launch as a Shades of Green guest. We typically walk from the poly back to Shades, so we take whatever transportation will get us to poly the quickest. Our default is the monorail, but if the line for the monorail is too long we have used the resort launches before. Disney could easily make them resort-guest only if they chose to. They haven't, and we do have a reason to use it, so we do.

 

[Angel Ariel]

Agreed. Spending a non-park day visiting various resorts is one of my favorite things to do. I usually end up incorporating a meal or drink or 2 as well. For someone who has never been to some or all of the resorts I would say it's definitely worth checking out. I also agree that you won't be harassed or made to feel unwelcome. The CM at the hotel are always pleasant to me and Disney wants you to go and spend money in restaurants, shops and bars.

Also agreed! One of my favorite memories was touring the Poly and GF at Christmas on our anniversary trip a few years ago. We weren't staying there, but wanted to see the decorations. Kona is one of our favorite places to eat too I wish we had done a little more resort exploring when we stayed at Yacht Club a few years ago, but we were there for a short weekend (and a runDisney weekend at that), so we just didn't have the time.

We've also enjoyed having photo shoots at the resorts. We've done that once at the Poly/GF, and then another walking around the Boardwalk (incl. the grounds outside BWI, Y&BC). Both were awesome experiences

 

[GoofGoof]

Also agreed! One of my favorite memories was touring the Poly and GF at Christmas on our anniversary trip a few years ago. We weren't staying there, but wanted to see the decorations. Kona is one of our favorite places to eat too I wish we had done a little more resort exploring when we stayed at Yacht Club a few years ago, but we were there for a short weekend (and a runDisney weekend at that), so we just didn't have the time.

We've also enjoyed having photo shoots at the resorts. We've done that once at the Poly/GF, and then another walking around the Boardwalk (incl. the grounds outside BWI, Y&BC). Both were awesome experiences

The resort Christmas decorations are definitely worth checking out. WL also usually has a massive tree which is pretty impressive. Mid-November into mid-December is a great time to visit. Nice weather, lower crowds (outside of Thanksgiving week) and the decorations are up.

 

[Angel Ariel]

The resort Christmas decorations are definitely worth checking out. WL also usually has a massive tree which is pretty impressive. Mid-November into mid-December is a great time to visit. Nice weather, lower crowds (outside of Thanksgiving week) and the decorations are up.

I should have mentioned WL too...we did one of their Christmas-time sleigh rides that year. DH had just gotten back from deployment a few weeks beforehand, and the sleigh ride was a surprise I'd planned for us. We ended up seeing Wishes through the trees during part of the ride. I love WDW during the holiday season (DLR too )

 

[drizgirl]

Disney wants people in those resorts (including those not currently registered there). They want everyone to see them and decide to book them for their next trip. They also want them paying for overpriced character meals.

 

[Schneewittchen]

I've done this with co-workers. We were visiting Orlando for a conference and our flight was early. So the day we arrived, we agreed to resort hop, visit what was still Downtown Disney for lunch and have dinner at a resort.

Two of us are die-hard WDW fans, but the third person is a boring, picky, cheapskate - so a park visit was a no-go. Anyway, we spent the morning abusing the monorail and watercraft, visiting the various MK resorts. We were going to go to Olivia's for lunch, but it was closed for some reason. So then we went to Disney Springs for lunch at the bowling alley - Splitsville has a great menu. I think we goofed around there for a while. In the late afternoon we ended up at the Epcot area resorts. Walked around the lake, had a few drinks at the Crew's Cup Lounge and then dinner at Flying Fish.

Hmmm. Maybe it wasn't a cheap day, but I wasn't paying, so free for me.

 

[Grimley1968]

Whether you're staying there or not, visiting the WL lobby can be fantastic any time of year. The totem poles are interesting, and the size of the lobby is incredible. Now that the Geyser Point quick service is open, that's another area of WL to see. From what I've seen in photos the views from there are fantastic. I always enjoyed walking over to the VWL "lobby" as well, though I don't know if that has changed due to the new DVC construction there.

 

[drizgirl]

Whether you're staying there or not, visiting the WL lobby can be fantastic any time of year. The totem poles are interesting, and the size of the lobby are incredible. Now that the Geyser Point quick service is open, that's another area of WL to see. From what I've seen in photos the views from there are fantastic. I always enjoyed walking over to the VWL "lobby" as well, though I don't know if that has changed due to the new DVC construction there.

We did this before dinner at Whispering Canyon Cafe one night. Just sat in one of those chairs in the lobby for a while and soaked it all in. (Don't remember if I had any shopping bags with me though).

Now Wilderness Lodge is on my list of Disney resorts to stay at as soon as I get a chance.

 

[Sans Souci]

We did this before dinner at Whispering Canyon Cafe one night. Just sat in one of those chairs in the lobby for a while and soaked it all in. (Don't remember if I had any shopping bags with me though).

I hope you behaved yourself and didn't take up too much space.

 

[drizgirl]

I hope you behaved yourself and didn't take up too much space.

That depends on how you define "behaved". My hooligan kids knocked over the big Christmas tree. Does that count?

 

[RustySpork]

I hope you behaved yourself and didn't take up too much space.

I always find a bench, sit on it sideways with all of my bags and bark at old folks and small children who want to get off their feet.

MY BENCH, BACK OFF!

 

[GoofGoof]

That depends on how you define "behaved". My hooligan kids knocked over the big Christmas tree. Does that count?

Oh good....I thought that was my kids that knocked the tree down...now I feel better

You know those chairs in the lobby are for resort guests only right

 

[RustySpork]

Oh good....I thought that was my kids that knocked the tree down...now I feel better

You know those chairs in the lobby are for resort guests only right

I think you should have to scan your magic band and prove you're a resort guest or receive an electric shock when you sit. It would serve those freeloaders right.